Saturday, July 21, 2012

Ma Petite

My daughter is little.  Worrisome little.  As in before May, at 5 months old she had only gained a couple pounds since birth.  She grew up in height, but not in weight.  We started her on solids early because of this, and in the last 2 months she gained 2 pounds...a vast improvement.

Then Monday night I noticed she had a fever.  It continued to go up (capping at 102.6, which really is nothing).  It went down, but she wasn't herself and wouldn't nurse and because of her weight and needing to eat I worried so into the ER we went.  We spent 9 hours in the ER and were admitted to the hospital that evening.  We were told it was because they wanted to keep an eye on her infection (which was their guess to her being sick, nothing came through on tests), but in reality it had more to do with her weight.  Enter in the IV (on the third try) and it began our hospital-cation.

For the next 2 days we met with doctors, specialists (nutritionist and lactation consultant) and we stuffed her full of food (ridiculous amounts, to see if she was digesting okay).  Enough food that she gained over 1/2 a pound in 2 days.  Nothing could be found wrong.  Tests came back fine.  The end result is that she's a very active (and notably developmentally advanced) baby and seems to burn off more calories than she takes in on a normal diet.

We were sent home, and she is doing well.  She is supposed to have 4 small meals on top of breastfeeding daily. They want her getting 800-1000 calories in a day.  That's a lot.  I have to pump to add into her food.

But through it all she was a delightful and happy baby.  Nurses, techs and doctors stopped us in the hall to talk to her.  They'd sit her on the top of the nursing station and laugh how she watched them move about paperwork.  One woman who did her vitals that last day had a blast singing to her.

So now we're home.  She's eating a ton.  And I'm left wondering how this is going to affect daily life.  Do I have the time to work, when I need to feed her actual meals during the day?  What on earth can I feed her that is high calorie that she won't get sick of after a while (she already eats her weight in avocado and yogurt)?  And will our next child have the same issues, or will they be a little chunk?

1 comment:

  1. I'm sure you are doing everything right, and that Nora is just gaining weight differently. I was the same way as a baby. People always guessed I was 3-6 months younger than I was because I was so small. My parents were doing exactly the same as they had with my older half sister (who was a fattie), but because I got the petite, lean genes (and she got her dad's chubby genes), I grew and gained weight a lot differently.

    I've been super skinny all my life, and it started as an infant. So, if all of Nora's tests are coming back fine, and you are feeding her as much as she's telling you she needs, then I wouldn't worry :)

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