April 2011 DDC thread! - Page 5

[minkajane]

Update on Abby - we went to the doctor on Thursday. She gained about 1/3 what she should have in those three weeks. She eats CONSTANTLY. So she's officially diagnosed as failure to thrive. The doc is doing bloodwork to check her thyroid, glucose, metabolism, etc. They had to stick her arm, her foot, and her head to get enough blood, which SUCKED. His #1 theory is celiac disease, so I guess we'd both have to go gluten-free. I should find out the results in the next couple of days. I will update when I do.

[wehrli]

Mandy, thinking of you and wee Abby...

[mamapigeon]

Mandy, I'm sorry to hear about Abby. I hope you can get an answer soon. Abby sounds like such a sweetie!

Wehrli- It sounds like Silas is doing some really cute things! How neat that he's trying to say "kitty"! Wyatt likes kitties too, and tries to follow them now that he can crawl well.

[minkajane]

I feel like I'm hogging the thread, but I wanted to update you all on Abby. We got the bloodwork results and everything was normal. So we still have no idea. I get plenty when I pump (plus I'm taking fenugreek) so I know I have lots of milk. The kid loves to nurse and love solids, but she's just. not. growing!

[Blanca78]

You're not hogging the thread! I'm so sorry you are having to worry about this. I'm glad the bloodwork was normal. If she's healthy in every other way, maybe it's not a problem--maybe she's just meant to be small? In any case, lots of hugs--it must be hard.

Quote:

Originally Posted by minkajane 

I feel like I'm hogging the thread, but I wanted to update you all on Abby. We got the bloodwork results and everything was normal. So we still have no idea. I get plenty when I pump (plus I'm taking fenugreek) so I know I have lots of milk. The kid loves to nurse and love solids, but she's just. not. growing!

[wehrli]

Mandy, I'm glad you updated! so happy Abby's b/w came back fine. it must be a bit nerve wracking but perhaps, like Blanca said, she's just meant to be small? it just seems, by everything you've said, that she's completely on track with everything and your supply is good...

[mamapigeon]

Hope everyone is doing well and having fun with their babies!  Mandy, I'm glad to hear Abby's bloodwork came back normal.

This is the first time I've had a chance to post in a while as Wyatt has been obsessed with staying awake (even if it means being fussy) to see DH. It's kind of sad because this break in school is the longest DS and DH have seen each other and I know Wyatt will be sad when school starts back up and it's just the two of us at home all day.

Wyatt has suddenly passed a bunch of milestones, going from crawling slowly to zooming around, pulling up on furniture, and now cruising.... He has also said a couple of sentences like "Mama dada hi" and like Silas, has added "kitty" to his vocabulary. I'm amazed at how quickly all of these things happened, anyone else seeing this?

I've also encountered horrible biting during nursing, with it being so bad I dread it and I'm thinking of pumping and doing bottles for a while.

Here's a picture of Wyatt cruising between objects!

[wehrli]

mamapigeon, OMG... I just saw your siggy... did you test??

[wehrli]

mamapigeon, look at Wyatt go! I love the tiger baby legs! yes, we've been seeing some hella fast development lately! just like you said, from slowlet crawling to fast paced (still the commando crawl here), pulling up on everything, cruising, tons of babbling, waving hi/bye, calling us mama, signing for more, eat, milk, poop... he also says banana when we hold up a one, or when he's ready for breakfast (he eats a banana every morning). he LOVES to walk around holding our fingers as we walk behind him... he'll just pulls up on one of us, grabs our fingers and starts to take off -before we can even get up off the floor! too cute!

Mandy, how's Abby been??

Blanca, how's sweet li'l E?

anyone else??

afu, other than the update that I posted above, S cut his first tooth the night he turned 9m! it was a heck of a week... he was waking around 4a every morning, but has now gone back to a reasonable 6a waking. sleep is slowly getting better, too. he most often sleeps 4 hrs in his own bed before he wakes, he comes to our bed around 12a most nights instead of 9 or 10p. things are great here! <3

[mamapigeon]

Wehrli- I got a negative result, but I feel different so I'm planning to test again in a few days. It could be my period too, I suppose. I'm finding it harder to know what my body is up to after having Wyatt.

Silas sounds like he is doing really well, and hurray for his first tooth!   So neat that he waves hello and goodbye and has signs for so many things! Do you think he is close to walking alone? I would say that Wyatt is a few weeks away from that milestone, though he can stand alone if he doesn't realize it.

