Silverhand

So update time. Nikolai(my son) had two blood tests taken a month apart. Endocrinologist does not see any hormonal problems yet and says you can't really known until he is 2. We will continue to monitor until he is 2 before we do anything else. Nikolai has had a growth squirt since I posted and it seems he is on the chart for height. The reason it's hard to tell now is because we went to measuring height with him standing up since he is walking now. He is a really skinny kid. I did not expect diagnosis and such to take such a long time. Still breast feeding. We go thought periods of eating a lot(solids + breast) usually coincides with a growth spurt. He is not exclusively breast fed anymore but big proportion of his calories still comes from breast milk. 70/30 breast milk to solids when he is not eating a lot and more like 50/50 when he is eating a lot.

So an update. We went off solids for now and doing all breast milk. It seems our little one is just very small. We did pump and had a lot of milk. He just eats his fill which is significantly less then what is expected. Doc suggested to space out feedings to get him hungry, so he would eat more. Either way I will give everyone an update in a month at our next weigh in. We might have to go to endocrinologist for some testing.

So me and my wife are panicking a little bit. My son has not gained any weight in over a month. He plateaued at around 5 months and has been gaining weight very slowly. Each month it is within measurement error. He is now 8.5 month and weights 16lb and 4oz to 16lb and 8oz. He has been exclusively breastfed until six months. We are now introducing solids in the form of rice porridge, steamed carrots, wheat cereal and other foods like that. He readily eats everything, prefers homemade to store bought. But he does not eat enough. He eats what he wants and then refuses. A very distracted breast feeder. Prefers to play with nipple and milk is just coming out being wasted. Wife prefers to feed him before naps and at night when he is sleepy. He is happy, never cries, plays non stop, thin but has fat cheeks, chubby arms and etc. My wife read some resources on baby related message boards. People say that plateau happens for breast fed babies when solids are introduced. Same was told to me by my co-workers when I asked around. Our doctor wants to see us in two weeks to see if he gains weight. He gave my wife some advice on feeding. It amounted to pumping breast milk and measuring how much she gives. She is very much against it. She thinks that feeding from the breast is far better then bottle. I am just looking for any advice from any one familiar with this. For now we are going off solids again and will try to go all breast milk.

Because cutting US off will have major repercussions on the world and the Chinese probably don't want to upset anything. Right now they are building a trade empire. Cutting US off will piss off US government which will lash out at Chinese interests. It will also force US to live with in it's means resulting in US reemerging as a real competition. It is good for the world but bad for financial elites in China. They have the same system as us and they want to be the ones reaping the benefits not their people.

Rayne As a disclaimer I don't have children of my own but I do listen to stefan often. I heard him talk about tantrums(or something similar) on several occasions. I recall a strategy he used. He would negotiate with the child ahead of coming out. So he would say to his daughter "We can go to the park but we have to leave at this time." He would show her his watch and where the arrow needs to be when they have to go. Then he would remind her of the promise and show her the watch at the time when they agreed. She would sometime try and reneg on the promise so he would try to renegotiate. I think you can apply the same type of tactic with your son. Next time you go out in the park with him, tell him that you would like to go out with a friend aswell. Try to come up with an outcome that both of you are happy. How much play time he would get before or after the meeting. What he is allowed to do while you are spending time with your friend. But to be honest there is a thought that come to mind when I hear your story. Why are you bringing your child when you are going to hang out with your friend? Why can't your husband take on the task of occupying your son if you are hanging out with someone? Also this is not relevant to you but I feel like sharing. Why do some people decide to have children only to expect that the child should live at their expense. This is directed at someone who would balk at the thought of negotiating with a child. After all they can just as well never have children so they will not inconvenience them selves with all the responsibilities of a parent. My theory is that parenting where a child is subservient to the parent is what raise people who can not show empathy. I wish you a happy ending in the story of tantrums .