Failure to Thrive does not mean YOU are a Failure.

 Failure to Thrive does not mean YOU are a Failure: 

And no, I am not just saying that to make myself feel better. Here's WHY:

Failure to thrive. 

To many, one of the worst "diagnoses" a mother can hear. To a mother, that immediately translates into "you are doing something wrong", or "you're not doing enough", or "there is something wrong with your baby"... 

Regardless, it's hard to swallow. As with anything, there are varying degrees. Some Failure to Thrive (FTT) babies are easy to spot; pale, lethargic, dry skin, sunken features. Others, look like my girls. 

Baby B

Baby A

 For those of you that don't regularly follow the blog, I do not have twins. Baby A and Baby B are 2 years apart- their nicknames for purposes of the blog merely coinside with their first initial. Baby A was born in 2010 and Baby B in 2012. Both weighed approximately 7 lbs at birth, and were full term babies. Baby A was delivered by scheduled C section and Baby B was a VBA2C.

Both healthy babies, and have had (knock on wood) no major illnesses to report. But both are small. Baby A, now almost 3 years old, has remained in the 2nd percentile. I many times, have found their obsession with her weight annoying, to say the least. After all, I figured, these "percentiles" are based on fat, formula- fed babies anyways! EBF babies are supposed to be smaller. AND add to that, that Sissy (my 16 year old stepdaughter and their half-sister) is a size 00. I mean, a TRUE 00! And this is a girl who eats well, regularly, and is an avid athlete. So I figure, my husband just makes small babies! 

SO I shrug them off until Baby B comes along. They gave me until she was about 4 months, when they referred me to another Doctor in the office. 

"But she's exclusively breastfed" I told them. "Her sister has always been small and she is FINE"...

Baby A at about 4 months- the original face of NurturingtheNaturalMama

Baby A 2011

Baby A 2012

 She's a happy, healthy girl after all! (And beautiful, I might add! ;)) But Baby B had alternating visits of gaining weight, staying the same, and then losing weight. That is where the weight obsession came in. 

Adding formula, adding cereal (bleh!), and tracking everything! All my kids have been tandem nursers and formula drinkers, but I was really hoping that Baby B, baby #3, would be EBF for as long as possible- so this was a bit of an ego blow... 

But, of course, the baby's health was first. They ran a battery of tests at about 6 months of age, when she continued to lose weight, despite her being my best nurser and regular bottle feedings.

She looks like a "normal" baby, right? No sunken features, you can't distinguish her ribs, she has met all of her motor skill and cognitive milestones, her skin isn't peeling, and she is not anemic or excessively pale- so how is she not gaining weight? In fact, how is she LOSING weight? 

Baby B January 2013 

 At almost 9 months old, Baby B weighed just 10 and 1/2 pounds. 

She has seen an immunologist, and a gastroenterologist. After our recent appointment with her pediatrician, they are contemplating placing a nasogastric feeding tube this week. She still "looks" wonderful, but has lost more weight despite adding even MORE calories! 

Having been in the field of veterinary medicine for almost 12 years, I have seen many an NG tube placed in cats. The thought that I would ever need one for one of my children never crossed my mind. NG tubes involve using a syringe or pump to "pump" food or formula directly into the stomach. They do not "hurt" (although I am sure they're not comfortable either), and this allows caloric intake for those who will not or cannot eat, or aren't eating enough. 

In felines, a slurry of wet cat food, usually Rx diet a/d is used. For baby B, it will likely be formula or breastmilk. She self weaned several weeks ago, but if the tube is placed, I will opt to pump again to build my supply and start using breastmilk as soon as possible. Breastmilk has some critical healing properties, so that would be my optimum choice. 

In the meantime, we have been asked to take precautions because of her immune disorder, so we are to wear masks or gloves if we are sick; we have to start using hand sanitizer before handling her, and she is not to have any contact with any other kids until she sees the gastroenterologist again in an attempt to spare her a chest infection. Any company to our house will be asked to dawn the mask and gloves as well. 

We are going to be one fashionable family!! ;)  

So WHY am I telling you all this?? Part of it is because it is easier for me to process things when I write them out. I figure this blog will be, in some way, a documentation of my kids' childhood and show them what was important to us at the time. Additionally, I figure if I am going through this, there must be SOMEONE else going through the same thing. I hope that they will read this and at the very least think; "WOW, I am NOT alone!"

I obviously don't have any answers for you, or any nuggets of wisdom since I am in the midst of this myself... but I will keep blogging as we get more answers (assuming we get some). And in the interim, we will continue to enjoy every moment with Baby B, as we do with all of our kids. Her condition is certainly not life threatening, at least at this point, so we are so very thankful for that. We look to each other and to God for strength and faith during these trying times; as some days seem so emotionally and physically exhausting.

We have an appointment with a naturopath this week as well, so we will see if that brings any new information for us and Baby B. Thankfully, we love and trust our pediatrician (it took us 5 peds to find them back when Spiderman was born;)) so we know we are in good hands.

