Last week I took both kids to their well baby visits. Caleb was 27 lbs and 35 1/2 inches and was growing perfect on the charts. Mckinlee who has always been tiny was 12 lbs 3 ounces and 25 1/2 inches. That may not seem like a big deal, but she only gained 4 ounces in a month and a half. She dropped from the 10% percentile in weight to the 5% percentile, and the doctor voiced concern for the first time. He thinks that due to her being so mobile she is burning off all the calories from my milk very quickly. He said I may just not make fatty milk. I was heartbroken to hear this, and I feared that I would have to stop nursing her. However, he put us on a "build the bulge" diet, and asked us to come in a month for weight check.
Our diet consists of 1/2 fruit 1/2 veggie mixed with cereal and breast milk 4 times a day, and 2 ounces of pediasure every day or every other day. I also nurse her every 3 hours. Hopefully this will help little miss pack on a few pounds. If not we will discuss "fatty formulas". I am open to any option that will keep her healthy, but I love the free aspect of breastfeeding, and the bond that we share. I do not think I am ready to give that up yet. So, my prayers have changed from asking for a petite baby to asking for a little bit larger baby.
Just to take in how different my children were as babies I will leave you with some pictures of Caleb and Mckinlee at 6 months. Caleb was just a "little" larger.
4 comments:
Try eating avocado. My lactation consultant suggested it to me when my daughter was having trouble gaining appropriately. Something about all the good fat in avocado really helps your milk be richer. I definitely notice a difference in how much fat is in my milk (I pump) when I eat avocado versus when I don't. The lactation consultant told me to eat one a day, which is A LOT for me. So I started eating homemade guacamole and chips as a snack most days.
I would guess that any whole-fat dairy (or ice cream!) would work the same way.
I have two small children, and had to give up nursing them both around six months. They both plateaued in weight at this point. Both of my boys were early movers which I'm sure had something to do with it also but I guess in wasjust in the cards for me to only nurse 6 months. I worked harder the second time around hoping this wouldn't happen, with the same result. It wasn't worth the stress for me to worry about their weight any more than I already do.(they are both under the 10% mark).
Good luck!!!
Oh, pediasure is expensive too- Owen has to drink it daily. :(
We go to our 2 year; 9 month well visits next Tuesday.
Hello, Your blog is really cool. I stumbled on it from the Feb 2011 Baby Center board.
I wanted to ask you where you bought the adorable outfit with the first initial and the monogrammed bow. I have been looking for something like that for my 6 month old girl Delaney.
Have a great day.
Katya
We had the same problem with our first and I"m worried about it with #2 coming soon. It seems like your dr is very supportive. Mine pretty much scared me into switching to formula and I regret that. I'm glad they are letting you feed her fruits and veggies. That alone will probably help and then you can continue to BF. I'm glad someone left a comment about avacado. I'll have to give that a try. When I asked a lactation consultant they suggested fenugreek which will increase production but she wasn't sure if it would help increase fat content which was my problem also. Good luck.
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