An Ear Infection For The Win..Wait, No, Fail!

Yep, another ear infection for the girl. The doctor literally gave me a knuckle pound for bringing her in (did your eyebrows raise too?) ...that was after I had explained to him that I literally debated for days whether her cold was worth calling him for. The coughing and hacking is the drainage and her lack of wanting a bottle is due to the pain she gets from swallowing.

After he knuckle bumped me for bringing my kid in to get some relief (I actually do love him and would recommend him to anyone in the Baltimore area, despite my sarcasm) I proceeded to tell him I had a ton of questions. I followed him back to his office and picked his brains on mostly the Peanut's eating habits. If she doesn't pick the bottle back up then what? She can't have eggs, right? You said by 9 months she would be eating meat, but she has no teeth? Can she have yogurt? Should I be giving her finger foods like puffs and cheerios? Do I still need to wait 4 days before introducing new foods? She has eczema on her leg, what can I do? He chuckled and very generously answered each and every one of my questions.

I took my mom along with me, or rather she brought the baby and I met her from my work, and she posed an interesting question. Why isn't the Peanut weighed at every appointment? After all, when I was a kid I was weighed at every appointment and as an adult, I am, too. So, I asked him to answer her question (because I hadn't the faintest clue). Short answer is kids don't gain weight in a consistent pattern. They gain here, lose there and it evens out in the wash. Weighing kids in between appointments when weight isn't gauged (since they only get weighed/measured during well baby appointments) would be more worrisome to the parent than helpful to the pediatrician.

So all in all a successful appointment. I'll recap for you what I learned today:

A fever and pulling at the ear is a full blown ear infection that causes a child a great amount of pain so a brewing ear infection is hard to recognize and cleverly disguises itself as a cold.
Granimals yogurt shakes can be substituted for formula if she doesn't pick the bottle back up.
We can lose the bottle at 10 months.
She can have eggs at 10 months.
She shouldn't have meat before 8 months, and she can eat meat without teeth (if my grandma can do it, she can).
She should be getting finger foods .
Yanicream should clear the eczema but per my poll in my Facebook group, California Baby Cream works wonders, too.
I don't need to wait days to introduce new foods.
I am a neurotic mother. I wear my title proudly.