On Doctors.

Short post here.

Today was Tristin's 9 month checkup with our family doctor. Head, 97th percentile. Weight, 97th percentile. Height.... 60th percentile. Oh well, he's short and chubby. Doc's opinion is that Tris is healthy and happy, quite precocious as far as his standing/walking and babbling go. He asked the usual questions: still breastfed, no bottles or formula? (Nope.) Never a bottle in bed with him? (Um, see last question.) What and how much/often is he eating for solids? (This was kind of a longish discussion, since Tris is actually a bit behind on this front ever since his bout with a tummy bug last month, but the conclusion was just to keep doing what we're doing as far as offering several times a day, and encouraging finger foods and food play.)

And finally, the kicker: Is he sleeping through the night? (Nope, not even close. Still nursing 3-4 times/night.) Wait, HOW many times per night? (3-4 times. Cluster feeding from midnight to about 4.) Oh. Um. Does he take a pacifier? (Nope, never could get him to take one.) Huh. Well.

And then he asked the best question ever:

Do you mind that he's nursing that often? (Not as long as I get to nap during his afternoon nap.) How long is his afternoon nap? (2.5 hours, almost exactly.) And you feel that you're coping OK? (Like I said, I'm ok as long as I get a nap.)

Best conclusion ever:

Well. Ok then. Sounds like it's not really a problem; he is obviously using nursing to soothe himself back to sleep, and as long as you don't have much of a problem with that, we don't really need to worry about it right now.

I know for many mums, this would seem like a bad answer. However, in a world where breastfeeding past 6 months is an accomplishment, and breastfeeding into toddlerhood is actually frowned upon, it's kind of refreshing to know that Tristin's doctor has a bit more of a worldly attitude about it. Many medical professionals (including the several in my immediate family) are of the opinion that if a baby isn't sleeping through the night by 8 months of age, there is Something Wrong. Which usually translates into Mum is Doing Something Wrong. Which usually translates to weaning, something I, and certainly Tristin, have no interest in doing right now. So it's nice to hear a doctor say, "Hey, if it's working for you, no problem. If not, then we'll see what we can do about it, ok?"