Monday, December 11, 2006

"He Seems Healthy To Me"

We went to the International Adoption Clinic last Friday for advice and help on our "bottle striking" baby. Much to my disappointment, they didn't seem to really have any information for us. I came out of the appointment feeling like an over-paranoid mother. I tried so hard to convey to the nurse practitioner what the problem was, but she didn't seem to want to listen. She commented many times on how healthy he looks and that he's in the 70% for weight. Yes, these are good things, and no, Ben doesn't look like he is wasting away...but as I kept reminding her, it's because I am constantly and persistently trying to get him to take his bottle. She didn't seem to understand that it's a daily battle that lasts until bedtime...or at least wouldn't acknowledge what I was saying. Luckily, it's not up to Ben to decide how much HE thinks he should be eating. As evidence from yesterday, he only had a whopping 17 ounces of food all day long...as I wanted to see what he would take on his own. I guess I will keep plugging away at this and hope that it's a phase that will be ending soon. My own pediatrician had some advice for me which I am in the middle of trying. She said to simply feed him every 4 hours, let him take what he wants and don't force anything else. Sooner or later, he will decide he's hungry and if he wants to eat, then he better do it when that bottle is being offered. I'm hoping he'll catch on soon. I am so glad that insurance pays for this visit to the Int'l Adop. Clinic...if I had to pay for that worthless appointment out of my own pocket, I would have been steamed to say the least.


Some things that we already knew, but was nice to hear was that Ben is developmentally right on target. He is doing well with learning the new skills that babies his age are working on. Within the normal range, there are babies who do things faster and some who do things slower. His large motor skills are in that normal range, but are on the slower track. They said that is very typical of babies from Korea because they are held so much by the foster mothers in the podaegies.


They also noted that he is bonding well with us. He was happy to smile at the people in the room, but he was excited when I picked him up. He cuddled in and grabbed my face with his hands. I have been working a lot with him in regards to attachment over the last month, and I feel like we have made a lot of improvement. It warms my heart to see him responding to me like that. It's really amazing how much babies respond when love is offered on a consistant basis.


I have been helping Ben learn how to drink from a cup these days. He thinks he is something else. You can just see him stick his little chest out and hold his head high like he has accomplished something really cool. We are still in the "learning phase" as a lot of liquid pours out of his mouth, but that doesn't really matter to him! He gets so excited and smiles huge smiles at me while I ooh and aahh over how well he is doing. His favorite is when I say "WOW" like I am really amazed at him. He gets a kick out of that...but "WOW" does he get mad when Mommy decides that we are all done and it's time to go play. Sometimes it can take a good 5 minutes to call him back down again. :)


Thanks to everyone who had ideas and advice regarding the strike. I'm sure we will be back to normal eating soon. Must keep a positive attitude, right?!?

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