In the past couple weeks, we’ve met lot of babies who are within +/- 6 months age bracket when compared to Nikki. And all of them look so big (at least tall), in spite of being small babies at birth. And this 9 pound, 21.7 inch baby looks so minuscule when compared to them. I know I shouldn’t be comparing, but I really can’t help. Is there anything I am doing wrong? Is there something I could have done better?
He is at the 10th percentile for his weight, has been there for the past 3 months. The growth curve started plunging deep downwards when he was 3 months. From birth, 90th percentile --> 80 --> 65 --> 40 --> 25 -->10. I hope to God that it doesn’t decline any further.
He is not a very poor eater. His hunger is almost always good, sometimes poor and sometimes very good. We started him on solids when he was 4 months, rice cereal once a day. By 5 months oats cereal was also introduced and he started having cereal twice a day. Around 5 ½ months, he was given the taste of fruits / vegetables. Carrots, sweet potatoes, apple sauce, bananas, peach. He ate bananas with interest for a couple of days. He loved his cereals (still loves) , but did not take to fruits/veggies well (not yet). We keep introducing him to fruits/veggies regularly, no luck yet.
We couldn’t introduce lot of variety in food to Nikki because of his eczema.The allergy tests are confusing to say the least. The skin tests and blood tests contradict each other for some food items. The blood tests tell he is allergic to almost everything other than Turkey, cod fish and carrot. Skin test for dairy was a clean negative. Allergist and the Ped are confused, they say he is an un-usual kid and we are going to repeat the skin tests again in a couple of weeks.
We met with the doc just 2 weeks back for his 9th month checkup and she does not seem to be very concerned about his growth curve. She usually is, but not this time. She told us they call this as a “Catch-down growth” pattern. Her reasoning is that he has never lost weight, he has been gaining albeit slowly and continues to follow the 10th percentile curve. His genes are catching up with him, he would grow up to be lanky like DH is what she says. I used to be convinced by that, but not now. Nikki is not a tall baby anymore. I have a feeling that the nurse did not measure him correctly. I have this doubt because just 1 week back, we had been to the Allergist and there he was measured 26.5 inches and suddenly in 7 days, he shows 28 inches at the Ped’s office. This cannot be true, he has not grown out of his clothes in the past 2-3 months. Hmm. I am really getting paranoid with his growth. I am going to buy a tape to measure him.
We (I & Paati) are trying to be creative in preparing food with the limited choices we have. He being a picky eater also does not help. His typical diet in a day would include 2 servings of ½ cup cereal, 1 serving Paruppu/Nei/keerai saadham, about 15 – 18 oz milk, 1 cup yogurt. He also has snacks - teeny bits of home made fruits / vegetables, shredded cheese any other finger food we like him to try. Sometimes we try home made soups and juices with him too. These snacks sometimes find their way into his mouth, sometimes don’t. We do it just for the sake of introducing new tastes/foods. Being a staunch vegetarian that I am, I am even ready to feed him meat if he will put on weight. I tried chicken with him a couple of times, his teeth are not out yet, so tried shredded pieces once and ground chicken another time. He did not like it much, only a couple of spoons and he started spitting it on my face. Well, I keep trying something or the other, not every day, at least every other day. Is there anything amiss in the way we are feeding Nikki?
I remember those days in the 1st 2 months of Nikki’s life when he looked like a poster baby, I couldn’t even hold his head while nursing because of immense wrist pain caused by De Quervain’s Syndrome and I would wish if he had born a couple of pounds lesser. After the first month visit, in one of the most painful moments, I even wished his weight gain slowed. But that was only a fleeting thought that occurred when all of my post partum troubles(that entails a post by itself) would play against me and would prevent me from even enjoying my baby. My wrist pain was so bad that I would hold Nikki only for feeding. I feel so guilty now for thinking like that then. Big SIGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.
Will he grow? Will he remain the way he is now? I know I am being stupid, but I do get such irrational fears. Have I become complacent and tired to try new things after the umpteen doctor visits and allergy tests? Should I spend more time with him, trying out new food? Will I do a better job if I stayed home? I know he gets the best care in the world with my Amma, but I cannot help thinking if things would be better if I stayed home. I am confused, GUILTY & tired. That was the reason there were no updates on my blog. And our trip to NY, NJ last weekend.
Monday, October 22, 2007
Will he grow?
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22 comments:
Anitha,
Though my son, Naren is able to eat a variety of foods, he is also in the same weight range, the 10th percentile and I think now he would be below that as he is growing. One thing to remember is that your ped is using the US growth chart and in that our Indian babies are always low wt. That said, I would recommend that you meet up with a dietitian, either one in a private practice and does peds or one in the out patient of the local Children's hospital. They would be able to guide you with food choices. Are you BF baby and if yes, have you tried to avoid all that he is allergic to? Talk to you ped about this too. This is just a small place to start, a peds dietitian should be helpful. Good luck and hey, don't worry so much.
