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I've been noticing that Will's size 3 diapers are a lot looser around the waist than they used to be. The tabs used to have space between them and now they touch. I wasn't sure if he was growing taller or loosing weight or both. So, yesterday I took him to the Baby Weigh Day they have at DCH, because I didn't want to wait till his 9 month check up to have him weighed again. He weighed 17 pounds 13 ounces. At his 6 month check up he weighed 17 pounds 14 ounces and that was six weeks ago. I know one once isn't a big weight loss at all. But, in six weeks shouldn't he have gained something?? The LC said not to be concerned. He looks healthy and happy and well hydrated. She said he is probably just becoming more active and losing some of his baby fat. My DH doesn't think this is a big deal. But, I am a little concerned. Ever since the first month or two his weight has always been around the 50th percentile. I looked up his weight on a chart I found online and now he is around the 35th. Do any of you all have babies that lost weight or stopped gaining for a while around this age? I tried to look up info on this online but all I am fining is stuff about weight loss in newborns right after birth (and I know that's normal), not older babies.

Oh, yeah... I forgot to add that his height is now 28 inches, so he has grown an inch taller in 6 weeks. So, that is why his diapers are looser now. He grew taller w/out gaining weight.

Ronald didn't do it at that age, but he is now. From 12-15 months, he only gained half a pound (8 ounces), but grew 2 inches. He went from almost being in 2t pants, to wearing some of his 18 month pants. He did go down from 97th percentile in weight to 90th percentile. His height went from 97th percentile to off the charts (like 105% if I had to guess). So his waist got smaller, and he got taller. I would try not to worry unless your ped or LC tell you to. Just keep and eye on it, he should start gaining some soon.

I hadn't mentioned it to his ped. Do you think I should call and see what they think about it? Should I take him to be weighed agian sometime between now and his 9 month checkup? My DH thinks we shouldn't worry about it again till his 9-month checkup (which is another month and a half away). I know I'm probablly just being too paranoid....

I think that that is normal, SarahMay. Weight gain tapers off drastically... especially when they get mobile. From my experience, it all evens out in the end!

One thing I like about summer... my kids 2T shorts fit for years. My LO (23 mos) can wear his 9 mos shorts! (You know, they have that really fat belly when they are little then slim up around the waist.) A few days ago, he was wearing 9mos shorts with a 3T shirt! LOL I think he is cute when he wears his short shorts! And, his little jumpers from last year still fit, too. I had bought 18 mos size hoping that it would work out. They probably won't make it all through the summer.

I think he was at 70th percentile in weight and 90th in height on our 18 month visit.

My oldest was never above 10th in wt and 5th in ht. He is still skinny but is now taller than many of his classmates. That didn't happen until around 8th grade. He was always about a head shorter than everyone until then.

I remember my daughter wearing a 2T skirt/skort to school in kindergarten. I didn't tell anyone--especially her! (BABY clothes--no way!)LOL

I probably wouldn't worry if the LC said he looked good and he seems to be feeling fine. But if you're going to be worried about it, a phone call to the ped might put your mind at ease.
My son's weight gain slowed way down right around 6 months, when he started crawling. he had been a chunky little thing until then and started to grow longer and leaner. He always charted int he 50th or so percentile and still does, at age 7 for weight, but his height charting is closer to 75% now.
Is he crawling? I think it is very normal for weight gain to slow down when they become mobile. Here's a link that might have some useful info. http://www.kidshealth.org/parent/growth/growth/grow812m.html
Another thing to consider, you don't really know that he has lost weight, since the weight disparity was with two different scales. Unless he was weighed on the same scale, at the same time of day, without close or diaper on each time, you can't know for sure that he's lost weight, and a one ounce difference can show up right before or after a feeding even.

They do seem to slim up alot around the waist. Ronald has slimmed alot since he has started walking. He is not really much thinner overall, just his poochy belly is smaller.

