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Trying Not to Panic....Baby's Blood Tests


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My DS 9 months old has not been gaining wieght very well since he was born. He weighed 8 pounds 8 oz at birth and now he weighs 15 pounds 9 oz. Gaining very slowly. He has been breastfed since birth and we started food at 4 months at the request of the Dr because of the weight. He is just now starting table foods. He's not a big eater but he does wake very frequently during the night to nurse (which I do each time he wakes). He's happy and is reaching all his milestones - in fact way ahead of what my other kids did. He doesn't seem sick so when the Dr. diagnosed him with "failure to thrive" and ordered blood tests to be honest I was surpised but wasn't really very worried. But - I called the Dr today and asked if the blood work came back. The nurse returned my call to say that the Dr needs to look up some of the values and what they mean before she talks with me and that she will not be able to call me back until tomorrow! UGH! Now of course I am worried sick and I just needed to vent and ask if anyone had some words of wisdom. I keep telling myself not to panic but it's not working! HELP!

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My DS 9 months old has not been gaining wieght very well since he was born. He weighed 8 pounds 8 oz at birth and now he weighs 15 pounds 9 oz. Gaining very slowly. He has been breastfed since birth and we started food at 4 months at the request of the Dr because of the weight. He is just now starting table foods. He's not a big eater but he does wake very frequently during the night to nurse (which I do each time he wakes). He's happy and is reaching all his milestones - in fact way ahead of what my other kids did. He doesn't seem sick so when the Dr. diagnosed him with "failure to thrive" and ordered blood tests to be honest I was surpised but wasn't really very worried. But - I called the Dr today and asked if the blood work came back. The nurse returned my call to say that the Dr needs to look up some of the values and what they mean before she talks with me and that she will not be able to call me back until tomorrow! UGH! Now of course I am worried sick and I just needed to vent and ask if anyone had some words of wisdom. I keep telling myself not to panic but it's not working! HELP!

 

 

sounds just like my nephew. He was diagnosed with an easily treatable thyroid problem.

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:grouphug:

 

My dd has always been small. In fact she didn't even reach 20 lbs until after she was 2 years old. I'm fairly certain she was no where close to 15 lbs at 9 months old. She is 5 now and weighs 35, which is still pretty small. She is very healthy. All that to say that just because he is small, doesn't mean something is wrong, he could just be a petite little boy. :)

 

I hope the tests come back to tell you everything is normal. :grouphug:

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:grouphug:

 

My dd has always been small. In fact she didn't even reach 20 lbs until after she was 2 years old. I'm fairly certain she was no where close to 15 lbs at 9 months old. She is 5 now and weighs 35, which is still pretty small. She is very healthy. All that to say that just because he is small, doesn't mean something is wrong, he could just be a petite little boy. :)

 

I hope the tests come back to tell you everything is normal. :grouphug:

I agree. Sometimes there may be a problem, and your doctor is looking at them. However, I also think that too many doctors get too hung up on weight when they look at charts and then at your baby. Not all babies will be x pounds at x months. Not all will double weight in x weeks. My dd was born premature (26wks and 1lb 14 oz) and really struggled to put on weight the first year. I had one doctor after another that I was a bad parent because she wasn't gaining weight. The tests, the weight checks... It was awful. My dd did have a problem we didn't discover until she was 1yo - she was aspirating - but it was easier to blame the parent than find a diagnosis according to the doctors I saw. My dd is now 3 and her weight is just fine.

 

Just take a deep breath. Be thankful the doctor is looking for a cause other than blaming you. And know that nothing will likely be found and your child is perfect - even if he isn't at the 50%ile or some weight number the doctor found on some chart.

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Remember, the charts they are comparing your baby to are formula fed infant charts, not breastfeeding infant charts.

 

Many, many, breastfeeding babies gain much slower then formula fed babies and therefore should not be compared to each other.

 

My 3rd son was born at 8 pounds even. I nursed him on demand every two hours round the clock when very small and started foods at 6 months. He ate very well for me, but still was a very slow gainer. I fed and fed him but he still gained slowly.

 

By 1 year old he weighed only 17 pounds. He has a very high metabolism and just burned off everything I put in him.

 

To this day, at 12 years old, he still is small in stature and underweight. He is only 10 % on the charts even now. He is very healthy kid, never gets sick and the doctor said that everything is fine, he is just a slow gainer.

 

My oldest son was like this too, he still is a slow gainer and he is now 27 years old, 5 foot 9 inches and only 120 pounds soaking wet. My oldest son is a chef and eats and eats all day long and never gains a pound. I wish I was so lucky ! :lol:

 

All children are different, all babies are different. Try and relax and maybe look into getting another opinion or doctor.

