This is day 15 of our 365 pictures together 🙂
We took the tiny human for his 9 month checkup this past weekend. Yes he’s 10 months and we’re a little behind, but these things happen. Anyway, I was super excited to see how much weight he gained because he’s definitely feeling heavier and starting to outgrow his 6-12 month pants. Well imagine my surprise when he gets on the scale and it looks like he lost weight (he didn’t he just only gained a few ounces). Of course, I immediately start thinking that I’m a horrible mom. My little muffin is scrawny and it’s all my fault.
Let’s rewind back a few months when we started introducing solids. I would make all this great baby food and he just wasn’t that interested. Sometimes he would taste it, but a lot of times he just pressed his lips tight and moved his head. So, after about a week or two I stopped forcing it on him. I know he was six months old and it was definitely time to eat solids, but hey the kid only wanted milk and I was wasting a lot of food. Mr. S HATES when we waste food. I did a little research on baby led weaning and decided to go that route instead. We let him taste what we wee eating if he expressed interest, but for the most part he just wanted to nurse up until maybe eight or nine months. He started wanting more than a taste, but still no full meals. I kept hearing this was perfectly normal and babies only NEED breastmilk or formula until age one.
Well when his grandparents were in town they asked how much he was weighing and I estimated probably like 20 pounds. I mean the kid is definitely outgrowing his infant car seat (new one will be here this week) and he wears the average size clothing for his age group. Well his grandfather said don’t be surprised if he’s not gaining or lost weight because he’s very active now. Ahh… I totally didn’t think of that part, but I was still pretty sure he had gained at least a pound or two. NOPE! I don’t know why he feels heavier, but he’s really not.
Okay, so why do I feel like a bad mom? Because I’m his primary caretaker and source of food. If he’s not gaining weight, it’s my fault right? Yes and no. Yes, I need to offer him more food. No, I can’t control how fast he burns off the calories…I mean this kid is a super fast crawler and makes me sweat trying to catch him sometimes. I felt pretty guilty on Saturday and kept trying to come up with ways to get more food in him. Then on Monday or Tuesday it hit me. If I eat more while he’s awake as opposed to when he’s napping he’ll eat more too. He always wants to do what I’m doing anyway. Sure enough whenever I warm up my lunch he’s ready to taste some and eats a lot more than he does if I put him in his high chair and try to feed him separately. Yesterday he ate pasta, banana, and grapes along with his usual random cracker breaks. What is it about babies/toddlers and crackers? Now I just have to work on eating breakfast every morning, so he’ll eat it as well.
So, no I’m not a bad mom… I’m just a mom who’s still learning. These kids really should come with manuals specific to their genetic makeup lol.
Have you done something lately that made you feel like a bad mom? How did you snap out of it?
P.S. What are some of your kids favorite meals? I need suggestions…
