A New Milestone

[sehbub]

I took Sam to the doc today for her reflux, and she was weighed and measured, and she's 10lb, 10oz and 21 1/2" long!! She is officially on the growth charts for her real age, which is 15wks. She's in the 5th-10th percentile for her age, but given that she's gained 2 1/2lb in the last 5wks since our last appointment, the doc is optimistic that she'll be catching up quickly.

She's also moved in to 0-3 months clothes. It's so fun to watch her actually outgrow clothes!!

[boscopup]

Wow! Congrats!!! DS didn't get on the actual age growth chart for weight until 1 year, and then was only 5% at that! But he gained quickly in the 2nd year, ending up 70% at his 2 year appt. For height, I think he's been on the actual age charts all along, but his daddy is 6'5", so we kind of expected that. :lol

It was so neat when she finally was able to stop charting adjusted age. She put the new "big boy" (2+ year old) chart in his file, and saw the preemie stuff at the beginning and was like "Oh yeah, I forgot he was a preemie". You just can't tell at all anymore!

[fireant]

That is so great!

[momtoalexsarah]

Cool that she is on the chart.
Just a questin though. Is there a special chart that they use for premies. My youngest was a 35weeker and they measur her on a regular chart but she is only at the 5% if that at times (she's 4.5 months now) and they keep tellin me that she is FTT because of her size. I'm just wondering if they should be using a different chart?

[sehbub]

There is a preemie chart they can use, but you have to be using a ped who has worked extensively with preemies in order to find the chart in use. And reading that, it doesn't make much sense.:lol

OKay. Yes, there is a preemie chart. Most peds don't use them in common practice, however, because the average ped just doesn't see enough preemies to need to worry about the chart. Besides, in the opinion of most peds, the goal after getting a preemie home is to get him/her on the "normal" growth chart, so they try to stay away from it, if that makes sense. A huge preemie is still a small baby, kwim? Plus, it enables them to better track developmental milestones. If your preemie is growing at the same RATE as the average baby, then you're fine. That's the explanation we were given anyway. :)

Hope that helped!

[mimid]

Isn't that such a good feeling? My biggest girl is on the chart. Hopefully the other 2 will be at this month's appointment.

My ped doesn't really push this. It was actually the specialist we saw for Shira's GERD who mentioned it. My ped just checks how close they are developmentally to their actual age.

[boscopup]

My youngest was a 35weeker and they measur her on a regular chart but she is only at the 5% if that at times (she's 4.5 months now) and they keep tellin me that she is FTT because of her size. I'm just wondering if they should be using a different chart?

Mine used a regular chart, but plotted both actual age and adusted age. So when he had his 6 month appointment, she put the dot on the chart for 6 months, then put another dot on there for 3.5 months (since he was 2.5 months early), and then she found the percentage for each one. At that point, he was way below 5% actual age, but was still around 20-25% for adjusted age.

So for you, when you get to 6 months, she should put a dot on 6 months and then another dot on 5 months, and see what the 5 month % is. If she isn't doing that, you may need to remind her that your daugher was a preemie and needs to be plotting against adjusted age before they worry about FTT (and really, FTT shouldn't be based solely on weight anyway - if she's developing normally and is active and such, I don't think she's supposed to be classified as FTT).

Also, if YOU or DH were small as babies, make sure you mention that. I was surprised that DS actually followed my exact weight pattern (almost to the oz!) for adjusted age in the first year. I was considered "underweight" at 9 months, although I was a breastfed baby, and back then they had formula-fed charts only. On today's charts (even the ones that are mixing formula/bf), I'd have been considered ok in the weight department - still above 10%.