Blood letting and food getting.

Went to the pediatrician on Wednesday. Peanut has gained a mere half pound. The doc has been concerned by how little she is and that she isn't gaining weight as much as she should, so we had to get blood drawn to rule out any biological reason for not gaining. This has been harrowing for us all. Peanut has gone twice before to do this unsuccessfully and she and we have been completely traumatized by it. So finally we went to the pedi unit at the hospital to get the blood drawn, and while it was still completely traumatizing, they got the blood and won't have to do it again! The doc wants us to keep a food journal now, so we've had to get a bit more serious about actual mealtimes so we know just what she's eating. We had gotten away from being so structured in eating because of the power struggle that was happening and, while I think she was actually eating more in the grazing technique where we offered food frequently and in smaller quantities, we weren't really able to keep track of it, so we had stopped the food journal that we were doing when she first came to us. Now with journalling/mealtime reinstated we feel compelled to figure out how to get her to eat more of the meal! The first night was a disaster, ie. power struggle and no food intake. Then the next morning K started something brilliant. Takes A LOT of patience on our part, but we have begun waiting her out. We sit at the table and cheer/bribe/cajole her to eat until at least half of the meal is done. Yesterday we had a two and a half hour breakfast! But she ate half of it! And this morning breakfast was only an hour. But still, we don't necessarily have time for such waiting games on weekdays. We need to buy a timer. One that ticks really loudly. That way she'll either get her sticker or she won't at the end of the time and we can all make it to work/daycare on time.