At our 9-month appointment, our doctor asked us "Is Wells eating finger food and is he holding his own bottle?" The answer was "No and No."
I did not think anything about it. He is only 9 months old and has only 2 teeth. Surely he could not be ready to eat finger foods yet. Could he? He loves his baby food, but surely he is not ready for "solid" solid food. And then the "bad mom" syndrome started to kick in.
I questioned why I had not been preparing him to take the next step to solid foods. I questioned why I had not been making him hold his own bottle. I questioned, questioned, questioned. And then I realized that my child is uniquely and wonderfully made and he would get there - IN HIS OWN TIME.
I find myself trying to push him to eat solids. And to no avail, he gags or shows a face of disgust for even putting solids up to his lips. So, I just revert back to good ole' baby food and his bottle.
I have been told that getting your child to eat solids is in some way similar to potty training. They have to be ready.
If you are reading this and have struggled with getting your child to eat finger foods and drink their bottle or sippy cup on their own, please let me know what "tricks of the trade" you used to get your child over the hump and to this next milestone.
3 comments:
We let Trip gnaw on a piece of french bread when we were at a restaurant. The kind with crust that is really chewy and hard for them to tear apart. It helped introduce him to solids and helped with teething. Worked like a charm!
You are doing great!!
Time and . . . . more time are truly the only things that make a child "ready" for the next step.
Keep introducing because you never know when the time may be, but don't make a big deal about it and neither will he.
Love seeing updates on your sweet Wells:)
Whit...Eloise is 16 months and STILL will NOT eat people food. Sure, she will snack...but she really doesn't want anything to do with it. I try to show her when I am eating how good it is...I make the "mmmm, mmmm" noise..and then she usually comes over to me and wants to try it out...and ends up liking it. But..it is just like you said...Wells is unique and it will happen on his own time. Eloise didn't really start holding her own bottle (or wanting to) until she was walking...but even still, she wants me to feed her, her nighttime bottle...and it makes me feel so good. You are a WONDERFUL mother...I promise he isn't going to go to school still eating baby food...I've never seen that happen. :) Love you!
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