With my son I never worried about weight and percentages when we went to the doctor for well baby check ups. He was always above the 50th percentile and usually was above the 75th percentile until he reached 2 years old. He was a fat, chubby, happy little baby and I loved it. I received comments quite frequently about how “healthy” he was. It made me feel like a good mama.
My son never had any food issues.
He also took a bottle quite well from the beginning and ate purees without a problem. Nowadays his eating is sporadic, as is any toddler’s, and I’m lucky to get in a full meal with him but he’s healthy and he snacks.
Then my daughter came. And since the beginning she’s been making me worry.
First came her refusal of the bottle. That lead to me quitting my job to nurse her full time… er… care for her and feed her. Then came her refusal of purees. She would only take one or two bites and then push the food away until I gave it to her in small pieces or chunks. That wasn’t much help since she didn’t get her first tooth until she was over 11 months old. Feeding was a very big chore.
But we kept at it and I thought she was getting enough food. Especially since she wasn’t yet one and she was still nursing.
However at each well-baby visit she seemed to be dropping in percentiles. And not by a little. She went from 50th to 40th. Then she hovered around 25th for a while before dropping down the 10th at her 9 month appointment. By her 1 year appointment she was down to the 3rd percentile however her height and head circumference seemed to be staying on their own curve so the doctor wasn’t worried.
But at her last check up, at 15 months, she fell off the chart for weight and is now below 0 percentile. And I’m kinda scared.
We have a weight check in 5 weeks.
I’m going to be doing everything I can to see if I can get her back up into the positive. The doctor reassured me that this is just a caloric thing. It has nothing to do with lack of nutrition. So I’m increasing the calories in this house.
I just purchased full fat milk… cream top milk to be exact. And I have full fat cream cheese, peanut butter, avocados, heavy cream, etc. She loves the green monster smoothies I make for myself so I’m going to start making her full fat versions to hope the extra calories do their thing.
And then we’ll go in for the weight check. And hope for the best!
Do you have any great pound-packing recipes for me to try with her? I’d love the suggestions!
