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Crazy Old Clarice posted:E is 14 months now and shows no interest in speaking. He only says one word ("hi") and doesn't even use baby-words for things. He will occasionally babble late at night before bed, but otherwise he is quiet most of the day (except for saying/grunting "Oooh-Oooh" when he wants something). You are correct, it's too early to worry. This sounds normal. Does he seem to understand words? Understanding is a much better measure than the words a child can say at that age. Also pointing, if he points/understands pointing that is a good sign. e: if your ped wasn't happy with only saying one word at a year, he doesn't know what he's talking about. It is super common to have only one or a handful word at 12 months, and boys are generally slower than girls, although the differences even out by 3 years of age. bilabial trill fucked around with this message at 10:40 on Mar 19, 2013 |
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Mar 19, 2013 10:14
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Crazy Old Clarice posted:E is 14 months now and shows no interest in speaking. He only says one word ("hi") and doesn't even use baby-words for things. He will occasionally babble late at night before bed, but otherwise he is quiet most of the day (except for saying/grunting "Oooh-Oooh" when he wants something). Connor hardly spoke at all for ages, he wouldn't say 'mummy' or 'daddy' or any of the usual words by the time he was 19 months then all of a sudden his vocabulary just exploded at about 21 months and now at 26 months you can't get him to shut up. His favourite phrase at the minute is "oh for gods sake'.
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Mar 19, 2013 11:22
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rectal cushion posted:You are correct, it's too early to worry. This sounds normal. Does he seem to understand words? Understanding is a much better measure than the words a child can say at that age. Also pointing, if he points/understands pointing that is a good sign. Some doctors will definitely err strongly on the side of caution because they know if they don't and something is happening (not likely at all in your situation) they are held legally liable. Some hospitals/practices really drill that fear into their doctors.
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Mar 19, 2013 11:58
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rectal cushion posted:You are correct, it's too early to worry. This sounds normal. Does he seem to understand words? Understanding is a much better measure than the words a child can say at that age. Also pointing, if he points/understands pointing that is a good sign. He can understand us quite well. For example, we have to spell out the words for his favorite foods because otherwise he will freak out that we said "cheese" but didn't give him any. And he is good at following basic directions "bring X to me", "please close the door", etc. Oh my god the pointing! We spend at least a full hour (spread out over the day of course) with him pointing to things while I give their name. Slo-Tek I try to narrate the day as much as possible, but it is a good reminder. Thanks, I'll focus on that some more! VorpalBunny and hookerbot -- speaking around 2 years seems to be really common with what I hear from parents, but doctors/the Internet all seem to say 15-16 months. I wonder what the disconnect is? For example, BabyCenter's toddler developmental milestones has this: BabyCenter posted:Red flag: If your child isn't saying any words by the time she's 15 months old, bring it up with her doctor. Ariza I think you are right, and that doctors are just really really worried about not catching potential problems. But this is really frustrating because then they are quick to label kids that are just developing a little slower as having a delay; when really they are just on the far side of the bell curve. I mean, that is how averages work. Ugh. Thanks all! Crazy Old Clarice fucked around with this message at 12:34 on Mar 19, 2013 |
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Mar 19, 2013 12:28
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Look at it this way--if the doctor sees 100 kids like this and 5 will go on to have a serious problem (just pulling this number out of my rear end), she's not really hurting the rest by recommending more talking at home or therapy or whatever. No harm done if he gets extra attention he doesn't need, you know?
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Mar 19, 2013 12:58
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Ben Davis posted:No harm done if he gets extra attention he doesn't need, you know? In the abstract, I completely agree with you. However my city (like many) has very limited resources for their infant and child early intervention programs. They claim they will assess your child within 30 days of a diagnosis of speech delay, but they aren't actually able to due this because of high demand -- one of the moms in our playgroup waited three months to get her kid assessed. I don't want to be an addition drain on those services if my child isn't really in need of them. But this is veering into the political, so I'll stop there. But I understand the urge to do as much as possible, and we will definitely do as much verbal enrichment at home as we can!