As long as he is still eating and drinking like normal, and unless he loses weight more drastically, I wouldn't worry. If he continues to lose more, then you could call your ped and see what he thinks.

And you are not being paranoid. I was concerned when my doc told me Ronald had gone down in the weight percentiles (he hadn't gained much weight), but he told me he was just slimming up b/c he was mobile and losing his baby fat. He told me not to worry unless it became a large loss in weight. I think we all worry alot with our first kid, it is some right of passage to becoming a mom .

Thanks for the link, LawMommy.

No, he's not crawling yet. But, he is pretty active. For about a month now he has been able to push himself around on his stomach backwards, but he doesn't really do it that often. He also spins around in a circle on his stomach. He doesn't try to lift himself up on his hands and knees like most babies seem to do when they are trying to crawl. He lifts up on his hands and feet. He does that pretty often, he just doesn't go anywhere when he does it. Just in the past week or so he's started pulling up to standing, by holding onto our hands, with very little help from us...mostly just for balance. Then once he's standing up he does not want to sit back down. If I stand him up in his crib he'll stand holding ont the rail for several minutes. Today he's started crying for me to help him stand up. Maybe he'll be one of those kids that never crawls, but walks early. Who knows. When he's sitting it seems like he's constantly bouncing up and down. When he gets all hyped up like that I set him in his crib so he can bounce better. He doesn't sleep in it, so he might as well use it as a trampoline! He's also always banging on everything and clapping and trying to climb all over anyone that's holding him. So, I guess he is just burning oof a lot of calories.

I think y'all are right. His weight probablly isn't anything to worry about. He does eat good. And it could just be a diffrence in the scales, anyway. If he starts to look thiner between now and his 9-month check up, I'll take him to get weighed again and call his doctor. Otherwise, as long as he's still eating good and seems happ I'll just try not to worry about it so much!

Thanks, for the input everyone!!

I can remember Ronald getting on his hands and feet. It was sooo cute!! I laughed every time.
He just may walk first, cause Ronald didn't do the hand feet thing til after he was crawling.
Oh...and your welcome...anytime.

If you want to make sure he's getting enough calories, give him high (good) fat foods. Bananas, Avacados, Yo Baby whole fat yogurt.

OK, I said I wasn't going to worry, but I still have been some and now I have some new concerns. I've been weighing Will on our bathroom scale. It's digital and goes to the 10th of a pound, but I know it's probably still not the most accurate way to weigh a baby. I don't think his weight has increased much or any since I took him to DCH baby weigh day almost 3 weeks ago. Also, he has gone from nursing 5, sometimes 6, times per day to only nursing 4 times a day. I have no idea if that is enough. I've tried to get him to nurse more often, but he won't. He just doesn't seem hungry. Also, he has been having frequent very small terd-like poops that are still "attached" to his butt. (Sorry for the gross description) This makes me think that he is constipated possibly because he isn't getting enough fluids.

So, I called his pediatrician's office today to ask a nurse about all this. She didn't seem concerned about the weight. I asked her several other questions I thought were probably pretty regular for a pediatrician's office. She kept putting me on hold for long periods of time and then when she would get back to the phone her "answers" didn't even answer my questions. I explained Will is breastfeeding and asked about how many times a day he should nurse. She sounded all confused and was stumbling over her words and when she finally got an answer out she told me that they usually say a baby his age should get 6 to 8 ounces of formula 4 times per day. I stated again that he is BF'ing and did not know how many onces of milk he gets and asked if 4 times in a day would be enough. She put me on hold and when she finally came back she said it would be plenty. I asked how much solid foods he should be eating and she again put me on hold. When she came back she said that by 9 months he should be eating 3 times a day. I had already told her he was eating 3 times a day. I explained that I needed to know about how much he should be eating. I also explained the poop / constipation issue and told her I was concerned it was a sign that he's not getting enough fluids (possibly not enough breast milk). She told me that I can give him a little apple or prune juice to help get him moving. I told her I'd already been giving him around 5 ounces (1 oz juice diluted with 4 ozs water) per day. She said they don't usually recommend giving more that 4 ozs per day. So what do I do if I'm already giving him more than the amount they recommend and he's still having constipation issues? What could be causing it? I didn't even ask her because throughout our entire conversation she seemed so confused, I figured she would just be guessing anyway.

