Babies Born~May 1st-15th 2009 #2

So here is my month in a nutshell ... from another post ... sorry feeling pretty spent and just need to get off my chest ...

DS (turns 3 in Nov) is being treated as if he has a gastric ulcer based on symptoms he has been experiencing over the past year, but more so the past 6wks.

I am going to outline his history but bear with me am typing as it comes out of my brain.

DS had silent reflux as a baby and was medicated until almost 2.We have had several issues with his sleeping over the past year or so but was never able to put it down to anything in particular, and everything we tried worked for a while but always regressed. In January he was hopsitalised after a severe bout of vomiting (3 days) with Acute Metabolic Acidosis. After a week in hospital and interminable tests there could be nothing metabolically underlying found as a cause.

6 weeks ago he had a really bad vomiting bout, but it was very brief. Huge vomits over a couple of hours and then all over. We managed with hydrolyte and he bounce back fine. There was no diarrhea and low grade fever.

Two weeks later he had another bad vomiting episode paired with black tarry stools, it was scary how quickly he crashed and was dehydrated. We spent the night in the Mater, he had been vomiting for about 6hrs until they gave him an anti-emetic, and he spent the night re-hydrating - there was concern based on his acidotic history. No diarrhea and low grade fever.

Two weeks later (this weekend just gone) he had another violent vomiting episode. It started at 7am and continued for at least 30hrs. After 7hrs he started vomiting blood and was physically collapsing everytime he vomited. Took him to the Mater again. Based on his acidotic history we were nearing another serious systemic collapse. Sent home (tagged as an over-reacting mother but that is another story) and had to keep pushing hydrolyte in to him to maintain hydration. His urine was still dark and concentrated yesterday (at least 48 hrs after he stopped vomiting) and we were booked into paed today.

After the first episode I brushed it off as just a bug. The second, combined with the tarry poo which indicates usually blood in stools, started to set off alarm bells. The third set me over the edge.

Basically after seeing his paed today we are treating firstly that there may be the presence of a gastric ulcer. Back on Losec with follow-up to see if it is having any effect. Bloods and urine to be done if he has another episode of vomiting. Other issues to be investigated are food allergies (now keeping a food diary to see if anything may trigger the vomiting episodes) and Liver and other metabolic conditions.

Have had a roller coaster of emotions, Sophia obviously has picked up on them and has not been her usual placid self, plus there are teeth moving around and threatening to erupt. And of course when I got to the paed and sat down I burst into tears - so all 3 of us were crying at once! Fun fun fun!!

Nelly, I have no words of advice to give to you, just want to say I am thinking of you and hope that they can get to the bottom of what is going on with your son quickly.

Take care of yourself and know that you are being a great Mum and doing the best you can for all of your children.

I hope Sophia settles again for you, it must be the time for teeth, Jack's cheeks are rosy red and he is extremley unsettled. Can't feel anything yet?

Thanks Megs they are both asleep now so I am going to have a rest too. I can feel a little lump on the bottom of her gum, and she is chomping like a maniac, so I don't think it's too far off.

Hmmmm am thinking maybe starting solids in the next week or so - she keeps grabbing at Jake's food, and whoever else happens to have theirs near her, and was gumming on his carrot stick last night.... It was cold (and soothing) and really sweet too I think.

hugs nelly, i cant imagine how scary it is having to be in and out of hospital xx
jade has had rosy cheeks and drooling for over a month but no sign of any teeth yet

love your new avvy TM!!!

heheh thanks, see they even gave jade orange hair hehe :)
Nat: not sure if you got my msg on FB but theres a WA meetup next week if you go into the WA members thread, would love to meet you!!

Nelly - hun that sounds terrible! And so stressful for you. It hurts to see your kiddies in pain, so that must just be the worst! Hopefully they can get to the bottom of it for you, and things will settle down.
Hi to all!
Just a quick one today. DH leaves for Afghan in 11 days. Am really not sure how I'm feeling. Obviously I'm terrified something will happen, I'm angry that he went back on our agreement not to do any more trips (and he could have not gone on this one), I'm happy for him that he got the trip (because it's something that he really wanted to do regarding career development etc), I'm sad that he won't see Emma for anywhere from 3 to 6 months and I'm not sure that I'll be able to do it on my own. I know other people do all the time, and I have my parents and friends. I just never thought I'd be alone with a baby.

Sarah are you in contact with DCO if you need them at all?

Do you feed your bub as soon as s/he wakes up in the morning or do they have a bit of aplay first??
I cant remember when I stopped feeding Milo immediately, but Oscar seems to not be in too much of a hurry to eat most days when he wakes.

