Balian is 3 weeks old today!! It's so hard to believe!
We were supposed to have a 2 week check-up...thanks to Tricare and the Kings Bay Medical Clinic and all of its glory, we had it at 3 weeks instead. :/
So here's how it went:
weight: 7 lbs. 5 oz.
He's back up to his birth weight exactly. The doctor would have preferred that he was back up to his birth weight a week ago...but she wasn't TOO concerned, because he is gaining steadily...just slower than she would like him to. He did lose a lot of weight at the beginning though, so he had some catching up to do. His last appointment was almost exactly 2 weeks ago, where he weighed 6 lbs. 14 oz. So, he's gaining about 1/2 an ounce per day, which is normal (average weight gain is 1/2 oz to an ounce per day).
other stuff (related to the above):
The doctor was asking me questions about Balian spitting up, etc...checking to see if reflux was a concern. Honestly, up to that point, I hadn't really thought about it. I told her that yeah, he spit up...that it usually happened when he was being burped...but it wasn't a lot at a time...but I had noticed that it was kinda chunky, rather than just liquid.
She seemed concerned when I mentioned the chunky factor. She asked if it seemed to bother him at all... and I hadn't really noticed his fussiness being related to the spitting up, so I said no, not really. I told her that the biggest problem we were having was getting him down to sleep. (He has seemed to get over-tired super easily...and never really having any wake-time...will get fussy pretty much right after eating, so we'd try putting him to bed..and it would take forever...what gives?)
Doc said that we didn't have to do anything about it today, but that she was a little concerned and that I should watch it and see if we needed to give him medicine for reflux later on.
well, wouldn't you know that we came home today after going to the doctor, and it was one of the worst "fussy" days we've had...and we've had a lot of fussy days. After talking to the doctor, I started picking up on some things going on.
1. the more up-right of a position I have him in to feed him, the better he eats. (ex: eats better in football hold with body tilted downward than in cradle hold lying across the Boppy)
2. the spitting up isn't just after feeding him - it can happen an hour or 2 after feeding him...
3. lying him down for a nap has been almost impossible - he's content in his bouncer, or when held upright on our shoulders...but the minute we put him down, he's screaming inconsolably, even if he was in the process of entering dreamland when we lie him down. If he's totally asleep when we lie him down, he usually will wake up about 10-15 minutes later, screaming....and try as we may all the tricks in the book, it will either take about an hour to get him down, or we can't get him down at all...and the screaming goes from "something is wrong" to "I'm hungry" and the cycle continues...
he didn't sleep good. so then he doesn't eat especially great... and that goes over and over again throughout the entire day. He'll usually get one really good nap in a day...probably simply because he's so tired he can't function.
For some reason, he does better at night. I'm at a loss as to why... perhaps pure exhaustion?
4. thinking it's gas, I've given him tons of mylicon (and we've tried Gripe Water too), and it hasn't done a lick of good. I've said over and over "why the heck am I giving this stuff to him if it isn't doing a darn thing?"
So, I took out my trusty book "The Baby Whisperer solves all your problems" and looked up the section on Gas, Colic, and Reflux. It explains what each one is, how to tell if your baby has it, and what to do about it. Well, reading the section on Reflux hit the hammer on the nail for Balian. Amazing how hard it is to see something that is right in front of your face...when you don't know what you're looking for.
So tomorrow, I'm calling and leaving a message for Balian's doctor "Yup, we'll take that medicine now, thanks!"
Hopefully once his tummy is feeling better, he can sleep better, and eat better, and actually get some wake-time...and get on an all-together better routine...and start gaining more weight too :)
