Waiting

I love blogging early in the morning, before my day really starts. Grant likes to sleep in (just like his parents), so if I get up with Trevor and send him off to work, I get to sit quietly in the pre-eight AM stillness and just wait for my little guy to get up. It's too early for people to be mowing their lawns, I don't hear the neighbors in the basement, and this morning there isn't any wind or cloud. The sun is already bright (this is Southern Alberta, after all), and if I open the front door I can hear crickets and smell the dew on the grass. It's a great time of day, although I usually don't appreciate it like I should. I love sleep an awful lot.

The title of the post is in reference to my actual subject - the waiting I'm doing before I start Grant on solid foods (if you can call rice/oat/wheat cereal a solid). I've read a lot of literature that has found that their little intestines are just not ready until the full six months old, and babies who don't get solids before six months have less gastrointestinal, respiratory, and ear infections - I'm all for that, if I can help it. Ever since he was born I've felt strongly about waiting the full six months, without having to read it or be told. It's been that way with a lot of things for me - breastfeeding, how I've always put him to bed, when to use baby powder or diaper cream, when to give him baby Tylenol, immunizations - I haven't needed other moms to give me advice, I feel as though it's come so naturally to me. I never nursed Grant lying down when he was a newborn because I needed to see his latch, and it was much too hard to do when he was that small, and he never slept in the bed with me, always his own in between feedings, and now he has no sleep issues at all and has been sleeping through the night since six weeks old.

I definitely have to give credit to my mom - she taught me a lot about babies, young children, and their development. And I'm proud of the fact that my doctor in Vancouver, who delivers many, many babies, told me that I was the most natural mother she's ever seen (and her youngest obstetrics patient). I bought What to Expect the First Year (because it looks pretty right alongside What to Expect When You're Expecting on my bookshelf) and I never read it because I have absolutely no concerns. I feel so good about myself as a mom and so relaxed. I do things for Grant as my feelings dictate - that being said, I feel strongly about getting him immunized and waiting to start solids.

Now, I'm not totally naive - I know that I have an exceptionally GOOD baby. He's using his voice more and more, but still never cries. If I were a mother of a fussy baby who didn't sleep, then my opinion on starting solid foods could be entirely different. I know that I would be going crazy if Grant still wasn't sleeping through the night and I'd be desperate for sleep. I certainly don't mean to condemn anyone for their choices - I only know my own baby and am trying to do the best for him.

I don't know if other moms feel pressure to start their babies on solids before six months - the only time I felt any kind of pressure was at the doctor's office here in Lethbridge at his four month check up, and the doctor said I could start solids soon, around five months, and I said "No, he can wait." Although right now, it seems to me that I'm in a small minority.

I'm determined to wait the full six months, and then he can start cereals and learn how to drink from a cup, since he won't take the bottle while Trevor and I are out on date night anyway. I'm very excited about teaching him to drink from a cup =)

Seriously, being a mom is the best thing ever.