Shobana
http://mybabynaren.blogspot.com/
Hon don't stress. I know, I know, as a mother that is impossible to do, especially for food related issues. Some kids are like that, if we could figure out an explanation for everything under the Sun, life would be somuch easier-huh?! Chula used to be chubby, but in the past two years, she has hardly put on 6 pounds. That too if she puts on one pound, she will end up loosing two pounds to cold or a stomach bug. My little one, both her height and weight have been stable for quite some time now. I am wondering how long this kid is going to stay this short. She has been fitting in to her 3-6 month old clothes since she was nine months!
Could you send me your email id pls?
don't stress. I know plenty of kids who are in the 10th percentile for weight... As long as he is thriving, reaching his milestones, you should not worry. As babies get active they do loose weight. Chip's weight has stayed steady the past 6 months.
As shobana said, meet with another pediatrician and a dietician just so your mind is at rest!
Shobana: Welcome to my blog! I was actually not so worried about the 10th percentile, the fact that I saw Indian babies around his age group to be bigger than him is what made me so worried. I met a dietician once before the allergy tests and she was asking me to add tsp of corn oil to his cereals/milk and also asked me to add meat to his diet (when he was 6 months, something I couldn't think of). Nikki can smell oil in the cereal and will not even open his mouth. These guys here do not understand our typical baby diet. Ragi, lentil varieties, ghee nothing made sense to her. I could make her understand chickpeas and that's it. I am supposed to meet with her again after the 2nd round of allergy tests. This time I am planning to choose a different dietician from the hospital. Since the 1st set of results have put us in a kind of stalemate situation regarding Nikki's diet, I am right now going by the thumb rule, add new food, wait for couple of days to see if there is a flare-up, depending on Nikki's liking continue with it or try a new one.
And oh yes, I am BF'ing, we are well into the weaning phase, i feed him only in the nights. I will do a separate post on our struggle with eczema, been meaning to do it for a long time. No account of Nikki's childhood rather babyhood will be complete without one.
utbt kids: Chula and Mieja too? Hmm, one kid is enough to worry about, two?! Hope they grow up soon and relieve us of these worries. But I guess then we will have to deal with other BIGGER things.
my email is nikki.mommy@gmail.com
DotMom: Planning to meet my niece's Ped in India, I think he will be able to give a better perspective regarding Nikki's growth comparing him against the Indian growth charts.
Hi Anitha,
Do you think you can increase the quantity of Milk that you give him and see if there is any difference - upto 24 ozs. I have a 13month old and her diet was similar to what you are giving Nikki only difference was in the amount of formula that we gave her.
Anitha,
Let me talk to some of my collegues and check if someone is from your area. If you don't mind, please do mail me what area you live in, so I can ask for someone, who practices there. This I will, only if you are comfortable. LMK.
Shobana
I am sorry, this was to find any peds dietitian who can work with the indian population.
Shobana
Oh Anitha - I am the queen of 10th percentile worries! :) Welcome to the club! ANd here's the queen telling the newbie - you will worry worry worry and it wont' go away but you will get used to it! :) Seriously - I am much better at accepting this now. Kutti boy was never chubby fat but quite ok when he was only nursing. When I moved to solids and when he cut out night feeds - boom boom weight started dropping...
I give as many high calorie foods as possible. And calorie intense at each meal. So I have more dal and less rice and lot of ghee for paruppu sadam. And each meal I give yogurt. But I give him Dannon La Creme which is the high fat yogurt for kids. And cheese slice when I take him grocery shopping. I was told to cut down on milk to 18 - 20 oz max - but I still go with 32oz each day if I can. Don't worry - my doc told me this adage "every person should be able to see his ribs from birth to death". He says it is healthier that way than being fat. I crib about the same thing to my doc (pediatrician I mean) but he says that in reply. So don't worry - we are all going through this. As long as he is active he is doing good - I keep telling myself this mantra that my doc says!
Hi anon,
increasing milk means cutting down a serving of cereal/rice and that means reducing his intake of calories. Need to discuss with a dietician.
Shobhana: thankoo thankoo ! that is so nice of you. Are you a health care provider? Do you work in a hospital? Will email you.
Noon: This is one thing for which I cannot say, "it is GOOD to know" that you are also sailing in the same boat. As you would know, you feel responsible and guilty everytime you see his ribs, everytime you measure him, everytime you see some kid in his age group fatter/taller than him. Like you say, probably I wil get used to it. I am kind of resigned to it already.
