Eat Baby Eat - Part 3: Still Skinny

Brooks had his 9 month check-up last week Thursday.  I was hoping his weight would have increased in the last two months but when they weighed him we discovered that, guess what?  He's still skinny.  He's weighing in at a whopping 16lbs 1oz.  He has officially fallen off the doctor's growth chart, which prompted her to strongly suggest having the blood tests done - the same one's we refused 2 months ago.  I still wasn't comfortable with the idea of a major blood draw on my 9 month old baby so I told her I'd talk it over with my husband before making any decisions.  Ugg, decisions.  I still don't see anything wrong with my baby - he still eats well, sleeps well and poops well.  He's happy and content ... just a little skinny.  But I don't want to overlook any health problems if there are any.  (sigh)  So here's what we did.

I remembered at a La Leche League meeting a few months ago a mom told me that there's a separate growth chart for breastfed babies.  The one's used in the doctor's office are for mostly formula fed babies.  So we did some research and sure enough!  The World Health Organization (which is supported by the CDC) had a separate set of charts for breastfed babies.  We plotted Brooks' growth on that and discovered he's still ON the chart!  Granted, he's at the low end of even that chart, but he's still on it no less.  So here's the game plan.  (remember I like having a plan) It's time to change your diet and bulk up, baby.  I did some more research on baby food and realized I should be giving Brooks meats.  We really haven't even tried that.  He's been eating mostly fruits and veggies - which looking back isn't so great for gaining extra calories.  So here's what his menu will look like for the next few weeks or so.

Breakfast - fruits
Lunch - veggies
Dinner - one of the following: chicken and rice, avacados & cream cheese, egg yolk omelet, cheesey mashed potatoes (I'll keep adding foods as he becomes comfortable with these)

My biggest challenge will be to see if he actually eats these things.  It took four attempts before he hesitantly ate the chicken and rice.  Ah, the fun of parenthood.  I'll keep you posted on how things go.  We have another weight check with the doctor at the end of April.  Hopefully we'll see some progress and we can avoid these stupid blood tests.