I know I advocated the burning of weight charts on another thread last week.......however!
Bit of background. DS was born 7Lb 10oz at 38 weeks right on the 50th centile line. Since birth, he has gradually progressed up the centile lines and eventually settled just below the 91st centile line. He has also always been exactly on the 91st centile line for height - so in proportion.
When he was little, I dreaded taking him to get weighed as he used to scream, I used to stress about his weight gain and he would pee everywhere so I stopped taking him once I went back to work in January 2003. I got him weighed just after his first birthday and height and weight bang on the 91st line - 25lb 14oz. Fine - a chunky monkey but in proportion.
Today my mum decided that she would take him to get weighed at a clinic near her as my sis was taking her daughter to get weighed. He is now 31lb and just below the 98th centile line and the 'dreaded shaded area' at the top of the graph. She didn't get his height measured which I always insist on doing if I brave the clinic.
I have spent the last half hour stressing about this whole weight thing, worrying if he is too heavy and worrying whether we should
get it checked out. The HV didn't seem concerned at all but she wasn't my usualy health visitor.
In my heart of hearts, I know that DS is a good eater but a healthy eater. He rarely has snack food and really enjoys friut and vegetables and I am eternally grateful for that. He doesn't drink excessive amounts of milk (between 12 and 15 oz of full fat cows' milk per day). So my gut reaction is that I should burn the charts.
However, there is still a niggle in my mind. It is possibly to do with the fact that at 3 days old, he developed severe jaundice and was in special care receiving triple phototherapy and was on a drip. His SBR levels were extremely high - at blood transfusion level for a period - and took over two weeks to stabilise and his colouring lasted until about 6 weeks. Despite every test under the sun being done (his poor little heels were like a pin cushion), the conclusion was that his problems were of 'unknown cause'. All his follow up checks show that his development is perfectly normal.
Sorry this is long!
So what I am asking you wise people is:
a. should I worry about ds's weight?
b. should i worry about him crossing all those centile lines even though the HV doesn't seem to be?
c. should I modify his diet so that he stabilises on this centile line? (no....?)
d. is there any possible link with his problems at birth and the accelerated weight gain (my knowledge of the function of the liver etc isn't very good......)
e. am I being totally crazy, neurotic and paranoid?
Answer to e may well be a resounding YES! However, such a trivial thing is niggling away and widing me up!
Thanks to those of you who have stayed with this thread so far!
Popsy x