Six month troubles

Heidi had her six month check up last week.  We've had some challenges with her recently.  At her check-up, her weight measurements were not where they should have been.  At her four month check-up, she was 13.5 pounds, the 45th percentile.  At last week's appointment, she weighed 13.8 pounds and dropped to the 10th percentile.  Now, I'm generally not overly concerned about these percentile numbers since Matt and I are pretty small, I don't expect our kids to be huge.  However, the fact that Heidi dropped such a great deal from her own growth line on the chart had her doctor concerned.  There were other signs of a problem, as well.  She would only nurse a total of two to three minutes, she wasn't sleeping through the night after she previously had been doing so at three months, and her eating schedule was not stretching from every three hours during the day.  The doctor recommended supplementing with a bottle of formula before bed to see if that would help her sleep better.  It became really clear that we have an incredibly strong willed six month old on our hands.  At the sight of a bottle, she would immediately start screaming, arch her back, push the bottle away, and in between screams, she would not remove her thumb from her mouth.  After several days of this battle, we made the difficult decision to wean Heidi cold turkey.  I felt that this was the only way to help her growth because it was becoming clear that she wasn't getting the calories and nutrition that she needed from me.  I need to mention that she has little interest in solids, also.  She will only eat a tiny amount at a time, so that has not become a major source of food for her yet.  So, this weekend, I did the hardest thing I've ever had to do as a mother.  She was angry, stubborn, and making herself exhausted.  It was a horrible weekend, but we have successfully taught Heidi to take a bottle of formula and today, she is back her old, smiley self.  Can't you tell from the picture above!?!  She's eating like I've never seen her eat before which is giving me a peace of mind that we did the right thing.  The doctor wants to check her weight again in a month to see where her growth is.  It feels good to have the hardest part behind us now.  Sorry for being so detailed...I wanted to write all of this down in order to remember this huge hurdle later! 

Happy Monday!