It amuses me to no end that every mouthful of cereal seems to be a shock to Kiernan. Like why isn't THIS mouthful applesauce? Ok, maybe this one will be applesauce.. ahh... NO! BAH!
Ok, maybe this one will be applesauce. GRRR! Ok, how about this one? No? GEEZ!
I get through more than 3/4 of the the dish before he refuses to open his mouth anymore. hehe
I've decided it would be fun to set up a photo treasure hunt for Kiernan and I - with a deadline of late August when I go back to work and he starts daycare (ACK!)
Here's what I have so far. Any ideas to add to the list?
Last night, after a rough first few hours of sleep from 7-10, Kiernan ate and then went back to sleep until 3:30 (5 hours ladies and gentleman!) and then went back to sleep until SEVEN!
I only had to get up once last night AND I got sleep in until 7!!
Magical! :)
I am paranoid the rice cereal is hurting his tummy. I say paranoid because I realize I am probably hyper sensitive to his every moan and groan for fear we're having another intolerance. I'll wait a few more days to see if I should stop for a day or two and examine his continued moans and groans.
So this morning we started rice cereal and it went really well! I expected the disgusted look - the one we get when we try to give him formula, but he just ate away. One teaspoon of cereal mixed with one tablespoon of liquid made a lot more food than he's used to though so he didn't quite finish it all. Still, I was really impressed!!
So now I'm confused. I have this guide from the city on how to feed a baby solids but I'm not sure how I up the amount. Do I give him cereal in the evenings next? Vegetables at lunch next and then cereal at dinner after that? I need precise instruction here!! gah!
Otherwise, things are still going pretty well. Kiernan is getting up a bit more in the night than he was for awhile, but averaging about 3 times a night which isn't bad. I still need to figure out how not to spend hours asleep in the glider every night, but that's a whole other issue. I've also started a bad habit of bringing K into bed with us in the mornings. Hopefully it won't bite us in the ass later on, but to be honest, I enjoy having him there with us, and it seems to sometimes give us a bit of extra sleep. He manages to sleep without being swaddled as tightly when he's with us too so if he's unswaddled himself I just bring him to bed instead of waking him up completely and having him scream his head off as we re-swaddle him.
We're getting a lot of comments about how much better he looks now! This is great! He's looking better - he's really filling out, and I'm trying not to dwell on the fact that he must have looked gaunt before ;)
Look who slept yesterday in a place he could be photographed! Is this a contender or are the 4th and 5th photos from my first post still winning?
So moms that know* agree that Kiernan does in fact seem to be teething. Funny thing is that it isn't one of the usual first teeth. It seems to be one or two over to the right on the top. Eric and I have joked that we hope that isn't supposed to be his front tooth - but we both have a lot of crooked teeth in our families so we probably should knock on wood or something. :) So it's that or he's a vampire and his fangs are coming in first. hehe
Kiernan has continued to be a good napper. This morning he napped for 50 minutes and anything over 45 minutes is a celebration!! He plays better on his own, he sleeps better, I'm a happy mama! It just figures that just as we figure out all these tummy issues that he starts teething and that he's in pain from that. We got these fun chewing on teething thingies that you put food into for them to chew on and it comes out of these mesh bags slowly, but since Kiernan isn't really on solids yet I don't have anything to put into it. I tried putting a small wet baby face cloth inside but it was too big. We do plan to start rice cereal tomorrow or Thursday though so maybe we aren't too far off having something to put into the bags. For future teeth :)
AND, we put together the high chair last night. We want to start having dinner all together soon... even if it's just his dinner, to get him used to meal time being at the table. I knew this time would come - the time when Eric and i didn't get to eat our dinner in front of the tv every night and we would have to get our crap off the table. haha.
*moms with children who have already been through teething :)
The March theme for the photo contest is Sleeping Beauty. In hour of Kiernan's current nap that is currently going on two hours (HOLY CRAP!) I have been trying to find some cute sleeping photos of our little guy. They are all from his first month of life because he doesn't generally sleep in places we would risk taking photos of him anymore :)
Tell me what you like best!
Kiernan is doing so much better! We are consistently getting so much more sleep at night (all 3 of us) that I feel like we may actually be catching up a bit. Kiernan is still up several times a night, but it's been going pretty well. This morning he slept until 7!! YAY!
Other good news is that he seems to be eating more now that his tummy doesn't hurt anymore and we swear his cheeks have already started filling out from it. He still has a lot more calm moments than he used to have.
Some not so great news is that he is fighting REALLY hard against the formula. So far in the 3 times we've given it to him he hasn't been willing to take more than half an ounce. We'll keep trying since the possibility exists that he will have to stay away from milk and soy until he is 2 or 3 and me being the sole provider of his milk products until then does not sound like an option I would like to go with. The boy knows what he wants and what he doesn't want - that's for sure!
