The battle between what your doctor tells you...what your friends & family tell you and what you yourself believe.
Yesterday Sienna had her 4 month check up & I walked out of the doctors office pretty upset and torn between many different point of views
ps- I really don't like doctors, I wish their primary concern really was the well being of someone instead of $$$ but that's another blog post in itself.
Anyway,
Sienna's Stats were:
weight: 11.9oz (5-10th percentile)
height: 26" (95th percentile)
head: 15" (40th percentile)
Her low percentile for weight was the first thing the doctor made me feel was a 'concern'
is it a concern or is it not?
As far as I know, breast fed babies tend to be more slender than formula fed because of all the extra crap in formula and the percentile chart include babies who are both breast & formula fed. Cant it just depend on the child? I myself was a very slim growing up and I'm perfectly fine. Then the subject of spit up came up, and yes Sienna spits up a lot. When I told the doctor that she immediately suggested putting her on medicine for it as it could be the reason why shes not gaining weight - not ingesting enough or that her body isnt absorbing the calories.
REALLY?!!! babies spit up! its what they do, they have tiny tummies and not a fully developed digestive system yet - why on earth would I give her medicine for this? I don't know one baby that doesn't spit up & they grow out of it.
She also mentioned that her head is getting flat in the back & scared me with the possibility of her needing a helmet if it doesn't correct itself.
Now, the way to correct this is to keep her propped up sitting up as much as possible, and make her sleep on her side.When I put her in the high chair I got a lot of grief about how its bad for her back to make her sit up before she can on her own. So I put away the high chair, exersaucer and thought well I guess it makes sense, because my mom & other women in my family who are in Poland believed the same thing and told me I shouldn't use the Bumbo chair either. So I thought well since my mom, family members & other people think its wrong I guess it is and when you're a first time mom making these judgement calls is not always easy
But this explains why many Eastern European people I know (myself included) have slightly flat heads ( I know this sounds silly, but its hard to describe and unless you run your hand down the back of my head you'll never know) - they believe no baby should be sat up until 6 months and need to be carried in the cradling position only...they take this very seriously & remember my mom lecturing me when she saw a pic of Sienna in her bumbo.
Sometimes you just have to go with what you think is right and forget what everyone else says, even when it means disregarding your moms advice and beliefs.
Now, the way to correct this is to keep her propped up sitting up as much as possible, and make her sleep on her side.When I put her in the high chair I got a lot of grief about how its bad for her back to make her sit up before she can on her own. So I put away the high chair, exersaucer and thought well I guess it makes sense, because my mom & other women in my family who are in Poland believed the same thing and told me I shouldn't use the Bumbo chair either. So I thought well since my mom, family members & other people think its wrong I guess it is and when you're a first time mom making these judgement calls is not always easy
But this explains why many Eastern European people I know (myself included) have slightly flat heads ( I know this sounds silly, but its hard to describe and unless you run your hand down the back of my head you'll never know) - they believe no baby should be sat up until 6 months and need to be carried in the cradling position only...they take this very seriously & remember my mom lecturing me when she saw a pic of Sienna in her bumbo.
Sometimes you just have to go with what you think is right and forget what everyone else says, even when it means disregarding your moms advice and beliefs.
Both of us needed some cheering up
so we put together her jumperoo when we got home
(she loves it) & I'm ok with her 'sitting up' I think if a baby has full head control its ok
She may be a little skinny minnie supermodel in the making but shes happy, healthy & perfect to us.
AND
she has a swimming lesson tonight!
I'll post about how it went :)
Sienna is a perfect baby girl. She's healthy, and that's all that matters! It's like you said, Dr.'s are all about the money.
ReplyDeleteDo what you think is best for her, you're her mommy and you know best!!!! Don't be upset about what her Dr. Said I beleive that it's better to have a little supermodel than an unhealthy baby
Think of the stats that make up each percentile. It's based on both breast and formula milk fed babies, so I'll never understand how they can confidently apply it to all babies.
ReplyDeleteWhether the fact that FF babies are slightly larger than BF is probably down to a mixture of the extra crap thats in formula, as well as the ability to measure the feed. But if like you said you also bottle feed her your breast milk, then I cant see you doing anything wrong at all :) trust yourself chick x
You are an amazing mom no matter if it's your friends and families advice you're taking or listening to what your heart is telling you what's best for Sienna. I hope me being a mom someday is as easy as you make it seem! You have a perfect life!!!
ReplyDeletei'm not a mom yet...but this kind of thing scares me with people (doctors, even!) giving information that might not be true for your baby! i feel like i'm easily swayed, esp by a doctor's advice. mental note to self, don't believe everything they tell you! :) i'm sure you know what's best for your little girl though! she's a cutie!
ReplyDelete