I was very annoyed by the time I got off the phone with her. I think it may be time for a new pediatrician. I won't go into all the details, because this post is already long, but there have been several other times I've been disappointed in their office. Individually, each of the issues I've had may not seem like much, but when you add them all up over the course of 8 months its enough for me to question whether or not I can trust the doctor and staff's recommendations, advice, etc. Does that make sense?

As far as the feedings go, Ronald was taking 4 to 5--8 ounce bottles of breastmilk at that age if I remember correctly. I know they start to taper off on breatmilk around that age and start eating more solids. The mom's who BF could more accurately answer that one.

As far as being constipated and drinking juice. I always did and still do cut juice in half with water. That way he gets more fluid, and gets the benefits of the juice. I don't know about how you other ladies LO's were, but with the breastmilk, Ronald never had much trouble going poop. It was always kind of runny until he started eating solids. Even with solids it was still really soft. If it were me, I would try giving him one or two ounces of prune juice mixed with one or two ounces of apple juice (to cut the bitterness) every few hours until his poop goes back normal. Also, be careful not to feed him alot of foods really high in potassium, like bananas, they can stop him up. At least that's what my ped told me the one time Ronald was constipated. I would also feed him lots of green veggies and prunes and apples, baby food varieties if that is what he still eats. The juice worked after a few tries for Ronald. I would say if the juice and fruit doesn't help after two or three days, and he is still having really hard poops, I would call your ped and ask to have him checked out. Would you ladies agree?

About the ped, I would definitly say go with your gut. I have changed four times, and now I am finally really happy with our doc. He is nice and takes his time (staff is great too). If you aren't happy and don't feel comfortable, you may need to check out some other ped's.

HTH!!

So, maybe I am diluting the juice too much? I though the more I could dilute it the better. Maybe he would do better with 1/2 juice & 1/2 water (like Ronaldsmom did) instead of 1/5 juice & 4/5 water.

Will's poops were very runny before he started solids too. Then they were thicker but still fairly soft. Is it normal for his poops to be terd-like as long as they are still somewhat soft? He's been having those for a while now. It's just been recently that they started getting smaller and harder.

SarahMay,
I had the same problem with Alec when he started eating solids. I breastfed him until he was 10 months old and I thought that breastfed babies never got constipated. But Alec stayed constipated for months. I mean he would go everyday, but it would be little balls or stuck to his bottom like you said. Everytime I called the ped, he just said try to make him drink water or juice, try prunes, things like that. I never got a real solution to the problem either. The doctor never seemed very concerned as long as I said he goes everyday, no matter what it looked like. He eventually grew out of it. Every now and then it would get really bad and we would have to help him go, like with a thermometer. I know thats not much help, but at least you have hope that he will grow out of it. And keep trying the water and prune juice.
As far as how many times he is breastfeeding, I'm sure it is plenty. As they get older, they get more efficient when they eat and get more milk each time, so they might need to eat fewer times. I am pretty sure by 7 or 8 months Alec was only breastfeeing 4 times a day.

my oldest now about to be 6 had the same problem at the same age. he went for his 9 mts visit and hadn't gained anything and had completly dropped off the charts. he had always been in the 10th % anyway. he was only 5lbs 11 oz when he was born only 3 days early, so he was a little man. our peds we had then were determined for something to be wrong with him since he was small, so we had had several test over the 9 mts. so when he hadn't gained anything, they sent him for a cystic fibrosis test. it was neg, like we knew it would be. but i'm telling you these peds were test crazy!!!!!!
he has had a couple of diff peds since then(due to moving) and not one has ever mentioned his weight. he's still a skinny little guy, but he is fine.
don't worry too much girlie!!!