Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Size Matters

Should size matter? I mean, when I go to Starbucks and order a venti and they shove a grande at me, that is no good. I wanted bigger. I ordered bigger. Give me the large!

So, what happens when your baby isn't the size you ordered? I wanted Hope very badly. I prayed, and prayed to our Lord for her to exist. Then one day, I was pregnant. I knew who she was before I ever saw her. I knew she would be my loving, animated, bright girl who laughs with her mommy and gets extremely excited when she sees her daddy. 

They told me she was going to be big. They told me at least 8 pounds, if not 9.

When she was born, she weighed 6 pounds, 6 ounces.

This didn't bother me. However when she continued to stay petite for her age, people said the worst things to me. They would make comments about "how tiny she is...".

I don' t mind so much now. All the tests have been run, we've seen two doctors, and she hits every single milestone with excitement and fervor. Oh, but the things people said along the way:

"Breast-fed babies are usually bigger than formula-fed." Not true. Breast-fed babies can be up to 60 percent smaller, but catch up to formula-fed babies later on in their lives. 

"You know she's small, right?" Um, well, if I hadn't heard it before, I guess I do now.

"Just give her formula." Right, because that will instantaneously make her a bigger baby. Which we did by the way, along with nursing, and she had an initial surge in weight, then leveled off. Might the surge have anything to do with the fact that we were shoving her face with food?

"What does her pediatrician say?" He says she's "perfectly normal"; that one day, she will be "thanking us for her metabolism." And the gastroenterologist says, "It's her program."

"Maybe she just doesn't want to be breast-fed." Right, and that's why she eats from me at least eight times a day and will nurse from me no matter how many bottles or food you give her. And each doctor has told me to continue nursing.

Believe it or not, people I consider friends said some of the above comments. You just have to learn that they too, along with strangers, are ignorant. They haven't been in the doctor's appointments, listened to the medical advice, read the studies, or the literature.

My vote is that size does NOT matter, unless the child is lacking in some way. Hope is not. The doctor has assured me of this a number of times. 


3 comments:

  1. preach on... LOL :)

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  2. You're right. Size does NOT matter! When my Big Boy was born he was nearly 9 POUNDS, my Baby was just 7! I breast fed them both for about a year and since then they have leveled off (weight wise). I truly believe that breast feeding is the most selfless, honest way to nurture your baby and show her that you love her. Be strong and do what feels right!

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  3. Friend, I just want to say that you rock. As we have struggled and discussed our breast feeding issues over the past year I think that we've both grown. Grown in knowledge. Grown in patience. Grown in love for our children. And, finally, grown as mothers. We have had different battles. Yours with the tiny munchkin and mine with the mini-monster. I love that our breast fed babies are opposites of the same coin. One large. One small. Both with BIG personalities and laughs. They, together, are the proof that size does NOT matter.

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