Wednesday, April 30, 2008

A Mother's Intuition

Michael will celebrate his 9 month mark on May 6th. Michael still is not a huge fan of solid food. He favors barley and rice cereal. He will eat some fruits and vegetables, but not consistently. I have wondered if it is because he seems to ALWAYS be teething. He has 9 teeth. I figure who wants to eat when their gums hurt? I have talked to his doctor who said that by 9 months old he should eat 3 meals of solid food a day. He is not. I mean should I actually force a spoon in his mouth when he has his gums tightly closed? So I met with a nutritionist today and she referred me to a developmental specialist for an evaluation. She felt that Michael may be handicapped because he does not like to eat solid foods. She feels as though he may have problems swallowing. I met Jared for lunch, he laughed. He told me to be patient Michael will eat when he is ready. We both feel that he may just have a sensitive stomache. He cannot have lactose. Both of his grandfathers had food allergies, he may too. I came home and put him down for his nap.

He woke up and I fed him. as you can see from the picture he ate. He ate a ton! Two huge bowls of cereal and peaches. Again I am reminded that children develop at their own pace, and I need to relax. It is important to be aware of what the milestones are, but a mother needs to trust her instincts!

2 comments:

Vicky said...

You are so right! He'll do it when he's ready. I'm pretty sure Benjamin wasn't eating 3 meals of solid food a day when he was nine months, because we didn't even introduce solids till 7 months. Michael looks like a healthy boy to me.

Smathers House of Girls said...

I think it's a bit ridiculous for someone to say something like that. Breastfed babies sometimes don't even start solids for a year. He's so advanced in so many ways. As long as he's eating something, I think it's good.