Charlie O'Brien: Why I’m dreading my son's two-year check

by Charlie O'Brien

I haven’t seen a health visitor since Noah’s one-year check. We haven’t needed to.

To be honest I lost all faith in the system when she told me that breast milk no longer had any nutritional value for my son past a year. I’m not sure what she thought suddenly happened to human milk past the age of 12 months and I did in fact go through a complaints procedure because the lack of correct advice and knowledge really worried me.

Apart from not wanting to see a health visitor - we’ve not really needed to see anyone to be honest. Noah’s been very healthy and happy all year and I’ve not had any major concerns.

That said – he still doesn’t eat properly and I think his speech may be a little behind.

Noah started off really enjoying all his food

Speech is a hard one isn’t it? He’s copying lots of words now and communicates his needs to us very well. But whenever I meet with my NCT friends I realise that Noah’s speech is the least developed of all his friends.

I partly put it down to the fact that most of them are in childcare due to their mums working and I think children mixing out of the home often come on quicker.

'The thought of Noah being referred to a speech therapist so young somehow makes me feel like I’ve failed'

When I’ve read the targets for the two-year check I know that he’s probably not saying 50 words (clearly anyway!) and doesn’t often put two or three words together, except when saying 'hiya Daddy' and 'hiya Isla' who is our Labrador. Poor mummy gets left out entirely!

Is it something I should be worried about?

The thought of Noah possibly being referred to a speech therapist at such a young age somehow makes me feel like I’ve failed – even though we’ve always talked to him lots and read with him every single day.

As for eating – well I am simply dreading the conversation with the health visitor.

Noah prefers playing with his veg to actually eating it

Noah’s hatred of most foods has been the single biggest source of stress for me since he was about eight months old. He now won’t eat a SINGLE vegetable. Not one. Nothing.

I already feel like you’re silently judging me through your phone or computer. Trust me as a vegetarian – vegetables are a big part of my life!

I’ve genuinely tried EVERYTHING from not pressuring him, to familiarisation games, to offering a different variety of foods regularly. Nothing and I mean NOTHING will tempt him to try those vitamin packed veggies. And it breaks my heart daily.