Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
Dec
19
Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
“Oh My God! Why Is He So Small?”
“Oh my God! Why is he so small?” – Pediatrician to mother upon seeing her 1 day old baby for the first time. Baby weighed 5 lbs 7 oz and was perfectly healthy.
There are 23 comments to this post.
Jessica had this to say,
Dec 19, 2011 @ 10:41 am (Quote)
They’re too big, too small, they’re taking too long in the womb, they’re eating too often or not enough… are doctors ever happy with what they see?
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Jane Reply:
December 19th, 2011 at 11:22 am (Quote)
Because to many doctors, any deviation from a narrowly-defined “average” is a pathology.
I’m not sure whether it’s generational or just what happens when there’s more experience, but I’ve noticed some older doctors are perfectly happy to say “Well, that’s just a variation on normal, but we’ll keep an eye on it” and not immediately panic.
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KristaMish Reply:
December 19th, 2011 at 11:39 am (Quote)
Actually the one time I had an OB tell me how amazingly healthy and perfect my baby was was my last…the home freebirth. lol! They still called CPS on me (since I wouldn’t hide that I CHOSE UC) but all the docs and nurses came in and commented at how they’ve “never seen such a healthy baby”. They REALLY didn’t know what to think when I told them he was 22 days “late”, I was in labor for 72 hours, my water never broke (he was born in caul), never had an ultrasound or even prenatal care except my own observations, and (for some reason this is the most confusing to them) I cut the umbilical cord myself.
I will note though that the first pediatrician I saw about an hour after his birth (we went to the urgent care to get him weighed, etc.) flipped and said his feet weren’t pink enough (although they were the same as the rest of his body) and accusingly asked what the discoloration was on his trunk; it was blood from his birth. She insisted on an ambulance transport across the street to the L&D since she “didn’t know about babies that young”. Seriously how much difference is there between a newborn and a 4 day old?
Sorry if this was incoherent. I’m sick today but still had to comment. lol!
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Ruth Reply:
December 19th, 2011 at 6:30 pm (Quote)
Why did they call CPS on you? You did nothing illegal. 
From a fellow mom who’s had to deal with CPS recently (my son fractured his femur in a freak accident and the ER filed a “mandated reporter” CPS form) I feel for you. I hope that they close your case quickly, as they did for us!
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Rebecca Reply:
December 20th, 2011 at 6:08 am (Quote)
Many people consider planned unassisted homebirth to be a form of neglect, especially in those areas where midwife-assisted homebirth is illegal. OP, I commend you for not lying- its the only way that we will be able to reclaim childbirth as a natural process and hope that CPS closed your case quickly and in your favor. (Did you promise never to give birth to that baby unassisted again LOL)
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Crunchy Nurse had this to say,
Dec 19, 2011 @ 10:50 am (Quote)
Around 1940 when my paternal grandmother birthed her second daughter, a postpartum nurse said to her “Was that the best you could do? This scrawny little baby?”
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How old is this doctor. I thought most people knew by the time they were old enough to attend medica school that OMG is against the 2nd or 3rd commandment and that some people get real touchy about such things and therefor never to be uttered in a professional format. Grow up, get over yourself, and stop talking like an ignorant teenager.
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SculptorAlison Reply:
December 28th, 2011 at 4:09 pm (Quote)
I think some people just don’t care. I’ve heard doctors and other professionals say G-D it and I find that the most offensive thing someone could say.
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As a mother to an SGA baby, the last thing a mother needs is more cause for worry by an ignorant doctor. This just burns me. If the baby is healthy, the baby is HEALTHY!
This is why I loathe the term ‘healthy size’. Size in and of itself, when referring to newborns isn’t enough to say one way or another if the baby is healthy. Just as a heavy baby might not be, a tiny baby might be healthy as a horse.
It’s bad enough to feel like your body has failed by not nourishing your child to a certain standard…this doctor could use some tact.
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Kelly O. Reply:
December 19th, 2011 at 12:16 pm (Quote)
“Size in and of itself, when referring to newborns isn’t enough to say one way or another if the baby is healthy. Just as a heavy baby might not be, a tiny baby might be healthy as a horse.”
Exactly!! My daughter was 4 lbs 13 oz, and they told us they wanted to take her to the NICU “for observation”. We asked what was wrong and they said nothing but they wanted to observe her just in case. We told them they were welcome to observe her in our room, and if anything was actually found to be wrong, they could take her to the NICU then.