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Mar 19, 2013 13:17
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Crazy Old Clarice posted:I shouldn't really worry for a few more months, right? Your son's signs count as words at this point, even if they're not spoken. Research has shown that babies taught sign language tend to speak later (most likely since they already have a way to communicate) but that they are much more advanced with their speech when they do start talking.
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Mar 19, 2013 15:42
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I've been lurking a good while here and in the pregnancy thread and benefiting from all the great advice, but I haven't had a reason to post until now! My little boy is 4 months old and I'm looking into day nurseries so that I can go back to work in September/October when he's almost a year (this is bad enough in itself as I didn't realise the area in which I live in the UK is one where people join nursery waiting lists as soon as they conceive!) I visited one today which looks wonderful, but I've noticed that if you go full time they basically give a fifth day per week free of charge. I was looking at putting my son in 3 days per week and I'll be working for very little each day, just enough to keep us afloat. However if I put him in for 5 days per week I would earn considerably more as I'd have one day per week with just earnings and no fees, and we'd be comfortable rather than just getting by. At the moment I'm pretty sure that I want the extra days with my son rather than the money (and my husband and I will just eat a lot of beans and rice!) but I'd really like to know how daycare works out for other families. Does anyone have kids in full time daycare, and if so how happy are you with it? Should I give it more consideration? If I sound awful for considering trading time with my son for a bit more money, it's just that a) I grew up in a household where money was always a huge problem and b) I wasn't socialised at all so when I went to school I felt really shy and isolated. I'm keen to avoid both those things for my son but also want to give him as much love and fun time with mum and dad as I can too, so I'm trying to find a balance. Opinions welcomed! Professor Bananas fucked around with this message at 15:58 on Mar 19, 2013 |
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Mar 19, 2013 15:54
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My wife and I both work full time, so both of our children go to Daycare. The way I see it, we're building a solid financial future for them, so while it sucks that they don't get to stay home with Mom, it's awesome that they get to learn to socialize and share with other children. My friend's children stay home with their mother, and they are not nearly as good at communicating or sharing, although I don't really have another experimental group I see all that often to compare to. I'd say work full time for a bit, and if you don't like it, then you go back down to 3 days a week, AND you've got some extra cash in the bank. Like I said, it sucks, but not having to worry about money makes things way less stressful. And to whoever recommended BabyFirstTv, it's pretty good. I think the same person PMed me about it when we lost Sprout, and it really works to keep the kiddos occupied for a little bit while actually teaching them things. It's also available as an a la carte channel for like 4 bucks a month on the Roku. I'm pretty sure you could do that and completely avoid Tec the Tractor, because God he's creepy.
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Mar 19, 2013 17:26
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I love having a daycare baby. I of course miss her during the day (we're having a sick day today and it's a lot of fun), but she learns so much. And it's really helpful to have someone else who knows your kid who can give you advice on sleeping/eating/behavior issues. They can tell me what they see during the day, I can tell them what I see at night, and we can collaborate. It's a little like having a very large co-parent cohort, so be sure you are really comfortable with the staff and they're care style, but if it's a good fit it's great for everyone involved. (YMMV, obv.)
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Mar 19, 2013 18:26
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Yeah, I'm not super happy with my daycare because they keep moving my youngest up to the next classroom a few months before she's supposed to, so she's constantly surrounded by kids who are developed quite a bit past her and I'm a worrier. That said, she's at least their size, because I throw big calves. So she don't take no poo poo from them. The plus side is that since they're more advanced than her, she's constantly seeing her next developmental milestones and trying to hit them.
