Last Wednesday we had our follow up appointment with the pediatric pulmonologist regarding Lillian's reflux. She had started breathing funny again, so I was interested to see what he would say. After briefly examining her, he decided we would put her on Zantac for the reflux to see if that would help. But then as we started talking a bit more, he realized how small she is for her age. After an few calculations, he decided that Lillian should have gained double what she had between our last appointment and this one. He said that he thought I needed to follow up with my Pediatrician immediately. He actually used the words "failure to thrive".
So of course I flipped out. I mean who wants to be scared like that. I had asked my pediatrician at her 4 month appointment 3 weeks earlier if I should be concerned about her lack of weight gain and he said she was fine, so I was frustrated that I now had another doctor freaking out about her weight gain. So I decided to go see another pediatrician in the same practice. The Dr I had been seeing previously didn't seem to really listen to me or to Lillian. He told me twice that her breathing was fine (which was obviously not the case) and didn't seem to care about her weight gain even though she's steadily been losing ground (percentage wise) on the growth charts. So I called the practice and made an appointment with the female doctor in the practice. I had heard good things about her previously, but she only works part time which is why I was hesitant to use her from the start.
So Thursday afternoon, Lillian and I went to see the pediatrician. It was a great appointment. She really took her time with us and listened to my concerns and listened to Lillian's breathing. She actually disagrees with the pulmonologist that she has reflux but said to keep her on the zantac just in case. She thought she has something else (a name I can't pronounce or remember) but said it was something she would grow out of. In the mean time she laid out a good plan for Lillian's weight gain. She wanted us to decrease the rice cereal intake because she thought Lillian was getting too full on it and not on breast milk, and she wanted us to make sure Lillian is getting around 30 oz per day, which is a big jump from the roughly 24 oz she has been getting. She wanted us to try to bottle feed her as often as possible so we could be sure how many ounces she was getting. Since I don't produce 30 oz per day (or at least not that the pump can get) this meant we had to introduce formula. I have been feeling very conflicted about having to give her formula but that is a whole other post. Never the less we put the plan in action this weekend and Lillian seems to be liking it. She took the formula with out batting an eye.
I hope everyone had a great 4th. We spent the weekend at home relaxing, and yesterday we went over to a friends house for a little swimming... Here are some picts from the 4th!
Sporting her 4th of July outfit!
Getting ready to swim with Thatcher!
Lillian loves the pool!
4 comments:
I hope everything works out. Lillian is adorable as always in her 4th of July and swimsuit!!!
I had several of the same issues with Andrew. Around 3ish months I was worried Andrew wasn't gaining much weight. He wasn't, but the doc wasn't concerned. He also dropped % on the growth charts. I ended up supplementing with formula around 5.5 months for a couple reasons: 1 - I was worried about the lack of weight gain even though the Dr wasn't and 2 - I knew I'd be going back to work and wasn't sure how pumping would go. To make a long story short, formula was the best decision I could have made. Andrew went through a major growth spurt at 6 months which caused my supply to tank (on top of not being able to pump enough at work) and he ended up gaining 6lbs in 3 months. He jumped from 25th% to 75th%. Hang in there. She could hit a huge growth spurt and jump right back up there.
She is soooooo sweet. Seriously, I can't get over her cuteness. I'm so sorry that you've had such a frustrating scare with Lillian and the doctors. I'm glad you are on a good plan now. I pray everything keeps going smoothly with the formula and that cutie pie keeps chunking up!!!
I'm sorry you had such a scare. Formula introduction is so much harder on us mommies than the babies. Glad Lillian took to it without issue. The twins were a nightmare when I added formula to the mix and I cried a lot over it all. Hope all is well by you :)
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