Same thing here, lots of ghee, look for high-calorie food in everything I try, and that reminds me, have you tried avocado? it is very high in calories & dense in all kinds of nutrients, that one can live with eating just it. Nikki's liked it, but his eczema became worse, so had to stop.
Right now, I am giving him Yo-baby stuff, will try out Dannon's la creme.
On the lighter side, you are officially elected as the President of the 10th percentile worry club!
Gosh Anitha, dont beat yourself up over this. Of course, he will grow and all the other kids always will look miles taller than him, its us mothers, we are the paranoid ones. The brat is a good head shorter than his classmates, and scrawny, and am always being asked if I am starving him. yeah, I reply, I'm eating all the food meant for him on the sly. What can you do, except your best? Take care.
Anitha - yes yes, thanks! I totally deserve to be elected president of that club! Whole section my brain dedicated to worrying about my son's eating and his 10th percentile weight!(if at all - I don't even ask the nurse that nor look at the growth chart - my doc says he is fine and nothing to worry, that's all I want to know).
I think I should write an acceptance speech on my blog now !:))
Kiran: Welcome to my blog! Guess this is your first time here. I know, there are people who look at me and Nikki(imagine Pooh and Mickey mouse), and pass insinuating comments about our weights. They think it is funny. Even though I laugh it off at their face, i feel the guilt & hurt because I really do look plumpy and Nikki looks like he is malnourished.
Noon: :-) Waiting to read your acceptance speech.
Anitha,
Don't worry too much about his weight Anitha. It is true what Shobana says - the growth chart is mostly for the babies here and our babies usually fall into the under weight category most of the times. Once when Madhu and Nandhu were 3 years old their teacher told me that they weighed the same as an year old baby there. I fretted so much over this, but there is no use worrying over this too much. We do the best we can but each child is different and they are usually genetically predisposed to have growth spurts during certain phases. I have some cousins who used to be so small when they were babies but turned out to be very tall and well built during their teens and adult life. With Nikki, I think the allergies must be emotionally wrenching to go through. But just keep up your spirits and do the best you can - everything will turn out to be all right.
Really late in commenting, did read this before but I really didn't know what to say. All the others who have low weight gainers have given you such excellent advice.
Really sorry to hear about Nikki's Ezcema, that must be really hard on you. Take care of yourself !
Long time since I've been here, na? You had De Quervain's too? I had surgery on one wrist, the other healed by itself. But the pain has returned so I don't know what use the surgery was...
My son, now 13 mo, is a little tall for his age and very thin and his weight gain continues to be very low. He eats a decent amount mostly, but is a very active baby. The doctor said he would stay skinny in all probability because of his genes and because he doesn't give his body any chance to gain fat!
I sympathise with the allergy problem. My aunts taught me to add a healthy tsp of butter on my son's khichdi before I serve him -- He likes the taste and I hope it helps him gain the little weight that he has so far.
Hi Anitha, I will not ask you not to worry too much cos we are all moms and no matter how much we try, we just can't stop worrying about our children.
I think that once you figure out his allergies, the rest will fall in place. Changing doc might help too.
I can't say don't worry as I was jumping up and down at Dlittle's 4 month visit when she reduced from 60th percentile to a 45th. My older daughter was pretty steady, between the 25th and 40th all along until a year back. This whole last year she has put on less than 3 pounds.
My kids ped says - percentile and weight don't matter in an infant and toddler[as long as they are inside the chart]. Watch out for too much sleepiness and/OR crankiness. Thats the sign they are not getting enough. If they are active and seem happy, they are getting what the body needs. Me, no expert, just passing on what I have been told.
mnamma: Thanks,you are right, allergy is the main cause for his slow weight gain, occasional crankiness, everything I think is not ok with Nikki. Hope he grows out of his allergies soon.
Poppin's mom: Thanks for your concern.
Sue: Oh yes, guess you were busy vacationing in Chennai for the Puja. I had De Quervain's, had to take steroid injections to alleviate the pain. Even now, it would pop up every now and then, when I overwork my wrists. You had surgery for De Quervain's? Oh my... that should have been very bad then. Was it post-partum or because of straining your wrists? I add lotsa ghee to his rice, think it has more fat than butter.
2b's mommy: I have changed 3 doctors for Nikki since his birth. I am happy with the current Ped, she remembers his conditions from visit to visit without having to read through his records, and I lovve that.
DDMom: Thanks for your 2 cents. I know, that is what my mom says too, as long as he is active and healthy and not in the under-weight category, don't fret too much. It always makes me feel better when I hear it from other moms.
oh-oh! I see a lot of other worthies have already given you good advice. So long as Nikki is healthy, don't worry, let Mickey remain Mickey and cute.:-)
but I do hope he gets ove rteh allergy thing soon. that must be very distressing for you.
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