Thursday, August 18, 2011

Where is all that food going????

Our little Jakey is evidently too skinny. He was at the 10th percentile at his 9-month checkup, down from the 50% percentile at his 6-month, and the percentile for his height and head circumference have also dropped drastically. The pediatrician gave us some ideas for bulking him up (we can give him dairy now, just no cow's milk yet). So we've added fatty Greek yogurt, cheese, ice cream (some good egg-free options out there; I like Blue Bell :), butter, and LOTS of protein to his diet. I've also ramped up my pump output with fenugreek and curry. I smell like maple syrup, but the milk is a'flowin'. In spite of our efforts, Jake hasn't gained even an ounce since we ramped up his diet. Which begs the question - where in the heck is all that food going?

Jake has taken to these measures just fine. He LOVES cheese, bacon, chicken, pasta and just about anything else we put in front of him, and he drinks plenty of my milk at daycare. We've added butter to just about anything we can, and we make sure he has plenty of time to sit in his high chair and eat during dinnertime. In spite of the mountain of food I find in his high chair when he's done eating, a good deal of it does make it into his tummy. And there's not much I can do about the coordination issue that leads to the mess, especially since Jake refuses to eat anything from a spoon.

I feel like we're at a crossroads. We can go overkill on trying to get Jake to eat more, likely leading to issues with healthy eating habits down the road. Or we can take this in stride and just wait for things to get better. I'm going with the latter of course, but I dread the weight-check appointment with our pediatrician in a few weeks. I just hope she realizes we're not starving our child. At least I hope we're not.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

My kid was 10% weight, 90% height after he started walking/crawling too. We kept a muffin tin of pincer-friendly food up on the table and nursed in dark quiet places, but other than that we didn't worry about it. He was eating when he was hungry and food was always around, so I figured he knew what he was doing. He's a perfectly healthy 4 and 3/4 year old now who never eats when he's not hungry and never stuffs himself overfull, even if there's ice cream. As a slightly overweight adult with insulin problems, I think he's probably on a healthier track than kids who were force fed in order to please their pediatricians.

After all, someone has to be in the 10th percentile. A kid who is skinny from exercising a lot seems like a pretty healthy datapoint.

Mandy said...

Thanks for stopping by (both of you?)!

This is pretty much what I've been thinking. I noticed that he wasn't gaining weight prior to the appointment, but I figured that just went along with his changing body. In the past 3 months, he's gone from a baby that could barely crawl to an almost-walker. I was just surprised that he hadn't gained any height or head circumference either. Oh well, I'm sure it will all even out. I'd rather a skinny happy baby than a plump baby bound to have food issues later on in life.

Meadowview Thymes said...

Mandy, the doctor was "lecturing" my DIL with every visit about Adam's size. Angela is not even 5 ft, and Kevin is about 5'7. Adam was just not a good baby eater. Now Adam is 2 (on Sunday) and he is a great toddler eater. Now he loves milk! He was a healthy baby, but not interested in feeding. He is still in a low percentile, but the doctor doesn't say a word anymore! : ) Ben is such a cutie!!!