Saturday, August 29, 2009

A Little Rant and a Trip to the Zoo

Sophie was eating a "pop-aco" after her nap one day. I told her to stay in the kitchen, but instead of sitting at the table, she plopped herself down on the floor and let her feet dangle into the living room. Stinker. I ran upstairs for a minute and came down to find someone had scooted herself into the kitchen to steal a few bites.



I forget sometimes how quick Ivy is getting. I panicked for a second, thinking the popsicle (which is just plain yogurt with some fruit juice or puree mixed in) might make her sick, but then remembered that I had started feeding her yogurt this week. She loves it, by the way.

I took her in for a check up this week, and I hesitate telling you her stats. She's little. She's 27 inches long, which is about average, but she still only weighs 13.5 lbs. That's about 2 inches shorter and 4 pounds lighter than Sophie was at that age. (Funny, though, that Ivy actually gets around better than Sophie did at 9 months.)

The doctor was a little concerned and wants her to come in for a weight check next month. She's always been petite and so was Sophie, so I figured she was fine. And because she wasn't eating much regular food, I'm still nursing her every 2-4 hours around the clock. There are babies who are exclusively breastfed until they're a year old who do just fine. The doctor thinks I'm not giving her enough calories. I do think she could stand to gain a few pounds, but it bugs me that doctors think just because she doesn't have fat rolls spilling out all over, she isn't as "healthy" as she should be. It's sort of ironic that the standard is switched when you reach adulthood, regardless of how well you take care of yourself.

Anyways, I've been getting her to eat more food lately, but it has to be from what I cooked for the rest of us. Example: She hates plain, pureed/diced butternut squash, but loves it if it's been cooked in a chile verde sauce. (What a refined little palate you have, sweetie.) I think she's going to skip the rice cereal (which is basically iron-fortified sawdust anyway) and pureed food stage and head right on into table food. Smashed, that is, because she still has no teeth.

So-o-o-o, went to the zoo last week. We hadn't been since last summer, and Sophie loved it (no surprise.) She wants to go there every day now.


When I go to the zoo, I don't take pictures of the animals. I know what a zebra looks like, and it probably won't ever change. Sophie, however, will.

Here's another shot of my "cool girl" reading a book to her baby. Did I mention that she still nurses that baby? Twice a day. Right after she gets up and right before bed. I wish I could get Ivy on a schedule like that.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Oh my goodness, your banner is the CUTEST ever.

I'm sure Ivy is just perfect! Wow, she really is petite, but I was petite my whole life, with doctors saying I needed to gain weight. Sounds like she is the same!

The Rogers said...

What the heck My kids where Ivy's size when they where born! Ok maybe not 13 lbs but Sky was 9. I love it though she is so cute. I know the kids doc talked with me about baby weigth and why they worrie. when there little they need more fat to help their brain grow so when babies are a bit underweight they worrie there brain isnt getting enough. Dont worrie though Im sure she is fine and Sophie has always been little too so they need to take that in to play as well.

Natalie said...

Babies need certain types of fat for brain development. Just because a baby is chubby, it doesn't guarantee that all of the chub came from a good source. Luckily Ivy's head circumference and development is spot-on, which tells me her brain is getting what it needs. She's a smart little stinker :)

Jodi said...

Ryan hates baby food too! He has started into a phase where if he has to eat from a spoon, it has to be a regular big-person spoon. No baby spoons for him. I think your girls are adorable and as far as the weight thing goes, well... speaking as a nurse, I know the doc just wants to make sure she is progressing. She is hitting all the marks developmentally though so you know her brain is doing great! The docs just want to be careful and they would feel terrible if they missed something because they didn't check up oh her again. Be patient with the doc...he is just trying to do his job and cover all the bases. (That is the nurse in me talking there).
The mom in me says as long as she is eating and drinking and doing what she is supposed to, its ok to be petite! *I'm stepping down off my soap box now!*

Brynn said...

It may be the chiropractor in you too that is turning you into a hippie. I worked at a chiropractor in Lansing and was much more hippie than I am now in my butter and synthetics land of Utah. I always take what the dr. says with a grain of salt. I was told Joseph was failure to thrive. Hmmm...he is not. He never was. Numbers are really the only way they have of measuring (duh) but it's not always accurate.