Weight update

Remember this post about Danielle's 9 month check up? This is an overdue update.

On Dec 28th we went back for a weight check. She weighed 18 lbs, 8 oz (2 oz less than the month before). Going in I thought the worst case scenario would be the doc saying I needed to give her some formula, but I was wrong. She told me that Danielle needed to take in 25 oz+/day and the only way to know that is by measuring everything she takes in. Which meant no more nursing her, I could only pump and feed her from a cup or bottle. I know to a lot of people this would not be the devastating news it was to me. But I do not pump. I do not give bottles. I only breastfeed on the breast. It has been this way with all three of my kids. So this news was the worst possible news I could have heard. In the office I kept my cool, but the more I thought about it the more upset I got. I could barely talk to Doug about it when I got home.

Rewind to the doctor visit. After she told me to only feed pumped milk, she did an exam on D to make sure she could have her second flu shot. Doc was listening to D's lungs and asked me if she had been sick lately. I said yes, for about a week. (She had a cold for about a week, with a fever for a couple of those days.) She was wheezing and Doc put her on breathing treatments. She also had an ear infection and was put on an antibiotic. She was not allowed to get her second flu shot.

This is where, in retrospect, the appointment went wrong. Considering that she was SICK, you would think Doc would reevaluate her weight loss and realize that her illness could have something to do with it. Doc did not say a word. So upon getting home and bawling to Doug about it, we realized how bad Doc's advice was. I decided to get in touch with a La Leche League (LLL) leader and see what advice she had about getting D to gain without having to pump. I also asked for names of doctors who are supportive of breastfeeding moms. The LLL leader confirmed that many babies have weight loss when sick with a cold. Her own daughter lost almost a whole pound while sick when she was a baby.

So the next week I made an appt with a doc recommended by the LLL leader. New Doc asked me tons of questions: how much D ate, how often, what she ate besides breastmilk, etc. She was very thorough. (These are not questions that Original Doc asked at all.) She said she was not overly concerned. Since D is very mobile, it is normal for her growth to slow. And since she had been sick, that could explain the slight weight loss. She encouraged me to feed D lots of table foods and to allow her to feed herself, since she has mostly been against taking food from a spoon. Before this, she did not eat much at all. Since then, she eats a lot. We give her food from our plates every day, some things she eats and loves while other things she won't touch at all. But her diet has a lot more variety now and she takes in a lot more calories from food other than breastmilk now. She still nurses as much as she always has.

Her follow up with New Doc was last week. She weighed 19 lbs, 4 oz!! New Doc is no longer worried about her weight (and neither am I) and we don't have to do anymore weight checks.

We come away from this experience in a search for a new doctor. Original Doc had been our pediatrician since Gracie was born. I had really liked her, for the most part. I will never go back to her again. New Doc is awesome when it comes to her stance on breastfeeding, but her office sucks and she is a little too crunchy for me (in favor of not vaccinating at all, unschooling, etc). Also, both Original Doc and New Doc are about a 30 min drive from us and I would really like to find someone closer. So I'm looking into docs in our area and hoping to find the perfect fit for our family.

I am tempted to write Original Doc a letter so she can see that there isn't just one way to get a baby to gain. I am still floored at how terrible her advice was. Doug says not to bother because it won't change anything and he's probably right.