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Mar 19, 2013 21:27
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Hi, thread. Seeing the current discussion about speech development brings up something I've been mulling over for a while and have been meaning to ask here, but first... This is my 13-month-old son, Devin.  My husband and I are attempting to raise him bilingually. Since birth, my husband has spoken to Devin primarily in Russian, which is my husband's native language. We live in the US, near where I was born and raised and where most of my family lives, so we spend a lot of time with them and our son is exposed to tons of English. I try to speak to him in both languages as I am able, but most of what I know is very general rather than pertaining to babies/toddlers and their interests--I don't really know the words for different toys or any Russian games or anything like that. My husband skypes with his parents a couple times a week so they can talk to Devin and they will be arriving in 10 days for their first visit since his birth. They'll be bringing some Russian books to add to the few we have as well as some DVDs, but we're worried that that's not enough exposure. Has anyone else here been there and done that? I was wondering if anyone might have ideas for how to increase exposure. Ideally, of course, we'd like to raise him into fluency with both languages and no accent in either, but he spends the vast majority of his time with me (I'm a stay-at-home mom for now) and my shoddy Russian with its big rear end American accent isn't the best starting point. I was thinking about dragging out my old Russian textbooks when he's a bit older and getting ideas from there, but I'm coming up dry when trying to think of what else we could do to give him a good, solid base in the language now to build from in the future. At his 9 month checkup, Devin's pediatrician did notice that his language development is delayed and had immediately realized it was because he was hearing two languages in the home, so hopefully that's a good sign. He says Mama and Papa, but those are used in both English and Russian so we're waiting to see if he will learn a word that is distinctly one or the other language and which will be first. Anyone have any experience with this sort of thing? We would be forever grateful for any suggestions. hookerbot 5000 posted:On a different topic, how do people handle haircuts? Tried to cut Connors hair tonight and it was a nightmare - he seemed determined to get the scissors in his eyes. When he was younger it wasn't so bad and he would sit relatively still but not now. 
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Mar 20, 2013 05:30
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Crazy Old Clarice posted:In the abstract, I completely agree with you. However my city (like many) has very limited resources for their infant and child early intervention programs. They claim they will assess your child within 30 days of a diagnosis of speech delay, but they aren't actually able to due this because of high demand -- one of the moms in our playgroup waited three months to get her kid assessed. I don't want to be an addition drain on those services if my child isn't really in need of them. But this is veering into the political, so I'll stop there. The rule of thumb I was given by the ped was six words by 18 months. Could be baby talk, signs, or full-on sentences. So if your son says hi, consistently uses wa-wa for water, signs more and mama, and can nod yes and no, he would meet the 18-month development standards here (YMMV). I found this very comforting when my mother insisted my son should be talking in complete sentences at that age.
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Mar 20, 2013 06:06
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No Butt Stuff posted:Yeah, I'm not super happy with my daycare because they keep moving my youngest up to the next classroom a few months before she's supposed to, so she's constantly surrounded by kids who are developed quite a bit past her and I'm a worrier. That said, she's at least their size, because I throw big calves. So she don't take no poo poo from them. The plus side is that since they're more advanced than her, she's constantly seeing her next developmental milestones and trying to hit them. On the other hand, being around slightly more advanced kids might help her develop some skills faster. Could is be a net-positive in the end?
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Mar 20, 2013 14:47
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Speaking of Daycares, my wife dropped a bomb on me last night. She wants to buy the center where she works. It's a huge step, but she's been Director there for 5 years and working there 12 years total. There are close to 150 kids ranging from 8 weeks to 13 years with the after school program. I have full confidence in her but it is still nerve wracking.
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Mar 20, 2013 15:32
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Gounads posted:On the other hand, being around slightly more advanced kids might help her develop some skills faster. Could is be a net-positive in the end? I honestly think so, the more I think about it. I'm still not real happy with the constant germ exposure, but again, I guess it's probably helping her build her immune system. I'll always find something to complain about, but I'm happy that she's getting the interaction there. LoG posted:Speaking of Daycares, my wife dropped a bomb on me last night. She wants to buy the center where she works. It's a huge step, but she's been Director there for 5 years and working there 12 years total. There are close to 150 kids ranging from 8 weeks to 13 years with the after school program. I have full confidence in her but it is still nerve wracking. Oh man. I guess if she loves it and she's good at it, that's the best way to go. Our old daycare was owned and run by a woman who had her Master's in early childhood development, and you could tell she just loved being around children. She even put classes on at night for the parents to teach them how to discipline without spanking while still being effective. That might not sound like much, but in hillbilly country, it's fairly forward thinking. What I'm saying is that if your wife is half as good at her job as this woman, then you are going to be set soon. Good luck and keep us posted!
