Today my husband and I took our 13 month old to her 1 year appointment with the pediatrician. We were prepared for her to be on the skinny end of the weight spectrum.
First of all, she's just a waif. Skinny arms and legs, no layers of luscious baby fat on her body that make you all googley-eyed. Second, like every person in our five-member family, Elsa has suffered the stomach bug that's been going around this house. In the past two weeks, someone is at all times throwing up and/or crapping their bum off. And poor Elsa has suffered the longest, with five straight days of symptoms. So she's got to be down ounces and maybe a pound or two because she simply hasn't eaten much lately.
But we still thought she would measure 50th percentile for height and 30th for weight.
It was the doctor's statement about "this not warranting an IV" that scared me wide awake, despite the past two nights' lack of sleep. "She is small but feisty" we were told "but during bouts of diarrhea she cannot afford to lose weight or there could be a big problem."
So, my new mission: Fattening up Elsa*
*or at least making her less skinny
I'm to replace water and juice with milk (16-20 ounces a day) laced with canola oil, feed her buttered pasta, avocado, high fat yogurt and fattening meat. I never thought that her current feasting of corn, green beans, bananas, apples, peas and carrots -- sounds healthy enough to me - would be insufficient. Sigh.
We're scheduled to see the doc again in two weeks. I will do my best and pray for some girth on her little thighs (imagine having such a problem!).
In the meantime, if you have tips for fattening up an active (walking, climbing) 13 month old, please send them my way.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment