| Today we took Garrett to his
four-month checkup. He weighs 15 lbs. 8 oz. and is 25 inches long.
The pediatrician said that we could keep Garrett on Nutramigen or we
could continue to periodically try a new formula until we find one that
he can tolerate. We tried Enfamil LIPIL about two weeks ago.
He loved the new taste but the spitup got worse and he got so fussy and
gassy. I had to start the Gaviscon and Levsin drops again. I
had been able to stop using those up until that point. She said to
try Lacto-Free.
She also said we can try giving him cereal from a spoon. If you
are holding him while you are eating, he will follow your fork from
plate to mouth and will even open his mouth! So I think he's
ready. We're going to try it this weekend. I wanted to wait
a few days after his shots.
She said there was no need to put cereal in his bottles, that it
would only make him fat. She said if we wanted to try and get him
to sleep longer at night that we could add some to his dinnertime
bottle, but not to put it in his bedtime bottle because it would just
sit there like a lump.
The biggest news is that she put in an order for us to stop using the
apnea monitor. I remember how frightening this was for us when it
was time for Riley to come off of his monitor. So we are really
hesitant about this development, but we knew that it was probably time.
He has not had any problems while on the monitor, so I think he will be
fine. She said he could be on his tummy at this point, but to
continue to try and get him to sleep on his back. I put him in the
bassinette in our bathroom the other morning and he fell asleep while on
his back. He slept for about an hour which is SO rare!!
But she said that he needs to learn to roll over and that he is
probably being restricted by being on the wedge and monitor. So
wish us luck over the next few weeks as we take him off of both the
monitor and the reflux wedge/sling. I would keep him on the wedge
except he is starting to outgrow it in length. Plus like the
doctor said, he needs the mobility now.
He hasn't rolled from back to front yet, but he can sit up for over
15 seconds at a time. If you lay him on the couch at an angle, he
will pull himself up to a sitting position. If you put him on the
floor on his tummy, he just swims and swims. I think it won't be
much longer before he will be crawling. You can tell he is already
trying so hard!
He just smiles and laughs all the time. He very rarely cries
unless he is hungry ( then he SCREAMS! ) or when he is sleepy.
Luckily he doesn't fight the sleep as hard as Riley did. Garrett
will either fall asleep on his own or with just a little bit of rocking
or holding him in your arms.
We are marveled at the fact that we can take him out to eat with us
and he just sits there content. That is, as long as his tummy is
full!
But the smiles and giggles are to die for! And he is starting
to "talk". We swear we've heard him say, "Hey!" two times now!
And he's got the most beautiful blue eyes. They are dark blue on
the edges and icy blue in the center. Gorgeous!
He is wearing Size 6-9 clothes. They are a tiny bit big, but
not much. He can still squeeze into some 3-6 mo. clothes, but not
many. He is wearing Size 2 diapers. The Size 3 are a little
bit too big. He is getting 6 oz. of Nutramigen every 3-4 hours.
We are trying to stretch him to 4 hours. He sleeps anywhere from 8
to 10 hours at night. He sleeps from about 9 PM to 6 AM, wakes up
and eats and then will go back down for 2-3 hours. It's a pretty
good schedule.
I am no longer giving him Gaviscon or Levsin drops. He is
medicine-free. I will occasionally give him Gaviscon if he is
struggling with a nighttime bottle, but that is rare. We're not
even using Mylicon.
He's doing great!
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