I take weight talks personally

[Deleted]

And I hate it. DD was 13 lbs 14 oz at her appt yesterday, dropped from 67% at birth to 57% so of course were now going to reevaluate in 2 months.

It's annoying. I don't even consider her to be petite! No, Dr doesn't use WHO charts.

I almost didn't post this bc we go to the same pedi Ashley&Scott, but I'm really down about it!

I get that she dropped % but I never got this talk from DS. And she was 8 lbs 9 oz at birth so I feel like she's evening out like he did. Height is still 90s.

[froggy76]

And her pedi thinks this is a problem? That sounds like a good weight to me.

I love our pedi but hate talking to other people about DD's weight. I feel like there's an unspoken competition to have the biggest baby and my EBF, 25th percentile baby can't compete.

[MamaMaui24]

Sounds good to me too. Did you look up the % on the WHO chart? That might make you feel better.

[Deleted]

Good idea I'll look up the WHO chart in the morning. He also said bm and formula are the same = 20 calories per ounce. So is it that bm just increases in fat, not calories as the baby ages? That can't be right? Because babies don't increase the quantity of bm like they do formula.

[AmyRI]

Jun 13, 2012 0:00:59 GMT -5 @jennylove said:

Good idea I'll look up the WHO chart in the morning. He also said bm and formula are the same = 20 calories per ounce. So is it that bm just increases in fat, not calories as the baby ages? That can't be right? Because babies don't increase the quantity of bm like they do formula.

Just stop paying attention to him. He's nuts. Breastmilk does change in fat AND calorie content as baby ages.

And a drop of 10 percentile points is really nothing to worry about when you're near t he 50 percent mark. 50% drop, or droping from 30% to off the charts or something - that is more concerning. But I wouldn't bat an eyelash at your DD's weight change. The next growth spurt could put her right back up to the 67%.

Look at the other growth charts, and look at the difference in weight between a baby at 67% and a baby at 57%. I bet the difference is only a few ounces. If you had nursed her or had her in a wet diaper when she got weighed instead of hungry in a dry diaper, for example, the weight could be off by 5 or 6 oz pretty easily.

[Deleted]

Thank you . I have come so close I quitting so many times I just really didn't need that. And thanks for not jumping to "change pedis" because he is being proactive - eager? Is maybe a better word. It was just an ouch moment for sure.

[AmyRI]

Jun 13, 2012 7:36:14 GMT -5 @jennylove said:

Thank you . I have come so close I quitting so many times I just really didn't need that. And thanks for not jumping to "change pedis" because he is being proactive - eager? Is maybe a better word. It was just an ouch moment for sure.

If he told you to start supplementing with formula, I would have told you to change pedis but I hate switching docs, and they are so hard to find a decent one in the first place so I understand not wanting to switch. So long as you can rationally think through his advice to make sure you agree with it, and challenge when necessary, I see no reason to switch. Hope your checkup in a couple months is better!

[Deleted]

Definitely look at the WHO charts. And print them to bring to your next visit. And disregard anything this guy says about breastfeeding. No, you don't have to switch - he might be really good with MEDICINE. Breastfeeding isn't a disease, so doctors tend to kind of suck at knowing much about it. If you're feeling feisty, you could also print something that explains why formula babies need 8 oz+ bottles and bf babies don't.

My baby was around the 50th %ile up until 2 months, then fell to about 25th by 4 months and just sort of held there. My doctor had a wait-and-see approach - I think I was more concerned than she was. It's all fine now (and he's still on the small side).

[MamaMaui24]

Total Baby App has BOTH the WHO and CDC weight charts. You enter in your LO stats and they plot the growth. You can switch back and forth to see the difference. They also show you % change.

Also, wait and see in 2 months is the same as my baby's regular well visits, so it doesn't sound like he wants you to come in any sooner just because of this. Right on schedule!

[dearprudence]

Easier said than done, but try not to worry too much about weight if she's still gaining. My doctor likes to point out that babies have spurts at different times (not like the 3 week, 6 week, 3 month spurt). Some babies gain more weight in the first few months, others gain more of their weight a little later. Because of this, your baby may have grown a lot in the first few months and then slowed down, or she may be about to put on a lot of her weight.

If it makes you feel better, my guy weighed that EXACT amount at his 4 month appointment and the doctor thought it was fine.

[Ashley&Scott]

Jenny-

Don't feel bad at all about complaining about the doc. I also disagree with him about some feeding things. He suggested we start DS on rice cereal at our 4mo well check. He said we could wait a bit longer but really wanted us to start by our 6mo well check so DS could "learn" to eat. We're not doing it. DS is at the top of the charts so when we do start on solids we will not be doing rice cereal, he certainly doesn't need the empty calories.

Hopefully this will make you feel better: DS's growth has also started slowing down. I don't have the #s with me right now but it's gone from something like 97% at 2w, to 92% at 2mo to 85% at 4mo. That's the CDC chart, he's slowing on the WHO chart too but it's not as drastic & I can't remember the numbers. From everything I've read it's totally normal for BF babies to grow rapidly for the first few months & then slow down.

But overall I really the doc & the practice. He's soooo much better than the first doc/practice we went to.

MamaMaui is right, the Total Baby app shows both growth charts. Honestly I've never paid attention to the graphs the doctor gives us because I plug the data into my app & flip between the CDC/WHO.

I know I've mentioned this before (& don't mean to be pushy) but if you can ever attend one of the local BF groups you should. The LC's always answer my questions & they know so much more than the pedi's.

Sorry to be so long winded

[Deleted]

Ashley - Thank God!!!! He gave me the rice cereal spiel too but I kinda tuned it out bc we aren't doing it. I thought it was odd he said they need cereal so we can teach them how to eat.

Like Token said - he's probably really good at medicine and we can ignore the feeding info. Like you, I do really like him - Idk what location you go to but the staff REALLY sucks ( for me anyway) at the C**** location, like front desk staff is rude and the nurse I talked to on the phone refused to help w our thrush problem and was honestly a B about it. Now I go to the B location. I assume you go to C so I'm glad you've had good experiences w the staff!

[Deleted]

Oh and I'm going tonight with a list of issues so I'll see you there if you're going

[Ashley&Scott]

I wasn't a fan of the rice cereal pitch either. (Did you know both of his daughters were BF, I wonder if they started rice cereal at 4mo.) Everything I've read is it's best for BF babies to wait until 6mo to start any solids unless there's a medical reason to start sooner. After our 4mo check I went to my BF group & discussed. The other moms & LC all agreed that we should ignore the doc & wait a few more months before introducing any solids.

I do think he's a great doc though, I can't reiterate how much happier we are here than our previous pedi. Thanks to him we were referred to the specialist & just had surgery for M's tear ducts. According to the specialist M could have developed some major problems if we would have waited until the standard 9-12mo for surgery.

We do go to the C location because it's closest. So far we haven't had too many staff/nurse issues. We had issues with the nurses at our old pedi. There was one (who we always seemed to be assigned) that was a total bitch.

Another question, are you always charged a copay? We are, even for well visits... which I thought well visits were covered 100% under the new legislation.

[Ashley&Scott]

Jun 13, 2012 14:40:45 GMT -5 @jennylove said:

Oh and I'm going tonight with a list of issues so I'll see you there if you're going

I was thinking of skipping but I'll really try to be there, I'd love to meet you

[Deleted]

Haha k . I have to go for sure - no more avoiding it!