I have had an epiphany. I learned something this weekend that both relieves me, and at the same time, annoys me and angers me to no end.
I saw my cousin (up from Florida) who has a 2 year old granddaughter born full-term just days(8 days) later than Natalie and Abby. I learned she weighs a grand total of....21 pounds. And is only 30 inches tall. I was floored. Natalie and Abby are 33-34 inches and weigh 23.5-24 pounds. This kid is smaller than they are.
Now, have their doctors driven them mad with talk of g-tubes, calories, weight charts, special formulas, and foods to add calories? HELL NO. They just say, "as long as she's growing, she's fine". Well, damn.
AND, the little girl drinks only water. No milk or juice. And based on what grandma said, eats almost nothing. She ran down a day's menu (of which, of course, I knew the caloric count for everything she named), and I counted maybe, 800 calories. And apparently, that's a good day.
So. I've decided I'm done. No more worrying, no more apologizing, no more adding lard to their food to add calories. I'm also done with their $350 a month bright beginnings habit. I think I may give them one can each a day for nutritional value, but we are going to move to regular soy milk instead of Bright Beginnings. And, after our allergist appointment Wednesday, we may get to try whole milk. I also want to start feeding them more healthy foods and not the junk I've settled for because of the calories it has.
I'm so annoyed that the doctors have given us such a hard time and acted as if our daughters' lives depended on getting 1200 or more calories a day and gaining 8 oz a week. What 2 year old gains 2 pounds a month, anyway?
Obviously, I'm venting and I may decide to freak out again next week, but for now, I'm done.
So - take THAT Mr. Doctors! Mommy is done.
Now, have their doctors driven them mad with talk of g-tubes, calories, weight charts, special formulas, and foods to add calories? HELL NO. They just say, "as long as she's growing, she's fine". Well, damn.
AND, the little girl drinks only water. No milk or juice. And based on what grandma said, eats almost nothing. She ran down a day's menu (of which, of course, I knew the caloric count for everything she named), and I counted maybe, 800 calories. And apparently, that's a good day.
So. I've decided I'm done. No more worrying, no more apologizing, no more adding lard to their food to add calories. I'm also done with their $350 a month bright beginnings habit. I think I may give them one can each a day for nutritional value, but we are going to move to regular soy milk instead of Bright Beginnings. And, after our allergist appointment Wednesday, we may get to try whole milk. I also want to start feeding them more healthy foods and not the junk I've settled for because of the calories it has.
I'm so annoyed that the doctors have given us such a hard time and acted as if our daughters' lives depended on getting 1200 or more calories a day and gaining 8 oz a week. What 2 year old gains 2 pounds a month, anyway?
Obviously, I'm venting and I may decide to freak out again next week, but for now, I'm done.
So - take THAT Mr. Doctors! Mommy is done.
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Since starting this post several days ago, I have indeed relaxed considerably. Most days the girls are now getting only 2 bottles: one of regular soy, and now, lactose-free milk, and one of BB soy. Some days they've only gotten one bottle. I feed them normal food, although a little heavy on the soup. They like it a lot and will eat a good bit. But, if they don't eat much. Oh well. I'm offering sippy cups of milk (usually rejected) and plenty of water for fluids. I do expect they will lose a little weight, but I also think they will shortly begin to eat more regularly. I'm going to encourage more healthy foods and just not stress as much about it.
If they do begin to lose a significant amount of weight or begin to show signs of dehydration or lethargy, I will make some changes again. But, I'm beginning to feel very strongly that they are fully capable of eating when they want to. Case in point: this morning they each ate a whole scrambled egg - each. For lunch, their speech/feeding therapist brought one of those microwaveable lunch things of pasta, peas and corn** and an orange, which happens to be one of their favorite things to eat. I added some more corn to the plate and they ate a few pieces of pasta and a good bit of corn and peas along with a number of orange slices. They also finished up nearly 14 ounces of broccoli soup, most of which was eaten by Abby, who I think ate at least 8-10 ounces of it herself - and by feeding it to herself. Dinner was mostly grapes, mommy's Honey Nut Cherrioes and some more oranges. Not too bad, I think.
**Btw, the little toddler lunchable thing had a grand total of 150 calories. 150. I'm assuming since it is marketed to toddlers it is an appropriate serving size for a toddler and has an appropriate calorie count. Even if you add a piece of fruit and a cup of milk, the whole meal would be about 250 calories. So, if a child ate 3 of these a day plus maybe a snack - that's a max of maybe 800-900 calories, well below the 1200 my kids are supposed to consume. Well, I guess I can always make up the difference with a couple of 200 calorie a piece cookies...
I'm sure I'll have more to say on the subject of eating and weight, but for now, Mommy's going to take a nice little break from the stress of worrying about food. We will have to see how long it lasts:-)
I'm sure I'll have more to say on the subject of eating and weight, but for now, Mommy's going to take a nice little break from the stress of worrying about food. We will have to see how long it lasts:-)
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