Baby Knows Best
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I’m sure you’ve seen the “older infant formulas” available as you peruse the baby aisle while shopping. They are, according to most of the labels, for infants from 9-24 months who are eating some solid foods.
I asked a nutritionist friend of mine about these products and she told me to not waste my money on them. “Leave your child on regular formula until the doctor says he can tolerate milk and then make the switch.”
Sounds simple doesn’t it? Well, sometimes real life isn’t real simple.
The pediatrician told me that my child was old enough to tolerate milk and so I attempted to make the switch. With my 4 other children, this was not really a big deal. One child had allergies to milk and I had to switch to soy milk; another child was allergic to both cow milk and soy milk so she actually drank rice milk. Both children outgrew their food allergies within a few years and were on regular cow’s milk. So, except for those disclaimers, it was pretty easy to make that switch.
My son was not amused at all when I made the switch. He tolerated the milk fine, but he just didn’t like the taste. I tried to switch slowly, but he was not fooled by the formula/milk mix I offered to him. The child went on a strike and wouldn’t drink anything but juice, which worried me as he has other health issues and dehydrates easily.
My son also has some issues with foods that have certain textures too. He refuses to eat meat for whatever reason and also has trouble using a sippy cup, although he’s almost 17 months old. I’ve taken him to a speech therapist who assures me that he is doing fine, but just progressing a little bit slower than usual in his transition to solid foods.
I made an appointment with the doctor to discuss my concerns. She wasn’t very worried at all. “It takes some children a little bit longer to transition and some kids do have food aversions. In your son’s case, I would recommend using the older infant formula just to make sure he gets all the nutrients he needs. If he doesn’t like the milk, don’t force it upon him.”
I went out and bought the “older infant” formula on the way home from the doctor and mixed it up for my son. He drank it and handed the bottle back to me and signed “more” to me.
Well what do you know. It occurs to me that as parents, we sometimes tend to discount what our infant or toddler is trying to “tell” us. Sometimes we believe the experts who tend to generalize instead of looking for solutions geared to our individual child’s needs.
Sometimes, baby does know best.
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