Friday, April 4, 2008

Why He's the Hugest

When I see an average-size newborn, I think she can't possibly be full term. At 7 pounds, a baby just looks tiny to me. And any older baby who started at a 7 pounder looks tiny to me. Why is that? Because all mine were huge at birth and two continued to stay quite large for the first year.

Mika was born at 8lbs 10oz and stayed in the 95th percentile for the first year of life. She quickly slowed down and slimmed down after that. She's remained slim, making it hard to find pants for her. Currently (age 8), she should wear a 7 for length but 7 slims are so big on her they fall off so she wears highwaters instead.

Sammy was born at 9lbs 2oz but grew at a much slower rate so he quickly slimmed down. He became a small toddler and preschooler. Most of this was due to undiagnosed lactose intolerance. Once we discovered the problem, he began to slowly gain weight and is now a smallish 6 year old and a size 5 fits him loosely.

Josh beats them all for size. He entered this world at 9lbs 4oz and has gained weight steadily. He remains in the 95th percentile with a head circumference slightly above the 100th percentile. At 13 months old, he is wears size 2T. His pants are starting to get too snug in the waist but are still on the long side. So, how does he manage to stay so big when he's so active climbing everything? He eats, of course. Here's a typical day (up until 1:30pm is today's actual schedule):

6am - wake up mom, nurse me

7am - wake up mom, if you don't I'll sit on your head, oh and change my wet diaper since it is filled to capacity and may leak very soon if you don't.

8am - I'm hungry. (eats 1/3 cup dry Cheerios)

8:30am - change my poopy diaper, nurse me

9am - I'm hungry (eats 1/4 - 1/3 cup cereal in milk)

9:30am - change my poopy diaper, I'm tired, nurse me (he really nurses, gulping down milk not just pacifying)

11:00am - nurse me

12:00pm - I'm hungry (eats a graham cracker)

1:00pm - I'm hungry (eats 1/4 cup roasted chicken with 1/4 cup mashed potatoes)

3:00pm - I'm tired, nurse me (another real nursing complete with lots of gulping of milk)

5:00pm - I'm hungry (how about another graham cracker since mommy has nothing else to offer you)

6:30pm - I'm hungry (eats dinner with us...maybe 1/2 cup or more worth of food)

7:00pm - Oooh, are you eating dessert, give me some, then nurse me

8:30pm - I'm tired, change diaper, nurse me

I'm not sure how many more diapers I'll change between now (2pm) and when he falls asleep for the night (around 8:30pm).

So far today (2pm), he's also drank 11 oz of water.

Is it just me, or does this seem like a lot of eating and drinking going on for a 13 month old?

2 comments:

~Mary~ 4boys4me said...

My first three babies were all between 8-9 lbs. When the the doctor held up that fourth baby (all 6lbs of him), my first thought was, "He's not done yet." I knew I shouldn't have let her induce me.

When my 9 pounder was in the hospital nursery, I overheard a couple talking about him. They said, "Look at that one. He looks like he's 2 weeks old." And they were right! He was a big one!

Michelle Olsen Sasak said...

That seems like a lot of food, but he works it off =)

The girls were 5-5 (J) and 6-13 (O) and were teeny. J was 6 weeks early and O was on time. It's funny because now J is right on track being 6/6x in clothing. O is so slim that even the tiniest 4s are huge on her. Can't use threes because they'd look like capri's. I imagine O will be like Mika.