9 Month Stats & Operation PUJ

Jackson did wonderful at his 9 month check up appointment yesterday. Mainly, that's because there were no vaccines this time :) We did however had to see a different pediatrican. I believe this female, Dr. W will be his new ped. Dr. K - his ped up until now has just informed us of his pending relocation across town. We aren't thrilled to have to add 20 mins. onto our drive and we were ok with looking for another pediatrican. We liked Dr. W and felt she was very thorough. Luckily for us, we only see the doctor on a Well Visit basis, Jackson still hasn't gotten sick with any flu or virus.

Here are his stats for 9 months:

Height - 27.5 inches / 25%

Head - 46 cm / 78%

Weight - 17 lbs. / 5%

5th percentile for weight!! and 78% for head circumference. Basically, my son is a Q-Tip! What a way to take after his father, huh?!? I knew that his weight was a concern of mine since he lost interest in nursing back at 4 months. Everything around him suddenly became more interesting and his feeding times dropped to less than 10 mins. I had expressed this concern to Dr. K and the nurses at the 4 mos and 6 mos appt and they said "He's still growing". There was no way of knowing if he was just that fast of an eater. Well Dr. W looked more concerned that his rate of growth has tapered even further in the last 3 months. At this current rate - he will be below the charts by his 12 month appt. He would need to gain a full 2 pounds in the next three months to maintain the 5th percentile. Our goal is to get him higher than that.

So... I am now implimenting

Operation PUJ

Plump Up Jax!

Mission: Jackson needs to gain weight

Plan Current Action (that has failed thus far):

1. Giving milk feedings at least one hour prior to solid meals.
2. Nursing in quite dark rooms to lessen the distractions
3. Offered midday nursing in a bottle to begin a slow weaning process and help me to gadge the amount of milk he consumes.
4. Offered more of the higher calories solid foods (sweet potatoes, avocados etc.)

Concerns with my current actions:
1. How much milk does he actually consume during each nursing? There's little way of knowing
2. Was I feeding him too early so his hunger hadn't peeked yet?
3. Was my breastfeed insufficient for his needs?

New Course of Action:

1. No longer nursing right after naps, wait at least 30 mins to offer milk
2. Give lunch time milk in a sippy cup instead of bottle to eliminate the unnecessary element.
3. Possibly introduce a 5th nursing session again.
4. Start bedtime feeding earlier so he doesn't fall asleep too soon
5. Take him in for a weight check in 1 months, assess the progress then.

I don't have anything against formula, it has just been my mission to give him what I can provide as long as it is sufficient. Dr. W assured me that as long as I ate like a normal person, my milk has enough calories. For some reason, they just don't seem to be sticking to him.

My pet peeve right now, is finding my thawed milk bags spilling out from a crack in the refrigerator. I had worked really really hard to get a substantial stockpile frozen so that I could have the freedon to wean Jax from the breast at 9 months, and yet still carry him on expressed milk until he was 12 months, at which point he could take cow's milk. I am so disappointed that seriously - 1 out of 2-3 bag, leaks. I have gotten smart and now thaw the bags in tray to save alot of clean up. If I catch the leaking soon enough, I am able to save the remaining milk still in the bag. It's upsetting and disheartening that all my hard work is literally going down the drain!

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So, while we work to achieve a plumper Baby Man,
the Q-Tips' day to day life will go on as usual...

He will continue to thoroughly examine his toy...

tasting their unusual flavor...

continue crawling away from his mommy...

Getting into things he shouldn't...

And moving too darn fast for mommy's camera!