Well, Enoch and I went in for his 9 month check up a few days ago (and to get him his 3rd Hep B vaccination). The pediatrician we visited was nice and helpful, but she was slightly concerned with Enoch's weight.
If you remember, at his 6 month check up, Enoch had lost around 1 lb, putting him around 17.5 lbs. The doc in Arkansas thought this probably wasn't a big deal (he talked a little about some kind of weight phenomenon that usually happens with exclusively breast-fed babies around 6-9 mos. So he suggested doing a weight check after a month to see how Enoch was progressing. When we came back for the weight check, Enoch hadn't really lost or gained any weight. He was pretty much the same. So the doctor asked lots of questions and then advised us not to change too much (like waking him up in the night to eat). He gave us some papers to give to our new pediatrician and said that giving it some time would be helpful to see what was really going on.
So, when we met with this new pediatrician, I gave her all of those papers (they mainly had stats on them). She also asked lots of questions. It turned out that Enoch was still pretty much the same weight, but now he is in the 10th percentile (when he was 3 mos, he was above the 100th percentile and at 6 mos, I believe he was still like 75th.). And the fact that he's still not crawling was not all that reassuring to her either. So, she advised us to increase his intake of solids (fruit/veggies/cereal) for a month and see if that works. She also (like the other doc) advised us not to wake him up to feed him IF we feel like the increased solids are helping. She suggested that if after a few weeks we feel like increasing the solids is not doing the job, then we should try to sneak in one more nursing session a day, to round it up to 5 per day. (She said that at this age, a baby needs 26 oz of breastmilk per day.) And lastly, she told us to schedule a follow-up appointment in a month. It sounds like if he's still not gaining weight by then that there could be an actual issue, and so they would do some blood work and take a stool sample (and maybe even a breastmilk sample??) to see what's going on in his body.
Now, honestly, I'm not too concerned about Enoch crawling. I've heard from lots of other moms and grandmas that every baby is different and that crawling/walking comes really fast for some and incredibly slow for others. BUT, we do want to be sure that if there's something truly wrong with Enoch's digestive system (or something else that's keeping him from gaining weight) that we figure it out asap. So, we've increased the solids (8-12 oz per day + 1/4-1/2 cup Cheerios), and we've even changed our schedule some, which kind of just happened... we really didn't force it, but it's working out great!!
What happened with the schedule change is that we had dinner plans the night of the doc appt, so we stayed out til 6:15, and when we got home, I nursed Enoch again (which I always do if I keep him up past bedtime because he's using more calories... right?) and then laid him down around 7 pm. Well, the next day, Little Man had two incredibly solid naps, I'm talking 2+ hours each!! So, by the time I got ready to nurse him the 4th time, it was already 5 (not 4:30), and so by dinner time, he was still doing great and not fussy/tired. So we decided we'd let him "eat" dinner with us (meaning he ate Cheerios while we ate salmon.. poor guy!) And then I nursed him after dinner and put him to bed, again around 7. Well, the same thing happened yesterday, and Enoch's really doing well with the slight schedule change. (In case you're wondering, he's not sleeping in any later than usual, in fact his tendency now is to wake up between 6 & 6:30, but that's alright.)
Now, if you're prone to worrying like I sometimes am, take this opportunity to trust fully in God's provision for our son (or for anything else for that matter). Pray to Him, acknowledging that He is the holy, almighty Creator, the One who sovereignly and perfectly knits babies together in their mother's wombs. He knows fully well what is going on with Enoch right now, and He has a purpose in all things. We're hoping that adding in that 5th nursing will boost his weight gain, but no matter what, we are choosing to rest in God, instead of worrying (although we are taking it seriously), and we would invite you to join us.
And for those of you who are still reading, while we were at the doc office, I got a cute video of Enoch's most recent new sound - a clicking sound! (There were stickers on the wall above him, so that's what he's looking at when he looks up at the wall, in case you were wondering.)
