It's been crazy how busy Tony and I have been lately. It seems like if its not one thing then its something else. Riley had his first ENT (ear nose and throat) appointment as most cleft palate babies have to have tubes placed in the ears. With cleft palates the eustacian tubes do not close all the way which can lead to a build up of fluid in the ear which causes ear infections. We drove all the way to Mesa-took us about an hour to get there. We waited over an hour past our appointment time and was with the physician for maybe 10 minutes. She said his ears looked fantastic and was very shocked that Riley has not had an ear infection. She asked us to come back in August to have his hearing tested and to check the movement of his ear when there is sound. If he needs tubes, she will try and coordinate at the same time as his palate surgery. We also asked about his tear duct as this was affected as well on the right side but she referred us to an opthamologist. Our insurance is great for coverage but a pain in the butt to get in with a new physician. We have to call our primary who then calls in the referral and then we call and make an appointment. We plan on driving up to Idaho and Washington in late August so his ENT follow up once we get home from our trip.
Tony and I are continuing to work full time. My parents are leaving on Friday to go back to WA for the summer so it's a little stressful not having child care in place. Riley still continues to fuss and cry when we try to feed him anything but his rice cereal or formula. We are trying to get his weight up because if he is underweight at the time of his surgery the surgery will be postponed. If anyone has any suggestions, let me know!
I'm sorry I cant remember how old Riley is. It's really normal for kiddos under the age of 1 to not enjoy solids all that much, though. I know a lot of parents of kids that didn't eat foods at all until 13 or 14 months. And developmentally speaking it doesn't even really make sense for a child to eat solids before they are able to pick small foods up and place them in their mouth,or before they have at least a few teeth. "Baby food" is a fairly new invention.
ReplyDeleteThat doesn't help with trying to get him to gain weight, though, I realize. As soon as it's safe to feed babies, you can give them banana's and avacado's. They can be mashed obviously but I've found that neither of my kids would eat anything if it was mashed. Avacado and banana are both also soft enough to just chunk up, without any chocking hazard. They are also the 2 most calorie heavy fruits and veg that I know of.
Cheese and yogurt are also very full of good fats, and they can be introduced as early as 6 months. I know milk has to wait until a year, but cheese and yogurt are easier to digest because of the healthy bacteria in them. Full-fat yogurt, cottage cheese, cheddar and mozzarella chunks, ect.