Ray I feed her pretty much straight away - after a cuddle with Jake and daddy first - then we sit down and have a feed.

Nelly, how's Jake going? Been thinking of you.

Sarah, I hope you and dh are having some quality time together before he leaves.

Rayray, Tom likes to get straight on the bosom when he wakes up in the morning, and often goes back to sleep there, which suits me fine as he is awake at about 6am! He's actually being really difficult with his feeds at the moment. The world is just too exciting to lie there and have a good drink. He gets out what he needs to stop feeling hungry, and then he's got to be hard at it, playing and grabbing and whatever.

I really, really love this age. Six month old babies are just adorable, so sunny and keen and eager to get on with their little lives. Tom is so charming and inquisitive, he just melts my heart. He's sitting up really well on his own now and trying to creep around a bit when he's on his tummy too. He has such a distinct personality now. He's still not sleeping really well - he's still waking at least twice a night, but I'm kind of used to it. But he settles really well now, you just pop him in his cot and off he goes.

He grabs just everything - you can't stop him when you are trying to change his nappy or feed him or do anything, from grabbing your nose or your hair or your glasses or your clothes or whatever you are trying to read/eat/drink/wear. He's going to be a nightmare when he's mobile!!

Hope everyone is well.

Hi RayRay,

Jack isn't desparate for a drink when he first wakes, but that is probably because he has woken for a feed at about 4am so it has taken the edge off. I can't remember with my other boys.

Interesting side not thought, with Oscar and Lewis my older boys, Lewis wakes up and wants breakfast first thing. Oscar needs to wait about 30min til he's hungry they are just different.

Sarah: Hope you are doing OK, must be hard for you knowing DH is going away.

I cant believe its nearly amonth since we wrote anything in here!
Everyone must be as busy with their familes as I am.

Well, Oscar started on rice cereal this week, and if he didnt snatch the sppon out of my hand and shovel it in, LOL.

Hes doing really well, we have an MCHN appt on Monday to see how he is growing etc, mostly cos I wanted to ask some ore qs about solids etc. Im not much for BLS, I know itt works for some people, but its not for me so I wanted to get some more info about what foods when etc.

Im back at work full time which I hate. DH is home with the boys, so far he thinks its easy haha he will change is tune in a week or so when the novelty wears off.

rayray: think its cause we all have eachother on FB this thread is deserted lol
that sucks ur back at work FT!!!! i never wanna go back to work againnnn
wats the go with baby led solids? i just started giving jade some when i saw her fully staring at my food and she still has 5 bottles a day and half a jar of solids at dinnertime

Emma what you are doing sounds about the same as us. Oscar is having 5 milk feeds most days (occasionally 4) and after one of them we have been giving him solids - rice cereal so far. BLS seems more about finger foods. there is a thread devoted to it in the breast/bottle/solids forum.
We're happy with purees for now :)

we had child health today.
Oscar was 9.1kg and 73cm tall

He is doing really well so that was all good.

Im back at work full time and i hate it i miss being at home with Oscar. I was the same when I went back after having Milo.
Hopefully this time the feeling lasts less than 3 years.

Hi Rayray,

Sorry to hear you are back at work. It would be hard having the separation from you little man.

Re solids, I am not doing baby led, Jack is still on purees, he loves his homemade vegie one, which is basically everything mixed in together. I also gave him avocado and banana mashed up which he really liked.

I have given him one of those mesh bags which you put food in (sounds gross I know) but he loves mango or watermelon in those and sucks away to his hearts content.

Jack has nearly cut his first tooth, his 2 bottom teeth are so close, you can feel the ridge it just hasn't quite cut the gum yet. He was a bit miserable last week with them.

Otherwise all is good, he is sitting quite well now, although still won't roll.

I still can't believe that he is 6 months old, time has just gone so quickly

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I have given him one of those mesh bags which you put food in

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ooh MIL gave me one of those...Im scared...do they clean easily? Im scared all the food will get stuck in there and it will get all festy :o

We have the opposite, Oscar rolls but doesnt sit. Well, not on his own but i can sit him in the high chair with padding.

I was like you Rayray, didn't really like the look of them, but it is great for Jack, he can munch/suck away on food for a while.

I'm just really diligent and empty out the food and rinse it straight away, then I just wash when do the dishes, it comes back really clean and I have been smelling it and it doesn't smell festy.

I have heard of people putting ice in them for when they are teething, obviously they make a bit of a mess, but thats the joys of babies.

love our mesh bag! Sophia inhales her pear through it lol.

I was considering BLS but it doesn't sit with me so we are doing the puree thing too. Sophia has vege special (whatever cubes I grab) for lunch and abaout 2tbspn of rice cereal for dinner.

