Friday, November 14, 2008

An undergrowing baby

We brought AN for her 18th month checkup today and received some rather negative feedback about AN's growth.

She's 78.7cm tall, 8.2kg with head circumference (HC) of 43.4cm.

Her height growth is ok at btw 10-25% but both her weight and HC fall below 3%. She's a '3%' baby so anything along the 3% line is acceptable but it's not, now that she's below the line.

The Dr suggested I increase her fat and calories intake (which I've already tried to. Guess it's not enough still), recommended Pediasure which contains more calories/ounce and suggest I do not let her suckle as much as before.

Her 'suckling', in Dr Monica's words, is merely snacking since she doesn't suckle more than 10mins each time and that's when the hind milk (high calorie milk) comes in. And those mins of suckling only serve to fill up her stomach, and of course provide comfort. It's nothing much in the area of nutrition anymore, not like it was in the 1st 6 months of her life.

We were concerned how this slow growth will be affecting AN. Dr Monica said that these physical growth are very important in the 1st 2 years of their lives especially, that if her HC is not growing, it may mean her brains is not growing. That will be something of concern.

We'll be bringing her back in 6 weeks' time after making some adjustments to her diet (include more fats and calories in her food).

What could have not been right??

She has her own bottle of organic olive oil that I use to stir-fry/fry food for her. I bought the same organic olive oil margarine to add flavour to her food. If she's having the same food we are having, hers will be minced (esp meat) so that it's easier for her to down. I've been making sure her meals are higher in calories than ours even before this trip to the PD.

I don't know what I'm not doing right, or what I'm not doing enough..

In case I get you guys worried, AN is active and behaving normally. She's also learning well and fast. Mr Liow tried to assure me that she's basically ok and not to let myself worry over this weight issue (albeit being a little too insensitive in his tone).

So, it's much higher calorie food she'll be having from now on. And I'll be weaning her off my bxxxxt.

It's not going to be easy. She's chanting 'mem mem; as I'm typing this. I'm ignoring her pleas and she is telling me "side" which she actually meant another bxxxxt (I'll tell her "change side" when she's done with one). Then she ran to the sofa and told me "sleep" (when she gets to suckle).

I feel drained....

For her, it's so like trying to quit an addiction....

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