Weight Gain

So we all know that Isabella is petite, I think she wants to stay our little baby forever ;) Yesterday was the appointment at the Growth Clinic, it didn't go too well.

First step: get her weight and height - she was 21.4 pounds and 32 1/2 centimeters. I knew deep down the weight definately wouldn't be enough and so did my mom, I could tell by the look she gave me when we saw the weight.

Second step: go back to the waiting room and wait for the dietician. I LOVE the dieticians at the U of I, seriously they are all super sweet and full of information. She was very happy with the diet we are keeping Isabella on, but had to let us know that the weight gain was bad. Bella gained about 3 grams a day, for a normal child her age they gain about 5-8 grams per day. The last time we were at the Growth Clinic Bella gained 10 grams per day. She has had about four ear infections since her last visit which impacted her eating, we know this is a big reason to her low gain. The dietician gave me some more ideas for high calorie snacks, instead of milk in her oatmeal try half and half, add half and half to her milk, give her yummy marshmallow cream to dip her fruit in, add brown sugar to cream cheese and put it on crackers. So I left there with some more ideas at least.

Third step: go back to the waiting room and wait for the doctor to call us in.

Fourth step: we meet first with a very young looking resident. He was so great with Bella and she loved him. She sat so still while he looked her over, good news, the last ear infection is actually clearing up on it's own. The throw up on Monday was probably just a little bug and nothing to be concerned about, her leg was looking much better and he wasn't surprised Bella had a reaction like that. The bad news, she gained barely anything. After talking with him he went to grab the doctor, Bella LOVES her :) She is so thrilled with Isabella developmentally, she even told me that I should be happy about her very strong attitude, it's a good thing :) Ok, so why can't the doctor come live at our house and take over when time out consists of me practically sitting on Bella to get her to stay in one spot? Which I was told I should only have to do a couple of times, I think we will try having a time out chair for Bella.

So now we are meeting with our regular doctor next week to discuss having tubes put in Bella's ears. Hopefully that will happen quickly and her appetite will come back and she won't get sick as much with ear infections at least. We go back to the Growth Clinic on Dec. 16th, if she doesn't gain well then we will discuss giving her appetite stimulants. I know it all sounds like so much and is her being so small such a big deal?? I mean she did grow about an inch taller!

Yes, it is a big deal. Her growing taller is a good sign that she is definately getting good nutrients, but she needs more to get the weight up. If she were to get the flu badly, she has no weight to lose, it's as simple as that. We would be in the hospital for sure. So Bella, your daddy and I are going to figure out all of the super fattening recipes we can, be ready for some super yummy stuff ;)