I want to hear how the others are doing, too!

[wehrli]

um... I think Silas is at least a few weeks from walking alone but it could depend on how much he continues to want to practice, I imagine. he also has been using a walker (much to my dismay... his grandma had one, and tried him in it, and he just LOVED it, so we brought it home... he's never liked any other device, and DP was for it so I decided to let this one go... we limit his time in it, strictly) so I think that will delay him from actually walking... but only by a little, by my guess. he has stood alone a few times, without realizing it, for a second or two. it's just wonderfully exciting to watch him grow, day to day!

[CookAMH]

Originally Posted by minkajane 

I took Abby to the doctor today. She's only gained a couple of ounces since her 4-month visit. :( The doctor wants to start trying to increase her caloric intake. She nurses 5-6x/day plus one bottle of expressed milk 5 days a week when I'm at work. The bottle is usually around 3 ounces. She seems satisfied with that, nurses plenty at home, pees and poops plenty, meeting all her milestones, just not gaining weight. He was very focused on the fact that the one bottle she gets is only 3oz and wants it to be 6oz. I'm not convinced that's the problem - breastfed babies don't need as much volume-wise as FF babies. I'm going to start nursing her more often and increase the size of the bottles slowly and see what happens. 6oz just seems like a LOT for a BF baby and I don't think even if the bottle was on the small side that it would affect her that much.

If she's peeing and pooping plenty, nurses regularly, and seems satisfied, could this be a supply issue? Wouldn't there be other signs that she's not getting enough? We're going back in 3 weeks and hopefully she's gained some weight by then.

Have you considered any gut issues, that could be keeping her from absorbing nutrients? I think that's what has made Neri turn a corner (I haven't posted thread in MONTHS but thought I'd pop in) just in the last WEEK. We started the GAPS diet for her and DH's food issues. She was reacting to some foods, I couldn't have dairy when she was a newborn, she has cradle cap. She never had abx but for some reason seems to have a lousy gut (and she was my VBAC too!). Anyway, after feeding her significantly more animal meats and fats in the last week, and starting gut healing with broth and probiotics, I think she's gained at least half a pound in the last week which is big for her. She's thicker in the middle, and her legs are chubbier. She had her 9mo just before that and had gained 2 lbs in 5 months. Not as severe as abby but still quite low. And she was low then too (so now she might be 15.5). Anyway, pm me if you need to. I have a low supply and she nurses eagerly but there just isn't much there. I'm feeding her food 3-4x a day with lots of fat and nursing 6-7x. I'm sorry for all she and you have had to go through with the testing.

Neri would rarely give me hunger signs, still doesn't. My mom wisely commented that her fussing after awake a bit, that I took to be tiredness, was likely hunger. So in the last week when she's done that, I've fed her food and she's eaten a fair amount, and then been very cheerful and awake for a good hour longer. She'd nap a long time and my mom commented it could be a survival mode type thing - hungry but not saying so, so she sleeps. Poor girl! Her demeanor is even more cheerful now that I feed her a lot more and her naps have shortened.

[mamapigeon]

How is everyone doing? Cook, I'm so glad Neri is gaining weight and doing better!

We are doing pretty well here, though Wyatt and I are sick. I'm impressed by how Wyatt is coping with a stuffy nose, he doesn't seem bothered by it until he wants to nurse. He's still cruising, but is starting to stand alone for about 10 seconds before grabbing on to something so I think walking will happen shortly.

We're going to try moving Wyatt to a mattress of his own for early at night and when he wakes up to nurse, move him to our bed. I hope it works, but we have plenty of time to make it work.

[Blanca78]

Hi all! Sorry I've been away so long--it's just been crazy w/holiday travel, illness (Eliza and I both had NASTY colds over the past two weeks), and finishing my grad thesis (still working on that--due in two weeks, yikes).

So here's what's up with us:

No crawling.

No teeth.

But lots of hair!

Eliza can hold herself up really well if we stand her with something to rest against or hold onto. She has even managed to bend down and pick up toys from standing sometimes. She also sits well, but still isn't a huge roller. HOWEVER, we had our first trip to the ER the other day because she rolled off the exam table (at her ped's for the 9 mo appt). She had a big goose egg but was pretty much her old self by the next morning. I felt so bad--it was my fault. I had my hand on her but was digging thru the diaper bag and wasn't watching closely enough.

So she had her make-up 9 mo appt today. She's almost 21 lbs and 28 inches long--75% for weight and height but continues to be in the 95% for head circumference! She was 9 months on Jan. 24th.

