Addition

I added a Favorite Links page to the top of my site today. If you're looking for anything from cheap books to information on NFP - I've got some great links there. These are my favorite websites that I use often.

Interesting Find

While reading my nursing book, The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding (the new version) I came across some interesting information. The charts by the CDC for babies that are used by most doctors are based on formula-fed and breastfed babies. (They were recently updated and used to be based solely on formula-fed babies.) The WHO (World Health Organization) has charts based on exclusively breastfed babies. This difference is important because breastfed babies grow more quickly than most formula-fed babies at first and then taper their growth off as they get closer to one year so their 50%ile at one year is approximately 21 pounds and the CDCs chart 50%ile is 20 lbs.

I printed off the WHO charts from the internet, converted his measurements (the WHO charts use kg and cm) and filled in his numbers. This is what I found!

According to the CDC charts: (what the doctor uses)
For weight he was 25%ile at birth, 75%ile at 1 mo, and 95%ile at 2 mo.
For height he was 50%ile at birth 75%ile at 1 mo, and 75%ile at 2 mo.

According to the WHO charts: (for exclusively breastfed babies)
For weight he's approximately 50%ile at birth, 67%ile at 1 mo, and 67%ile at 2 mo.
For height he's approximately 40%ile at birth 50%ile at 1 mo, and 65%ile at 2 mo.

Notice the extreme difference in percentiles for his current weight! Almost 30 percentage points! I'm going to continue charting on the WHO charts and make sure that if there's an issue, the doctor understands it's because he has "bad" charts! Also notice that whereas with the CDC charts he "looked" like he was increasing weight at an other than ordinary pace (25-75-95), with the WHO charts he's stayed a lot closer to "average" (50-67-67) and actually didn't change percentiles at all from month one to month two!

Here's another interesting thing I just discovered. I went on the CDC's website to get a link for the charts the doctors uses (which I had downloaded a couple months before Benedict was born). They have new charts on the CDC's website that are made by the WHO but they are different from the exclusively breastfed charts from the WHO. According to these new charts, Benedict would be in the 92%ile for weight and 85%ile for length at 2 months. Just a little different, but different nonetheless.

Numbers, numbers, numbers! Are you confused yet?!

Learning

The sweetest quote from a four-year-old breastfeeding child found in The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding "Mama, when you nurse me, it's as if you take the love out of you and put it into me."

Now for the info (paraphrased from the book):

Human babies are born at an earlier stage of development than many other mammals. Why? Because our brains are so large and a woman's pelvis so small (in comparison) that to wait any longer, the baby wouldn't be able to fit through. How much longer would it be? A chimpanzee or gorilla baby is born with a brain half its adult size. Human babies don't reach that "mark" until about nine months old!

Babies are meant to stay with their "mommies". It's the way God and nature intended and for some reason out society has tried to counter this with bouncy seats, swings, cribs, bassinets, car seats, etc. I tried to go against the flow for a while as well and it back-fired (if you'll remember this post). Now we're both so much happier because we're together! There are times when he's laying/sitting by himself and I think "I need you" because I can't stand to be away from him. Why fight with nature?

Baby Check up: Two Months

Recap of  1 mo #s:
Length: 22 in
Weight: 10lb 15.2oz

Today (10 weeks 2 days):
Length: 24 in
Weight: 14lb 1.9oz

He's in the 95 %ile for weight and the 75%ile for length and head circumference! He went from the 25 %ile at birth, to the 75 %ile at one month and now he's in the 95 %ile at 2 months! What's next?!

The doctor is happy that he's growing so well. And everything else sounds and looks great. He's had some issues with eye discharge and the doctor said that it's normal. He goes back in 2 months (at age 4 months).

He had to get some shots today though. I ended up getting everything but the Hep B - b/c there's absolutely no reason for a baby to get this shot. It's an STD and can also be transmitted through contact with infected blood. They just give it to children so they'll be immune as adults. But most shots don't even last that long without a booster so what is the point? Anyway, he got four shots in all plus the liquid for Rotovirus. And he's been reallly fussy all day. It has not been a fun day - for mom or baby!

Struggles and Joys

Well, it's almost that time again. It's been posted on the ship's Facebook page so apparently it's safe to post anywhere -- the ship is leaving September 7th. We will be on our own for 6+ months. I know I will be struggling through this time. It was so nice to have Robert home, even to just have someone to talk to and see what I go through. He helped out a lot around the house too. I'm just so thankful to have such wonderful parents who are planning to visit a couple times while he's gone.

As for the joy? Well, you're looking at it!

My beautiful son is becoming more contented with each passing day. He's now okay with sitting by himself for a few minutes at a time - which makes it a whole lot easier to do things like sweep the garage, pull stuff out of the oven, and cut up food!