Her Apgars were 8 and 9, and though they repeatedly weighed her, checked her blood sugar, temperature, and bilirubin, they never did find anything wrong. She was just tiny, but otherwise perfectly healthy!
(Well, not perfectly, as a couple weeks later she was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis. But I still think of her as “healthy” since her CF has so far been well controlled by her meds and treatments.)
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Sodapop Reply:
December 19th, 2011 at 1:54 pm (Quote)
exactly. I had a perfectly healthy 12lb 1oz baby but they kept wanting to prick her to test her blood sugars because she was so massive, and formula feed her to control what she was eating. Screw you. She’s now 15 months, just weaned from the breast and 23lbs of healthy baby girl.
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Laura Reply:
December 19th, 2011 at 5:09 pm (Quote)
This. My 10 pound 8 ouncer born 2 weeks ago – same thing. I let them take the blood sugar tests since low blood sugar can have consequences and I was concerned about it myself … but I have to laugh (though with a lot of wincing for the poor guy’s heel pricks). He was never below 2 times the cutoff point.
At least there’s this, since his blood sugar was good and his weight loss within the tolerable range, they *never* tried to push formula on me for him. (His big brother DID get formula, but his big brother had low blood sugar…although I think he’d have passed the new protocol they’re using now, sigh. #2 would’ve also passed the more stringent protocol that big brother didn’t, though.)
It probably helps that I know I’m prone to oversupply and overactive letdown. It didn’t leave them a lot of room to suggest I couldn’t make enough milk for a big baby when I’d already made enough for his bigger brother! 
But if size raises a concern and then the tests show baby is fine…BABY. IS. FINE. That’s what matters, not baby’s size, but health.
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Mama Wrench had this to say,
Dec 19, 2011 @ 1:11 pm (Quote)
“OMG, why is your mouth so big? And why is the gap between your ears so vacuous?”
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Two of my babies were SGA and two were IUGR. There is a big difference between a baby who is just meant to be small and one who did not get enough nutrients in the womb. So many doctors use SGA and microsomia interchangeably, and for that matter LGA and macrosomia. Size in and of itself is not necessarily a problem.
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This one is mine. He was my second baby and a whole ounce heavier than my oldest (but shorter by a good inch). His Apgars were 9 and 10.
I specifically requested that this pediatrician doesn’t attend my son, because she almost killed my firstborn with her negligence, but our regular pediatrician didn’t feel like coming in and sent her instead. She immediately started grilling me, asked me if I smoked (I didn’t), if I was sick during the pregnancy (twice), did I have excessive morning sickness (nope, not even once). She stood around for another 2 minutes uhm’ing and ah’ing and then said, “Well, you should be glad that he’s healthy, obviously you didn’t eat enough, that’s why he’s so small!” Then left without giving me a chance to say a word.
It’s genetic (on my side), both my grandparents and my mother had small “male babies” (under 6 lbs), but as adults all the men are/were tall and thin.
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Serene Reply:
December 21st, 2011 at 5:39 am (Quote)
please tell me you sent a letter to the practice reminding them that they sent a doctor who had previously been told she was not to practice on your family!
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Jane Reply:
December 21st, 2011 at 5:46 am (Quote)
Might I suggest changing practices so there’s no chance you ever encounter this pediatrician again? Even if she’s not in your practice, if she covers for the practice you go to, it’s worth changing to one she doesn’t cover. And definitely write a letter to the practice letting them know WHY you’re changing practices. (use bullet-points to document this doctor’s actions.)
I’m sorry you had to deal with her. Check the hospital’s patient bill of rights. If you ever encounter her again, you may have the right to refuse to let her look at your son and request a different doctor.
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Elaine Reply:
January 1st, 2012 at 5:48 pm (Quote)
I’m sorry I missed your reply. She is a partner in the practice, so there is no way any complaints will be dealt with internally. Our pediatrician at the time worked at another practice, but they covered for each other (something I didn’t know when I had my second baby). We have since moved on to a small, private practice (two doctors). We can’t ask for better pediatricians; they trust me and my judgment and have even thanked me for doing my own research and making their jobs easier.
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It is annoying enough when people on the street just go on and on about my kids (all of them have been small, some very small, three were preemies). Our primary care doctor has never said anything like that but when we have to see other doctor’s in the practice, I have heard the exact same thing. Babies come in all different sizes.
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