The Joy of a Chunky Baby

As you all know, Nora was a big ol' baby from the get go...but since her birth, while she's still BIG, she's not AS big as one would expect. By that, I mean that she hasn't been gaining as much weight as her Dr would like her to have, and that's been the case for the past several weeks.

I wrote at one point that her initial weight check, 2 days after being released from the hospital, was excellent, but since then her progress has slowed. She isn't LOSING weight by any means, and has actually been gaining a consistent 1oz per day (At her last appointment she actually gained a little MORE than 1 oz per day, gaining a total of 17 ounces in 13 days). Babies all lose weight after they're first born; anywhere up to 10% of their total body weight is considered normal. By their 2 week check up, Dr's expect the baby to have gained enough weight to be back at their birth weight. Nora did not do that. She did it by week 3, but by being slow to that first weight check, she's basically been 1 week behind in her gaining. Because of this, we've had to supplement 2 bottles a day with formula. So that means I've been breastfeeding her on demand as she needs it, but then twice a day I give her 4oz of formula when she's not asking for it (One in the afternoon and then one at night before bed). Even with all of that, she hasn't gained enough to satisfy the dr. This week I took Nora in for her third weight check and the dr still wasn't happy with her progress, so we are now on a new kind of crazy plan. I'm still nursing her during the day every 2-3 hours and then after every other feeding I give her a bottle (however much she will take - I always offer her a 4oz bottle) and then I also do the 2 additional formula bottles as we were doing before. It is a LOT of food to be giving her. Holy cow...I feel like all I've done all day is feed, feed and FEED her. It's kind of crazy. But, if this will get her up to where the Dr wants her to be then we'll continue to do it.

I decided to take a picture of her today and I'm going to try to do this every day until Thursday so I can see if there are any obvious physical changes in my chunk-o-munk.

Is that the face, and are those the thighs, of someone who isn't getting enough? The jury is still out...

Just wanted to keep you all updated on her!