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Both of my dds were almost 9# at birth, but I can assure you they were not 15# at 9 months.

 

Have you considered getting a second opinion?

 

I agree with Ellie. I would get a second opinion. 15.9 lbs seems very healthy for a 9mo old. He is in no way failing to thrive from what you have described. :grouphug::grouphug:

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I wouldn't worry about the weight gain at all. If your son is healthy, reaching milestones, etc. then setting a arbitrary weight and worrying because he's not there is useless. My youngest dd was little when she was born - 6lbs 2 oz. I had an early c-section because she wasn't growing properly. She didn't gain much weight through her first year - she was about 14 lbs at a year. The drs worried and worried. However - if you look at the genetics, I was a month past my due date and was only born at 7 lbs 4 oz. I weighed about 14 lbs at a year. We're just smaller people.

 

My neice is the same way. They officially diagnosed her with failure to thrive and insisted on all sorts of supplements because she was so little. She didn't gain weight any faster and she's still a string bean. Her dad is tiny though - I think I outweighed him when he married my sister. And I'm not big!

 

I'm guessing there were no huge waving red flags for the dr. There may be some bloodwork that he's not sure of, but if it were really off, wouldn't he be able to tell pretty quickly? Just keep doing what you're doing. :grouphug:

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My dd was born at 8 pounds, 10 ounces. She weighed 16 pounds, 9 ounces at a year. Thank God I had a doctor who wasn't worried. He saw that she was meeting every milestone (actually WAY ahead!) and told me that she was fine. I was the one who was worried! She did go off the chart once and my doc just asked that we offer more food and come back in a month for a check. He just wanted to see any gain.

 

She's now 4.5 years old and weighs a whopping 25 pounds!!! She's tiny! And, probably the healthiest of my kids.

 

I hope nothing is wrong with your ds. In all likelihood, nothing is!! He's just small!

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Thank you all..... I just wish I knew exactly what the Dr was questioning.

 

Remember, the charts they are comparing your baby to are formula fed infant charts, not breastfeeding infant charts.

 

Many, many, breastfeeding babies gain much slower then formula fed babies and therefore should not be compared to each other.

 

My 3rd son was born at 8 pounds even. I nursed him on demand every two hours round the clock when very small and started foods at 6 months. He ate very well for me, but still was a very slow gainer. I fed and fed him but he still gained slowly.

 

By 1 year old he weighed only 17 pounds. He has a very high metabolism and just burned off everything I put in him.

 

To this day, at 12 years old, he still is small in stature and underweight. He is only 10 % on the charts even now. He is very healthy kid, never gets sick and the doctor said that everything is fine, he is just a slow gainer.

 

My oldest son was like this too, he still is a slow gainer and he is now 27 years old, 5 foot 9 inches and only 120 pounds soaking wet. My oldest son is a chef and eats and eats all day long and never gains a pound. I wish I was so lucky ! :lol:

 

All children are different, all babies are different. Try and relax and maybe look into getting another opinion or doctor.

 

This little guy has been a non-stop mover since he could lift up his head - He's climbing stairs and cruising around furniture and in motion constantly so I wonder if he's just using up his calories faster than what he can consume.

I keep thinking about the growth chart myself. I wonder why they don't use two charts and I may ask that next time we are in there. I really trust my Pedi. She is a very dedicated physician. I imagine she must have some other situations going on for her to not call me back today- and- I will take it as a "good" sign that she did not consider it an emergency to get back to me today.

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:grouphug:

 

My dd has always been small. In fact she didn't even reach 20 lbs until after she was 2 years old. I'm fairly certain she was no where close to 15 lbs at 9 months old. She is 5 now and weighs 35, which is still pretty small. She is very healthy. All that to say that just because he is small, doesn't mean something is wrong, he could just be a petite little boy. :)

 

I hope the tests come back to tell you everything is normal. :grouphug:

 

Same story with my dd. Very little! And not a preemie or underweight at birth.

 

The doc comforted us, "Well, someone's got to represent the fourth percentile group!"

 

Hopefully it is something very minor, if anything at all.

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Hang in there! I could have written your post, though it was me that was worried, while the ped was completely unconcerned. My daughter's weight percentile went down, down, down. But she was happy, never sick, and meeting milestones early. (Sat at 3 months, crawled at 6, and walked at 7.5 months.) At age 2, her BMI was at the 3rd percentile, which is clinically underweight.

 

The only testing we had done was scratch testing for the top 8 allergens, which came back negative. The allergist agreed with me that she seemed to have food intolerances, probably to both soy and dairy, and possibly to other things as well. We did end up eliminating some additional foods later on, because they were causing really disgusting diapers, and I think it did help some.

