Astoundingly, she has not packed on a ton of pounds. (I'm shocked. SHOCKED, I tell you!) Verity had her 6 month well-baby appointment this morning. She's up to 13 pounds, 7 ounces, but that's only the 7th percentile. She had climbed all the way up to the 13th percentile the last time we were in for a weight check a month ago, but that was with much emphasis on feeding tons extra. So after we stopped having to go back every week, I started getting more casual about force-feeding Verity, and just letting her be done when she was done. We were still supplementing with about 3 oz. of formula after each nursing session. Honestly, she is happy, sleeping well, actively moving around, and so on, so I once again was not remotely concerned. I mean, I kept weighing her, and she was gaining weight, so everything is good, right?
Wrong. Apparently Verity missed the memo, but she was supposed to be gaining 15-20 g a day from 3-6 months. Unfortunately, over the past month she only averaged 8 g a day. That is an acceptable weight gain per day for babies over 6 months, but not under. I don't know who comes up with these random statistics, but the doctor today was concerned about that. She kept saying how we needed to "make sure she can gain weight". Well, duh, obviously she can, as long as I am really forcing the food on her. But when I stop doing that, it seems that she trends back down to the lower percentiles, where I suspect her body is designed to be. The doctor actually told me she could not rule out a metabolic disorder, and I just stared at her and then laughed. REALLY?!? She also said something about Verity "not meeting her milestones" and I immediately countered, "You mean mileSTONE", because obviously every other thing about Verity's development is on track or ahead. Even her head circumference and growth are right on track! I kept saying that she was following the exact pattern of several of my other kids, but the doctor wasn't buying it. "I can't stand in a court of law and say, 'Well, I was concerned, but she said all her other kids were skinny'".
She threw out some potential solutions, including giving Verity the bottle first. I immediately shot that one down, going into great detail about how difficult it was to get Verity to start nursing again once I had given her the bottle back in her first week of life, and I certainly was not going to have my milk supply drop off for this. I told her about Luke, and about how I did stop nursing him at 6 months, since the doctors told me that starting him on formula and solid food would make him start gaining more weight (it didn't help). I know a whole lot more now, and I am not weaning so my child can meet some arbitrary weight standard! I'm really quite a pretty calm and laid-back, non-confrontational person, but I was highly irritated at this point.
We finally agreed that I will give Verity 5 oz. of formula after each nursing session, and I'll try to fit in an extra bottle somewhere during the day, although I'm still not sure how that will work. And I'll bring her back in 2 weeks for yet another weight check. She'll probably have gained, since I'll be forcing food down her, but as soon as I relax a little, she'll drop back down again. Grrrrr. You know, breast-fed babies are supposed to be less inclined toward obesity because they stop feeding when full, instead of just mindlessly draining however much is in a bottle. Well, what is poor Verity learning but that you keep eating until your stomach is full to bursting, even when you have no interest in eating?! How on earth is THAT a good thing?? Se'll definitely be ignoring any "full" sensations! Good grief.
This really is going to be the last weight check. I am toying with the idea of bringing in the younger 7 kids (max that will fit in the minivan, LOL), so the doctor next time can see all our skinny but healthy kids. (I did not choose to make the next appointment with this same doctor I saw today, LOL.) It just seem pointless to me to keep bringing in an obviously healthy baby for weight checks, and it certainly is a huge waste of my time. So this is it! I have had it!
Bonus picture of Micah and Drew, who wanted their picture taken too.
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