So, the paediatrician said...

[verylittlecarrot]

"Oh, her motor development seems normal now"
"She's sitting up well. She's only holding on very lightly, really. Quite a straight back."
"Standing well"
"No we don't use the WHO bf charts. Oh is she on the line on those? Can I see? What's a Z score? Well, of course the population would be more world-wide rather than UK and US. Oh, right, I suppose she is mixed race."
"That weight gain is trending in the right direction anyway, now"
"What a fat tummy" (to her, not me)
"I didn't intend to upset you with using the phrase FTT, sorry. I didn't mean to imply neglect or anything like that. Faltering growth? OK."
"We don't advise early weaning to everyone, honestly. We do usually say to wait till 6 months. Risks of early weaning research paper - oh, thanks for that"
"About this - what did you call it? - BLW then. How does she eat? No, I must admit, I didn't look up the reference you gave me, sorry"
"I agree, her birth weight must have been wrong. She wouldn't have lost that much in two days. Interesting"
"Keep on doing what you're doing"

And.....breathe out.

[edam]

Well done that woman! Oh, I would love to have seen the paediatrician's face...

[NorthernLurker]

Bloody well done you! Baby carrot is one lucky little girl to have an ace mummy like you

[morocco]

keep up the good work vlc

[ReverseThePolarity]

VLC that is wonderful news.

Now take a few deep breaths in and out... and try not to think about stabbing the paed in the face with a surgical implement.

I find a glass of g&t works wonders.

You must be feeling much better too. I'm really happy for you.

[lionbeast]

awww well done vlc

what a lucky baby carrott xxxxxxxxxxx

[verylittlecarrot]

Thanks for the support everyone! No G&T here but I've done some serious damage to a tub of haagen daz.

The paed was almost apologetic, dh thought. And I managed to bite my tongue at the apparent 'improvement' in her motor development. He did say he wanted to see her again if possible, so we have another appointment in 10 weeks, but I get the impression he isn't 'concerned' any more. I gave him my letter at the end and scarpered quick, like. It was somewhat, er, assertive in tone! No mention of referral to a dietician. We had some useful discussion around breastfeeding, weaning foods, centile charts and the like. I told him how much anxiety his FTT had caused.

I don't feel scared that I'm being judged and found wanting, any more.

Gosh, so glad today's over.

[moondog]

Bloody brilliant.
A doofus has learnt something.

[MarsLady]

[mehdismummy]

oh great news vlc knew it. Mum knows best. You keep going. You are doing an amazing job. You have carried on bf even though twats have not helped. You co sleep. You are giving baby carrot the most secure happy start to life you can. Feck that bint from hearsay. You should get mum of the year. Bloody well done

[mehdismummy]

[PrincessHunker]

Bloody well done, as MM says!

Hopefully this paed will have taken something from this - you'll be able to follow up in 10 weeks whether they've looked up the ref you gave them too.

Your DD is a lucky girl!

[mehdismummy]

is that you hunkermonker!

[verylittlecarrot]

Forgot to mention, she weighed 11 lb 11oz today, at 7 months old. On the WHO charts, that pops her BACK ON THE BOTTOM LINE!!!!! OK, Fair dos, she would be the hundredth baby out of 100 healthy bf babies. But she would be allowed to be in the gang! And yet, on the red book charts, (which the paed had marked her little dot on) she is MILES away from the 0.4th centile. Waaaay below.

The difference between the two charts is staggering, actually.

[verylittlecarrot]

And another thing...

I was thinking about why the paed might have overreacted last time. And simultaneously wondering why, when you look up FTT, you find either references to bf newborns, or older children, but not really any refrences to bf FTT babies of 2 to 12 months old. It was like she was the only one in this circumstance. Like he'd never seen an excl bf 6 month old this skinny.

And then I thunk...

Perhaps the pressure to ff exerted by the HCPs is so great for the little skinny bf babies' mums, that they end up ff, baby chubs up, and the 'FTT' gets fixed. Perhaps it's more normal, even healthy, than we think to get the occasional skinny minnie like dd, but so few make it to 6 months excl bf that they are rarely seen.

And of course, I completely understand why formula would be chosen in these circumstances. But maybe, it is masking, a slightly larger population of naturally healthy skinnies than we realise?

Whaddya reckon?

[amateur sleuth emoticon]

[moondog]

Good point.
I find it bizarre how society obsesses over babies gaining weight when tiny then for the rest of our lives,we are all obsessed with losing it.

Excellent to be a skinny minny mean machine in my book.

[Saggarmakersbottomknocker]

Fab news vlc.

I'm just sad that you've had 6 months of worry for nothing.

[Caz10]

"Feck that bint from hearsay" mehdismummy you just made me spit my cheerios out i was laughing so much.

vlc i am simultaneously so pleased for you and so angry at what you've been put through.

i think you're so right - i know 4 mums who got pressurised into formula by my HV, before their babies were 3mths. that's just personal, anecdotal evidence, but multiply that by all the mums my HV sees, all the other duff HVs advising formula...i bet not many smaller babies do get bfd for more than 2-3mths because by that point their poor mummies have cracked under the stress. so the HCPs must see very few "petite" bfd babies of 3 months plus?

[SparklyGothKat]

wow just found the who charts, Callum is on the 25th precentile according to that, yet the ones in the red book say he is on the 2nd precentile. I am going to print one out and get the HV to plot on that one

[ILoveDigestives]

VLC, awesome news!

As always, since our DDs' stories seem to be oddly connected in the time-space continuum, your story gives us loads of hope, and means more time for us to enjoy LO, rather than worry about her (though obviously, we do still do that too.)

Hope the ice cream did the trick! ;)

[mehdismummy]

at caz well what has she done to deserve mum of the year? Apart from shagging darran day and twatting about on ice? Arse!

[Lulumama]

medismummy, have you had too much coffee today> you are hysterical! in a good way!

VLC and babyLVC.. super duper news! very pleased.... wonderful!

great the paed listened

makes me still a bit cross you had to do the bloody leg work yourself !

a great victory!

[mehdismummy]

no lulu! No coffee! Sleep deprivation! Ds up since seven this morning. He up alot in night too! Maybe i am finally losing plot!

[belgo]

verylittlecarrot - well done - your dd is beautiful and I'm glad she's going well!

My dd2 was also on the very bottom line of teh WHO charts (she wasn't on the charts the clinic used at all) - but now at aged two and a half, she's tall and strong and a healthy 23 pounds.

[SparklyGothKat]

I forgot to say well done VLC, I have followed yours and Cazs stories because they are so simliar to what I was and am going through. With the help of Mnetters and the wonderful breastfeeding lady I saw 2 weeks ago, I am now back to Full BF, with a bottle of EBM once a day (only because Callum has got used to the bottle at night before bed) but we have managed to move the bottle so its not his final feed. I am putting off weaning until about 7 months because he is still very young baby-like and is showing no signs of wanting food yet.