If you have a Failure to Thrive baby, you can find more information HERE

*You can find more information on Selective IGA Deficiency HERE 

* and more information on Celiac Disease in Infants and Children HERE 

Day 7 #12DaysofChristmas #SeasonofGiving: The Gift of Chiropractic for the Whole Family

Fear of Germs 
by Dr Seth LaFlamme of Great Works Chiropractic and Wellness Center

NNM has several posts re the benefits of chiropractic in infants and children, including this one

I’m going to be very up front with you…I have stolen the title of this blog post from a George Carlin routine of the same name (at least, that’s what it’s called when you search it on YouTube). Yes, George Carlin… he would have been a chiropractor if not a comedian, guaranteed.

Tell me if this rings any bells: sanitizing wipes at shopping cart stands, disinfecting soap at every sink in the house and in every public bathroom and ads, ads, ads on killing germs. I’ll let you in on a little secret: your body does that for you.  It has an immune system custom built for the task, and not only that, it only kills what it’s supposed to as long as….

As long as what? As long as it’s working correctly; meaning as long as it’s not exposed to an overabundance of aberrant stressors, as long as it is properly hooked up to the master system (the nervous system) that controls it, and as long as it is properly exercised.

EXERCISED?!?! But aren’t we supposed to stay away from germs at all costs, and kill them on sight with sprays, potions and pills? Look, just because you’re being sold this bill of goods doesn’t mean it’s true…there’s NO MONEY in letting people’s own bodies do the work these things are designed to take over the job for. Think of the immune system as a muscle…you’ve got to learn how to flex it!

Proof, you want? Proof you will get. Listen, I’m not going to reference a zillion scientific journals, here, but hopefully I’ll get your brain pan boiling, and you can explore from there. A few examples of why our crusade against germs in every facet of our daily lives might perhaps be a little misguided:

photo courtesy of Google

I’m going to seem to jump around here, but it will all make sense so bear with me: we are able to exist right now because of a bacteria. Without it, we would all collapse, and probably stop breathing in seconds if not minutes. I’m not talking about your beneficial gut bacteria that even your M.D. has caught on to advising you to take. I’m not talking about bifidus or acidophilus or any of those guys. Nope. I am talking about something far more profound that lives in the hundreds and thousands inside every one of your cells.

Don’t go running for a prescription for this…this player is often presented in high school biology as “the powerhouse of the cell.” Any guesses? You got it! Mitochodria. Many researchers have concluded that these are actually little bacteria that came to live inside not only our bodies, but every single cells, and allow us to get seventeen times the amount of energy from a molecule of glucose than we otherwise would. Want to kill it now?

Furthermore, there is a study going on in Britain in which they are feeding soil microbes to kids! No, these guys are not being sent to jail for child abuse. It turns out that kids who grow up in overscrubbed, oversanitized environments are sicker—more likely to develop asthma, allergies, autoimmune problems, chronic infections—than their counterparts who grew up digging in the dirt, licking toads and eating mud pies. 

Baby A bookin it in the White Mountains of New Hampshire

Spiderman and hubby touching fish lol, in Harrison, Maine

This early exposure is so important, kids will do nearly anything to accomplish this, so no, there is nothing wrong with your wee one who seems to home in on every little speck on your floor and immediately shove it in his or her mouth. The kid is just flexing that muscle so it can be strong later! What a concept…they actually know what is good for them without us interfering whatsoever! I love it.

The list goes on and on, but I see I’m over a page, and I know how Internet reading is, so let’s bring it home:

Not only are many bacteria actually helpful but even the potentially harmful ones have their place. Culture all the throats in New England and what will you get? Strep. Yup. See, it’s not presence of “bugs” that makes us sick, but a weakness in our defenses. We have strep and staph around us all the time, and they live all over us and our skin surface, but they don’t become a problem unless we have a problem. Unless.

Now I’m stealing from the Lorax. Shameless. Anyway, unless we keep fighting these normal natural environmental and skin/gut bacteria with the aforementioned potions, pills and sprays. THEN, they get stronger and more virulent until now, we’ve taken a normal everyday mostly harmless little streptococcus, and turned it into an apocalyptic zombie bacteria that turns your insides into mystery meat.

Bottom line is, maybe we should cut down on running around scrubbing this and sanitizing that and shunning all contact with germs, and let ourselves and our children develop strong and healthy resistance rather than relying on Dow or Pfizer to “protect” us from something we never needed protecting from in the first place.

So next time you catch you kid eating mud pies, have him make you one! And (I can’t help it, it’s what I do, for goodness sake) if you haven’t looked into the immune boosting benefits of chiropractic, might I suggest you do so? A simple Google search will blow your mind. Farewell and be well!

baby A getting adjusted, NNM sees the benefits of chiropractic!

photo courtesy of Google

Dr. Seth LaFlamme, D.C. is the owner and clinic director at Great Works Chiropractic & Wellness in South Berwick, ME, which specializes in family and pediatric care. When he’s not checking spines and saving lives of patients of all ages, he’s getting used as a jungle gym for three young kids of his own. For more information, or with any questions, visit greatworkschiro.com, or give ‘em a shout at facebook.com/greatworkschiro or the old fashioned way at 207-704-0298.