"You might want to keep an eye on that," our Doctor said while making a pointed glance at the portion of Abby's tummy that is starting to edge it's way over the waist band of her pants. I opened my mouth to say... something. I'm not even sure what, but just as quickly closed it and nodded at her.
"You know because she's always been so tiny. We don't want to see her lose that." Again I silently nodded at my Doctor, but since that afternoon in her office I've thought about little else but that comment. It's a very complicated issue, isn't it? Once you start talking about weight, especially in children. Even more especially in little girls. Now Abby is far from overweight, but she does have a bit of a tummy. It wasn't something that was even on my radar until now.
Let's go back to the beginning for a moment, shall we. The very beginning. To that brand new tiny pink newborn Abby. Three weeks early and only 5 pounds. Since she was born with such a very large VSD (holes between the bottom chambers of her heart) her body had to work extraordinarily hard to keep everything working the way it should. So the issue was always making sure she had enough to eat. Making sure she was gaining weight. Getting her strong for a surgery, that luckily, she was never going to have. Even though her heart did heal itself it still took about a year for the hole to close, so despite being a really great eater she was slow to gain weight. At one year old she weighed 15 pounds and was wearing clothes sized 6 months. And it continued like that, Abby was always the smallest in swimming lessons, gymnastics, with friends her own age and so on.
Let's jump to present day, it seems that while I wasn't looking Abby finally caught up. She's far from the smallest kid in her class and the size of her clothes are now in line with her age. This last year of kindergarten has really seen her sprout up. According to the marks on the wall she's grown about an inch and a quarter so far this year. All while I wasn't looking. Therein lies the problem or at least that's what all my internal analyzing and pondering have led me to believe these last couple of weeks. I'm still operating with the mindset that she's still "sick" and to be fair she is, but not in any way like she was as a baby. So I let her have free reign over the pantry because I need to keep her strong. Because she needs to gain weight. And as it turns out, that ship has sailed.
So after all of my pondering I realized if Abby was beginning to get a tummy, well I had nobody to blame, but myself. Also, it was time to implement some changes. There is a lock on the pantry, not for Abby, but to keep Maya from emptying the contents of it onto the floor every 10 minutes. So Abby has to ask for a snack and lately she hasn't been getting the answer she used to. Now lest you think I'm starving her I'm not. She's more than welcome to have something to eat whenever she feels hungry, but instead of, say, crackers or fruit treats now I'll offer her a yogurt or an applesauce. See the flip side of all this is Abby is smack in the middle of the "I hate everything" phase that 99% of kids go through. Not much in the way of fruits or vegetables pass her lips aside from her beloved applesauce. And while this is also worrisome I am trying to chill about it and realize that if I keep offering her a variety of foods one day, by God, she's going to try some of it. To prove my point just last week she actually allowed a baked bean to touch her lips. That, my friends, is progress.
To give me a bit of a leg up I went out and bought the book Mealtime Solutions for you newborn, toddler and preschooler by my favourite parenting/pregnancy writer Ann Douglas. As I have come to expect it was chock full of easy to read, guilt free advice from a wide variety of experts. Some Moms and some with a lot of fancy initials behind their names. Some of the book was stuff I already knew, but as I mentioned to Grandma Linda the other night it was kind of like I pieces to a puzzle and reading the book just helped me to put it all together. I really recommend reading this book before baby arrives and it's sister book Sleep Solutions for baby toddler and preschooler.
5 comments:
Have you ever watched just one bite??? On the Food Network. It might help too!
Touchy subject.
My niece and nephew (8 and 11, soon) have both been told by the school nurse that (I don't remember the exact phrase) they have the propensity for being overweight or something (basically they aren't overweight now, but they could be on their way).
If you look at them, these kids are skinny and very athletic, although yes, they each have a little pouch.
To be fair to the school nurse, well, yes, they don't eat really healthy (I've lived with my brother and sister-in-law for a while, and I see what they eat), but at the same time--hello? Do you need to tell the kids this? My niece is now "watching what she eats" for goodness' sake. How awful is that? At age almost 8?
I think you're doing what I'd do, basically controlling the snacks; they still need food to keep going, but helping them make healthy choices is part of your job, so good on you!
Thanks for the book recs, btw. I'll be hitting you up for many more someday if/when I need them.
That reminds me, I've been meaning to send you an email....
Sam, yes I have seen the show. The host grates on me for some reason, but I have watched it her and there hoping for some tips.
Michelle, thanks for that. I think really it's just getting used to a new mindset. For a large chunk of her life I've had three different doctors and a nurse practitioner all telling me to make sure she's eating and gaining weight, that she needs high fat yogurt and so on. I just don't need to do that anymore. Of course this is also a new adjustment for Abby to make as well. And to my doctor's credit it wasn't something that was said for Abby to hear, but for Mike and I.
As for the books whenever the need for such books arises I highly recommend anything written by Ann Douglas! I got rid of all my other books after my sister-in-law gave me her pregnancy book when I was pregnant with Abby. I think she's the best in the biz, truly.
I agree with Sognatrice, it sounds like you are doing the right thing and probably teaching her good eating habits at an early age. I think it is sad when kids are overly stressed about weight issues, though...there is time for that later in life!!
Hey, you guys. Thanks for the nice feedback on Mealtime Solutions (and my other books). I was trying to claim my Mealtime Solutions blog at Technorati, and up popped your comments. You totally made my day/week/month. (Yes, I am a sap.)
Hope all the feeding issues are getting easier. I find they tend to ebb and flow, depending on age/stage/personality/etc. (etc. being the wildcard)!
Right now, we're having major angst over school supplies at our house. Apparently, I bought the wrong brand of colored pencils -- the ones that don't sharpen right, break easily, and have 10,000 other flaws I didn't know about. (I used these same colored pencils three decades ago, but what do I know?) :-)
Ann
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