I also wonder if he might have started teething. He cries a bit more often now, instead of being his usual Sir Screams a Lot, and there is a big white lump where I would imagine the tooth to the right of his righthand big tooth would be. So we'll see.
I've started trying to learn how to use my fancy camera as more than a point and shoot. Composition, natural lighting and all that crap :) I do afterall have a lot of ideas for things to scrapbook. Here is a photo of Kiernan as I see him so often but wasn't the most obvious picture to try to get.
I think the medication and the change in diet is working!!
Yesterday I went to visit my parents around 3:30 (as we usually do) and instead of being pleasant for about 10 minutes and then being grumpy because it's late afternoon and Kiernan is always grumpy in late afternoon, he spent over an hour and a half being perfectly pleasant. So much so that Eric and I decided to go grocery shopping with him and not rush him home to bed! Then we go home and he happily had his medicine even though it was almost 7 and we were getting him to bed late. He was in such a good mood in fact that he wasn't sleepy. hrmm... We couldn't get him to sleep until 9. We gave up around 7:45 and just let him play until after we'd had dinner. hehe
He woke up quite a bit though once he'd gone down and seemed really hungry earlier than usual. I'm wondering if maybe now that his tummy doesn't hurt so much he wants to eat more?
The trend seems to be continuing in a positive way though - he just woke up from a 90 minute nap this morning. Even if we only get one good nap established for now, that in combination with good nights is making me one very happy mama! :)
I think that might be all I'm allowed to eat pretty soon ;)
So great news! And some not so great, but not really all that bad news.
We had our appointment with the allergist this morning and Kiernan didn't test positive for any of the arm prick tests that he was given. Upon discussion with the allergist he said it sounds like it's all about the soy and the milk protein allergies. Apparently approximately 50% of babies with an intolerance to milk protein have an intolerance to soy protein! I think they should advertise this better - I don't think my family doctor knew that!
Anyhow, I told him I had cut dairy out, but not to the point of reading labels. He said it was time to read labels if Kiernan was still having issues. So, as of today, I can't have anything with milk products in it or soy products. Do you have any idea how many things that's going to eliminate?
That's the not so great news. The fabulous news is that the medication for Kiernan's reflux seems to be working, and that the root of the problem seems to be these protein intolerances which for the most part are outgrown by 1 or 2 years of age. We don't have to introduce solids to him any differently than any other child. The allergist doesn't even want to see Kiernan again he feels so strongly that the entire explanation is the milk and soy thing. That's a very good thing. I'm glad it's nothing more or anything worse. This kind of sucks, but it could have been a lot more horrible and I know that.
In reading some of the information the doctor gave me about these intolerances it even described the reaction of violently throwing up 1-2 hours after having the milk or soy, or the fact that an infant will flat out refuse something that he/she is allergic to, like they know. Very interesting. And nice to have some real answers!
So everyone keep your fingers crossed that the good sleeping continues and that this medication continues to work. I'm really hoping to catch up on some sleep :)
The one thing I hate about blogging is trying to come up with a catchy title for my posts. I suck at it. Sorry ;)
So... medication update. Sunday night was horrible. Awful. Unbearable.
Kiernan was in agony... so much painful gas. He was crying, and crying hard, for a good portion of the night. Usually, as long as someone is holding him he can be calmed a fair amount, but not Sunday night. In the end, we had to let him get up and play on the floor. The squirming, bending, moving, etc seemed to help get the gas out. Regardless, the only sleep he got that night were a couple of hours in our bed and a couple of stints in the rocking chair in our arms, but even then we had to use the hair dryer to get him to sleep. Anyhow, it was awful and Eric and I felt like zombies the next day.
So Monday I called the pediatrician's office and was like "ok, is this right??" and her answer was "absolutely not!" yay. We don't have to wait this out for some 5-6 weeks of time until it works or some such horribleness. So after some discussion we decided to try Kiernan on two doses a day of this new medication, theory being that he seemed better during the day, but awful at night, and since he was getting the medicine in the morning maybe it was just wearing off by night? So we've been doing that for two evenings, and it's working! Last night he woke up only twice!! at 11 and 2:30. Unfortunately the mama was in bad shape and Eric had to wake me up several times while feeding to convince me I was not feeding Kiernan since I was holding him with his soother in his mouth and that I should come back to bed. Oh, and that if I did need to feed him more I should feed him with breastmilk (I apparently wasn't clear on what I should be feeding him). Ahhh total exhaustion rocks ;)
So that's the medicine situation. Yesterday Eric and I took K to CHEO to have the tests the pediatrician wanted done. First we went to XRAY. We were in and out in 10 minutes and overall it was a pretty good experience. He was put in a contraption just like the one my sister-in-law had warned me to expect. He was put on a bicycle seat looking thing and then we held his arms in the air while the technician brought this clear plastic cylinder around him and velcroed it shut. Kiernan didn't particularly enjoy it, but he's used to being swaddled and doesn't enjoy that on a multiple time a day basis so his whining/crying didn't upset us too much. Eric and I got to stay with him, wearing our xray proof aprons, so it was overall not too bad.
