Allergies

As you know if you've read my posts before, Nolan is gluten intolerant. He does not have celiac's but he definitely reacts to gluten. Carter is doing great on the weight gain front which is much different than his brother. He was, however, having some issues.

He started projectile vomiting almost daily. No fun for either of us. He was also very gaggy most of the night. You'd hear him grunt and grumble and then choke and wake himself. I quickly thought reflux but was hoping it wouldn't be something he'd need daily medication at such a young age for. We also experienced body and diaper rash and congestion.

After a few days of the projectile vomiting, I took the doctor's suggestion and cut out dairy. Two weeks later though, he had improved a bit but then was starting to decline again. Last Friday we had an impromtu appointment to discuss everything  and get baby some help.

At 5 weeks 1 day C weighed in at 9lbs 6 oz. That was up from 8lbs 3 oz at 2 weeks 5 days. It turns out he likely isn't having reflux from over acidic stomach acid but from positioning and overeating. To combat that, we purchased the Fisher Price Rock n Play sleeper which lets him sleep safely at a 45 degree incline. I'm not sure if it's a fluke but the first night he slept 6 hours straight! Second night he did all 4 hour stretches. That's much better then the two hours he was doing. We are also trying out pacifiers hoping he'll suckle those instead of always me! He would want to suckle then get upset when milk came out and he was already full. Crazy baby!

As for the rashes, our doctor suspects some sort of allergy/intolerance to something I'm eating. Since dairy doesn't seem to be the issue or possibly not the only issue, I'm doing a full elimination diet for him. This means no corn, soy, dairy, nuts, eggs, or gluten for the next three weeks. Then I'll slowly add one in at a time every week or so. I'm keeping a full journal of everything I eat/drink and charting his reactions, symptoms, and sleep habits. Hopefully I'll see improvement at the end of the 3 weeks and be able to figure out what is going on. All I can say is dairy elimination was hard but removing all of this is torture!

Growing up too Fast!

My little boy is growing up too fast. Just this week he has had a word explosion. Every day he says something new. In the last two weeks he has slept through the night for the first time ever and has done that twice! Big deal for me. We've also slowly been weaning.

Nolan was a very frequent nurser until about 20 months. This meant numerous times during the day and night. At 20 mo I started limiting him some and cut down to just when waking up, before nap, before bed, and anytime he woke in the night (2-3 times).

Every transition was very peaceful for both of us. I didn't force it but just saw how'd he'd do if I stopped offering. The hardest step was the first one and that was when I stopped just letting him nurse whenever he asked during the day. Any time he asked randomly throughout the day I redirected him towards something fun. If he fussed or got really upset I let him nurse and tried again later. Eventually it just wasn't something he thought of unless we were in his bedroom in the rocking chair.

The morning feeding was simple to drop as he was ready to go explore and nursing was only slowing him down. Naptime amazingly went well too. One day instead of sitting down in our chair where he immediately expects to nurse I grabbed his blankie and binky and stood up rocking him. He laid his head down on my shoulder and after a few minutes I laid him in bed. He didn't make a peep and we haven't nursed at naptime since. Recently Nolan has been sleeping better . On those night he doesn't nurse much if at all in the night. Since we have had days with just one nursing session total, tonight I decided to go for it.

After his bath I grabbed his blankie and slung it over my shoulder. Then he laid his head down on my shoulder and I rocked him back and forth while standing for only about 5 seconds before he motioned to his crib and leaned for it. Since he asked, I laid him down. I said goodnight and told him I loved him then he took out his paci, said "Bye Bye", and waved at me. It's been an hour and I haven't heard a peep!!


While I'm not saying we've completely weaned it's still a bittersweet moment. I wanted to nurse until he was 2 at a minimum but due to some personal medical issues decided to transition him slowly as long as he was okay with it. We made it 22 months for sure! Considering Nolan never took a bottle that's a lot of work!

Apparently he thinks he is big enough to ride with no carseat. Not yet my little one!

Solids

Before his birth, I researched breastfeeding and set a goal to exclusively breastfeed Nolan for the first 6 months. It isn't always easy to BF nor was it comfortable and pain free at first. In addition there are painful ailments such as thrush and blisters that we had to work through! Nolan spent the first two months eating about every 2 hours round the clock. Then he slowed to every 2-3 hours during the day and 5-6 at night. At  4 months of age he went back to 2 hours during the day and only 3-4 hours at night. It's a lot of work!

Now that we made it to 6 months, we plan to continue breastfeeding as the main source of nutrition for the first year. Nolan will be allowed to wean at his own pace (WHO recommends BF for 2 years minimum!). Solids for the first year are only for practice and not for nutrition and calorie count. There is lots of research out there on when is the right time to start solids but it seems like nowadays everyone is rushing to get going. I have to admit its fun to feed your baby for the first time but their little bellies just aren't made to have anything except breastmilk for quite some time.

Lots of agencies (WHO, AAP, etc.) all recommend that babies be fed only breastmilk (formula as a second) for the first 6 months of life. Recently pediatricians and parents have been turning that 6 months into 4-6 months without actual science to back it up. Our pediatrician recommends breastfeeding only for 6 months then slowly introducing solids for practice. I was pretty determined to ignore the pressure to feed him anything except breastmilk and we succeeded!

Nolan made it to 6 months and 2 weeks before we introduced solids. I grew a 14+lb baby all from me. I know it's been done since the beginning of time but I really find it amazing!!

Yesterday he got his first meal which was prunes. We did not do cereal of any sort due to the low amount of protein it contains. We chose prunes because he does not frequently poo and solids can cause constipation. They are first so that if he became constipated later due to another food item he would be able to have the prunes to help.  He'll have prunes for four days then we'll introduce his next vegetable if all goes well.

Mess and all, Nol did great!! He did keep trying to suck his thumb after every couple bites. I think if his thumb could feed him he'd be in heaven!