Feeding Daisy
is frustrating me. So far it consists mainly of me spreading food on her face while she keeps her jaws clamped tightly shut. Oh, and today there was a nice variation on the theme: she opened her mouth randomly, so I quickly shoved some food in there, prompting an explosive sneeze that covered me from head to foot in baby food. (Well, maybe not quite head to foot, but you get the picture.)
She hates eating. HATES it. I have no reason to believe she will ever eat. I fully expect to be breast-feeding her when she's 25.
She had her 6-month pediatrician's appointment today. It was not a great day. I got worried because her percentiles are dropping. She weighs 15 pounds 4 oz, which puts her in the 33rd percentile, down from 57th at the last appointment. Similarly, her height had barely changed, and she has descended from the 78th percentile to the 40th. I worked up my nerve and bravely asked the doctor if it looked like she might be a dwarf. The doctor said she didn't think so.
She explained, "We don't really use those" (i.e., the percentiles). Er, why bother telling me them, then?
We didn't have our usual doctor, who's a resident--we are used to long, leisurely appointments, followed by a consultation with our doctor's mentor. This time was more rushed, and I didn't have time to ask all the questions I had brought with me, covering two sides of a page. This made me anxious. I am, after all, the person who took 43 typed pages of notes in my Childbirth Preparation class and brought them with me to the hospital when I went into labor, thinking I could study them and brush up during intervals between contractions. (They never made it out of my hospital travel bag.) I am an extensive question-asker and note-taker, so it racks me with anxiety not to be able to ask all my questions.
Then we had the vaccines, which were more than unusually horrible because she BLED at the injection sites, something that had not happened before. She also turned bright red and cried, erasing her one-appointment winning streak of not crying for her shots. I guess Mark will not be writing another "I'm So Proud of My Daughter for Not Crying" post like he did last time.
We seem fine now. She took a much longer nap than usual--an hour and forty minutes! Usually it's 20 to 30 minutes, what the Sleep Lady calls a "disaster nap" and what the Elizabeth Pantley sleep books refers to as "not a nap at all"--and then I fed her, aka smeared food all over her face while she kept her jaws clamped tightly shut.
Sigh.
She hates eating. HATES it. I have no reason to believe she will ever eat. I fully expect to be breast-feeding her when she's 25.
She had her 6-month pediatrician's appointment today. It was not a great day. I got worried because her percentiles are dropping. She weighs 15 pounds 4 oz, which puts her in the 33rd percentile, down from 57th at the last appointment. Similarly, her height had barely changed, and she has descended from the 78th percentile to the 40th. I worked up my nerve and bravely asked the doctor if it looked like she might be a dwarf. The doctor said she didn't think so.
She explained, "We don't really use those" (i.e., the percentiles). Er, why bother telling me them, then?
We didn't have our usual doctor, who's a resident--we are used to long, leisurely appointments, followed by a consultation with our doctor's mentor. This time was more rushed, and I didn't have time to ask all the questions I had brought with me, covering two sides of a page. This made me anxious. I am, after all, the person who took 43 typed pages of notes in my Childbirth Preparation class and brought them with me to the hospital when I went into labor, thinking I could study them and brush up during intervals between contractions. (They never made it out of my hospital travel bag.) I am an extensive question-asker and note-taker, so it racks me with anxiety not to be able to ask all my questions.
Then we had the vaccines, which were more than unusually horrible because she BLED at the injection sites, something that had not happened before. She also turned bright red and cried, erasing her one-appointment winning streak of not crying for her shots. I guess Mark will not be writing another "I'm So Proud of My Daughter for Not Crying" post like he did last time.
We seem fine now. She took a much longer nap than usual--an hour and forty minutes! Usually it's 20 to 30 minutes, what the Sleep Lady calls a "disaster nap" and what the Elizabeth Pantley sleep books refers to as "not a nap at all"--and then I fed her, aka smeared food all over her face while she kept her jaws clamped tightly shut.
Sigh.
posted by Sarah Goss at 5:02 PM
7 Comments:
Oh Sarah, I sympathize with you. I really thought Adele was never going to get the hang of eating either. Just keep at it. And Adele's percentile's dropped too. Nothing to worry about. She's just more interested int he world. Meanwhile we tried to start potty training--utter disaster. Back to diapers. I may be changing poopy diapers until she's 25! Hang in there.
Is this working?? testing, testing....
Testing, testing
it's always good for me to hear what you're going through because I get there two months later! I'm sure you'll both get the hang of it eventually!
Okay can someone explain the percentile thing to me? I thought I understood it ... but maybe I don't. Is it that 96 (or whatever) % of babies at that age are at that height/weight? Or is it more like a grade--like if you're at a lower percentile ... you're not where you "should" be and if you're up higher, you're doing "better" than everyone else? Or is it something else ...
In any case, I think Daisy is perfect. Well, except for the eating thing. Maybe she wants decadent food, Sarah ... open-faced goat cheese sandwiches and such ;-)
And, um, I wish my last name were Pantley.
Hi Mita! Well, the way I understand the percentile thing, if she's in the 33rd percentile for weight, that means 67% of babies her age weigh more. And if she's in the 40th percentile for height, 60% are taller. And *I* wish my name were Mo Dickman, Curly Bernstein, or Mo Dickman.
:-)
Mo Dickman should totally be in our 18th Century drama. He can put the moves on Lady Prudely Nunnington.
And thanks for the information. :-) This percentile thing is weird to me. Do they have a gigantic database amassing information on all babies born everywhere? Or is it based on a smaller cross-section of the population? Does it take into account obesity? I mean, I guess it can be useful in some circumstances--but I'm suspicious. And probably just super-defensive of Daisy, as she's A+ in my book.
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