Weight Gain :(

For the last few months, Joel has steadily put a pound on every 4 weeks so we went along to the weigh in today at the local clinic as I'd missed our surgery weigh in.  I was quite confident that he'd be well over 18lbs having not  been for about 6 weeks, so I was really taken aback that he'd only put on 5 oz!

It's true he's not been eating that well, but has had a bit of a cold for a few days but still, 5oz?

I wondered whether I'd been doing anything wrong.  I mean, I'm not going to force Joel to eat.  There's no point, and he does pick at bits but recently he's decided he doesn't like baby food or puree or mushy food.  He wants to feed himself and that means things he can pick up to put in his mouth.

I keep trying him with lots of things but we seem to end up with bread, cheese, and more bread.  He likes toast, cheese on toast, bagels, philadelphia, pitta, hummus, oatcakes, sandwiches, eggy  bread, omlette, and it's all the same sort of thing.  I tried potato cakes with hidden veggies but they got spat out with a big 'bleurgh' because I think he feel they're too mushy. Broccoli and carrot sticks got spat out but banana and blueberries are a 'more please'.

I don't know what more I can do to ensure he's getting enough food.  My mum says he's burning lots of energy now as well with rolling and moving as much as he is, but that makes me feel bad as he must be hungry more than I realise but then he's still not eating more.

His milk feeds have dropped a lot, and I've decided to give him a bottle of formula once a day just to reassure myself that he's getting enough.  He feeds from me morning, afternoon and evening, and has a bottle mid morning or mid afternoon depending on whether he wants it.

Part of me also wondered whether I'm not leaving enough time between milk and meals to make him want it, so breakfast is now later and that has had good results with eating more porridge and toast.  I'm also offering snacks twice a day and water all day but his nappies are a bit stinky and solid and sometimes very dry as well so is he getting enough liquid?

It's all a bit worry.

In the meantime, he's as happy as could be and doesn't seem to be extra hungry or thirsty so maybe I'm not so bad.  Maybe he's just been a bit under the weather with teething and now a cold.  It's put me off regular weighing though.