 

I still wonder if we should have tried is a trial of medication for reflux, as she did have some signs of silent reflux, though nothing too alarming. Our ped at the time was pretty reluctant to prescribe reflux meds though, and I didn't push it with her. I'm still not sure whether that was the right decision.

 

She'll be 5 in February, and she's 37 pounds now. Her BMI is at the 30th percentile now, so she's at a healthy weight, and her percentile for height has stayed stable. :)

 

I'm not sure she's outgrown any intolerances, but we are introducing some dairy, and it seems to be going fine this time. (Other times I tried were clear fails.) Even now she does seem to have trouble tolerating fast food and restaurant food, which can be a challenge on vacations, but we bring along a lot of food and have a short list of "safe" go-to restaurants.

 

Good luck getting some answers, and definitely feel free to seek a second opinion, regardless of how your pediatrician interprets those lab results!

 

By the way, you might not want to seek out the breastfed baby growth chart. My daughter was actually looked worse on that one than on the regular one.:blink:

Edited by jplain
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This little guy has been a non-stop mover since he could lift up his head - He's climbing stairs and cruising around furniture and in motion constantly so I wonder if he's just using up his calories faster than what he can consume.

 

 

 

This sounds like my 6 yr old. He was doing push-ups at 3 months and army crawling by 4 months and he walked at 8 months. I would find him on the kitchen table if I turned my back for a minute, he was just always climbing and into everything. He was my biggest newborn- 9 1/2 lbs but weighed less than 20 lbs at 1 yr. He is still tiny- barely 40 lbs at 6 1/2. This doesn't seem to be uncommon.

 

I can understand feeling anxious about the blood test, and I hope they call you first thing tomorrow with good news. :grouphug:

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I would wait and see what the doctor says about the blood tests.:grouphug:

 

My ds had the same problem at the same age and the same weight. His didn't turn out as well as everyone else's experience. Even though he eventually grew (he's 5 feet at 9yo) he has very significant delays and LDs.

 

See what the doctor says. It may be nothing, or it may be something that you need to treat aggressively. Either way, it will be okay.

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I know how scary that can be. My DD is 7 months and at her six months check up she had gone from 50th to 5th%! She was born at 7'15 and at 6 months weighed 13'15.

I was concerned because my boys never had weight issues as babies:tongue_smilie:!

But my DD is tiny. She also doesn't bear any weight on her legs if I'm holding her and at the time she wasn't sitting up, she just now is barely sitting on her own for a minute or two.

Our DR, whom I normally LOVE, said it was probably because I hadn't started solids so we did, however she will only eat yams and prunes and bananas. She gags bad on everything else we've tried. We go in at the beginning of Dec for a weight check and if she isn't appropriately gaining he'll run tests, but he didn't say what tests.

 

:grouphug: I hope the tests are fine and your Dr calls back with good news!

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I've had peds try to slap the FTT label on 3 of my babies. One is now the 8yo equivalent of a brick house, one is still tiny, though she's recently shot up in height, and the other is an average 3yo. The only kid who wasn't considered FTT is a bean pole. :tongue_smilie:

 

Looking into it is a fine idea, but don't let yourself freak out over what sounds like a perfectly normal baby!

:grouphug:

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I didn't read all of the responses so I appologize if I am repeating but the typical weight gain for a child is to double their weight by 12 months and triple it by age 2. So at 9 months you still have 3 months for him to gain another 1 pound and 7 oz to double his birth weight. I don't think that is unreasonable at all.

Also, when my son was born he was 7.14 and then grew very slowly but did double my 12 months. At 18 months old he was still wearing 9-12 months clothes and now at almost 20 he isn't very tall and is very thin. I am only 5'4" and his dad isn't much taller than me. A ped told me when he was little that their birth weight happens to be a product of how healthy the pregnancy is and their weight as they grow reflects genetics. If 2 Amazon people have a small baby it would be worrisome...etc.

 

I would get a second oppinion on his weight. I personally think he is OK.

Hope all of his bloodwork turns out fine.

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Dd was 8lbs4oz at birth and 16lbs at age 1. She's 8.5 now and about the size of an average 6 year old. But she *is* growing, and she's perfectly healthy. She's been diagnosed as having "constitutional growth delay" -- which pretty much just means "grows slowly but has no health problems". We expect she will not hit puberty 'til a few years after her peers as well.

 

Anyway, just to reassure you a bit. Some kids just grow more slowly. I'm glad that none of her early doctors freaked out -- and also that we had a doctor willing to screen for any *reasons* for her lack of growth without causing me to panic.

 

You might ask around in your family and your husband's, if you can, to see if there are stories of family members who grew very slowly as children or who didn't hit their adolescent growth spurt 'til later in their teens. While it's not *always* a family trait, it often is...

