I expected my daughter’s weight to be an issue – a lifelong conversation and struggle. I was preparing to battle childhood obesity and obsess over teaching good nutrition. To my surprise, Sophia is underweight and we’re feeding her like she’s on a permanent eating binge.
At her two-week checkup Sophie had gained only one ounce since leaving the hospital. I was breast feeding her almost exclusively and she was quite sleepy. The result was that when she was awake, she nibbled on the breast because her stomach was small and my breast milk was still not plentiful. And after nibbling for a while she would just fall asleep.
Her pediatrician put us on a rigorous eating schedule in order to beef up the baby. We were instructed to wake her up and make her eat every 2 -3 hours. This was a challenge at first because Sophia was just not interested in waking and eating. But after a few days her stomach started to expand and she woke up on her own when she was hungry.
The other issue was my lack of breast milk I was producing enough milk for only a few of Sophie’s stepped-up feedings and I had to add a lot of formula to her diet. I beat myself up for days as we continued to use an increased amount of formula.
I visited a lactation consultant who, to my surprise, advised that I pump more regularly and worry less about feeding Sophia on the breast and instead focus on keeping breast milk in her diet. We’re still breast feeding and bonding when we can, but I am pumping more and she is eating most meals from the bottle.
At her follow-up visit with the pediatrician Sophia had gained and additional eight ounces and she continues to expand up and out. We have another appointment this afternoon and I have my fingers crossed that she is closer to her correct weight.
This whole experience has been stressful for us as new parents. The initial concern over Sophia’s weight led us to question everything that we are doing. Up to that point we thought we were doing on O.K. job. Everyone told us that babies sleep all of the time and that we should be thankful she wasn’t fussy. It turns out we were all wrong.
But the experience of rigorously watching Sophie’s weight has been eye-opening as well. Friends and family members (and a few random folks) shared similar stories with us about their challenges with breast feeding and maintaining their child’s weight. It turns out that while breast feeding is best, a lot of mothers have a hard time.
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