Failure to Thrive

Micah is three months old today, and... well... he looks like a one-month-old. I've had my suspicions the past few months that things aren't that great for him - his cousin, who is only two weeks older, is nice and chunky. And she's like a sack of potatoes. Kind of hunched over. That's a good thing. That's what we want. But Micah continues to be very skinny, and he arches his back like crazy.

My suspicions were confirmed when we went in for his two month check-up a couple of weeks ago (he was technically 2 1/2 months, but we couldn't afford a co-pay until I got paid again). The doctor weighed him, and he only weighed 10 1/2 pounds. He is supposed to be at least 13 pounds right now!! And our family doctor was also concerned with Micah's ability to hold his head. He wondered if there was something wrong with his stomach, or if Micah is developmentally lagging in some way. He sent us to a pediatrician, armed with a piece of paper that said Micah is Failing to Thrive. A harsh term.

We saw this pediatrician last Monday. Micah had only gained three ounces in the week since he had seen our family doctor. The doctor asked me lots of questions, one of which being how often we feed Micah and how much he drinks. The answer is that he eats six times in a 24-hour period, and he only eats about three ounces at each feeding. Well, the pediatrician did some math and said, "Micah should be drinking 34 ounces per 24 hours, and if what you say is true, he's only getting in 18 ounces a day." I had wondered if Micah was drinking enough. It actually takes me an hour to get him to drink a 3-ounce bottle, and I have to work the whole time, keeping him awake and alert, jigging the bottle in his mouth to wake him up, exposing his skinny legs to the cold air-conditioning, saying, "Hey, buddy, wake up! Wake up!", burping him often, changing his diaper, anything to get him to stay awake and drinking. He always falls asleep while eating. Always. And he doesn't have a very strong suck. We've tried different nipples with different flows, etc., but nothing has helped him take in any extra food.

So for this past week, the doctor has had me keep a log of when he eats, how much he eats, and if he has urinated or had a bowel movement. Micah's bowel movements are always very, very watery, and the doctor wonders if Micah has some kind of gastro-intestinal issue, or if he's not absorbing enough. So a nurse there had to draw some blood, to test and see if there's something going on, and I had to bring in a stool sample when Micah pooped. We'll find out Monday if there were any results from that data.

The doctor suggested maybe adding two more feedings, doing them in the middle of the night, and I'm ashamed to admit that I haven't been very good about that. It took us a lot of work to get to the point where Micah sleeps through the night, and I worry about making it a habit for him to eat twice in the night again. I tried it one night, and he only ate one ounce per feeding, and I was a zombie the next day. So I didn't do it any more. And maybe I should have, just to really show the doctor that's not a very good idea.

So I don't know. Maybe there's a formula out there that is higher-calorie, or something. Also, we have the Infant/Toddler program involved. An occupational therapist came out on Thursday and observed Micah eating and playing, and she said that she thinks he has a sucking issue, and that he arches his back wayyyy too much. She gave me all these excercises to help him relax that back of his. She thinks his head control is just fine; it's just that he arches so much that it's hard for him to keep his head upright when he's practically doing a backbend all the time. She is going back to the Infant/Toddler coordinators, to recommend that Micah receive occupational therapy. And apparently she's going to do some kind of... exercises to help him strengthen his suck. In addition to these exercises for his back, I also have to do infant massage a few times a day, which Micah totally hates!!

So it's been a busy, frustrating time. And I never, ever know what to do. Hopefully we'll get some things figured out. A different lady from Infant/Toddler is coming out to assess Micah developmentally, to see if there are some other difficulties, with how his brain functions. I'll let you guys know when we find out more.

I feel like such a bad mom.