Failure to Thrive

We took Kev to his four month check-up and all systems looked good except that our little man isn't gaining weight nearly fast enough, or even almost at all. From birth to two months he had gained almost four pounds. From two to four months only half a pound. That's a huge slow down in weight gain and a drop in growth percentile line. Our pediatrician (love the man) isn't overly concerned, but he did mention failure to thrive a few times and that has me freaked out. Failure to thrive is when the baby is sustaining, meeting milestones, but not really growing well. That might be Kev, but it might not be, too. He's definitely sustaining, meeting milestones and generally a happy baby, but he's not packing on the pounds. Our doc thinks it's genetics (he's Indian, too, so he's got some knowledge about Indian babies), but I question then how my genetics don't play a role in the picture (and am maybe thankful that my kids tend towards Vinay's body type more than mine).

Anyway, we've started Kev on solids and that has been occupying most of my time (my excuse for yet another long delay). To date, Kev has had applesauce, pearsauce, rice cereal, green beans, butternut squash, sweet potatoes and avacado. His little system has done remarkably well going from liquids only to solids in sixty seconds. He has loved most things, but is definitely not a fan of avacados and applesauce:

I've made all of his food so far and will continue to do so until he gets to the stuff with chunks. Then he'll switch over to table food and we'll be good to go. The poor kid doesn't always look enthused at his bowls of green and orange goop and it takes an especially long time to get it into him - if only we all ate as slowly as kids we'd weigh so much less. Amiya has also taken a liking to babyfood again, asking for pearsauce at every meal. We're humoring her for now, but it's labor intensive and she'll soon be given the cruel choice of eating a "big girl" pear or having no pear at all.

In the meantime, I'm back to researching every.single.stinking snake oil out there to increase milk supply. Why does it have to be so hard? Why can't my body do this simple thing that other women's bodies have been doing since time began? And why is it that moms who don't want to nurse get engorged while a mom like me who really, really wants to nurse can't build up a supply to give her child what he needs? Quite frankly it pisses me off. So, I'm channeling that anger into learning all I can about herbal supplements and other means of increasing milk supply. Happily, ice cream is said to be helpful. I'm taking that to heart (although not too, too much) and soothing my sorrows with a bit of Chubby Hubby every evening. (That sounds quite naughty and like I've just picked on my hubby. It's not either, follow the link. And then go buy some so they never, ever stop making it.) Anyway, if you've got a quiet moment, just think positive thoughts for me because sometimes I just *really* want to throw in the towel and give the guy some formula. It's what I want in the moment, but not in the long run so maybe just a little wish that this will get easier.

And now, to move us to a lighter note, a few pics of Kev the first time he tried solids. (ARGH - they'll have to come another time, I've tried to upload them three times and they just won't go!)