She is babbling like crazy (no real discernible words, just lots of mamamamamama yiyiyiyiyi dadadada babababa)and recently started rolling the ball back to us if we roll it to her. I THINK she *may* have been trying to say "ball" the other day--I kept saying it and she was going "buh." Other tricks include clapping on command and shaking her head. After a slow start to solids she is a very eager eater--even if most of it ends up on the floor, she will try anything. Today she scarfed down tons of spinach and it all came out the other end. I've been trying to make sure she eats lots of fruits and veggies for the water content. Nursing is still her main food source, though.

She's still not a big laugher--MinkaJane, didn't you post once about Abby not laughing much either? E will giggle if we tickle her but very seldom goes into hysterics. Still, she's extremely smiley--we get lots of comments on how cheerful and mellow she is. She flaps her arms when excited.

Sleeping is going pretty well. She wakes once or twice a night. Naps are still all over the map--great one day, almost nonexistent the next. Today I lay down with her for a nice long snooze--I love napping with her, though for the most part she goes in her crib.

Hard to believe our babies are hurtling so quickly towards their one-year birthdays! I love seeing all these updates--it's neat to read what other babies are doing and amazing how differently they all develop.

Here's a recent photo, taken in the car right after I picked her up at daycare.

[mamapigeon]

Blanca- E is so cute! I'm sorry about your trip to the ER, that must have been stressful. It sounds like E is very accomplished though! I bet she was trying to say "ball", exciting! Does she seem to like daycare a lot? Wyatt hasn't been around children much, but last night we were out shopping and there was a little boy around 13 months. It was really cute to see them interacting. I imagine that's one of the big perks of daycare, more interaction with children of a similar age.

[minkajane]

Hi everybody! Abby's doing great. She's starting to gain weight, though still off the bottom of the curve. She's almost 14 pounds now. We've been giving formula during the day while I'm at work and nursing in the evenings and days off, so I don't know if it's that or the multivitamin or it's just random, but something's working!

She's babbling up a storm now and starting to do signs - especially all done, that's her favorite. She's getting really mobile, using her feet to crawl instead of her knees so her butt sticks up in the air. It's hilarious. When I hold her hands she's taking some steps but she can't balance on her own yet. I don't know whether to look forward to it or not. It will be fun and all, but a lot more work when she can get into everything!

I'm going to have to get some pics of the things I've crocheted her. I made her a fuzzy shrug with matching booties, a pink sleeveless jacket with a big flower on the back, and last night I finished a fringed hippie poncho that matches one I made for myself. We are going to wear them to the mall today. :-)

[mamapigeon]

Mandy, that's great news! So happy that Abby is doing well! Her clothes sound adorable, please do post some pictures.

[minkajane]

Here's me and Abby at the mall today.

[wehrli]

Mandy, cute pic! I'm glad Abby's getting on that curve... that's awesome about the signs! I still can't get S to do 'all done'.

mamapigeon, my DS hasn't been exposed to many children, esp his own age... he gets soooo excited when he sees babies!

Blanca, sounds like E is a real treat! I'm sure she was saying 'ball', Silas' first attempt at 'more' and 'milk' have both come out sounding like 'ma' but I'm sure that he was saying what he thought was more or milk b/c of context. he sure knows what I mean when I say those words.

AFU, Silas is this I-I close to walking... I swear. he's been cruising for over 2 months now, I think, but now it's serious. he's sooooo fast! and he's finally graduating from army crawl to hands and knees! he's giving kisses now, starting today they stopped being completely open mouthed. he's playing peek-a-boo behind things, he does "dinosaur rawr" - so cute, he says BA-na-na when he sees one (but has taken to calling all other food na-na ), and calls the kitties (and doggies, stuffies, etc) KEE-ee! he LOVES our cats, omagawd. he's waving hi and bye appropriately, like when he hears DP open the front door he waves and looks for her, rubber-necking if he has to!, and when anyone puts on a jacket, he starts waving profusely. I'm seriously loving this age! so much fun!!
Sleep is still hit or miss. though his nighttime stretches are longer, sometimes. I'm really hoping he continues to make progress toward STTN, w/o having to do anything in particular. he ONLY nurses back to sleep, and we are hesitant to take the time to make any changes b/c we don't want to deal with the difficulty and the time lost in the meantime, I guess.

[minkajane]

Wow, Silas sure knows a lot of words! That's so cool. I bet he's so adorable.