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Mar 20, 2013 16:32
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Ansiktsburk posted:My husband and I are attempting to raise him bilingually. Since birth, my husband has spoken to Devin primarily in Russian, which is my husband's native language. We live in the US, near where I was born and raised and where most of my family lives, so we spend a lot of time with them and our son is exposed to tons of English. I try to speak to him in both languages as I am able, but most of what I know is very general rather than pertaining to babies/toddlers and their interests--I don't really know the words for different toys or any Russian games or anything like that. My husband skypes with his parents a couple times a week so they can talk to Devin and they will be arriving in 10 days for their first visit since his birth. They'll be bringing some Russian books to add to the few we have as well as some DVDs, but we're worried that that's not enough exposure. We are raising our kids 4-lingually. Two languages at home + a bilingual daycare (French + German). Our older is 26 months and does not build long sentences yet. French is his dominant language (he says most of the words in it) because it is our "lingua franca" at home and most of the kids in daycare speak French. He understands all the four languages (obeys to orders, points at objects). We have several friends whose kids are raised with 3 languages, my wisdom comes from their experience, too. For exposure, it is important that one person always speaks to him the same language (even if your kid answers you in another language, you have to insist). If you don't, it's easier for them to mix and as they realize that you understand several languages, they'll just be lazy and use one (and generalize that to everybody). Sometimes plurilingual kids stutter -- it is usually just a phase. At that point it is imperative that you keep one language per person, or the phase will last longer. Having grandparents bring books is a great idea. Expect some delays and development by jumps. In daycare at the beginning the teachers did not want to add German for fear of my kid's head exploding or something, but in 3 months they saw it is just fine. Our pediatrician is also raising his kids multilingual so he knows that the usual rules for language development do not apply. 9 months? My kid would not even say mama or papa. Nobody cared.
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Mar 20, 2013 17:48
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Ansiktsburk posted:Hi, thread. Seeing the current discussion about speech development brings up something I've been mulling over for a while and have been meaning to ask here, but first... We're in that situation.  My husband is fluent in Greek and I can have conversations, but nothing too deep. My husband does his best to speak to Kosta only in Greek, and I do mostly English. I remembered from my secondary language classes that it's easier for the kids that way to figure out the rules of the language. His grandparents all do a mix of both languages, and he hears Greek at church too.His first words came a week after his first birthday and were mummum, nani, and mama--all Greek. They were also words that I happened to be using in Greek, though--so basically I wouldn't stress about the fact that you don't have the fluency of a native speaker. Just say some words as you can, and he'll at least learn those words. Let him learn the rest from his dad--you'll just be reinforcing! We found out that 2 local libraries have children's books in dozens of languages---something that wasn't there when we were kids. There were only 2 board books, but that's still 2 more than we owned, and as he gets older, we can read him the other books. I also found some popular kids' movies dubbed into Greek that he can watch in a year or so. If you want to improve your own Russian, a church in the area might offer evening classes. They're usually aimed towards people who marry into the culture, so you'd be right at home
Ben Davis fucked around with this message at 19:50 on Mar 20, 2013 |
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Mar 20, 2013 19:42
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When I was taking Japanese in college, my sensei had a five(?)-year-old son. He spoke to his son only in Japanese, and his wife only in English (and I think they primarily used English to communicate with each other), and as near as I could tell the one time I met the kid, he was picking up both languages fine. I kind of wish I and my wife could raise our kids up bilingual, but she's terrible with languages, and my knowledge has simply atrophied--though I do on occasion randomly say things in Japanese without realizing it, and also say "Qu'est-ce que c'est?" about items without thinking about it. I'm so jealous of you people who can actually do it seriously. It's going to be awesome for the kid once they get to an age where they get it.
