A Leg to Stand On

If I visited the lactation consultant in hopes of hearing that growth charts are rubbish, the peditrician is a complete nincompoop, and as a third-time nursing mother I'm doing everything right, then I was disappointed.

The lactation consultant said that as far as dropping percentiles, I needed "to continue to watch the situation." So the pediatrician's request for a weigh-in in a month was reasonable.

I said something about weighing all Monkey3's diapers for the last few days because in terms of volume I have no idea how much she is getting, and the lactation consultant chuckled, pointing out that the human race did survive before scales were invented.

Watching me nurse Monkey3, the lactation consultant helped readjust our positioning for a better latch. We talked about my Monkeys' (all three of them) habit of nursing on one side. She encouraged me to offer the second side. This took some patience, as Monkey3 was very interested in looking around and showing off for her new audience. We turned down the office lights, the lactation consultant stopped talking, and after Monkey3 finished oogling the emergency exit sign -- red, her favorite color right now -- she returned to business. The baby scale used before and after each feeding indicated she consumed 2.4 ounces per side. A good meal for a breastfed baby.

Now while a dark and quiet room is out of the question for every feeding of the day because I have two other children to keep track of, offering the second side and trying to reduce distractions, such as wearing a nursing cover-up cape, may help. Monkey3 will only eat if she's interested, but trying to minimize how interesting the environment is may help her focus on eating. Also, a little massage after the initial let-down, which is quite strong, could encourage Monkey3 to stay attached, as the lactation consultant noted that some babies will "coast" on the initial let-down of milk and lose interest when they have to work a bit more. "Help her get to the cheesecake at the end," were her words, as the hind-milk, end of feeding milk, can be richer.

We discussed initial foods, for when the time comes, and how nutrient dense things like avocado, sweet potato, and banana would be a better start for her than the classic rice cereal and breastmilk.
"I've never ever pumped," I told the lactation consultant, "It would be rice and water... and that's not a great idea."
"You are amazing!" she said. In her job, she usually deals with pumping mothers.

So I have a few little things that I can work on with Monkey3, but really, what will it do? I doubt that nursing her more will move her back up the percentiles to 75th, where her at-birth weight initially put her on the chart. Maybe she is just going to be petite. Somebody has to be at the bottom of the chart!

"I don't mind standing up to a doctor," I have said to another mom, "I just want to know I have a leg to stand on."
"You do!" she retorted, "You're the mother! You are around your baby all day... these doctors breeze in for five minutes..."

The other mothers I have spoken to who also have, or have had, babies that do this percentile drop thing either have "a peanut," as a tiny kiddo is commonly referred to, or have something drastically wrong -- but the mom knows that! When the baby is happy, shouldn't mom also be? Not when doctors start taking an extra look at their papers and asking questions about how many times a day the baby eats and how many diapers are used. Not when doctors bully supplements or mention Child Protective Services (not my experience, but yes a mom I know). "Failure to thrive" really is different from failure to stick to the average growth chart.

If the doctors would only get their noses off the tiny ink spot on a graph, maybe they would see... I have more than a leg to stand on. And my baby has two chubby legs she's kicking to stand on.