Operation: Chub

Hudson is definitely a slender boy.  Born at 20 inches but only 6 pounds, 4 ounces he's always been a long and lean baby.  Apparently pediatricians expect babies to triple their birth weight by their first birthday meaning that Hudson should have weighed 18.75 pounds at his recent check up.  He was only 17.8; a little less than a pound shy. 

First time self-feeding with a spoon.

 

 

His new pediatrician, Dr. C., wasn't overly concerned.  If you look at Hudson he doesn't "look" skinny with his chubby cheeks (both sets - haha).  But to be thorough Dr. C. went ahead and ran a complete metabolic and endocrine blood screen just to make sure there was nothing medical behind his poor weight gain.  Praise the Lord that all his levels (iron, thyroid, blood sugar, etc...) came back within the normal range.

That said, we have initiated Operation: Chub.  Dr. C. suggested putting him on the "Paula Deen" diet - basically slathering his food with butter and other healthy fats to increase his caloric intake. 

Enjoying a before bed snack of strawberries.

I'm doing baby-led weaning so Hudson is still nursing 2-3 times a day.  Basically, I don't offer but don't refuse when it comes to nursing.  We've introduced cow's milk which he will drink sporadically. Though to be honest, if it's chocolate milk he'll gulp it down like a Bedouin coming out of the desert.  He loves peanut butter and cheese, thankfully as both as good sources of protein and iron (and fat, too!).  He is obsessed with fruit and eats several serving a day: avocadoes, bananas, blueberries, grapes, and strawberries are his favorites. 

Speaking of avocados...check out this recipe for making chocolate pudding from avocados.  It's awesome.  James has eaten it twice and was none the wiser until he saw some green specks in Hudson's bowl.  Even then, he didn't believe me that his pudding was made with simply avocados, honey, cocoa, and milk.  It's that good people, thanks Kara!

I'm also making him eat more often.  Rather than just three meals - we're doing more like 5 meals.  The three traditional plus two in-between snacks, sometimes three. 

All in all, I think it's working.  I weighed him today, two weeks since his one-year check up, and according to our scales, he's up to 18.6 pounds - that's almost a pound heavier! 

In reality, I'm not too worried about his weight.  First off, the little boy never.stops.moving.  Seriously people, from the moment he awakes until he's asleep he's on the go.  I think he's just expending more energy than he's taking in.  Secondly, both James and I were skinny kids.  James was thin until he had his tonsils removed and suddenly could eat well!  I didn't even break 100 pounds until college and really didn't weigh anything significant until I hit 30 and my metabolism went on vacation.  Chances are, that'll be Hudson's lot in life as well. 

So as we try to instill good food habits, does anyone have any tried and true tips, suggestions, advice??

This picture has nothing to do with food. 
But, is anything cuter than a wee babe sleeping with his bum in the air? 
I think not.