I had to take her to the hospital for blood work and a UA. The blood work was quick, but it took all day to get a urine sample! I started out trying to get her to pee in the hat. Well she heard me say 'potty' to the ped and she peed on the way to the toilet. Little stink! :P Then the first bag leaked. The second and third bags got poo in them because Sara did what she never does and pooped in the middle of the day. TWICE! The fourth time I got her to go in the hat. Hallelujah! Hours at the hospital for two teaspoons of pee!
I have never had a problem with a baby gaining weight. I never start solids until about a year. My breastmilk has been enough for 5 other babies (Kyla was formula fed). The hard part is that Sara is NOT interested in eating food. I did get three bites of baby yogurt down her last night and two bites of cereal mixed with juice and yogurt. To do that I had to hold her head and give her fish lips. I also got her to drink two teaspoons of formula with a medicine spoon. I hate having to do that. The ped seems pretty confident that it is just that Sara needs more calories. The blood work and UA were just a double check.
I wouldn't worry if Sara was just small, all my babies have been. She's not just small though. She is at least 4 lbs (a huge difference for a baby) lighter than my next smallest baby was at her age and she was the biggest at birth (8 lbs 14 oz). I am not a big fan of the growth charts, I think they can cause undue stress, but when I see Sara's I cannot help but cringe. She started out at the 75th percentile and is now at the 3rd.
This started at her four month check up when she'd only gained one pound in two months. From four to five months she gained a pound though. I had started taking fenugreek, marshmallow, alfalfa, vitamins, and DHA. I was pumping for awhile and trying to get Sara to nurse longer. I thought things were going well.
I am discouraged. The only words I could read on the scrips for the lab work yesterday was the word 'failure'. That is what I feel like. A big failure. I feel bad for not realizing that she wasn't gaining...
*The blood work came back fine, still waiting on the UA.*
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Goodness. Just so you know, i have a little one too. she was 18 pounds at one year old and is now 27 pounds at 4 years old and can wear size 24 months. She was below the growth chart at one time, but got bumped up to the 5% at 18mo. I think she's about the 10% now.
Her "little" brother weighs 22 pounds at 6 months old and her older brothers weighed 25 and 26 at one year. Her older sisters were 22 and 23 pounds at one year. They all maintained a 60% and above average.
I didn't start any of my babies on food until they were a year old and even had to coax my littlest one to start. She just wasn't interested either...still isn't.
I hope you find that she is healthy and your worries are unfounded.
Thanks. I need all the encouragement I can get.
Trina,
I of course understand how this feels. I did get a lactaid, but never used it. It may be just the thing for you. Let me know, and I can mail it to you. Go to http://www.lact-aid.com/ to check it out!
Love ya!
Shelley
Shelley, I love you!!
HI!!! You don't know me (don't you just love comments from people you don't know :P). A friend of mine (Megan) posted a link to your blog for me (and a few others who may have insight/experience) to read your plight.
First I am mom to five beautiful blessings...so experience I definitely have.
My firstborn was always in the 90-95% range (sometimes going as far as over 100% range, but typically stays in the 90-95% area). Our second was totally opposite. ONCE in eight years she has made it to double digits (I celebrated when she got to 10%, but it didn't last long). She typically stays around 3-7% (sometimes less then 0%). Our third stays around 50%, fourth is like our second and stays around 3-7% and our fifth so far is around 30-50%.
Anyway, back to our non-grower.... Hannah is her name... I had lots of people keep telling me for years that something HAD to be wrong with her. I even had a WIC office tell me that if she didn't grow by the next check in they were going to report us to CPS. (That's when we stopped getting WIC because of how we were treated there at that office). Every dr we have ever seen though has only said one thing...how is she developmentally...and if she is fine then that's just how she is. She was a good size at birth (7lb4oz at 37 weeks)...and she hit every milestone she needed to...not early granted, but she eventually hit them and all within the right time frame. She is a very laid back learner and always takes her time with things, but she eventually gets it. She started walking at 15mo when her feet finally grew to a size 1...before that she couldn't balance on them enough to walk. I could go through and list every milestone, but I won't bore you. We had her checked for everything under the sun (because of an allergy that we spent over a year tracking down...it ended up being corn syrup of all things), and her growth hormones were right in line with where they should have been, even though she was so small. She just had her 8th birthday last week, and she is still small. She and her 4yo sister (who's birthday was also last week) share clothes. Hannah is about three inches taller, but it's all in her legs...her torso is so small (and she is so skinny) that she was easily still fit in 18-24mo shirts if we let her. She can also squeeze her tiny hiney into her brother's 9mo jean shorts. That's just how she is. She eats, and eats, and EATS...but she doesn't grow that much.