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Mar 21, 2013 01:28
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Ansiktsburk, I would suggest that you and your husband try to speak in Russian at shared meal times. He, being stronger in the language, will have to carry the conversation a bit, but it's a great way to have you and your child learn together as he teaches you both the names for things you are eating, talks about his day, that sort of thing. Also when you are both around have him teach you just as he teaches your son the words for games/songs/that sort of thing. If you can Skype with the Russian grandparents (or other family members), it can be a really good way to get that extra boost of immersion so as your son starts to pay attention to your husband's Skype chats he will start to really benefit from that. Books are a very good idea too, and when you feel he is old enough to watch tv, try to find a couple of dvds of kid shows that are translated. I would also suggest that your husband try to talk to him exclusively (or nearly so) in Russian as much as possible. Also, and most importantly, don't stress about it. Kids are hardwired to be receptive to language. When he does start really talking, you'll be amazed how easy it is for him to switch from one to the other. Oh, and Axiem! I thought I was all but monolingual until we started talking to our kids in a second language. It was slow going at first but you would be amazed at how quickly it returns. After a couple of years of gradually ramping up the second language at home (and feeling like a linguistic embarrassment at first because of how little I remembered) I can honestly think of myself as far more fluent than I was when in school. If you try, you might surprise yourself!
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Mar 21, 2013 16:32
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Sally Slug posted:Oh, and Axiem! I thought I was all but monolingual until we started talking to our kids in a second language. It was slow going at first but you would be amazed at how quickly it returns. After a couple of years of gradually ramping up the second language at home (and feeling like a linguistic embarrassment at first because of how little I remembered) I can honestly think of myself as far more fluent than I was when in school. If you try, you might surprise yourself! This is true. I am pretty functionally fluent in Spanish, but my German and Japanese are quite rusty. Just making an effort to even say little turns of phrase ("Las parades oyen" gets used in conversation as a reminder to ourselves the kids are listening, for instance) around the kids, or basic prompts in different languages has slowly been melting the old synapses.  Just try some good old, Language 101 stuff. "Nan desu ka" then say what it is. Whatever nouns you can remember. Or count. Or members of the family (extra fun in Japanese! So many titles!) Simple commands ("Mite kudasei" is one I could honestly shriek 50 times a day to either kid, especially Liam though!) It doesn't have to be super-fluency or bust. Any bits and pieces will keep their language acquisition centers more plastic, which will give them huge benefits when they're older in school.
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Mar 21, 2013 19:43
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Does anyone have any recommendations for interactive baby/kids ebooks or game apps? The little dude as decided he love loves my phone and laptop (I think I have deleted and retyped at lease half this post because he is beside me 'helping') so I was thinking of buying a tablet to play games or read interactive ebooks with him.
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Mar 22, 2013 01:54
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AlistairCookie posted:Any bits and pieces will keep their language acquisition centers more plastic, which will give them huge benefits when they're older in school. True, though a lot of my rusty is my pronunciation, but some of it is also that the vocabulary I learned really isn't the same sort of thing applicable to a kid. Sure, I can give someone directions or order in a restaurant or talk about how I studied Japanese in college--but I couldn't get halfway into describing my daughter's toys. It doesn't help that my wife (like her family) is not particularly good at foreign languages. Though I do have occasional interjections, as noted, though it's more because I'm doing it subconsciously than intentionally However, the pastor of our church has a daughter one week younger than our daughter, and she (the pastor) speaks Spanish and French, and her husband (who is from Zambia) speaks like, a dozen languages. So my daughter ends up hearing some from that (though not as much as said pastor's kid). My wife has amazing pitch and singing, though, so as I was joking with the pastor, her daughter will know a dozen languages, and ours will have perfect pitch. It balances out
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Mar 22, 2013 02:10
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I'm having a mental battle. My son is nearly 6 months old and breastfed. My intent has always been to breastfeed/ pumped bottle feed him for the entire first year. Ben has, however, developed a strong and almost aggressive interest in our food. If he's being fussy during dinner I'll hold him, which leads him to do everything in his power to get my food. I'm concerned that if I start any solids (which I know full well he doesn't NEED at all) that he'll stop breastfeeding. Any advice or insight?