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The doc may just not have had time to look at his bloodwork AT ALL and his/her nurse just called you and said this. I can't imagine a doctor telling(true or not) that he/she doesn't know how to interpret the values. Even if they don't, they don't usually verbalize this. So, the doc may just not have looked at it at all. And, if he/she ordered a few extra tests that he/she doesn't order daily/weekly, then they don't know the ranges/normals and they do indeed need to go look up what the normal values are for his exact age. There are 10,000s of tests and one cannot know the normals but for a few, so --- assuming the nurse told you correctly that the doctor needed to look some up ---- try not to borrow trouble. Docs (good ones) routinely have to go look up values. Again, it's only the routine ones that they could possibly memorize. :grouphug:

 

One more thing....my understanding of failure to thrive vs. GR (growth restrition) disorders is that they look at whether the child's growth has been linear/on track. It's ok for a kid to be small so long as they are progressing similarly. For example, if a child has been in the 85% for 3 years and then all of a sudden within a few months starts dropping to the 65th, then a few months later, 45th percentile, then a few months later 10th percentiles, then THIS is of concern.

Edited by mhg
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First of all, that weight seems normal to me. Secondly, breastmilk has MORE calories than almost all solid foods. So you may have been limiting calories rather than increasing them if you were replacing any breastmilk with solids. Especially since they can't digest them well before at least 6 months. Also, it's really normal for breastfed babies to grow fast the first few months and then slow down compared to formula fed peers. I really wouldn't worry at all. And I agree with the person that said it sounds like the doctor hadn't looked at the bloodwork yet.

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He's been slowly falling off his curve since birth. Instead of a nice steady rise, what we see is a sort of slanted line upward and then an almost flat plateau and a dip in the wieght and hieght percentiles. Head circumference is ok and holding around the 20th? percentile I think. The nurse said that the Dr wanted to "research" what some of the values meant. I agree that maybe she tested for things she's not extremely familiar with and just didn't have time to check everything thoroughly today. The nurse said she had JUST gotten the lab results so the Dr really hadn't had time to digest the results at all.

 

Thank you all - I feel a whole lot better now. I hope she calls in the morning so I don't have to wait the day out tomorrow.

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First of all, that weight seems normal to me. Secondly, breastmilk has MORE calories than almost all solid foods. So you may have been limiting calories rather than increasing them if you were replacing any breastmilk with solids. Especially since they can't digest them well before at least 6 months. Also, it's really normal for breastfed babies to grow fast the first few months and then slow down compared to formula fed peers. I really wouldn't worry at all. And I agree with the person that said it sounds like the doctor hadn't looked at the bloodwork yet.

 

 

I haven't decreased the breast milk at all - still feeding every 2-3 hours round the clock except on the rare occasion that he doesn't wake in the night for a stretch of 4 or 5 hours but that is the longest. In addition to that I feed him a baby yogurt and cheerios for breakfast (if he will eat because he likes to cluster feed in the early morning and often isn't hungry for bfast). At lunchtime I feed him about 1/2 a cup of cereal/baby food mixed with a little formula, and dinner the same. Though we are starting table foods I try to keep the amount the same.

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If he's 9 months old, then do you feed him more solids than what you've listed?

I ask because he's nursing like a newbie, eh? My son suckled seemingly all the time -- but I could tell when it was pacify-ing/comfort or nutritional/hunger. Only you know this, but ----- that's why i mention the nutritional issue at all.

 

Are you giving him iron drops? (not necessary if HIS and YOUR ferritin levels are good).

 

I'm SURE a basic iron/serum ferritin level has been drawn. Surely.

Only reason I ask is that if he's nursing every 2-3 hours for NUTRITION (again, only you can tell when it's hunger vs. comfort nursing) then his body may be calling out for some more nutrients (of course breast milk is nutritious, but it's only as good as maternal stores/diet --- and only YOU know if you may have nutritional deficiencies that may lessen the nutritional content of your milk). So...if you're eating a good diet and getting enough IRON yourself, then it's more than likely just fine. Also, a baby his age with nutritional inadequacies will be seeking food (solids) -- like coveting YOUR foods, watching you eat them, eagerly consuming what you put before him, even seeking out/craving the particular TYPE of nutrient (for example, if he smells your baked beans and he has a iron deficiency, then they'll reach for it and seek after it -- grabbing, being more passionate about solids.) If he's a typical baby that just eats his little cheerios one at a time and isn't too passionate about solids, then in all likelihood this has to do with stature and no nutritional issue at all.