So please don't let them push you around. Follow your mommy gut. If your gut tells you that something may be wrong then get it checked out (your dr can do a blood test to test for growth hormones to make sure they are all in line with what they should be). Make sure she is eating enough (if you can't tell from nursing, you could weigh her on a really detailed scale before and after each feed and you will get the amount she ate). If your gut tells you though that this is just how she is, and if she is hitting her own milestones in her own time and that time is still in the "normal" range, then I would just keep an eye on it, and go on with life. Don't worry incessantly over something you have no control over.
Have you asked around your family and your hubby's family as to how you two grew as kids? Maybe there is a genetic link there (in our daughter, it definitely is genetics..she takes after my hubby)
Anyway...I hope you are encouraged by another mom telling you that it sounds perfectly normal to me (even though you don't know me!!)
:D
~Sarah
Thank You Sarah. It is nice to hear about others experiences.
I had felt concerned about her weight before the appt that we first found out she wasn't gaining well. I am not thinking that her life is indanger, but I do think that she ought to be gaining more.
As for genetics, all of my babies have been on the slim side and so was I as a baby. Dh was not a little baby or child. I would not be concerned if she was closer to what the other kids had been like, but four pounds less than my next smallest is an awful lot of difference.
For now I will take it day by day. If after getting her to eat more she does not put on weight then I will take it that she is just going to be small.
Hi! Another one that Megan sent over :) I'm not a terribly experienced mom, but I'm an RN, I read an awful lot, and I hope to someday be a Lactation Consultant.
My #1 suggestion would be to make an appointment with an LC or with the hospital to weigh her before/after a nursing session just to see how much she's getting. If she's getting plenty of milk, then you can likely chalk it up to genetics and just the way she grows - and then you'd at least have something to show the doctors!
As for extra calories, I would stay away from formula and opt for foods high in calories and good fats, such as avocado, whole fat yogurt, and cheese, if she'll eat them!
There is the problem...she will not eat. I have been trying, but I can only get a bite or two down her. I also don't want to introduce too many foods too fast, just in case she has an allergy, ykwim?
I think I may consult with an LC. A friend gave me the name of a good one. I just need to call.
some babies just aren't interested in food at her age...it's normal and it's ok.
I slightly disagree with Kim on one thing...with most kids, food before a year old needs to be for the purpose of experimenting and playing and tasting, not for the purpose of nutrition. Very few actually NEED it before closer to or over a year old (I have had one so far that did NEED it though, and I followed his lead there). Many dr's will back up that the fact that food before a year isn't necessarily a necessity if you search around...including one of my favorite sources, Dr Sears. I have had two babies that simply were not interested in food until they were over a year old...in fact it was the two that were/are so small still, though I am not sure it had a lot to do with it. One of ours was completely not interested until one day at church when someone accidentally gave her a grilled cheese sandwich and she consumed it before I got back from taking a kid to the bathroom...lol.
So, if she won't eat, then don't push it...eventually she will in her own time.
I think the best you can do is
1. get a check up just to make sure it isn't some other problem (which you have and are doing already)
2. work on wrapping your mind around this just being how she grows (which weighing her before and after nursings may help your mind be more at ease)
3. let her body grow and be what it needs when it needs it, not what all of your other kids have done at her age.
btw...your kids are so lovely!!! I just love seeing pictures of large families!!!
I also have two that didn't want food until over a year. Ellis and Wesley didn't want food until 15 and 17 mos respectively. They were the biggest of my babies though. Gilbert, one of the leaner ones, wanted food early. I think I started him about 9 mos.
I would not worry if she was a bit closer to the same as the others. Four pounds is a HUGE difference in a baby. I am not crazy worried since she is fine otherwise, but I would feel better is she put on some weight. If she continues the way she has been she'll be barely 15 lbs at a year. That does worry me just a little.
And thanks, I think my kidlets are pretty cute too, but I think I may be biased! ;)
I would have to look back at her baby book, but I think Hannah was 17lb at 12mo. I know she stayed in 6-9mo clothes forever it seemed like. Her pics of her blowing out her candles on her third birthday cake, she was wearing a dress that our other daughter grew out of by a year old.
Our now two year old is also small for his age...stays around the 7% range also. As I am going through the laundry Iam pulling out anything less then 12mo in sizes. Some he could still wear if he could get them over his big head...lol. He is going to be 30mo this month, and is just barely in 18mo clothes. He weighs in at a whopping 22lb. Last spring (April I think?) he weighed 17lb (he turned 2yo in July)
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