Today we had the, um, pleasure of taking Charlotte to the doctor for a well-baby visit. Yaaaaay. I've pretty much dreaded these visits from day 1, and they've only gotten worse as she's gotten older.
See, here's the thing: I have a bean.
Little miss Charlotte was born weighing in at a whopping 5 pounds, 5.4 ounces. Oddly enough they had diagnosed me with gestational diabetes, which usually translates as "you're going to have a huge baby." Not so in my case, and part of me truly wonders if it was a misdiagnosis in the first place. Anyways.... She's been tiny from the start.
Even before we left the hospital she was gaining weight. The day after, she had surpassed her birth weight by a few ounces. (Hooray for breastmilk!)
Somewhere along the way (around 4 months, I think) our pediatrician started to get "fussy" about her weight. Our first pediatrician pushed formula on me, and I all but told her to shove it. The second was much more kind, but still showed obvious concern. I get that it's their job to be concerned if their patient isn't healthy. But she is healthy.
Come on. Look at that face!
She's always met developmental milestones, although sometimes she does things at her own pace. She's never had any kind of health problem, aside from jaundice at birth and reflux. That's it. And her reflux was never bad enough to keep her from gaining. She always gained something, just never enough for a doctor to be happy.
At first it really, really, really stressed me out. Which, if you're a breastfeeding mama, you know that stress only causes more problems with feeding and the amount of milk they get. The first time it was mentioned, I did everything I could to up my supply. I pumped, I supplemented using our freezer stash, I took fenugreek....you name it. And then when my baby was stressed out from me being stressed out, I said enough. I still took fenugreek, but I stopped freaking out so much.
More recently, I have come to accept the fact that I have a bean. She will probably always be small. Doctors are going to guilt-trip or give really unhelpful advice, much like I received today.
"You just need to feed her more. She should probably have 1-2 more snacks a day."
Sure. Because a snack is going to make her gain by leaps and bounds!! Plus, I'd like to know when the heck I'm supposed to fit one of those in during her schedule.... Morning: nurse, breakfast, 1.5 hr of play time, nap. Afternoon: nurse, lunch, 1.5-2 hrs of play time, nap. Evening: nurse (sometimes), snack, play, dinner, nurse, bed. I mean, maybe another snack after lunch? But I feel like that might be pushing it. She eats very well at meal times, and she often eats more than I think a baby her age normally would. *sigh* Just what do you do with that kind of advice?
Clearly we don't feed her or give her anything fattening. *eye roll*
P.S. This is one from our trip to Arkansas!
She eats. She nurses. She snacks. She plays, grows, and develops. I don't know what more they want from her. She's different. Sure, she's in the 0% for her age group. So what? All babies are different and therefore grow and develop differently.
I mean, really. Does this look like the face of a kid who isn't well-fed?!
If I had any reason to believe she was sick, I would worry. But I don't, so I'm not. And all the worry-wart doctors can kiss it. =P
Gosh, it feels freeing to finally say that!
P.S. In case you're wondering, my awesome, 13 month old bean weighs 14 pounds, 6 ounces and will probably be surpassed in weight by her 11 week old cousin in no time flat. But that's ok. =)
