Fifteen pounds.
That’s what Macks weighed at his six month well visit today. Like every well visit, I am always nervous about weight gain. It’s become engrained in my head that weight is always an issue with my kids. It started when Harlan was just four months old and continues to linger with every visit.
Macks was doing so well with his weight and was well above average in both weight and height. But these past two visits he’s started to taper off on his weight. This month he gained nothing. In fact according to the scales he lost two ounces. It could have been because we were at our new pediatrician and this was the first time they were weighing him on their scale (and as we all know scales can be completely different depending on where you are.)
The first thing that came into my head was that our new pediatrician was going to tell me he’s dropping in the growth charts and we should start to re-think how I’m feeding him. It’s the same speech that I’ve heard every time the girls started to fall off the charts.
They would suggest supplementing or adding rice cereal to a bottle to help them pack on the pounds. I tried it with Harlan and it made absolutely no difference in her weight at all, so when it came to Avery’s weight starting to taper, I was more prepared to be able to tell them no.
As the doctor came in this morning I had my guard up prepared to tell him that I was still going to nurse Macks no matter what, but much to my surprise he didn’t mention a thing. He told me that exclusively breastfed babies tend to stop gaining weight as rapidly as formula fed babies. Macks looked as though he was thriving and was meeting all of his milestones. With his activity increasing everyday, he’s burning a lot more calories than he was when he was just eating, sleeping, and pooping.
“Don’t worry,” he assured me, “You’re doing great.”
It was the first time that I felt like our doctor was not fighting or persuading me to do something that I wasn’t completely comfortable with. He trusted me.
It’s taken me a long time to get to where I am today. Confident in the decisions that I make for my children, including how I choose to feed them. With Macks, breastfeeding just feels right. It’s what works for us at the moment. I’m home with him all day, we’ve had no trouble latching, and it brings a sense of calm and comfort for both of us. It’s easy. And with three little ones, I need as much of the easy as I can get.
{Disclosure: I am working with Playtex as a proud member of the Playtex Baby Mom Trust program, a virtual network where moms can find common ground and support each other through sharing stories, tips, product reviews, insights and unique experiences of motherhood. As always, all opinions are my own.}
