Dr. Smith told us that we could start letting him basically eat what we eat with the exception of spices and nuts. He suggested we wait to introduce any products containing nuts until he was 2 years old. He also said that we could slowly start introducing dairy products to him. He has had a dairy sensitivity and has been on hypoallergenic formula for two months that's pretty expensive so we're praying that it'll be a smooth transition and we'll be able to start giving him whole milk in the next few months. If not, we can always try soy or almond milk. We're going to start giving him yogurt once a day to see how he handles the dairy and we'll go from there with trying actual milk. I'm excited to start giving him whole foods and not having to puree everything but at the same time like any parent, I'm nervous about the hazards of choking. We'll start out easy and I really think he's going to enjoy learning to feed himself more because he's becoming more independent. He's been snacking on puffs and just recently freeze dried yogurts melts. He loves them!! He is also doing really well with the sippy cup and learning how to tilt it back to get the water or pear juice out.
The doctor also mentioned that his top 6 teeth are just beneath the surface so we should be getting some additional teeth coming through very soon! Maybe that means we'll start sleeping better or maybe not. Haha!
Hatch is still all over the place in his walker and he's into everything! He loves chasing the dog and now that he's learning to point he likes to go around the house looking at our pictures and pointing at us. It's too funny! I have also set up the pack & play in the living room/kitchen and he loves playing in there because he can pull up and see what we're doing. It's nice at dinner time because we can keep him entertained while we get dinner ready. He's crawling so well and along with that comes pulling up. If he can get to it, he's going to attempt to pull up on it. He's quite the dare devil; not a fearful bone in his body! He really loves playing with all the toys in his room now. He's learned to pull the toy baskets off the bottom shelf of the book case and he takes each toy out one by one and inspects it before moving onto the next one. Our parents have both given him toys that he can pull up on and stand to play with and he enjoys those so much. One of them he can push which will be great when he gets the hang of walking...which I fear is in our near future. He has already started letting go and standing on his own for a few seconds. Ahh!!!
He's wearing 9 month clothes and 6-12 month clothes. He's finally able to wear 6-12 month shoes although he'd rather be barefoot. He's his father's child! His feet are his newest obsession. He constantly wants to put them in his mouth. Yuck! I just moved him up to a size 4 diaper. He can still wear a size 3 but they're snug and he was leaking out of them so I'm using up a few last size 3s we had and he'll officially be in a size 4. Crazy! I did fix the wetting our clothes during the night issue. Several people suggested moving him up a size and trying the Huggies Overnight diapers in the purple box. These things work wonders and since he started wearing them, he's only had one accident. Before, we were having accidents every single night!
Sleeping is still an issue for us. He's gotten somewhat better but we're not quite there yet. We tried "cry it out" (CIO) two weeks ago for 7 nights. Some nights were easier than others and some were just plain awful. We both hated hearing him cry and felt so bad for him but he did sleep through the night every single night that week. However, nap times were terrible and sometimes he wasn't napping at all which doesn't make for a happy mommy or baby! So, I started rocking him again and now I'm rocking him at bed time too. Such a pushover!! The doctor made a great point yesterday at our appointment. He said that Johny & I had to be ready to do CIO or it would never work. He believes we should put him down sleepy and not go back in at all. We were going back in every 15-30 minutes. He's right though, I'm not sure we were totally ready. I mean we wanted sleep but we weren't sure we wanted it at the expense of hearing our son cry his eyes out. It got to the point where when we would walk to his room, he would start crying. So sad! So, I'm really going to pray about it and pray that God will gives us the strength we need to try again so that Hatcher will learn to be a good sleeper. I'm afraid if we don't get it right now, it'll continue to be an issue as he gets older. I'm still researching other methods besides CIO so we'll see what we end up doing.
Anyways, sorry for such a long update. I just want to remember everything and with my forgetful brain I know if I don't write it down, it'll be forgotten next week! I can't believe in 3 short months our baby will be 1! What an amazing 9 months this has truly been and I'm so excited to see what's next!
Playing with his new toy from Grammie & Poppy!
Cutie pie!
Can I eat this, mom?
Yummy!
I'm over taking pictures!
He loves that the puppy's nose lights up red!
The first year (and each after that) go by SO incredibly fast! I remember feeling like pregnancy lasted so long and then the first 9 months flew by. As for eating, my advice is to introduce as many table foods as you can to him as early as possible. Connor gave up baby food completely the day he turned 11 months old. He had been eating some baby food and some table food until then and at 11 months he wouldn't eat another bite of baby food. With Kyle, he gave it up the day he turned 9 months old. I had to give away all my extra baby food because he wouldn't eat it! My friends that kept their kids on baby food longer had trouble transitioning them and some became pickier eaters (the texture can be harder to get used to as they get older I think). With both, I just fed them whatever I was eating and whatever I cooked for us and they ate it. As for sleeping, I am a fan of CIO, but I agree with the doc that the parents have to be ready. Jeremy was never ready, so he slept downstairs for three nights when I did CIO with each of our boys. CIO was hard...especially at nap time, but I think after 3 bad days, it gets better and is so worth it! My kids are great sleepers now!
ReplyDeleteMy kids are not perfect and I'm FAR from a great mom, but I thought I'd give my two cents from my experience. You're doing great! Enjoy him!