While we were in Hong Kong last week we visited a pediatrician. AB has 3 (or 4) pediatricians, one in Thailand, one in this country, one it Hong Kong, and she will have another one when we visit the US. He confirmed what we had long been suspecting. AB is underweight and measuring very small. In fact, she is about the size of a 6 month old baby when she was actually 8.5 months old at the time he weighed and measured her. She is below the 5th percentile in weight and height. We were like, "what's going on?" Before June she was in the 75th percentile for height and 25-50th percentile for weight. She has always had a small head, but now it seems her body has slowed down to match her head. Basically she did not gain any weight for the month of June, then gained .5 lbs for July and .5 lbs for August.
The doctor said that her lack of growth coincides with the beginning of my infection, and that my infection probably slowed down my milk production, but I did not know it. He asked if she cried much at that time, and I only remember her crying from teething. He said that she was apparently starving, but was such a good baby that she did not make a big deal about it. Wow, break my heart!
He suggested adding a scoop of formula to each of her solid meals to help her gain a little bit of weight and give her the calcium she was deprived of at that time. I am trying to pump a little each day to stimulate my milk supply, but thank goodness for solid foods! That is the only reason she gained .5 lbs for the two months that she did.
Although this is not a reason to starve your baby, her 6-9 month clothes are still big on her. We are getting a lot of wear out of this size.
Other than the weight, I have a healthy and very happy baby who has slept through the night since she was 2 months old. While I was pregnant with her, everyday we prayed that she would be a healthy, content baby and she is. She loves to tear through the bottom drawers in her bedroom, and screams with delight all the time, even when it is best to be quiet. All the locals who see her instantly want to hold her (but with there being 12 million locals, we have to draw the line at people at total strangers), and our house helper thinks she is the most well behaved baby she has ever seen. I am in love with our beautiful baby girl...especially her slow-growing hinie (I am not sure how to spell that, but you can substitute tush if you prefer.).
Below are her 8 month photos. It is getting more and more difficult each month to get her to sit still. She is such an unwilling subject. When she was younger it was a struggle to get her to look at me and smile, now I am just hoping that I can catch a photo before she knocks over her pink elephant or takes off across the bed. She is such a ham! It was a cloudy day when I took these, so the lighting is not the best, but she still is cute.
Her little hair bow is hanging on for dear life! I had to re-clip it about every minute.
She is looking at her daddy for this one.
Her patience ran out. It was a little too near nap time.
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