 

Some moms will be up in arms that I question the nutritional value of breastmilk (I breastfed my son for over 2.5 years, so....I'm a BF mom no doubt), but I've heard some assume that it's intrinsically healthy (and it is up to a point), but I've known moms who eat GARBAGE while breastfeeding (colas and other nutritionally bankrupt foods) and somehow think the body's supposed to generate nutrients from thin air. People also mistakenly think (while pregnant and breastfeeding) that the BABY gets first dibs and it's not true. The materal body is SELF-protecting FIRST; it gets first dibs on nutrition and baby gets what's left. I've heard many a mom believe otherwise. I say this in case your own diet may be nutritionally less than optimal and, now that he's 9 months, he's suckled many a "first-fruits" off/out of you, so now's the time when your milk quality would be at risk IF (and only IF) your diet is poor quality.

 

Also, some ladies have bigger babies due to higher circulating blood sugars. The number one predictor of macrosomia (big babies) is materal one-hour glucose results; this result is more predictive of big babies than even being diabetic or gestational diabetic. With time, as they slender up, they start getting more in line with their stature/REAL normal -- so it'll look like a decline, but it's really just loosing this baby fat/blubber. Again, it's MOST LIKELY he's just leveling out and reaching HIS personal NORM for his STATURE and it just appears to be a drop. He is the 5th babe, eh? Babes tend to get bigger, so his 8 1/2 lbs may have been deceiving in the early days --- he had that 5th baby beef-up advantage in utero, and now he's just getting in HIS groove.

 

But just to be sure, I would get your own serum ferritin level checked and make sure that this has been run on your baby. Ferritin is the blood level that indicates the LIVER's stores of pre-iron (ferritin is readily converted to iron as needed by the body). I use this analogy: an iron level is akin to how much CASH a person has in his wallet; a ferritin level is how much cash he has at the bank. If I went up to Opray Winfrey and asked her how much cash she had and she said, "ten bucks" and I said, "Well you need to be looking for you a job" -- you can see how inaccurate this is. So, just like I would be advising her wrongly, diagnosing anemia based solely on IRON levels isn't QUITE accurate either; it's a rough indicator, but a ferritin is more accurate. Usually doc's run a complete PANEL which covers the iron and ferritin, but I'd double check.

 

Hope this didn't muddy the waters.

(I'm too tired to be too coherent....goodnight!)

Edited by mhg
typo
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My 4th was failure to thrive and had a bunch of blood tests run too. The good news is that if the values all line up toward a certain disease the lab report would say it right on the results and your doctor would not need to research anything. My son had many values outside of the normal range and the results said "not indicative of any known metabolic disease." His doctor and several others researched what the values could mean and came up with nothing. My son went on to be diagnosed with gallstones a year later and that solved the problem.

:grouphug:

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DS was born 7lbs, 14oz, exclusively breastfed, and at 9 months he was maybe 13 lbs? At a year, he was a couple ounches shy of 16 lbs. Let's just say we had a lot of checkups where his weight was at the 10%, 5%, 3%. His height was always good though, hanging around 50%, and head circumference was always good too. So, I *knew* he was growing at his own rate.

 

At 18 months, I don't really want to go into everything that happened, but he got a virus and lost some weight, and then they labeled him as failure to thrive, because of his low weight and because he was not walking. They were idiots, he WAS thriving, I could see it with my own eyes. He was active, smart, had shiny hair, fast growing hair and nails.. He had bloodwork done too, and all was normal. I was not worried about his weight a bit, I knew he was fine, but the weight checks they made me take him to were still really nervewracking, because of their reactions if he didn't gain a certain number of ounces per day. Ridiculous! So what if he didn't walk yet? He cruised around furniture and went up and down stairs... but he saw no reason to walk. He just didn't want to. He had to be prodded to walk, and then he could, but still didn't feel like walking a whole lot. Guess what? I STILL have to prod him to do anything. He just is not motivated, and he wasn't then either.

 

Anyway, so he spent quite a while not even on the charts at all.. he was off the bottom of the charts. I rejoiced when he turned 2 and was finally tall enough to fit into 2T clothes, because they had adjustable waists. He could wear pants finally, where I had been buying mostly one pieces before so they'd stay up.

 

Guess what? He finally got back on the charts, even though I really didn't pay attention to them much, I just checked once or twice a year out of curiosity. He was still skinny though, and I remember adjusting the waste of his 3Ts really small. I think when he was around 3.5 years, he stayed around 30-31 pounds for a good six-nine months at least. He kept growing taller, just didn't put on weight. I remember not being able to buy anything with an elastic waist, because it would just fall off him.

 

Well, now he's 5.5 years, and I just checked, and he looks to be right around 50% for weight, and 50% or maybe a little more than that for height. I am still glad for adjustable waists, but at least now I can buy pants that have an elastic waist and they won't fall off him anymore.