This is our feed routine:

7am BF
9am sleep
11am BF
12pm Lunch (veges)
1pm Sleep
3pm BF
4- 430pm Dinner
630pm BF
7pm Bed
she usually wakes between 3and 5am for a BF then sleeps until 7am

That basically mirrors my routine with Jack.

He loves his food though, has vegies for lunch and yoghurt. For tea he has vegies again and a custard.

I'm in love with the Raffertys foods, they have really great mixes. Jack loves the chicken and apricot puree. Convient for when I'm out

Nelly: i know youve prob already thought of this but what abt if u gave sophia a dreamfeed at say 10pm then she might sleep straight thru til 6 or 7?

foodwise i just go by what age is on the jar (not in right state of mind to start making my own stuff yet) so yeah mostly purees atm and rusks except she sucks on them until they turn into mush, i guess her teeth arent bothering her if shes not chewing on it.
been hard trying to get the dog to stop nicking them out of DDs hands haha

Em dream feeds don't wrk for me I like ot be in bed by 830 - 9 and am a mess if I don't get early sleep, but am fine with an early morning wke up ... if that makes sense??? I have tried it and she treated it as a bonus feed and still woke in the morning anyway!

Hi guys,

Wow I know how quickly time flies.... I also cant believe how quickly the 6 months have gone.

Lily started solids about a 6 weeks ago, but we only ventured away from pureed fruit and vegies to chicken this week (pureed of course). She seems to really enjoy it. I also introduced brown rice (also pureed) and she loves that as well. Oh and another one is baby yoghurt, she totally loves it!!! I think she likes the coolness of it.

Lily also still has about 4 to 5 BF a day as well.

RayRay, yucky about being back at work. How is DH coping??? has the novelty worn off yet??? I am not looking forward to going back to work!!! though it is only in April 10, I am currently trying to negotiate with work to go part-time... fingers crossed for me.

Nelly dream feeds didnt work for me either. I normally go to bed around 9 - 9.30 pm (love my sleep as well), but I did try it, but it wouldnt matter if I dream feed her or not, she would still wake up for a feed. Though at the moment some nights she sleep through to 5-6 am or sometimes she wakes up.....

xxx Sue xxx

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Em dream feeds don't wrk for me I like ot be in bed by 830 - 9 and am a mess if I don't get early sleep, but am fine with an early morning wke up ... if that makes sense??? I have tried it and she treated it as a bonus feed and still woke in the morning anyway!

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hmm that makes me think maybe i should try put her to bed without a dreamfeed? i want to try cut her down from 5 bottles/1 solid to 4 bottles/2 solids and am thinking as follows:

5am bottle
10am bottle
12noon solids
3pm bottle
5pm solids
8pm dreamfeed bottle

what do u guys think?i have noo idea:wall:

Em, I had a girlfriend who FF her little girl, she swore by the dreamfeed, and I'm pretty sure her daughter had one til she was nearly 1.

Maybe try to drop it, but if she starts waking during the night just re introduce it .

I guess if it is working and you get a full night sleep just run with it

megs: yeah im too scared to drop it incase she wakes up in the middle of the nite for a feed and then cant get back into the routine!! but the formula tin says she should only be having 3-4 bottles
she has 180ml water plus formula so works out to about 200ml but hardly ever takes the whole lot, usually leaves 40 or 50ml, and ive tried spacing her out to only give her 4 bottles but she just cant do it!

Em if it's working atm the moment then leave - perhaps as you introduce more solids she's drop one herself?

Emma - i remember with ds1 dropping feeds he'd have less and less at a feed or consistantly leave more than half, so id skip it the next day. She will let you know she wants it if she does, and it sounds like shes pretty good at letting you know what she wants :)

Em, I say give it a go and see if it works! I know what you mean about not wanting to mess with things in case it doesn't work out.

Ray, I'm sorry you've had to go back full time so soon :( There's no flexibility to work from home at all? I have to make some big decisions soon regarding my work. My maternity leave is up in February but I've had two good job offers. These jobs are less secure but better money, I could do them from home if I wanted, and they are better career prospects. But they are also subcontractor jobs which mean no sick leave, no long service leave, no paid annual leave, having to do my own bookwork... so I'm torn.

