dear lactnetters,
elijah rayn has just turned a year old on 10/1. we took him in for his
1 yr well visit and were quite surprised to see that he has not gained
an oz. since his 9 mo visit. (16 lbs exactly, 27 ") he had been
holding steady at the 5th percentile and now, apparently has plummeted
off the charts like a stone. when the dr. informed me that he is now
firmly FTT, my stomach dropped just like when he was born and kept
losing weight and passing bloody stools before we dx'ed dairy allergy.
he did have a mild virus at the time of the 1 yr visit which gave him
abnormal blood test results (high wbc, low hemoglobin, high
lymphocytes, altered platelets...) and sent us rushing to the local
hospital for more accurate blood testing (still all abnormal but not
as alarmingly as what the peds office tests indicated.) we waited a
week and retested and found them almost completely normal. hemoglobin
a bit low, but still low/normal and he was vegan at that point so i
wasn't surprised. once we got over the scare of a catastrophic illness
or disease, we are still left w/ the fact that he isn't gaining - again.
we are in the allergy specialist's office regularly. so far his only
true allergies are dairy, egg & cat. he was neg for egg at 6 mos and
positive 2 mos later, so we do take him in for retesting of the major
allergens at every hive-like reaction just in case something new has
suddenly become a prob. it's been going pretty well since eliminating
the egg. he doesn't have a lot of allergic reactions b/c i am
religious about our elimination diets.
i have been more than proactive about getting good fats into him since
eliminating dairy from my own diet and thusly his milk. he started
solids at 8 mos and gets an avacado a day. i also give him flax seeds
ground in applesauce and oatmeal, organic rice and olive oil, cod
liver oil... things like that daily. he does not have a large appetite
at all. i just introduced meats recently to help him gain and he seems
to like them fine.
i am feeling a bit discouraged and haggard after following up w/ the
allergist and ped this wk. the ped wants to test for celiac disease if
he hasn't gained by next wk. she says this could involve a stomach
biopsy. the allergist grilled me for 45 mins about why he's still
nursing so much, why i think it's enough for him if i'm nursing 2, how
can i know for sure i'm making 'good milk' and he's getting enough if
i never pump...would i consider trying formula for a bit... urg! i've
got 4 other kids as big as moose, doesn't anyone think i might know
how to raise and feed them by now ? how come nobody ever blames my
milk for my daughter being 110th percentile but they sure are for my
son being so small? and what about that fact that they're drinking the
same darn milk ???
i asked the allergist today why it can't just be that he's going to be
a small person ? my side of the genetic contribution pool has a lot of
small ppl ... he said if all my other children are bigger than avg.,
something is wrong w/ elijah that he's not following the same path.
he's happy, he's incredibly active - more than anyone else was at this
age, he's extremely demanding and high needs, he nurses several times
at night still, he's already walking, he's starting to say several
words, he's very energetic ! he stools (totally normally) 2-4 x's
daily, soaks his cloth dipes several times a day, gets over colds and
bugs faster than the rest of us. he's not sickly, his skin and hair
and eyes are beautiful and shining, he has lots of drool - i keep
looking for what's wrong or missing or a true indication of FTT about
him and i just don't see it ! he just has the allergy red rings around
his eyes frequently.
the ped actually said, 'i don't care if you feed him a bucket of
fries, just get some fat on him.' i caved in and bought some organic,
mass produced baby food in a jar b/c it seems to have iron and fat
beyond what i make at home when i steam him chicken and sweet potato
and such and he takes in more by drinking it up through a straw and
then feeding himself his table foods alongside it... but i just think
he's burning it all off at this very active stage and will gain when
he slows down a bit. and maybe the virus knocked things out of whack
and caused him to lose a bit of ground as well...
i thought i'd check here and see what the experts think - should i
worry more or less ? could this just be a baby that's meant to be
small who's very active right now and doesn't have a huge appetite and
is restricted from dairy and egg and all the hormones and fats
therein, growing as he should be during a super active period... (and
he's been small since he was in utero and was born small and even his
placenta was small)... or is this a baby that was meant to be big like
all the rest of them were much bigger and he's failing to thrive b/c
somehow he's not getting as much as he needs ? should i explore
diagnoses like celiac's and immune disorders (the ped suggested this
one b/c the blood test showed he wasn't making bone marrow at the
time) if he isn't gaining in a wk ? my mother's instincts are saying
it's much ado about nothing, but i'd love a 2nd opinion from ppl who
know more about bf'ed baby growth trends. thanks in advance for your
indulgence yet again !
~jacqui gruttadauria, bsw
www.myspace.com/mummaTOwldthings
(near detroit, michigan where my FTT baby is curled on my lap as i
type, glowing like a pearl and purring like a kitten as he sleeps the
sleep of the profoundly unconcerned !)
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