How Is Isaac Underweight?
“Mrs. Moore, did you know that your son is only in the 5th percentile of other babies his age for his weight?”
What I heard was “There is something wrong with your son; how did you not notice he was so tiny? Are you feeding him at all???”
My little pipsqueak
Sure I had noticed that Isaac was smaller than the other babies at daycare, but then again he was younger too, so I didn’t think much of it at that point.
Normally comments roll right off my back, like “wow I can’t believe he is not crawling yet” and “what a pretty little girl.” I know the speaker means well and I don’t let these kinds of things bother me, usually.
But the whole underweight thing was different, maybe because it had to do with his health and it was stated by his pediatrician.
5th percentile sounds kind of scary! It didn’t matter that he was in the 60th percentile for his length; I was focused on the underweight one.
I explained to the doctor that I breastfeed him five times a day, feed him 3-4 jars of baby food, 1/2 a jar of cereal, and assorted baby snacks in between. This boy may look it, but he is definitely NOT starving! Unless he has a tapeworm, but when I asked that the doctor laughed at me. Oh well, I was serious (:
Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t have a problem with a petite little one. But if it is affecting his health then I am worried. Could he just be in the middle of a growth spurt, or maybe all the crawling around he is doing is melting off his cute baby fat? No and no, I was informed.
I was told that at this point Isaac was doing fine, but they suggested feeding him more and re-checking in a month. I added a yogurt and another breast-feeding session during the day, and hopefully that will help.
Other moms I spoke with said this was no big deal, that their child had been small and still is, but no health issues from it, and not to worry. One mother suggested starting him on some formula in addition to breast milk and that would chunk him up right away.
I’m still a little worried, because worrying is what I do when it comes to Isaac, as you all know, but I’m sure it will all work out. Regardless of his size, I think my mini-Moore is perfect!
