Weight Check!

Yesterday, I took Finley back to the pediatrician for a weight check.  He wanted to make sure that we didn't have any problems supplementing with formula and to see if her weight had increased. Finley now weighs a little over 10 pounds and is in the healthy 3rd percentile!  And yes, the 3rd percentile is healthy just in case like me, you were wondering!  

The pediatrician was really pleased with her weight gain and thought she was just perfect.  I was happy to meet with him again and discuss more in depth what happened to cause my sudden milk decrease.  I thought I would pass on what he had to say because I found it quite interesting and I know many of you who read my blog either have children and are planning to have more or don't have children, but plan to in the future.  (To be honest, this is one of the things I love most about blogging.... learning from other people's experiences and finding out that what I would have thought was abnormal is actually fairly common!) 

Anyway, he said that for some babies the bond formed from breastfeeding is so strong that they don't necessarily complain or demand more food because they are getting so "fed" with the bond.  He said that it really isn't that uncommon to have a baby come in for the four month checkup and have completely plateaued on the weight scale (just as Finley did) because even though they have grown, they haven't demanded more milk and breastfeeding is a total supply and demand process.  Though my breastfeeding classes discussed the whole supply and demand situation, they never discussed the demand not being there.  He did say that obviously a baby will only be fed by the bond for so long before they become irritable from not getting enough to eat since of course babies do NEED to be fed and WILL let you know if they aren't.  We just never hit that point with Finley since my milk supply was still maintaining her... another week and we probably would have had quite a cranky baby.

Parenting is such a wonderfully complex job!  I absolutely love learning more about how to take care of my little girl.  Though it is hard for me to not always have specific instructions on how to handle this or that, I am finding that I am much more flexible than I would've ever believed and that I am gaining more and more confidence to parent without fear of doing the wrong thing.  Who would've ever thought my intense perfectionistic side could be set aside (if only at times) just four short months after having a baby? =)