 

They say that mom usually knows if something is wrong... well I never got a "something is wrong" feeling. I always knew he was growing even if he didn't put on weight, because his height percentile was always fairly constant. His weight has been all over the bottom half of the chart. I got/get really annoyed when all they pay attention to is the numbers, and not the kid.

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An infant hitting milestones isn't FTT. It's about more than just weight gain.

 

I'd have told the doc where to shove it (with research to back it up) at the early introduction of solids. DD wasn't much interested in solids until she was 8 or 9 mo., and then she wouldn't let anyone feed her so it was largely experimental for the first several months (finger foods or things thick enough to stick to a spoon long enough for her to get it into her mouth). Like your son, she was bfed.

 

She has consistently been at or below the 5th percentile for height/weight since early infancy, though she was pretty average at birth. We did use a bit of formula until she was gaining steadily when pumping and bottle feeding on top of nursing wasn't enough, but that went by the wayside by 5 weeks. Her growth curve flattened out that same way you describe during her first year, but eventually picked up again, though she remained small.

 

To be on the safe side, when she was about 2 1/2 yo. the doc did a blood panel for any metabolic problems, etc. In particular I wanted to make sure her thyroid was okay as thyroid problems run in our family (though they tend to show up around puberty, not in infancy). Everything turned up normal.

 

DH is 5'7" tall. His mother, and mine, are shorter. She obviously just got some genes for being petite, along with the typical scrawny-kid pattern of every kid in my family (and DH's). As the doctor put it, she's on her own curve.

 

It sounds to me like your doctor needs to chill out. Some people are just small, and as long as he's progressing on his own growth curve, shows every sign aside from size of being healthy, and HITTING THOSE MILESTONES, he's not FTT.

Edited by Ravin
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Just make sure to offer solids after nursing, not before. Baby cereal is less calories and fat than breastmilk.

 

I haven't decreased the breast milk at all - still feeding every 2-3 hours round the clock except on the rare occasion that he doesn't wake in the night for a stretch of 4 or 5 hours but that is the longest. In addition to that I feed him a baby yogurt and cheerios for breakfast (if he will eat because he likes to cluster feed in the early morning and often isn't hungry for bfast). At lunchtime I feed him about 1/2 a cup of cereal/baby food mixed with a little formula, and dinner the same. Though we are starting table foods I try to keep the amount the same.
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There is a different curve for breastfed babies, and it looks a lot like what you are talking about. I think the WHO puts it out.

 

Katie

He's been slowly falling off his curve since birth. Instead of a nice steady rise, what we see is a sort of slanted line upward and then an almost flat plateau and a dip in the wieght and hieght percentiles. Head circumference is ok and holding around the 20th? percentile I think. The nurse said that the Dr wanted to "research" what some of the values meant. I agree that maybe she tested for things she's not extremely familiar with and just didn't have time to check everything thoroughly today. The nurse said she had JUST gotten the lab results so the Dr really hadn't had time to digest the results at all.

 

Thank you all - I feel a whole lot better now. I hope she calls in the morning so I don't have to wait the day out tomorrow.

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You know...getting a second opinion is your best bet in most medical situations that make you feel uneasy.

 

My son was 8lb2oz at birth. He was 18 pounds at 1 year. 22 pounds at 2 years. He was never on the 'charts' and is now only 5% ;-) He had jaundice as a baby and then food allergies. But even when he outgrew those he never put on weight.

 

But I was a tiny kid too. Skinny with no meat on the bones. Dr told my mom I could eat anything I wanted until I was 12. And I did. I was still skinny. I am not so now!!! LOL

 

Curious what blood tests they drew. We moved a lot and none of the Drs even mentioned testing my small son for anything. He's still small and looking back I appreciate the Drs not pushing an issue that wasn't there. It's just my son's stature and I am sure he will be fine as he gets older.

 

Get a second opinion. Perhaps Drs are more worried about getting sued later they are eliminating issues earlier and earlier. I knew a lot of people with small kids like mine and none of us ever had blood work done to see what was wrong. As long as he's growing it's probably normal.

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My daughter weighed 7 pounds 2 ounces at birth. At 12 months she weighed 14 pounds 3 ounces.

 

Technically that is not even doubling her weight. On the growth chart she had gone from 50 percentile to 2nd percentile.

 

She's 13 now, and now with computers my doctor can tell me exactly what percentile she's in........a whopping 1.9 percentile. And, now it's easy to say that she's perfectly and totally fine.

 

When she kept going down on the percentile charts as a baby, I did really freak out. I became obsessed about how much she ate, and I tracked it in a journal. I wanted her to gain weight SO BADLY! But, guess what? She gains weight at her own speed, and pretty much over the 13 years has stuck right at the 2 percentile ranking. It doesn't seem to matter how much she eats, that's what her body does. I would really like her to gain some weight, but I really don't think that is going to happen any time soon.