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Mar 22, 2013 02:51
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It is nigh unto impossible that starting solids will make him disinterested in nursing. My son is 2.5 and we started solids right at 6 months. He was closer to a year old when he was eating regular meals. Before that it was mostly just for practice and keeping him occupied at mealtimes. He still nurses once a day. Edit: Here's some reading at kellymom about it: http://kellymom.com/nutrition/starting-solids/ready-solids-links/
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Mar 22, 2013 02:59
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SassySally posted:I'm having a mental battle. My son is nearly 6 months old and breastfed. My intent has always been to breastfeed/ pumped bottle feed him for the entire first year. Ben has, however, developed a strong and almost aggressive interest in our food. If he's being fussy during dinner I'll hold him, which leads him to do everything in his power to get my food. I'm concerned that if I start any solids (which I know full well he doesn't NEED at all) that he'll stop breastfeeding. Any advice or insight? Dear lord, let the kid try some food and save yourself the headache. Chris reached a point where breastfeeding just wasn't enough and he was cranky and miserable because he just wasn't getting enough food. I couldn't even imagine trying to stick with no food for an entire year. Your kid will not stop breastfeeding, he'll probably gradually taper off as meals become more complex and he starts regularly eating three meals, but he won't wean until you're ready to. If it helps, start with a lunch to get him into the swing of things, then add supper if he gets miserable in the afternoons, breakfast when he can't make it to lunch anymore. That's how I did it with Chris, and I think I was on three meals a day by 8 or 9 months with him still nursing 4-5 times a day and a couple times at night. Eventually it becomes obvious when they're nursing more for comfort than sustenance because the food is enough and you can decide whether or not to wean.
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Mar 22, 2013 03:40
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Solids are really just for "fun" (and oral motor development) before around age one. It took months before my son started stepping up on solids enough to actually decrease his breast milk consumption. It's very very rare for an infant to self-wean before a year, even with the introduction of solids.
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Mar 22, 2013 03:48
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SassySally posted:I'm having a mental battle. My son is nearly 6 months old and breastfed. My intent has always been to breastfeed/ pumped bottle feed him for the entire first year. Ben has, however, developed a strong and almost aggressive interest in our food. If he's being fussy during dinner I'll hold him, which leads him to do everything in his power to get my food. I'm concerned that if I start any solids (which I know full well he doesn't NEED at all) that he'll stop breastfeeding. Any advice or insight? Yeah I doubt he'll stop breastfeeding just because you introduce solids. We did baby-led weaning aka just giving him pieces of real food and not pureed rice mush once a day. My oldest wasn't interested in food much at all. He would try some but didn't eat substantial amounts until after 15 months. This is totally normal. Just for fun before age one is the saying. My second and third children were much more interested in food but they still nursed a lot until I weaned the 2nd at 2 1/2 years and the 3rd is still nursing at 2 1/2 with no signs of wanting to stop.
