Once again I’m obsessing about weight. This time, luckily, not my own. Shanna hasn’t gained a full pound in the last nine months. If she doesn’t gain some weight this month she will have fallen from the 89% to the 9%. If I stop and think about that real hard I feel like I must be doing something wrong. I’m not sure what I am doing wrong. I am giving her as much food as she wants. I nurse on demand (sometimes half the night). Should I stop letting her have water and replace that with something that has calories–like more milk? Should I stop giving her vegetables because they have almost no calories? She doesn’t really eat meat. At this point she is probably up to ten bites of meat in her life. She poops and pees well above what is considered the minimum for this age. She is getting taller like mad–that is still up in the 70-something%. She runs all day. She is meeting all of the developmental milestones months early, some of them as much as four months early.
I’m having a hard time feeling confident that her body is doing what is right. I want to believe it, but I feel really bad right now.
Could it be that she’s just plain getting fitter? I mean, if she’s running around a lot, she might be trimming down?
But what do I know about small children? Maybe talk to your doc?
what’s the baby-doctor think?
and welcome to my end of the bell curve! because of their prematurity, until they reached 48 months, my kids were in the bottom 1% of every physical measure you might care to mention.
and they *still* grew up and drive me crazy.
we gave our kids good food and let them go at it. they self-regulated that way. i mean, if they wanted to eat, they ate. if they didn’t want to eat then what the hell were we gonna do about it anyways?
as a dad, it was really hard to get the mom to relax and quit paying attention to the percentages. kids ain’t statistics, they’re little people. are they having a good time? are they learning? active? sleeping and eating and drinking and pooping and peeing and laughing?
that’s “thriving,” not some percentage on a chart.
The last two paragraphs here, exactly!
I know how hard it is – it really is! But look at her. LOOK at her. Is she healthy? Is she thriving? Is she developing? Is she growing? You already answered ALL of those things! Kids DO that! They are totally fine. Better than fine – they are thriving!
(hugs) for the worrying – that part is real, and not fun. But as far as anything real about your daughter – doesn’t sound like it at ALL.
Also remember, all the milestones and other things you mention are JUST AS VALID benchmarks. The whole weight thing is only one data point. It’s possibly useful as a good numerical indicator of a possible problem to look into – especially for kids in less fortunate homes. But in your case, it sounds very much like “hunh … the number is low … what’s going on with everything else? oh wow – and look at the RUNNING … yeah, makes sense. So it’s a low number on a thriving kid. Not a problem.”
Yeah it is kind of freaky when they drop percentiles, but we’d drop percentiles too if we ran around all day.
Frogling is a year ahead of you and has probably had about as much interest in meat as Shanna thus far…dairy, soy, and egg based diet. I think since Frogling started walking, at 15 months, she’s not gained more than two pounds, if that. What does Shanna actually weigh right now? Does she LOOK skinny? Like ribs and skin or does she look like a healthy kid who likes to run? I think it sounds like Shanna’s super healthy, and you’re feeding her a very healthy diet.
I suppose you might consider letting her have a bit more milk if you think she needs it….thinking in terms of how many calories an active athlete needs, and how small a tummy these little squirts have. The only things Anyanka drinks are water and milk, and she specifies which one she’d like, given a choice. I think they are AMAZINGLY self regulating creatures, and I really try to let her dictate what she wants/needs in food as much as possible. When she’s active, she can pretty much eat non-stop. Also, I’ve heard it suggested that you can leave out healthy nibbles for the mobile child, and let them pick up food as often as they like as they go about their day, rather than having to sit down and have the ordeal of a MEAL. We don’t do that only because our DOG is at the same level as our KID and can’t be trusted.
As long as we’re on a food related topic: Trader Joe’s Honey Wheat Pretzel Sticks. OMG Delicious! No HFCS, just NOM NOM!!!! The call of “STICKS! STICKS!” is heard often around here. Also, Snack Trap DIY…slice a plastic lid in an X and put nibbles in the container. Less spillage as the monkey drags food around.
You’re a GOOD GOOD mama, and I trust that you’re looking out for your little one. If you think you’re doing all the right things, and you think somethings not right, it doesn’t hurt to ask a trusted medical source if there’s something else going on.
I do feel like I am overall doing the right things with her. I’m genuinely certain that I am not doing anything wrong. It’s just so weird. She’s still at 20 lbs and change.
You can always try avocados, black beans, black eyed peas, edamame, and hummus. They are all high in healthy proteins and are comparable meat protein substitutes for a vegetarian diet.
If she is thriving that is really all that matters and you are the expert of your baby. As long as you think she’s fine, healthy, and developing great than she probably is. Don’t let a statistic worry you. You are doing a great job!!!
BTW, a friend recommended your blog and so far I love it!!
probably nothing,
as others here have said.
Still, parents are allowed to be paranoid, and a calm call to the advice nurse to ask the question is fairly reasonable here, just for your own peace of mind.
The only thing I can think to be worried about is whether or not she’s absorbing nutrients. Babies can stop absorbing nutrients for a lot of reasons, some of them dangerous. But if she’s running around and thriving, but just not gaining weight? Sounds like she’s just burning through the nutrients, not failing to absorb them. Still, a visit to the doc might assuage your worries. Finding out from your parents how you and Noah grew as babies might help too – perhaps you went through similar spurts and stops.