Then we spent almost 2 hours waiting to have blood tests done. BLAH! There was a backlog because they had been closed the previous day, and they take people by priority, not order so Kiernan got bumped a bunch of times. But in the end, it was well worth it I think. The nurse who drew his blood was fabulous and the experience was SO much less traumatic (for me) than I expected. He cried as she put in the needle, but just for a second, and then she talked to him and distracted him with a toy on the wall while she got enough blood. I was impressed with how easily it went!
This morning Kiernan, my mom and I are off to see the pediatric allergist and then we'll be stopping in to see his pediatrician again. I feel like we're hopefully getting somewhere - yay! My mother will be able to help give a lot of my background with food allergies too, could be very helpful. That and I'm glad not to have to go to all these appointments alone. As optimistic as I am about it all, it's been really tough to realize that Kiernan has a lot more going on than just being a fussy baby and the support helps me get through it all.
Oh! And Kiernan likes the applesauce now. Yay. He's too cute eating :)
Anyhoo... go vote for cutest baby in red. Today is the last day. :)
So... I went with majority for the baby contest and the waving picture won!
Please go here and vote everyday ;) He's been there since last Thursday and I forgot! Aie!
http://www.babiesonline.com/babycontest/votepage.asp?page=8007
He's on page 7 and he's baby W again, even though I swear I thought I had changed it to say Kiernan this time. Oh well :)
Vote!
Kiernan does so many new things so quickly - it blows my mind. He is now sitting!! He can sit for almost 5 minutes straight and catches himself as he starts to tip. Sometimes when he's more tired he doesn't last as long- but still - he's doing so well! And he doesn't get particularly upset when he falls which is good - hopefully that will continue when he learns to crawl and walk.
He's also reaching for things as of this weekend. He would grab things close to him before, but now he'll try to lean over to get something that he wants.
And he's also started sucking his thumb sometimes. Instead of trying to cram his entire fist down his throat, gagging himself with fingers pointed right to the back of his throat, he gets just his thumb in there. He gnaws on it about half the time instead of sucking, but it's still very cute :)
As for medication updates... he's starting to be a bit better about taking the applesauce, although not significantly so. He's fartier and not sleeping well at night, but he's spitting up less again and maybe seems less tired? I don't know. OVerall, it seems worse than he was before. But we're going to wait it out until Monday or Tuesday to assess and if it still seems worse we might call the pediatrician for advice.
Friday I was at the mall with Kiernan and a bit bored, so i took him into the photo booth for a mini photo shoot. He was... confused. ;)
Who knew a teaspoon has so much food in it?! :) We think we got at least 2/3 of the medicine down. Hopefully Kiernan will start to enjoy applesauce more soon :)
So... for all you followers on the life o' Kiernan - her is an update after our appointment with the pediatrician this afternoon.
She thinks that he does have reflux. SHe also thinks that he has a lot of allergies. She thinks that the combination of these two things is what is causing the problems.
What to do about it? She started out by prescribing a new kind of medication for him. It's adult medication though, and it comes in capsules. So we're going to have to break open these capsules and mix the powder into apple sauce. So guess who gets to start solids tomorrow morning?? It's not how I thought we would choose what to give him as his first solid, or when, but c'est la vie.
She is also concerned about his eczema and his allergies. So we are going to go for an appointment with a pediatric allergist. She is going to make it a rush thing, so it hopefully won't be long until we have our appointment. Then we'll know what he's allergic to. It will be good information for when we start solids and I think it may end up affecting what I'm allowed to eat. That being said, I have a feeling that I might be able to start eating foods I was cutting myself off from like broccoli and cauliflower and the other possible gassy foods.
She didn't seem remotely surprised or concerned when we told her about K's throwing up from the soy formula. She just said it's not that uncommon for babies who can't tolerate milk to not be able to tolerate soy either. So she gave us a sample of a formula that has neither. She also said it's ridiculously expensive and tastes horrible. So... we'll see if Kiernan will deign to drink it
She also said that the fussiness he's been having while eating is typical of a baby with reflux. I just said he was fussy and she described how so that made me feel a) sad that he's probably fussing because he has heartburn b) happy because it will probably improve as we figure out the problem.
On top of the appointment with the allergist, she wants him to go to CHEO to have a chest xray to rule out anything else going on in there, and for some blood work. That should be a joy ;)
So I think that's it. Stay tuned for photos of Kiernan having his first solids tomorrow, and keep your fingers crossed that the new medication helps.