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Mar 22, 2013 03:49
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SassySally posted:I'm having a mental battle. My son is nearly 6 months old and breastfed. My intent has always been to breastfeed/ pumped bottle feed him for the entire first year. Ben has, however, developed a strong and almost aggressive interest in our food. If he's being fussy during dinner I'll hold him, which leads him to do everything in his power to get my food. I'm concerned that if I start any solids (which I know full well he doesn't NEED at all) that he'll stop breastfeeding. Any advice or insight? The way my wife put it was that the caloric needs of our daughter is going up as she gets older. My wife's breastmilk tops off at a certain caloric amount--the solids make up that difference between what the kid needs and what the milk gives. Our daughter is at almost 10 months, and she's going strong on solids. She does still nurse five or six times a day, but when feeding her solids she can go through three cups of baby food and still be hungry. It does swing: as she hits growth spurts, she wants to nurse more, but other times she wants to nurse less. She also does seem to understand the difference between milk and food, and tries to communicate which one she wants (we're doing some baby signs). It actually astounds me how this little thing that I held in my hands when she was born naked and crying already has a personality and likes and dislikes (she likes peas, doesn't like sweet potatoes) and a mind of her own knowing when she wants to have a drink vs. eat some food vs. nurse vs. play. Yes, I marvel at the miracle of my daughter when she eats.
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Mar 22, 2013 04:36
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I bet ninety percent of his interest in your food is just plain old curiosity with a touch of orneriness. What's that? Why don't I have it? It looks fun. Can I squish it? Can I throw it? So yeah, I'd nth everyone saying give him some bits to play around with and playing is probably most of what he'll do. Kids do vary wildly on this though. My breastfed daughter had no real interest in solid food for at least a year and wasn't really thrilled about it for awhile after that. I've heard from other people whose kids were chowing at six months, I can't even imagine, that's just completely foreign to my experience.
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Mar 22, 2013 13:56
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/\/\ Both my kids descended upon food like it was the greatest thing ever existed. By 6 months, both were missing their mouth with the spoon, (with gusto!), and eating small bits of mushy or puffy cereal stuff. Food is fun, it's new and exciting. He's getting teeth for something. Give him little bits of banana or something. With regards to the fear of losing interest in breastfeeding, no worries there. I think Liam needed the extra food by then for sure because he was hungry! He still nursed ~5x a day, even eating fruit cereal for breakfast, Gerber snacks through out the day, and meat/veggie bits for dinner.
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Mar 22, 2013 14:17
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Poison Cake posted:I bet ninety percent of his interest in your food is just plain old curiosity with a touch of orneriness. What's that? Why don't I have it? It looks fun. Can I squish it? Can I throw it? So yeah, I'd nth everyone saying give him some bits to play around with and playing is probably most of what he'll do. My son does this and it's to the point where if we don't at least give him a taste of what we're having he screams until he gets SOMETHING in his mouth consistently. I usually just try to order something (assuming I haven't brought anything with us) he can nom on like apple slices, soft carrots, potatoes, etc. He's definitely not disinterested in getting his liquids still.
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Mar 22, 2013 14:32
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SassySally posted:I'm having a mental battle. My son is nearly 6 months old and breastfed. My intent has always been to breastfeed/ pumped bottle feed him for the entire first year. Ben has, however, developed a strong and almost aggressive interest in our food. If he's being fussy during dinner I'll hold him, which leads him to do everything in his power to get my food. I'm concerned that if I start any solids (which I know full well he doesn't NEED at all) that he'll stop breastfeeding. Any advice or insight? My daughter is 9 months old now, and she has loved her solids since 6 months. We did baby led weaning and she wants to eat everything and anything put in front of her. Or anything in front of me. Or anyone else for that matter. It didn't affect her desire to breastfeed in the slightest; she still loves breastfeeding and does it regularly through the day and night. In fact most of the time I breastfeed her just before or just after a solid food meal and she still has a full feed. With me gone back to work this week she has increased her solid food intake while I'm gone, has 1 bottle at lunch time, and then is just very enthusiastic to be breastfed the second I walk in the door. I fully intend to keep feeding her for quite a while yet. So I don't think your son loving solids will affect your breastfeeding relationship!
