What a long road for such a short distance!

Those who know me well know this story/timeline.  It has been a rough year and I am so proud of my baby girl!

My daughter has had a lot of weight issues in her short life.  She was neglected starved  not properly fed at a previous daycare and as a result I am constantly checking her weight on a scale I got at Babies R Us.  Fortunately for me her pediatrician has been very supportive and we have really worked together to help get her weight up to normal.

When she first started plateauing in her weight we thought maybe she had some GI issue.  She was referred to Children's GI clinic and the first thing that doctor did was blood work and a sweat test for Cystic Fibrosis.  We didn't tell many people about that when it happened because 1) it made it feel more real and scarier 2) we didn't want to worry people unnecessarily, and 3) it happened pretty fast.  Luckily that came out negative.

Next we tried speech therapy.  I didn't know this but speech pathologists also work on feeding issues with babies.  I never had any problems giving her a bottle (except for one week that she refused from everyone...I think she was so starved in hindsight she was lethargic) so that was deemed unnecessary.

Then the day care the kids were at contacted MY daughter's pediatrician suggesting that I was in some way the cause of my daughter's problems.  That conversation with the doctor is a big blur to me now...I know that I was accused of not feeding her, of having bad milk, and not being in the right mind set to properly care for my child.  Let's see, I will start with the first complaint.  At that point I was at the doctor with her 2-3 times a week for her issues.  The doctor SAW me feed my child.  And I couldn't help but notice that her weight would go up from Friday to Monday when she was with me, yet she would lose all she gained from Monday through Friday when she wasn't with me 24/7.

Second, the sour milk.  Ah yes, I was criticized for breastfeeding my child by the day care, a few former friends, and even some family jumped on that bandwagon automatically assuming my breastmilk was the problem.  Hmmm if my milk was the problem she would not have gained from the very beginning.  And that also doesn't explain why she was gaining on the weekends with me and my "sour" milk.  I also discovered that the day care stored my daughter's milk in the door of the little fridge...how stupid can they be!?  Every time that fridge was opened my milk was exposed to room temperature.  It doesn't take a genius to realize that milk will not last like that.

Third, my mental health.  That was my favorite allegation.  I told the doctor that he has seen me more in the past month than my husband, what would he say about my mental health other than I am a worried momma trying to figure out what is going on with my baby.  The doctor seemed to think that the day care thought I was on drugs.  After I stopped rolling on the floor from laughing I suggested a blood test to check me for drugs (all they would find is caffeine), which was proven unnecessary because any drugs would have been found in the multiple blood draws done on Olivia by Children's. 

So we pulled the kids from the day care and mammaw G. came to stay with us.  Olivia's growth immediately started back up on the curve.  Her only vice was her bottles had to be body temperature, even if she was in the middle of a feeding, if her bottle cooled then it had better be heated back up for her to eat.  Nothing too hard to follow through on, at least mammaw never said it was a difficult problem.

In addition, I did a little research and found out that the accreditation/license that the old day care told me they got was a complete fabrication...they were legally not allowed to care for children under 18 months yet were taking them in anyway.

Since then the kids have started a new day care and are doing well.  Last night I put her on the scale for our weekly weigh in.  At her 9 month appointment the doctor said he would like to see her weight up to 17 pounds by her next appointment, which is her 1 year scheduled next Thursday.  Her weight last night...17lb, .5oz.

That's my girl!