our little man

10.19.2007

still tiny, but growing...

ben had another weight check this morning at the pediatrician's office. its been a month since the last one, and he has gained 10 ounces. finally a gain! of course, he's two months older now, so even though he's gone up, he's fallen a bit further on the curve... he's actually under the 5th percentile now. but he's healthy and developing great, so they don't seem worried. he's just small. as long as he's healthy, i'm not going to be too concerned. he eats very well, lots of variety, all nutritious foods. sophie was always small, too... and then around her 2nd birthday she had a couple big growth spurts and now she's actually quite tall for her age - kids just grow at their own pace, i guess.

and another thing to consider is that ben is a breastfed baby, and all medical charts are based on formula-fed babies. there actually aren't any charts made for breastfed babies because the funding dollars just aren't there. the only one i've been able to find (and a friend in the medical profession mentioned the same one to me) is based on a small sample study done by the world health organization. this chart is based on infant boys who were breastfed for at least 12 months. according to this info, ben falls into the lower third, but still very much on the chart. seeing that makes me feel better. i think that breastfed babies have a bit wider "norm" than formula-fed babies because they are getting exactly what they need. breastmilk adjusts in nutrition as the baby grows, goes through different developmental stages, etc - where as formula is sort of a one-size-fits-all and would reasonably keep those babies on similar growth curves. i don't know enough about it, but it's interesting and i'd like to read more. but like i said, it makes me feel better to see the second chart. anyhow, we have ben's regular one-year visit at the beginning of december, so we won't need to take him back until then. hopefully he'll keep up the growing!

posted at 1:10 PM by aimee // 0 comments