Tom is eating solids - he doesn't like much baby food but likes to munch on stuff. He loves sandwiches and toast and fruit, is a bit "meh" on pureed food although he likes the raffertys vegies and meat things. We just give him crusts of whatever, even the odd chip (naughty me) and he sucks it to death. He likes drinking water but makes a horrible mess. Gee, what does his routine look like... he's cutting down on breastfeeds now so it looks like this:

2am breastfeed, straight back to sleep
6am breastfeed, lies in bed hitting me until I get up
9am breastfeed, then sleep for 1/2 - 1 hour
11.30am breastfeed, sandwich or piece of fruit, sleep 1-2 hours
3pm breastfeed, nap for 1/2 hour maybe
6pm breastfeed then dinner, vegies or whatever we're having
7.30pm breastfeed, then sleep.
11pm dreamfeed

He's the world's happiest baby - I wish all my babies had been as happy as him! I hope he's like this for the rest of his life!! He's also extremely outgoing - all the others were a bit clingy and shy, but his favourite part of the week is passing the peace at church when he gets to cuddle and chat with everyone!

Megs, I hope Jack's mouth is feeling better. Who else hasn't got any teeth yet? No sign at all with Tom (though he's biting me horribly regardless, the little blighter).

Tom's not happy with sitting up any more - he's taken to hurling himself across the floor, rolling everywhere and trying to get on his hands and knees. He's a bit later than the girls were but I hope he doesn't crawl for a good while yet - they are harder when they are mobile! Even so I can't really leave him alone for long any more (not that I really *left* him, but ykwim). And I have to vaccuum a LOT now!

has anyone heard from or seen candice lately?? is she still having problems with Xanthe??

She been logged in to msn i will buzz her next time i see her online.
Hope things are going OK Emma, your fb seems like people are giving you a hard time - remember that you are the mum, they are your choices to make and no one else can make them for you. You ust take what you want from the "advice" people give and ignore the rest.

yeah I saw her last Friday at a meet up. She has gone back to work and has been renovating their unit too. She has dropped her FB page bcos of stalker family issues. X is beautiful, growing up so quickly, she's commando crawling now too.

Oh that's too bad for Candice! How awful! I miss her on FB.

same Jane....i want to see how she is and see pics of Xanthe!!
Rayray, yeah things have been pretty tough lately especailly since i dropped the vro and XP gets to see DD now (again)....problem is he is alot better n on meds but now his family r the ones driving me nuts

Hi Girls!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year - or Happy Holidays.....which ever is appropriate!

I thought I'd drop by and catch up with how you are all going.....since going back to work full time, its been very difficult to find any time to visit bb, sadly.

We have just come back from a 3 week holiday in Tassie, and just loved it - thinking about moving there actually!

Reuben is going along brilliantly, such a great little fella. He has just turned 8 months, and whilst away on holidays he started sitting on his own, and pushing himself forward .... beginning the commando crawl. He has 6 teeth and is a bit of a lucky dip sleeper.....some nights are great, others are not.....but DD was just the same. Some nights he just stays in bed with me.

sorry for no persies, but I've gotta go back and read up on how you are all going.

xx

Im hoping you will know who I am, if you dont please pm me - dont guess or say so in here :)

Glad the Trip to tassie was good BK.

Im trying to get DH to move interstate but its not looking likley. Which is a shame because there work there for both of us, the lifestyle is a lot more relaxed and affordable and there are good schools. In fact he wouldnt have to look at going back to work, which is he will have to do as long we we stay put - he could be a SAHD and we'd still have a significantly better lifestyle.

AF came today, first since DS was born.

8 months check was ok. weight was only up 500gm in 2 months but MCHN reckons thats down to growth and increased mobility. Still she wants us to go back at 10 months rather than wait til 12.

waking up between 4-5 most nights lately and I have to go in and try to resettle him. Sometimes this works and other tims not so well. This morning it was only 30 mins and he went back to sleep so that was good.

megs, your pm box is full ;)

Thanks I've fixed it, I always for get about the send box.

lol me too.
Well, im trying to change DS' 1 formula feed a day to heinz nurture gold from nan ha, becuase i can get the heinz for 75c a sachet, and as we dont use a full tin before the best before date, it will be a lot cheaper and less waste this way.
He had some today and was fine to drink it, now its a waiting game to see whether it upsets his belly.

Pandora, Jade has only put on 500 grams in 10 weeks and the CHN wsnt worried at all, she said its prob cause she is in her walker alot (which i got told off for) the CHN said she should only be in in 10 or 15 mins a day but shes in it probably 2 hours altogether, its the only way i can get a break from her...
XP is on a disability pension now so isnt having to work and is caring for her 3 nights a week which gives me a good break too, and my PND seems to be lessening.
Jade has no teeth yet, is sort of shuffling/commando crawling backwards and vocab includes mumma dadda and 'heyyyyyy' whenever i wake her up cause thats what i always say to her :)