The Ups and Downs of a Liquid Diet

You know how Oprah is always doing some sort of great diet and losing weight? I remember watching some random episode of Oprah with my mom a long time ago and saw how she lost something like 75 pounds on an all-liquid diet. At the end of the program, she pulled out a red wagon filled with 75 pounds of pig fat. It must have been an impressive program, because I've remembered it all these years.

Well, that's kind of what was going on with little Scott the last few days. We were supposed to get out of the hospital yesterday (Friday) morning at 10am, but they noticed last night that his weight had dropped considerably for the second night in a row. You see, when he was born, he weighed 3417 grams (7lbs-8.5oz), but he was down to about 3250 grams the first night (down 4.8%) and down to about 3100 grams last night (down 9.3%).

Basically, like Oprah, Scott's liquid-only diet was producing dangerously dramatic weight loss. We decided to step up the rate of feeding and the night nurse (Tracey) noted that he should be weighed again Friday morning. Through the whole night it seemed that if we weren't feeding him, we were getting ready to feed him. We still managed to get a few hours of sleep, however. I was so glad that the Ottawa Hospitals allow dads to stay 24 hours a day, and even provide cots.

In the morning, Scott had lost another few grams, taking him down to 3066 (down 10.2% from his birth weight). Although this was a much less significant weight change, 10% is the limit of what is considered safe, so the day nurse (Jewell) called in a lactation consultant. The attending pediatrician also scheduled an appointment for Saturday morning to weigh Scott again. This was nice, because he also took Scott on as a patient -- we hadn't been able to find a doctor accepting new patients.

The lactation consultant determined that there weren't any technique problems, so she figured that he simply was not getting as many calories as he was expending in his efforts to feed. She arranged for us to stay in the hospital until the evening while we worked with Jewell to line up supplemental feeding (some pumping, then a formula top-up). She also arranged a follow-up appointment with the hospital lactation clinic for Saturday afternoon. It was comforting to know that they weren't going to let us get away without finding a solution to this problem. We had some great nurses (Sarah, Robyn, Tracey and Jewell).


We were still fairly worried. Even if it's a problem that can be addressed with a simple bottle formula, there's something in you that won't relax until the problem is solved.

I went downstairs to rent a pump and ending up buying one because their rentals were all out. We also supplemented Scott's next feeding with about 15 mL of formula. As I held him and watched him desperately suck back all he wanted from that bottle, a feeling of relief surged through me and nearly exploded as tears. This was probably the first time since his birth that he'd actually been full.

R's mom flew into town and came out to the hospital. We got in two good feedings during the afternoon and were discharged at 5:30pm. I put Scott into a "new-born" sleeper that we'd brought for him and was surprised to see that there was still room in there for a few of his friends. Since it was raining, we were told to put a hat on him. We didn't bring one, but we'd been given one (sized for 6 months) by some friends who visited. He looked so cute strapped into his car seat, with his tiny face poking out between a mound of fuzzy white sleeper fabric and an oversize toque.

Feedings have been stable since, and I'm confident that he will register an increase in his weight at the doctor's office this morning. Hopefully, litte Scott can put this kind of yo-yo weight problem behind him.

I wish the same for Oprah.