Paediatrician update!

Finally the weather has cooled down a little bit. Though the closer we get to our holiday in Cornwall, the more rain we seem to be getting!

To our paediatrician's amazement.....

Last week we met with Dr R for Gs 6 month check up. We weren't sure what to expect, but what we hadn't banked on was Dr R's surprise at how well G is doing! 

Upon arrival G kept all of the other children in the waiting room entertained by energetically jumping up and down on the seats (the downside to loving her bouncer is that she now grabs every opportunity to put her little feet on a surface and jump!). She then screamed the place down when it came to being weighed. I couldn't believe it when Tim reemerged with a grin on his face and proudly announcing that she was now a healthy 16lb. 

Clinic was running late, but we soon saw a familiar face and were welcomed in to the consulting room. I was armed with a list of questions, but thankfully the Dr had plenty of time for us. The long and short of it is:

- G is being referred to a gastro paediatrician at  a different  hospital. Her ongoing reflux issues seem to be out of Dr Rs general paediatric remit. She had hoped that G would have grown out of this now, but unfortunately not.

- She will have a barium swallow study done to see if there are any underlying reasons for the ongoing reflux. 

- A prescription was written for domperidone which is a drug that will make her stomach empty faster, thus hopefully reducing the amount of material in Gs tummy to be sicked up (we hope!). Although as the two other drugs have proved, getting the actual medicine into her may be the biggest hurdle. 

- We should go full steam ahead with weaning, though due to the increased sickness from purees/porridge/rice, we should focus on finger foods and baby led weaning. 

- I need to take G to our GP to see if she can be referred to a podiatrist for some specialist foot care. 

Dr R will see us again in three months to see how things are. She hopes that the reflux will be a thing of the past, we do too! As for Turner Syndrome related issues, there wasn't really anything to discuss this time as she is doing so well. Yay for a healthy G :) 

Our first family holiday 

On Thursday we will be packing up the baby, dog, and house, and setting off for our first ever family holiday to Cornwall. We will be meeting up with my family and some friends, and are very much looking forward to relaxing, and introducing G to the amazing sights of North Cornwall. I cannot wait to smell the sea air and let G feel the sand between her toes. What I can wait for is the mammoth 5 hour journey, and a dog that is petrified of travelling. We'll be visiting the vets this week for some tablets to knock me, sorry, Winston out! I'm also not looking forward to packing. I've a list 3 pages long, but luckily Tim has a 6 seater transit van which could fit even the kitchen sink in. Phew!

Beating baby boredom

A brand new jumperoo arrived yesterday. It was a bargain price from Asda, and we are hoping that it may help to alleviate Gs boredom. She cannot sit still for a second at the moment, and unfortunately due to the ridiculous amount of vomit that shoots out every time she so much as wriggles, she's getting very frustrated. Her feet can't quite touch the floor at the moment, so the Next catalogue is doing a grand job of helping her to bounce in the jumperoo. She isn't totally bawled over by her new toy, and would still rather be 

in our cheap and cheerful door bouncer, but heyho we'll keep trying. 

So, next time I post, hopefully we'll be thoroughly refreshed from our hollibobs and ready to face the run up to Christmas (I know, did I really say the C word?!). Also, I have just read a book on baby led weaning, and am excited to get going with that once we return. Oooo and little moo will be 6 months old. HALF A YEAR! Wowsers.....

Weaning-a help or a hindrance?

It's still so hot. The baby still doesn't like it. I still haven't taken advantage of the tropical weather and bronzed myself!

Intolerant to carobel

I know that when we tell the paediatrician this, she will refute it. However, we are 99% sure that G is intolerant to carobel (a thickening agent made from locust bean gum). After refusing to believe that it was her milk causing the awful nappies and mucus, we experimented by taking G off of carobel several times. Within 24 hours her nappies were normal again, and no sign of mucus. Within 12 hours of putting her back on it, the explosions and mucus were back. It's a shame really as the thickener was really helping. She was hardly ever sick, and most of the other reflux symptoms had subsided somewhat. As the gp cannot prescribe any other thickeners (due to her age) we are now using baby rice, which is nowhere near effective, but a tad better than constant projectile vomit!

Weaning, the solution to our problems?

Guidelines are always changing. Wean at 4 months, wean at 6 months, weaning will help with reflux, weaning will cause more problems. So, at 5 months, and with G still point blank refusing her reflux medication, we've decided to take the plunge. Not three course meals and the like, but just some baby rice, maybe porridge and some tasters of fruit and veg. I understand the theory that more solids in the stomach will weigh down the contents, and thus resulting in less reflux episodes. I just hoped it would work.

Week 1 began with baby rice, thankfully no intolerance or reflux issues.

Week 2 saw the introduction of pear, less acidic than many fruits, and supposedly gentle on their tums. She devoured it! After 2 days, it was evident that it was going down a treat. However, at the same time the wheezing, coughing, congestion, constant moaning and squirming, extreme vomiting and screaming were back. At first I didn't link the pear and the reflux. Teething maybe? But after putting two and two together, and stopping the pear, it was evident that it was the culprit. Oh pants, I really thought that weaning would be our friend, not enemy.

After a several unsettled days (for both G and myself), I decided to man up, go back to baby rice, and google reflux friendly foods. Not quite so easy! Whilst there are obvious ones to steer clear of (citrus fruits, apples etc), many reflux babies react differently to different foods. Many can tolerate pear, some can't tolerate carrot, many steer clear of banana and broccoli. It seems that trial and error is the way forward, not something I am particularly looking forward to, but there's no other way of determining which foods do and don't agree with her. I'm starting next on root veg, surely I can't go too wrong?!

Rolling over milestone

For over a month now, G has been persistent in her perfection of the back-to-belly roll. She would even practice in her sleep! Well this weekend she finally mastered it, and we got to see this momentous occasion.....on video! G had only gone and picked our first weekend away from her to perfect it. Still, when we returned, she was a total show off and we got to see this occasion relived all of Sunday afternoon (and evening, when she should have been sleeping!).

First night away from G

As a celebration of our first wedding anniversary, Tim and I went away to Stratford for the weekend. We left G with nanny and grandad, knowing that she would be well looked after, and spoilt with love and cuddles. 

These days we can usually get G to bed with only a few tears, at least 5 days out of 7 anyway. Well G didn't fancy playing ball for my mum and dad, and played up on Saturday evening. Woops! We were assured that she was an angel for the rest of the time, and letting nanny and grandpa be the first to see her roll over more than made up for it. Did we enjoy our time away, or fret? Well we had a fab time, and I only text my dad two or three times. Doesn't mean I didn't worry, but I just knew that we needed to make the most of our time together. It was also Tim's  30th birthday, so a well deserved treat was in order.

Paediatrician appointment

Tuesday will be our first scheduled appointment with  Dr Rao. We have obviously already seen her in the early days due to Grace's milk and reflux issues, but this will be our first Turner Syndrome related appointment. We know that she will be weighed and measured, and that we will discuss her development so far, but above and beyond that we don't know what else to expect. Maybe some information on growth hormones? We definitely need to discuss her reflux medication and her nail issues.

For now we'll continue to battle with the heat, and to experiment with different foods, but we'll also continue to enjoy how fabulous she is. She is changing everyday. Her personality is developing, she is into everything, and she absolutely loves smiling (especially at the dog!). Regardless of the issues we face (albeit not serious, but testing at times!), we sure do have one beautiful babe! But then we are biased :)