He has a big shirt to fill!

This week marked Tate's 6 month mile stone. With that comes his well check up at the doctor. The first thing the doctor did was review Tate's growth chart. She was alarmed because his weight dropped from the 25th percentile at 4 months to the 10th percentile now at 6 months. Before the doctor even examined Tate, she started talking to me about the concerns she has because of this. I listened to her but it really didn't concern me because I felt Tate was 100 percent healthy. I figured after he was examined the concerns would be put to rest. The examine went well. Tate seemed to be where he needed to be developmentally hitting his 6 month mile stones. Sure he may be a little wobbly while sitting independently and no he is not crawling yet but he is just 6 months.
So after a successful examine and the observance of his thunder thighs, I thought we were both on the same page about his weight. Sure he is not gaining at the same rate but he is healthy. This is when the doctor decides to sit down and express her concerns again. She wanted to know what and when I was feeding him. At 4 months she suggested I go full on with solids so I did and Tate was now eating 2 meals a day of cereal and fruits and veggies. And I nurse him about 7 times a day. Seems like a lot to me! The doctor recommended that I feed him 3 meals with snacks even if that means I nurse less. This didn't sit well with me because that went against everything I have ever heard, read, or been told in the past. Good thing Tate is my third child because I would have been really confused with this information if he was my first.
So now we are referred to a nutritionist. After talking with many friends and questioning my parenting and Tate's eating, I felt that he was completely fine. As one friend said maybe he will have a runners body instead of a line mans body. So be it as long as he is healthy!
Off I went to the nutrients with an open mind. Before she could begin, I told her I really wasn't concerned at all and felt Tate was completely healthy. I explained that I compared Tate's growth chart to his two older sisters which is mirrored. THey were in the 50th percentile at 4 months and dropped to the 20th at 6 months and then I warned that the girls dropped even more at 9 months so for her to expect the same. I also mentioned that no body was concerned when Tate jumped from 30th percentile at birth to 75th at 2 months. He is a roller coaster on the chart of standards. Yes, they are just standards and he is another statistic on the chart. After this lovely discussion, the very nice nutritionist agreed with me! She felt 2 meals were sufficient and to nurse as often as I could. After examining Tate's weight gain more closely, she realized he was in the average range of daily weight gain. Perfect! I can add a little oil in his food if I would like to give him some fat. So oatmeal mixed with olive oil and breast milk is his meal of choice. He is Italian after all!
I found this as being very interesting to me as we battle childhood obesity today and base so much on charts and standards and not on individual cases. I am very aware of the presence of childhood obesity in our society. I think it is funny that nothing was said to me by the same doctor when Tate jumped up into the 75th percentile drastically. I also thought it was interesting that the doctor told me to continuously offer him food and try to "encourage" him to eat. He loves to eat but I can't force him to eat when he is not hungry or an hour after he just ate. I am a strong believer that eating habits are established at a very young age. I will continue to introduce new foods to Tate and slowly increase his food intake when his appetite grows.

Until them I am at piece with him not being a rolly polly baby and possibly having a body like me instead of his dad.