Shelby Frances was 15 months old on September 5th, so we had a check-up with her pediatrician last week. Have I mentioned how much we love Dr. Love? He was pleased with all of Shelby's recent accomplishments (she is now scooting around pretty efficiently on her belly and using a few words and signs). He told us repeatedly how great she is doing (which we already know) and what a wonderful job we are doing with her (which is always nice to hear).Shelby now weighs 18 lbs, 4 oz. We are glad that she has gained some weight, but unfortunately she is still in the 2nd percentile and could stand to gain a whole lot more. I haven't written much about our difficulties with feeding, but they are pretty significant. Shelby doesn't tolerate texture, and gags if her food isn't a very smooth stage 2 baby food consistency. When she gags, it almost always leads to her vomiting up everything in her stomach. Sometimes she throws up, even if her food is smooth. It takes us a very long time to feed her, so it is frustrating when it doesn't stay down.
She is seeing a nutritionist and a speech therapist who focus on her feeding and calorie intake, and there has been a lot of progress. Shelby now drinks whole milk (with formula added to increase protein and calories) out of a sippy cup. She is also taking in more food. On a good day, she usually eats a couple jars of baby food plus yogurt and half of an avocado (when she keeps it all down). We add melted butter or olive oil to all of her foods. This is a huge improvement, but it still isn't enough intake to increase her weight percentiles.
My hope is that she will keep improving and soon start to take an interest in some self-feeding. Our neurosurgeon has told us that feeding issues are very common with kids who have hydrocephalus. I am certainly open to suggestions from any moms who have dealt with similar problems.
Oia has always been little too, barely on the charts for weight. She has a scoop of butter added to all warm foods she eats. We like to joke and say she is on the "Paula Deen" diet. In addition, she drinks Pediasure instead of whole milk sometimes. Maybe Shelby would like this too...?
ReplyDeleteNorah is still in the same boat, in the 3rd percentile for weight. We have tried several times to get her to eat table food but she pockets most of it in her cheeks. I make ALOT of mashed potatoes then mix in something else like carrots or broccoli and cheddar, and of coarse butter. I have slowly been making it thicker and lumpier and she seems to tolerating it. Also, starchy foods are good for weight gain. Yeah for Shelby for mastering the sippy cup, I think we are still months away from that despite daily encouragement to get Norah to use it.
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