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Mar 22, 2013 21:47
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SassySally posted:I'm having a mental battle. My son is nearly 6 months old and breastfed. My intent has always been to breastfeed/ pumped bottle feed him for the entire first year. Ben has, however, developed a strong and almost aggressive interest in our food. If he's being fussy during dinner I'll hold him, which leads him to do everything in his power to get my food. I'm concerned that if I start any solids (which I know full well he doesn't NEED at all) that he'll stop breastfeeding. Any advice or insight? Agreement with other parents here. We were going to wait till 6 months to introduce food to our daughter but she got so interested in our food at four we just let her play with it and eat it. She's seven months now and we'll steam up whole vegetables and she'll sit there chewing bits off of them. 3 meals a day she eats a surprising amount. The recommendation from our health nurse was to give them breastmilk a bit before a meal because that is packed with what she really needs. Also, in Australia it's recommended you start giving them meat around 6-7 months because their bodies store of iron begins to run low. Stick blenders are awesome for this.
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Mar 23, 2013 01:21
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To piggyback off this topic, what age did you start introducing food? At my daughter's 4 month appointment today the pediatrician said we can start now with some cereal and fruit/veg. Seems early to me. I was going to wait until 6 months but don't know the pros or cons of doing so. I also intend to breastfeed/pump for at least a year so I'm glad to read that solids won't interfere with that.
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Mar 23, 2013 01:52
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http://kellymom.com/nutrition/starting-solids/delay-solids/quote:The following organizations recommend that all babies be exclusively breastfed (no cereal, juice or any other foods) for the first 6 months of life (not the first 4-6 months):
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Mar 23, 2013 02:10
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My son will be 4 months tomorrow and while he's not ready now, I think he'll be ready sooner than 6 months. He's already showing a lot of signs like being interested in food and he's almost sitting up unassisted. He still has a tongue thrust so he's not quite ready yet. He got really mad and upset at my husband eating a pot pie today until he let him grab some. He wasn't coordinated enough to actually grab any and put it in his mouth, but he was satisfied with touching it. I wouldn't have let him do it if I knew there was a chance he'd get it in his mouth. He was just so adamant to see what it was.
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Mar 23, 2013 03:21
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I think being "interested in food" at that age is mostly just babies taking interest in what the adults are doing and learning that their hands can do things. Actually being physically ready to eat takes a little longer.
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Mar 23, 2013 03:24
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I started at 4 months merely give Chris something to do so I could eat lunch with both hands for once. Honestly they're not going to consume any appreciable amount so it's basically getting them used to the idea of sitting in a high chair for meals, maybe putting some different flavors in their mouths and laughing at the reactions. I debated waiting till 6 months and only doing baby-led weaning like everybody recommends but the ped said go for it at 4 months so I started with spoon feeding. By 6 months Chris was familiar enough with the concept of food he was able to feed himself big chunks of fruit and now at 17 months he's a champion eater and not overweight so starting at 4 months clearly did not damage him for life. A friend on Facebook posted that she was starting her baby on rice cereal at 3 months... don't do this. -_-
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Mar 23, 2013 14:09
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Lyz posted:A friend on Facebook posted that she was starting her baby on rice cereal at 3 months... don't do this. -_- Unless your doctor recommends it, like mine did. We went along with it because Briar has always been a gigantic bottomless pit. She is 7 months old and is routinely assumed to be over a year old by at least one nurse every time we go to the doctor's office, and was already trying to steal food off of our plates and mash it into her face if we ate with her in our laps. We probably would have requested a new doctor if she had just thrown that out there as something she recommends to everyone, but she prefaced the recommendation with "I wouldn't generally recommend this for a baby this age, but she can hold her own head up and is actively attempting to eat your food, so I see no harm in offering her rice cereal if she is actually interested in eating it." It worked out just fine, and she has moved on to puréed, rusks, avocados, bananas and apple slices (which she goes totally apeshit for the second we pull one out of the fruit bowl). Generally if she wants a taste if something, I'll let her, and she'll decide whether she likes it or not in a matter of seconds.
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Mar 23, 2013 14:40
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