Thank you to everyone who left kind words of support following my announcement last week regarding our little princess' weight dilemma. I really appreciate every single word, especially those of you who took time out of your busy day to send me an email or to share your words of wisdom about food, spoons, and other baby feeding paraphernalia.
Last week on Thursday we went to visit a nutritionist, who worked her magic and determined that the princess was getting enough calories from just nursing. The lab results from the blood that we worked so hard to get on Wednesday afternoon were also ready. Keep in mind that by the time we finished taking the blood, it was 3pm on Wednesday afternoon, and the nutritionist appointment was at 10am the following morning. I guess they're just that concerned about her.
There were some abnormalities about the blood-work, but nothing they couldn't explain away. Her iron count looked low, but that's to be expected for a 6 month old since apparently their iron supplies from birth tend to run out around this time. Then something about her liver was off, but not off enough to even warrant being worried about it. And it looked like she was fighting off a teeny tiny infection, which again, was nothing huge or alarming. So, we got a whole bunch of information that really doesn't answer any questions. Oh, but we did get a piece of important information - they're going to draw her blood, again. They burst a vein or something last time, so she still has a bruise on one arm. Needless to say I'm not looking forward to that day.
Then we had a home visit from a nurse on Friday, who will be coming every couple of days to get her weight. After an hour-long discussion, we couldn't really figure out what could be the problem. I was told to give some new baby food a try, find a new spoon, get some finger puffs for her to eat, and to try and pump some milk over the weekend to see how I'm producing. Basically, we're grasping at straws.
After some online research (thank you to those who twittered/emailed me!!!), we got the rubber-coated spoon with the metal handle from Gerber, and some stage 1 baby food. We're having a bit more success with the sweet potato jarred food than the baby cereal. I think we just don't like cereal - I tried giving her some cereal with the new spoon, and most of it still ended up on her rather than in her. I also got her some Gerber graduates puffs - I know she's technically a bit young for them, but they dissolve in her mouth and she seems to have no trouble with them. Another mom had told me about some "dissolvable cheerios" - basically finger foods for babies with no teeth that will dissolve upon getting wet, but the closest thing that I could find were these Gerber puffs.
We have another round of appointments with the home-visit nurse, the doctor, and the nutritionist next week, so hopefully we'll find out more. It's also been a couple of days since the doctor put in the referral for the specialist, so we should be able to make the appointment and get up there sometime soon. Right now, it's just a huge cloud of confusion and unknowns - our day-to-day life isn't really different (minus the craziness brought on by hubby's insane schedule), it's just weird to know that there's something possibly wrong with your child, but you don't know what. Actually, the doctor doesn't even know what's going on...which obviously doesn't sit too well.
Thank you again for all of your support and words of advice, and as we know more I will be sure to keep you guys updated.
Last week on Thursday we went to visit a nutritionist, who worked her magic and determined that the princess was getting enough calories from just nursing. The lab results from the blood that we worked so hard to get on Wednesday afternoon were also ready. Keep in mind that by the time we finished taking the blood, it was 3pm on Wednesday afternoon, and the nutritionist appointment was at 10am the following morning. I guess they're just that concerned about her.
There were some abnormalities about the blood-work, but nothing they couldn't explain away. Her iron count looked low, but that's to be expected for a 6 month old since apparently their iron supplies from birth tend to run out around this time. Then something about her liver was off, but not off enough to even warrant being worried about it. And it looked like she was fighting off a teeny tiny infection, which again, was nothing huge or alarming. So, we got a whole bunch of information that really doesn't answer any questions. Oh, but we did get a piece of important information - they're going to draw her blood, again. They burst a vein or something last time, so she still has a bruise on one arm. Needless to say I'm not looking forward to that day.
Then we had a home visit from a nurse on Friday, who will be coming every couple of days to get her weight. After an hour-long discussion, we couldn't really figure out what could be the problem. I was told to give some new baby food a try, find a new spoon, get some finger puffs for her to eat, and to try and pump some milk over the weekend to see how I'm producing. Basically, we're grasping at straws.
After some online research (thank you to those who twittered/emailed me!!!), we got the rubber-coated spoon with the metal handle from Gerber, and some stage 1 baby food. We're having a bit more success with the sweet potato jarred food than the baby cereal. I think we just don't like cereal - I tried giving her some cereal with the new spoon, and most of it still ended up on her rather than in her. I also got her some Gerber graduates puffs - I know she's technically a bit young for them, but they dissolve in her mouth and she seems to have no trouble with them. Another mom had told me about some "dissolvable cheerios" - basically finger foods for babies with no teeth that will dissolve upon getting wet, but the closest thing that I could find were these Gerber puffs.
We have another round of appointments with the home-visit nurse, the doctor, and the nutritionist next week, so hopefully we'll find out more. It's also been a couple of days since the doctor put in the referral for the specialist, so we should be able to make the appointment and get up there sometime soon. Right now, it's just a huge cloud of confusion and unknowns - our day-to-day life isn't really different (minus the craziness brought on by hubby's insane schedule), it's just weird to know that there's something possibly wrong with your child, but you don't know what. Actually, the doctor doesn't even know what's going on...which obviously doesn't sit too well.
Thank you again for all of your support and words of advice, and as we know more I will be sure to keep you guys updated.
1 comment:
Puffs are great for kids try giving her organic or even regular rice crispies these dissolve easily and are smaller than Gerber puffs they are also great for working on dexterity, plus they keep them occupied for quite a while! Hopefully you will get things figured out soon. Also try mashing a banana and putting it on the spoon or even your finger. Another great thing are the munchkin feeding bags ( they are mesh bags with a handle)You can put steamed veggies or bananas or canned fruit in them and they can't get too big a piece but can chew and get small bits plus the juice.
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