Thursday, January 8, 2009

Check-ups

Monday, Layton and Mandy went in for their 9 month and 3 year old check up appointments. The doctor checked them over and determined that they looked perfectly healthy! Which is wonderful. Layton weighed exactly 16 lbs and was 26 1/2 inches long. This put him at the 10th percentile for height and he actually dropped off the scale for weight. Just barely off the scale though. If I had to put a percentile on it, I would call it the -1 percentile, if there even is such a thing. The doctor didn't seem too concerned about it though since Layton had already been hanging out at around the 10th percentile for weight and it is not unusual for babies around this age to have a drop off in weight since they suddenly become so very active with crawling. And lets just say this is especially true for Layton because he is active in the extreme. So the doctor said that we should just take a wait and see approach to the situation and see what his weight is at 1 year. If his weight drops even further off the scale at 1 year, he may have to go on a high calorie diet of Pediasure. But hopefully he'll fatten up a little between now and then and we won't have to worry about a thing. He also got his finger pricked and they did a blood count and iron test, which came back showing his blood was perfect! So even though he is tiny, he is still very healthy.

Mandy weighed in at 28 lbs and is 39 inches tall. This put her at the 10th percentile for weight, which really isn't all that surprising. What is surprising is that she is at the 75th percentile for height. No wonder you can see all of her little ribs when she is naked. The little weight she has is stretched over a surprisingly tall body. She also took a vision test. She did extremely well on the near vision, but when it was time to begin the test for far sightedness, she began to get pretty distracted and she only made it through part of the test. But the part she did was correct, so I don't think she has any vision problems, which is great! Don't you love her little paper gown? She thought she was pretty special to get to wear it. And truthfully, she really is pretty special :)



P.S. I found an interesting article from the World Health Organization comparing their growth charts and the standard CDC charts used by US doctors. In the article it said that from 2 months onward it is not uncommon for breastfed infants to appear to "falter" in their weight on the CDC charts. And sure enough, when I looked up Layton's weight on the WHO charts, he is at about the 5th percentile and not off the bottom of the chart. Also there is a website that depicts the growth of only breastfed infants and on that chart Layton is actually at around the 25th percentile. So yes he is small, but maybe he isn't as small as I originally thought.

3 comments:

Stacy Pettersen said...

Wow, well I would not have guessed -1%, not with those cute chubby cheeks! I would not worry either, everything I have read says to take those growth percentiles with a grain of salt. He obviously is thriving well, so who cares if he's a little small. You just get to enjoy his "babyness" a little longer!

Kelly said...

Oh what Perfect little Monkeys! Aren't we blessed to have Healthy kids! You won't need to worry about them being small. Count your blessings that they are little while you get to carry them around. Just give Layton time he will be Tall and Handsome just like his Dad! Mandy will be blessed and be Small just like her Mom. Every girls Dream!
We could use a Layton fix! We miss that little guy!

Becky Shuler said...

I think if they were any cuter or fatter that I couldn't stand it. I am so grateful that they are healthy. What about Dallin? Does he still go for check ups or is he too grown up for them now?