Another unhappy pedi apt. - Page 2

[Pandme]

Just wanted to mention that my son gained 6 ounces from 4-6 months old. He was a nice 16 pounds 4oz. at 4 months and I was surprised to see him only at 16 pounds 10 oz. for his 6 month checkup. He went from 75th to 50th percentile.

I was worried but my ped wasn't. he continued on down the percentile charts, no matter what we did....and we fed him loads of fatty stuff. At 3 years old he is barely 30 pounds. The ped did want us to things like pediasure and stuff but no matter what we did (at one point she suggested avocado and I had to tell her he had eaten a whole avocado at lunch), he just gained how he gained. Now he has my husband's exact build....enormous head (99th percentile), pretty good height and skinny as a rail.

Btw, my husband played on the varsity basketball team at 5'8.

[phrogger]

I didn't read all the responses, but I wanted to say, my oldest son was only about 18 lbs at a year old. He was a tiny, petite little guy, my ex husband and I are both short people (I am 5'2, ex is 5'8). HE is now 13, 5'7 1/2 and 130, but all muscles. He is a very strong. He isn't exactly a football player size, but he is a big kid. Not tiny by any means. Don't let his size now scare you.

[ErinYay]

Just a reminder, mama, quarterbacks tend to be lithe and lean, and everyone knows they're the brains of the team! (Actually, to stereotype wildly, as are pitchers and shooting/ point guards!)

No offence to linebackers, designated hitters, and centers, of course!

[annekh23]

You say he's 6mths and eating purees? How long has he been doing that? You know that purees contain less calories, fat and protein per ounce than breastmilk?

At 6mths that suggests you should cut back on the purees, not try and up their quality adding fats to them is only going to bring them to about the level of breastmilk.

Small and thin doesn't necessarily mean unhealthy, I have tiny kids who are far from fragile, they are healthy and they are strong, way more muscular than many bigger kids.

[Pandme]

Originally Posted by annekh23

You say he's 6mths and eating purees? How long has he been doing that? You know that purees contain less calories, fat and protein per ounce than breastmilk?

At 6mths that suggests you should cut back on the purees, not try and up their quality adding fats to them is only going to bring them to about the level of breastmilk.

Small and thin doesn't necessarily mean unhealthy, I have tiny kids who are far from fragile, they are healthy and they are strong, way more muscular than many bigger kids.

Yeah, breastmilk is the most caloric thing going.

[Mamabeakley]

You also may want to learn about your/your partner's builds as babies. DS2 was just not very into eating of any sort, and was tiny (5th %ish after being born @ the 50th) no matter what I did. I felt terrible until I learned that MY growth pattern as an infant had been exactly similar. I am an average sized adult. That made me feel much better. And, he was obviously healthy/happy.

Sorry they all talked about "your issue" when you didn't want to!

[marge234]

how much is LO getting?

It's blasphemy in some circles but if you're still concerned you can rent a scale and measure how much he is actually transferring. It wasn't until we did that that we discovered how little our LO was getting to eat. I didn't buy all the "he's on his own curve," a small baby, etc... and--even though his diapers were fine and he nursed constantly--it turned out he was only getting around 15 ounces from me.

[mambera]

15 lb at 6 months isn't THAT small. Smallish but not tiny... Where has he been percentile-wise up to now? Has he fallen way far off his curve?

Agree with the PP's suggestion to check milk transfer by weigh-feed-weigh on an accurate baby scale.

Anyway, regarding the oil in the food - a good source of healthy fat is anyway necessary for developing brains. I put a little butter or olive oil in most of the food I make for my LO. I also try to give her egg yolks and avocados on a regular basis. It's not about weight gain, just about good nutrition.