 

I understand how you feel! It is so hard! If the blood tests come back normal, maybe you should consider changing pediatricians to one that won't worry you so much! Really, your situation can be totally and completely normal. I wish you the best, and try to keep us posted on the results of that bloodtest.

 

Okra

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If he's 9 months old, then do you feed him more solids than what you've listed?

I ask because he's nursing like a newbie, eh? My son suckled seemingly all the time -- but I could tell when it was pacify-ing/comfort or nutritional/hunger. Only you know this, but ----- that's why i mention the nutritional issue at all.

 

Are you giving him iron drops? (not necessary if HIS and YOUR ferritin levels are good).

 

I'm SURE a basic iron/serum ferritin level has been drawn. Surely.

Only reason I ask is that if he's nursing every 2-3 hours for NUTRITION (again, only you can tell when it's hunger vs. comfort nursing) then his body may be calling out for some more nutrients (of course breast milk is nutritious, but it's only as good as maternal stores/diet --- and only YOU know if you may have nutritional deficiencies that may lessen the nutritional content of your milk). So...if you're eating a good diet and getting enough IRON yourself, then it's more than likely just fine. Also, a baby his age with nutritional inadequacies will be seeking food (solids) -- like coveting YOUR foods, watching you eat them, eagerly consuming what you put before him, even seeking out/craving the particular TYPE of nutrient (for example, if he smells your baked beans and he has a iron deficiency, then they'll reach for it and seek after it -- grabbing, being more passionate about solids.) If he's a typical baby that just eats his little cheerios one at a time and isn't too passionate about solids, then in all likelihood this has to do with stature and no nutritional issue at all.

 

Some moms will be up in arms that I question the nutritional value of breastmilk (I breastfed my son for over 2.5 years, so....I'm a BF mom no doubt), but I've heard some assume that it's intrinsically healthy (and it is up to a point), but I've known moms who eat GARBAGE while breastfeeding (colas and other nutritionally bankrupt foods) and somehow think the body's supposed to generate nutrients from thin air. People also mistakenly think (while pregnant and breastfeeding) that the BABY gets first dibs and it's not true. The materal body is SELF-protecting FIRST; it gets first dibs on nutrition and baby gets what's left. I've heard many a mom believe otherwise. I say this in case your own diet may be nutritionally less than optimal and, now that he's 9 months, he's suckled many a "first-fruits" off/out of you, so now's the time when your milk quality would be at risk IF (and only IF) your diet is poor quality.

 

Also, some ladies have bigger babies due to higher circulating blood sugars. The number one predictor of macrosomia (big babies) is materal one-hour glucose results; this result is more predictive of big babies than even being diabetic or gestational diabetic. With time, as they slender up, they start getting more in line with their stature/REAL normal -- so it'll look like a decline, but it's really just loosing this baby fat/blubber. Again, it's MOST LIKELY he's just leveling out and reaching HIS personal NORM for his STATURE and it just appears to be a drop. He is the 5th babe, eh? Babes tend to get bigger, so his 8 1/2 lbs may have been deceiving in the early days --- he had that 5th baby beef-up advantage in utero, and now he's just getting in HIS groove.

 

But just to be sure, I would get your own serum ferritin level checked and make sure that this has been run on your baby. Ferritin is the blood level that indicates the LIVER's stores of pre-iron (ferritin is readily converted to iron as needed by the body). I use this analogy: an iron level is akin to how much CASH a person has in his wallet; a ferritin level is how much cash he has at the bank. If I went up to Opray Winfrey and asked her how much cash she had and she said, "ten bucks" and I said, "Well you need to be looking for you a job" -- you can see how inaccurate this is. So, just like I would be advising her wrongly, diagnosing anemia based solely on IRON levels isn't QUITE accurate either; it's a rough indicator, but a ferritin is more accurate. Usually doc's run a complete PANEL which covers the iron and ferritin, but I'd double check.

 

Hope this didn't muddy the waters.

(I'm too tired to be too coherent....goodnight!)

 

Wow...Thank you for putting so much thought into this! No, I don't feed him anything beyond what I have written but when he nurses he is very efficient and can empty each breast within a couple of minutes. Sometimes he doesn't even like to go to the second side and seems full. Seems to me like his stomach is small and fills easily. (Makes sense - small baby/small belly) So I just give him a few minutes and then offer the other side - sometimes he takes it - sometimes not.

