dr. appointment

[tracy]

As some of you know, my dd is very small for her age. She'll be 1 Sunday (talk about the best mom's day gift :D), but only weighs about 14lbs. I have an appt. next week w/the ped who scared me to death 2mos ago, telling me she was too small and that I would start stunting her growth and her brain development. He said she was falling behind developmentally. (She's not!) He wanted me to take her to a ped GI and a nutritionist/dietitian and add formula to her diet (in addition to what she eats). He had me sit at the front desk in front of other patients and make the GI appt! :oops: (Later when I cancelled this I asked why patient go there - my dd had none of those symptoms.)

To sum up, when my dh got home that day he said no way are we taking her to a GI (or giving her formula), so we went to another ped. This ped said as long as dd was growing, she was ok with dd having her own growth curve. BTW, dd has always been healthy.

I have been fighting w/myself on whether to go back to the original ped or forget about him. I liked him until that last visit and he is out of the hospital that I prefer (the other is not). I have been praying like mad, but I just don't know what to do. Help?!

I TOTALLY understand!! If you have read some of my posts about my ds, my ped have done the same thing. She wanted me to get all these tests done for CF and throid and anemia. Well I had the test ran just as a precaution and of course everything came back fine. Then I received a call from a nutritionst to make an appt to go over a special diet that would help him gain weight. DH was not happy w/that. We decided not to go. Now Ian has an appt w/this ped in July for this 15mos checkup and I'm debating to switch peds or not also. I've been praying about it a lot lately and sometimes I just get to my witts end. I feel let to go back to his regular ped since I really liked her before this. I just don't feel the need to be lumped into some "cookie-cutter" idea of what a child should be at a certain age. If you want to discuss any thing or need someone who is going through the same thing you are, please pm me and we can talk more.

Just listen to your heart and God will direct you in the right way to care for her.

[emilyrosejewel]

So sorry you have had to endure such treatment. Why can't doctors understand babies come in all shapes and sizes and just because your child doesn't fit the "normal mode" doesn't mean a thing. I would go to whomever you feel most comfortable with and who you feel will provide the type of care that fits your needs best. I decided to take my son to a smaller practice in my town when most everyone else goes to a nicer, newer, bigger practice because I feel that the doctor's my son sees are more personal and I felt the Lord lead me in that direction after much prayer. I'm saying a prayer that you will feel at peace in what decision you make and your sweet baby is blessed!

[tracy]

Thank you so much for your thoughts. I'm still not sure what to do. I will definitely pm you, momof2bois. I guess I'm concerned that ped will be upset that I didn't follow his orders, especially because she is still negatively "off the charts". I also have the whole mil ideas going through my head. Mil makes a lot of comments that make things worse. Maybe I should at least postpone her appt so I can enjoy this weekend...

[tracy]

Well, I took dd to 2nd dr. Tues cuz she had a fever Sun night & Mon. My mom was worried about her ears. After taking a second look, dr. said her left ear looked a little pink and gave us an antibiotic. I asked dr. about how articles say we're overmedicating for ear infections and asked "how do I know she needs this?" "You don't," she answered. She didn't seem very happy that I would question her. She mentioned that I needed to bring dd back for a recheck and her 12mo in 2 wks - so we could talk about her low weight. She asked if we had had any tests run on why she was so small and of course I said no. I cancelled that appt with the original dr. for now. I just don't know what to do. Now I'm thinking I was more uncomfortable with this second dr then the first. Ugghh! My mom thinks I'm not eating well enough to be bfeeding so I'm gonna work on that and see if it helps with dd's weight. BTW, she was 13.6.

[ktmartin]

<<hug>>

My daughter is still rather small compared to my other kids but she also started out small 5.8lbs were they were 7.2 and 8.9 and by the time they were a year they were close to 30 lbs (little butterballs is what we called them) Anyway my youngest daughter is only 16.4lbs (she will be a year on the 21st). She did have a heart issue which required surgery but the pediatrition is happy with her weight as long as she is growing.
Only you know which one you need to go to but I would definatly check her thyroid and make sure that she is healthy and then if there is nothing wrong and as long as she is eating well then I wouldn't worry about it. Is she eating any babyfood or solids yet? She might be needing more calories then nursing can give her just a thought.

Also just as a side note ear infections can be caused by the baby shampoo you use if it has quaternium 15(formaldehyde) in it so check your label and make sure that it is not in there.

I pray that you find a doctor that you can trust who is the right one for your baby.

[breezykc]

I know you may not want to, but I would without a doubt start the pediasure supplements or formula supplements....several close friends and my own son were very small too and it doesn't require any doctors visits but gets the kids some extra growth power and helps out slowly! It can't hurt! Only gives them some extra vitamins and a few extra calories to keep them healthy and might keep everyone off your back! Good luck! Switching drs is hard, we just did....but with both of them concerned, you've now had a second opinion want to check up on it...it may not be a bad idea to try the formula/pediasure and see if it helps just to make sure there aren't any underlying problems you'ed never know about with thyroid/etc....Not trying to be pushy! Honest! Just throwing out some options! Sounds like your little girl is healthy and thriving, so the extra supplements just sounded easy like it was for us! :)

[tracy]

Update: A week ago Friday we saw dr. #2. Dd gained 1lb in 4 weeks and is getting closer to the growth chart so the dr. is ok with her weight! YAY! :D She is 14.5lbs at 13mos. I was nervous going to the appt., but I have to thank Kerina for the www.kellymom.com site. There is a growth chart for breastfed babies and actually dd has been close to it all along. It was a good comfort. What a relief!

[emilyrosejewel]

Great update! That is wonderful. In today's society where the majority of babies are formula fed I think doctors tend to forget that there is a difference with breastfed and formula fed children with their growth. Keep up the good work!