the way we were

I've been slack about getting some pictures up here...been busy as usual between my part time jobs, being a mom, being a nurse for Jeremy, and then also having company...there just hasn't been any time for blogging! Oh yeah, and I came down with a cold the day before Thanksgiving, which is still lingering and is very annoying. Anyway, Rivers had his 4 month checkup, complete with another round of shots (ouch!) and I was told to bring him back in 1 month for a weight check. He is now 14 pounds 9 ounces and 24.25 inches. So he is in the 50th percentile, which he had been in the 75th for weight. So his doctor said this needed to be monitored because he doesn't like to see them cross percentiles. He asked me if my milk supply had decreased, which I didn't think it had. And suggested we begin solids (mixing the rice cereal into a bottle), which I told him I didn't want to start that until closer to 6 months. He may have suggested suplementing with formula, although I can't be sure because his appointment was already a week and a half ago. Anyway, I haven't been concerned about Rivers' weight gain or growth. I'm home with him all the time- he's always been a consistant eater and he's always eaten as much as he wants, whenever he wants. Basically I'm a walking milk machine and what Rivers wants, Rivers gets! Also I am constantly being told how big he is, by everyone. So I was really surprised by all of this and being a mom I can't help but worry. So I've been busy searching the internet and I found this...

Growth charts and breastfed baby growth

I have heard of many breastfed babies (including my own) whose doctor was disturbed at some point because the baby wasn't gaining weight quickly enough, even though the baby was well within the above parameters for weight gain. The problem is that many doctors are not familiar with the normal weight gain patterns of breastfed babies, and rely too much upon standard growth charts.

Healthy breastfed infants tend to grow more rapidly than formula-fed infants in the first 2-3 months of life and less rapidly from 3 to 12 months. All growth charts available at this time include data from infants who were not exclusively breastfed for the first 6 months (includes formula-fed infants and those starting solids before the recommended 6 months). Because many doctors are not aware of this, they see the baby dropping in percentiles on the growth chart and often come to the faulty conclusion that the baby is not growing adequately. At this point they often recommend that the mother (unnecessarily) supplement with formula or solids, and sometimes recommend that they stop breastfeeding altogether. Even if mom realizes that her baby is perfectly healthy and doesn't follow these unnecessary recommendations, she ends up worrying for no reason (and moms don't need anything extra to worry about!).

Of course that was just a small tidbit from the website, but it put my worries to rest and has me considering switching doctors...