An active child

Amidst the stress and anxiety of this week I have been concerned about Angus and his weight. He was born little (on the 25th percentile) and has stayed on that percentile. A few months back, I noticed that he had slipped down to the 10th percentile. I wasn't too worried as he was having 3 solid meals a day, still breastfeeding, and looking healthy. I gave him a month to maintain his weight or even to put some back on.

And then he started to refuse breastfeeds. And some meals. And I noticed that he looked thinner. I weighed him again and he had only put on 200gm in a month and had slipped to the 5th percentile. Eeeek. I took him off to the GP who sent us back to the paediatrician for  a review. I spent the whole week stressing about it and desperately trying anything to get him to eat. I started connecting some of the dots and realised his vomiting had gotten worse again. I realised that this had worsened when I started him on yoghurt so then I started to worry if he had a lactose intolerance. A friend suggested a cows milk protein intolerance, someone else suggested a vit. D deficiency..... No wonder I was so confused.

I stopped giving him yoghurt and switched to using a lactose free formula for his breakfast and did notice an improvement in the vomiting (he wasn't vomiting a lot - maybe twice a day). He won't take a bottle or anything other than water from a cup so the idea of trying to formula feed him just seems too hard.

Last Thursday we went to see the paediatrician who thinks that he is fine, and is just an active child. He doesn't think that he is refluxing (well not enough to bother him). He doesn't think he has a lactose intolerance. He thinks that Angus is too busy looking at the world to worry about feeding. Nevertheless he sent us off for some blood tests (coeliac, the cows milk protein tests, iron, kidney and liver function) just in case and we get those results tomorrow. In the meantime keep doing what we are doing, try to fatten him up with icecream and yoghurt (which I'm still a bit hesitant to do) and see how he goes. We talked about his sleep (or lack of sleep since he is up several times a night now) and he thinks that he is just comfort feeding and we should try controlled crying.

I did ask about breastfeeding and radiation treatment and he seemed to think that there would be no problems. However he did emphasise that I will be tired, and that maybe I should think about weaning. Sigh. It seems every health professional is keen for me not to breastfeed. I have to confess, I am ready to wean but getting Angus to take a cup is the hard part.

I find it highly amusing that I have a child on the 5th percentile, when Charlotte was on the 95th. I swear that I am not doing a thing differently with them. They just are intent on confusing their mum!