 

My diet I would say is probably not the model diet but I don't drink soda or much caffiene (1 cup of coffee per day) As for iron - I do eat meat - red meat about 2 times per week but am not great about getting dark green veggies (note to self - get back on track with that) I also eat other protien rich foods ie: eggs, cheese, chicken and greek yogurt frequently. Overall my diet probably lacks vegetables and water in the proper amounts but I am not a junk food junkie by any means.

 

He does seem to be fairly excited about table foods- for a few bites anyways and then he loses interest so I still need to give him baby food. He is more a "pick at the Cheerios" kind of baby but I keep trying him on all sorts of foods to see what piques his interest. I haven't tried any meats yet because his gag reflex is so strong and once he gags - he refuses to eat anymore at that sitting. He only has 2 teeth so he can't chew even small bites yet.

 

I didn't know about iron vs ferritin so thank you for that information and I will check it out. I think it is worth it to have myself tested as well.

 

Thanks again!

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Hi,

 

First and foremost ((HUGS)).

 

I was a breastfeeding anemic mom with some vitamin deficiencies due to very diffcult, physically draining pregancies and I can attest to the fact that your body will get absolutely sucked dry of nutrients if you aren't careful.

 

Cheese, yogurt, etc. those are great forms of protein but protein does not equate to iron. These are two different animals. Dairy products are not high in iron. They are in fact very, very low. Their main contribution to the nutritional chain is good fatty acids (if from healthy, grass fed cows, goats, etc.), calcium, and some vitamin A.

 

If you aren't getting a wide variety of vegetables and fruits, you and baby may not be getting enough vitamin C. C is very important in the assimilation of iron and many other nutrients.

 

Try to add things like oatmeal, black - kindey - pinto beans, raisins, and citrus plus another serving or two of healthy red meat to your diet and get a wider variety of fruits and veggies....especially those citrus fruits which will be coming into season soon so thankfully, their prices will drop. Carry a water bottle around with you. I found that the quality of my milk, not just the quantity, was affected positively by consciously making an effort to drink a lot more water.

 

I think there is probably an excellent chance that baby is just finding his norm for growth. Believe me, I know your anxiety. Ds #2, the pregnancy that literally nearly killed me, weighed in at 9 lbs and was 23 inches long. Big boy! and then promptly fell off the growth charts like a brick off a skyscraper. The pediatrician had me tied in knots. He is now, at 12, my healthiest most robust child but he is almost five feet tall and only weighs 63 lbs. He's so skinny sometimes that I want to cry. He eats like a horse but naturally gravitates towards huge amounts of fruits and vegetables so we have to work hard to see to it that he is getting enough fats to make sure his growth won't be inhibited. It is his natural norm and now that I've had a chance to really talk to my mil about dh's growth patterns, it seems that they are two peas in a pod. MIL is a retired pediatric nurse and all of her friends during dh's young years, would constantly come by the house with pediasure type drinks, ice cream, and milkshakes to try to "fatten him up" because they wouldn't believe her that he was eating just fine.

 

If this his baby's norm, you aren't likely to affect it but you can just take a look at your own diet and then adjust to make sure the quality of your milk is very high because, your body is going to fight for it's own survival first and if any deficiency exists, it will take from your breast milk, not the other way around.

 

Faith

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Hi,

 

First and foremost ((HUGS)).

 

I was a breastfeeding anemic mom with some vitamin deficiencies due to very diffcult, physically draining pregancies and I can attest to the fact that your body will get absolutely sucked dry of nutrients if you aren't careful.

 

Cheese, yogurt, etc. those are great forms of protein but protein does not equate to iron. These are two different animals. Dairy products are not high in iron. They are in fact very, very low. Their main contribution to the nutritional chain is good fatty acids (if from healthy, grass fed cows, goats, etc.), calcium, and some vitamin A.

 

If you aren't getting a wide variety of vegetables and fruits, you and baby may not be getting enough vitamin C. C is very important in the assimilation of iron and many other nutrients.

 

Try to add things like oatmeal, black - kindey - pinto beans, raisins, and citrus plus another serving or two of healthy red meat to your diet and get a wider variety of fruits and veggies....especially those citrus fruits which will be coming into season soon so thankfully, their prices will drop. Carry a water bottle around with you. I found that the quality of my milk, not just the quantity, was affected positively by consciously making an effort to drink a lot more water

 

Oh, I guess the way I wrote my post I kind of squished the iron and protien together. I realize too that calcium can inhibit iron absorption. I'm sure I need more vit c in my diet. In fact I have been on DH about keeping fruit and veggies in the house - money is tight and that seems to be the first thing to go. I do consume oatmeal a couple of times a week with raisins. I need to get more water in me though.

 

So -

1. Blood test for ferritin/iron levels for me

2. More water

3. More Dark veggies& fruit & red meat

4. Relax....he's probably just small / get second opinion

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