Last night Kiernan went down at 7 and fussed a bit but we didn't hear ANYTHING from him again until midnight! No soother replacements - nothing! Then he woke up again at 3 to eat, fine. I fed him, he went back down NO PROBLEM. Then he was up around 6:15 and was up. Also ok. He ate, played, Eric hung out with him, and put him back down just before 8. He woke up from his nap at 9:30 almost. WIthout us having to put him back down 3 times, without a soother replacement. He just slept! And now screaming painful gas last night!
Wow! I loves it!!
So. The question is... is it because we propped up the bed even further after a particularly awful night the night before last? Is it because he was so tired from not sleeping the night before last? Is it because I ate things that agreed with his system better? Is it because we put a blanket under him to make his bed softer because his grandmother tried that during naps yesterday and he slept well so we decided to try it at home? Or is it the most likely? We have the appointment with the pediatrician today so of course all symptoms will disappear until after the appointment so that she will have no idea how to help him. ;)
My engagement ring now fits! Woohoo! Woohoo! Bets will now be taken on how long it will take until I end up scratching Kiernan with it and have to take it off because of that ;) Still... feels fabulous to have it back on! My real wedding ring doesn't fit yet... but one step at a time :)
Vicky recently got Kiernan a fabulous new friend - his name is Strawbee and he's perfect for practicing sitting on :)
Kiernan drools. A lot. Not to mention he spits up a fair amount. He is also rashy. Being wet makes him even rashier (is that a word?) so we're putting bibs on him a fair amount now to catch the incredible amount of wetness that dribbles out of our young man.
Unfortunately bibs can get in the way when he's on the floor ;)
As previously mentioned... the bib is particularly important in the jolly jumper :)
So yesterday morning we made formula again. We bought the stuff that Eric had given Kiernan when I had the stomach flu since he didn't throw up when he had that. Eric tried to give him the bottle - he wouldn't even suck once. A bit fell into his mouth so he spit it out. 2.5 hours later, he started throwing up. It's incredible... how many drops must have actually gotten into his stomach? Barely any! So... we're not giving him formula again. We may discuss it with the pediatrician and see if she has a suggestion on something, but I'm not giving him soy again. He obviously can't have regular formula since his system flat out rejected me having even a bit of dairy last weekend, so that leaves only the super expensive goat's milk type formulas and I just think - never mind! :P
I will just pump when I can and store up enough so that I can go out for one or two feedings a week. My poor sensitive tummied boy.
Speaking of which, we now have to put a bib on Kiernan in the jolly jumper because he jumps so violently and makes himself spit up. He loves it so much that we figure it's worth a bit of spit up. hehe
I swear Kiernan says hi, and has been for months :) It's his first word - I've decided!
The other thing he does, which isn't quite as endearing, is that he is constantly gagging himself when he is sucking on his hands and fingers. When is he going to put those two together?? Or is it simply that he doesn't care. Ya, I know it does that. Who cares?
Things have been relatively well since K got his shots on Thursday. Yesterday morning he took a nap for over two hours! And then another one for 45 minutes! So the naps were definitely longer. But he's also been crankier, and last night he was up a lot.
The night wakings seem to all blend together. I can tell you if he was up a lot, or not so much, but rarely how many times or at what time. :P
We still don't have an appointment with the pediatrician which is really upsetting me. I really want to see this woman as soon as possible because all of Kiernan's tummy issues stress me out. That being said, we bought the kind of formula that Eric gave K when I had the stomach flu months ago, and that he didn't throw up. So I think we're going to try that today. It's formula from concentrate as opposed to the powder stuff so hopefully he'll tolerate it. It sucks when you could be about to make your baby really sick for the rest of the day :(
Kiernan had his four month checkup this morning and got his shots. Ick. So awful.
On the good side, Kiernan is healthy (aside from his tummy troubles) and is 25-50th percentile for weight (just over 14lbs) and 50-75th percentile for height (just over 25 inches long).
Kiernan is now sleeping in the swing, having turned very zombie like almost immediately after having his shots. Hopefully the next 48 hours won't be too rough!
Last night Eric and I went to a workshop on baby sign - it was really great!
We learned a bunch of basic signs like eat, drink, more, stop, etc and we also learned a bunch of songs that have signs to go along with them. We'll be using American Sign Language so in theory, Kiernan would be learning another language he could in theory use in the future. The teacher was saying her 4 year old still uses it because he has a younger sibling who also uses it so that reinforces the learning for more years.
The only hurdle could be that some kids really don't take to signing. It offends their sensibilities that you should require them to sign to you when you obviously understand what they're trying to tell you. hehe. I can imagine Kiernan could possibly that type of child ;)
This morning we were singing some of the songs to him and signing and he seems really fascinated so we'll start with that. I sing to him all the time anyways to try to entertain him, so I'll just do ones with signs. This is the introductory stage though, we won't actually ask him to sign back to us until he's at least 7-8 months old.
