Thursday, April 5, 2012

QUIRKS & OBSTACLES

I'm pretty sure all babies have their quirks. Some won't sleep, some won't roll, some won't eat off a spoon, some refuse the bottle and some probably hate the water.

We have a few quirks making their appearance at the moment: #1. C refuses to sit. #2. He won't pick up and eat food, he will only be spoonfed, and #3. He refuses to stand in water.

#3 doesn't bother me, in fact I find it highly amusing. He LOVES his bath time but you have to put him down in the bath by lowering him onto his back. You can't put him in feet first because he will lift his little legs up as high as he can so he doesn't dip his toes in the water. Even when I lift him out of the bath and try to shake the water off him and lower him into a standing position, he refuses to put his legs down. Same thing at the beach. Except at the beach I made him dip his toes in the ocean which resulted in hysterical crying. Strange child.

As for #1 and #2, these are causing a few hazards. The no sitting thing is mostly causing him a headache. He can now climb up things (and does it at every opportunity he can get!) but then he doesn't know how to get down. Most babies would fall backwards onto their bums in a sitting position, but mine falls backwards onto his bum and then backwards again onto his head (or sideways from a standing position and onto his head). Needless to say we often get a few tears due to this. If I attempt to put him into a sitting position he will pull his legs back up against him and try to force himself up into a standing position. I'm not sure at this point if it's a case of can't sit or won't sit but being a paranoid first time mummy, I turned to Google (duh!) and read that by 9 months old they should be able to sit unassisted by now and if not then you should see a doctor. Cue a bit of panic. But then I spoke to someone in my IVF group who mentioned that their daughter was the same and didn't sit until they were 1. So I will try not to be overly concerned at this point and ride it out as one of his quirks. Albeit one that causes a few tears per day.

Then comes #2. He doesn't like touching food or any strange textures that he is not used to. This is where the obstacles of being a working mum kicks in. My MIL does all three daily meals so it's hard for me to be consistent on this particular quirk as I am not the one feeding him during the week and I can't expect her to let him get filthily covered in food and bathed every day to try and teach him how to feed himself. He will eat his biccies and rusks, but anything else (like toast, sandwiches or fruit) gets promptly screwed up or flicked off his hand. This is something I need to work on as he should be eating snacks by now and not just being a little prince who eats all food off a spoon! Although, I can see how that could be appealing! So this Easter, my goal is to get messy with him and introduce him to a range of foods and textures and see what happens. Except, we did try this last night and he would not even attempt to touch any of the food but happily picked up the plastic bowl, dumped the contents and proceeded to bang it on the highchair. Wish me luck!

Does anyone else have a baby with similar quirks? What are your bubs quirks?

6 comments:

  1. I don't know about this stuff first hand. But if he keeps it up and it's worrying you, his pediatrician can refer you to an occupational therapist, I think that this sort of stuff is exactly what they deal with. Maybe they will have some good ideas for you.

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  2. BTW, what are biccies and rusks?

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  3. I always have to enter my comment 3 times before it sticks, so know that I am quite violent to my phone by the time it goes to print. Urgh!

    I am not going to risk writing a novel. But just wanted to say you shouldn't google. No kid is the same. He just has his own personality. In Aus we have early child clinics that are free. This is where you form a mothers group and learn. It's run by pediatric nurses. Hoping NZ has the same. Also the benefit of daycare is they pick up concerns. They are trained to look for things, and they actually detected the concerns with my friends son who has been diagnosed with MD. Kindy teachers also expressed alot of concern for B's mate who kept fainting at kindy, and ended up having a brain tumour. But I know child are IS expensive, we pay $14,000 per yr. So it's not for everyone.

    Maybe get your husband or MIL to try these things too. Maybe he is just a little shit to you. For some reason unknown, kids tend to be the worst behaved for their mum. Apparently you have to introduce foods to kids 6+ times before they will accept or even try it.

    Sorry, just 1 more point. There is a lot of research into milestones and what happens if they are skipped. My bosses daughter didn't crawl and they think it's why she has reading issues now. Her brain is wired differently and on a page the white is what she focuses on instead of the black words. Weird but they have had a lot of experts look into it.

    That's it, promise!

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  4. My girls (about 3 weeks older than Cohen) both can sit unassisted (but can't pull themselves up), but when they started to get really good at standing, they just wanted to stand all the time. They both did/do that thing when you're trying to sit them down, they keep their legs stiff because they are trying to stay in a standing position. It sounds more like he's wanting to stand, and also not quite sure how to get properly back into sitting... at this point, I really wouldn't think it's something to worry about. We see an occupational therapist for other things because they were preemies, and the only thing they are looking for is continuous progress... it doesn't matter so much that they are behind as long as they are continuing to change week by week on their own developmental curve. Oh, and the food thing, combined with the water thing makes me think of some possible sensory processing stuff... if he's sensitive to the feel of water on his feet or the texture of food in his hands, I'd be on the lookout for if he also is sensitive to tags on his neck in his clothing, or other kinds of touch. There's a wide spectrum and some kids are just more sensitive to that kind of thing. One of ours is a more sensitive kid and she doesn't like the feel of the bib around her neck and is always trying to paw it off. So much of this kind of stuff can just be a quirky phase that will pass, but I know it's so hard not to worry! (Me: fellow paranoid first time mummy) ;)

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  5. I think everything C is doing is absolutely normal. He will learn everything in his own time. We also thought Callum was going to go from rolling, straight to walking because of the stiff leg thing but weeks later he went to commando and then crawling. He still gets spoon-fed for some meals, although he can use all utensils - makes life so much less stressful when you are busy. Giving C different tastes and textures is a great idea. Just watching their personalities shine through with their quirky behaviours is classic. Right now Callum has an issue whilst he eats soup and it dribbles down his chin, he just loses it!

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