Weighty Issues

At the five week mark, things are worrisome. Katherine is still having growth issues.

We've been at her pediatricians weekly since she came home from the hospital. Because she was an IUGR baby (Intrauterine Growth Restriction) the doctors look for quick weight gain once the baby is born. Katherine is now five weeks old and only weighs 6pds 5oz. Up only 4oz from the previous week. And not yet up a whole pound since birth. Not good.

So the pediatrician is concerned and basically I need to give her less boob and more bottle to see if that will help. She still screams often during nursing sessions and we have not been able to pinpoint exactly why. I even went to a lactation consultant to get some advice. At said session, Katherine nursed like a champ and never screamed. Such a performer. So this week we are focusing big time on eating and we'll see what happens. She needs to be gaining about an oz a day or else we'll need to do some pretty invasive tests to see if something else is wrong. Needless to say this is stressing me out.

The plan is to give alot more formula this week and see what happens. The idea being more formula will equal greater weight gain. My pediatrician even said that while he hates to recommend against breast milk, that she's just not gaining enough. He actually recommended breastfeeding then offering the bottle at each feeding. But I've decided to alternate giving the bottle first at every other feeding for a couple days to see what happens. She often won't take a bottle after nursing, so I don't feel like that will work for us. I think Dean feels I should just quit breastfeeding and go straight to formula, but I'm not quite ready to do that yet. I really want her to have the benefits of breast milk, even if it's in limited quantities. That said, I'm just really hoping it's nothing more serious and that more formula will do the trick. I'd much rather give up breastfeeding for her health than her have a more serious health issue. Obviously. Sigh. Stay tuned...

So to not be all doom and gloom, here are a few of the latest cute photos of the girls. We've received some really cute outfits for Katherine from friends and family (thank you!) so I will be posting regular fashion week updates as she grows (hopefully soon) into more of the outfits.