Mama Said

I remember the first time it happened. I was at the doctor’s office for Ironflower’s six month check up. I was so proud of my happy baby girl. She was such a good sleeper and so personable. I was sure the pediatrician would be as impressed as I was.

Of course she wasn’t.

Worse than unimpressed, however, was the fact that she was concerned. My girl wasn’t gaining weight as quickly as she had been. I had to come back in a month for a weight check. In the meantime, I was to get her to eat more. I tried to get her eat more, but it didn’t help. And even though her height was fine and she was happy and had met all of her developmental milestones, the next appointment was even worse. She hadn’t gained enough weight. The message that I was doing something wrong was loud and clear. We spent another month putting formula into her baby food and offering her ice cream. The doctor still wasn’t happy and sent us to a nutritionist at the children’s hospital. Who took one look at Ironflower and pronounced her fine. She suggested using real food instead of baby food (apparently there is little nutritional value in baby food, it’s merely practice food) but that was it. Our daughter was just skinny. We hadn’t done anything wrong. And even though I had suspected that all along (in between bouts of terror that she had some horrible disease), it was nice to be reassured. We then switched pediatricians.

Not that that was the last time an expert failed me.

This is why I like Mamapedia. Had I been more of an internet junkie then, I could have found moms who had been through the same thing. Moms who wanted to give me advice, but whose advice I could read at my leisure and dismiss or take without affecting a friendship. Mamapedia is a compendium of all local Mama Source articles and advice, so you can get advice specific to your area or get advice from moms across the country. There are categories or you can search for specific terms. And it’s free.

I love it when Mom Central turns me on to helpful websites.