You may recall that at her 12-month well-baby exam we discovered Laurel's weight percentile had continued to "fall off the curve," which caused some discussion. Well, it fell even more! Over the course of the last 12 months her weight percentile has dropped 50 points, steadily decreasing at each well-baby exam: 60%, 45%, 40%, 25%, 20%, and now 10%.
Here are her numbers (which can also be viewed at her Trixie Tracker measurements page):
Height: 31 inches (70th percentile)
Weight: 19 pounds, 14 ounces (10th percentile)
Even though a child's weight gain is supposed to remain fairly steady, the doctor did not seem concerned about Laurel's decline. He noted that genetics are at work, because Isaac is also tall and slim (although at the same age Isaac was actually at the 45th percentile). The doctor thought Laurel's slenderness had something to do with her being breast-fed (although Isaac was too) and that she would plump up when she was weaned. Finally, he pointed out that because she is breast-fed, she is getting plenty of the right fats for her brain development.
So we'll just keep doing what we're doing: offering Laurel good stuff to eat, letting her eat as much of it as she wants, and breast-feeding her until she decides to stop.
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Since Laurel is under 20 pounds, by law she still rides rear-facing in her carseat. We waited until Isaac was 24 pounds before we switched his seat around; by then he was 15 months old, the same age as Laurel now, but he was two inches taller and his legs were starting to seem cramped.
However, recent recommendations claim that because the rear-facing position is five times safer, you should keep your child's seat rear-facing as long as possible. Is anyone actually following this recommendation? With Laurel's current carseat, this means in theory she could ride rear-facing until she weighs 35 pounds! Isaac didn't weigh that much on his fourth birthday!
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