Eleven months ago when Dr. E first diagnosed my little Ying-a-Bing with "failure to thrive" I wasn't really too surprised. She had spent her first 19 months in a place where the goal was merely to survive, not thrive. I smugly thought that after a few months of good old American food with its excessive caloric and fat contents, my girl will be thriving. So, I took her home and fed her. A lot. You want French fries, baby? You got 'em! Ice cream? No problem. Six fish sticks? Here you go. She ate, and ate, and ate. And, 11 months later, she has gained a whopping 4 pounds – most of it in her first 5 months home. So, yesterday we saw Dr. E again. He plotted Little Bit's weight and found that she is no longer following her own curve. See, average size kids (like OBaby) grow on a curve – the older they get, the more they weigh (and the taller they get) so the curve goes up and out. As long as an unusually small baby is following this curve (not on it, below it, but still following the curve) they are ok – just little. The graphic above shows the height/weight charts for girls. The top curve is height, the bottom weight. The red dots are where Ying falls on the chart. As you can see, she's a lot closer to being in the bottom 3% for height than weight, but right now she's in the negatives for both.
Once again, Dr. E labeled her with that awful diagnosis – Failure to Thrive. Failure of Mama to be able to fatten baby up. Unbelievable. I mean seriously, for someone in MY family to need to fatten up and not be able to? Inconceivable! Suddenly I'm not feeling so smug about my parenting skills or that good old American food. She's been eating like a baby truck driver for 11 months, and yet still she fails to thrive. Damn.
The doctor then decided that it is time for Ying to see a specialist – a Pediatric Gastroenterologist. So, next Friday we will trek down to Riley to see the Peds GI specialist. Gee, aren't I getting to learn a whole lot of neat new medical terms. Hopefully, we will find out something that will help get Little Bit onto the charts!
5 comments:
Donna,
I am so sorry to hear this. I saw your post on RQ and came here to see what was going on.
Ying is such an adorable child, and I've seen her put away some food. Hopefully, the doctors at Riley can get to the bottom of this quickly.
Donna,
I hope that your visit to the GI doc is a good one. It is such a hard dx to get. It sounds like she is doing great in other areas so try not to worry (easier said than done) My Moose (also a tiny tot) is below on both height and weight as well- and she lives on carbs.
Wishing you the best
Tamara
Good Mommy's and good babies come in all shapes and sizes. Y baby will continue to be just great. My oldest son was so tiny that at times the doctors looked at me as if I wasn't feeding him. The kid could just eat huge amounts of food and never gain. Today he is nearly 6'1 muscular and as strong as an ox. So, try not to worry.
Miracles and Blessings,
Sabrina
Dee -
I've got every one I know praying for her. Love you both.
Donna,
Ying looks awesome in her pictures and I can't believe that she's still labeled with failure to thrive. You are an excellent mom, so that has nothing to do with it. Have you, by any chance, plotted her on the Chinese growth charts? They are so much different than American growth charts. It was just a thought I had when I saw your post. Good luck with week at Riley!
Shari
Post a Comment