pediatrician – The Late Stork

Faith’s 2nd Oral Examination

SherryApril 30, 2013

Faith and I went to her follow-up appointment to continue evaluating her eating issues. We met with Megan this time; a different oral therapist. She is very nice, but once again Faith was shy, very quiet, and just took in everything that was around her. We tried to get her to eat a little applesauce, but again, she wasn’t interested in eating. She played with a few toys, but mostly just wanted to stay on my lap.

Megan suggests we take a step back with her eating. No more textured foods. And for now, eating food is only for play. She suggests we primarily give her hard food to gnaw on, like carrot sticks, celery sticks, Gerber teething biscuits, whole pickles, etc. Faith will have full control of what goes in her mouth with these types of foods, since she will be the only one to hold it. Megan said that these types of foods can help her suppress her gag reflex, (since she has an overly sensitive gag reflex) and help train her tongue to push the food from side to side. We can dip a carrot stick in applesauce or other smooth pureed foods once she becomes more comfortable.

So Aaron went to the store to get carrots, celery, pretzel sticks, Slim Jims… lots of stick food! :) And so far… Faith is really enjoying her carrot stick! :)

Faith will continue going to therapy for awhile. Hopefully with continued appointments we will get her on track with her eating! Please keep her in your prayers! Thank you!

In Blog

Faith’s 9 Month Baby Check-Up

SherryApril 10, 2013

Faith was excited to hop in the car and go out yesterday! Little did she know that this time she would be going back to the doctor :( Poor thing, she remembers that table with the crisp white crackling paper underneath her. Just sitting on it made her cry :( She was crying while getting her measurements done… all the while anticipating a sharp pinch I’m sure.

But no shots today! She did get a prick in the finger though… and she cried. At least it wasn’t a hold-your-breath-til-your-face-turns-purple kind of scream. She had a small blood test for lead and iron. It came back normal. No anemia, and no lead in her system. Yay!

She now weighs 17 pounds and 10 ounces, and is 27.5 inches long.

One concern we have is that she still is not eating baby food on a regular basis. So we talked it over with the doctor, and she wants to do a swallow evaluation on her. Basically, Faith will eat food that is dyed, and they will see exactly how she swallows food. I know Faith can eat and swallow pureed food fine, but when she tries to eat textured food, she gags, and wants to spit it back out. She has very little interest in food that is age appropriate for her. However, she shows a hunger for me and Aaron’s food. If she could, she would eat a big fat double cheeseburger. She smells it, and opens her mouth, and wants to eat it BAD. But once I put a small piece of something in her mouth, she doesn’t like the feel of it and spits it right back out. We’re just getting no where. Her main interest is still breast milk. So we will see what information we can find out after her swallow evaluation, and see what they would suggest we do.

Personally, I think she will eat just fine when she’s ready. I will be weaning her when she is 12 months old though … so she needs to start eating food. A real serving of food on a daily basis.

The doctor said, “Puree a hamburger and see if she will eat it.” I think that is what I will do! :)

Poor thing got a little band-aid on her finger …

The rest of the day was great! Playing outside in the grass and the sunshine! :)

In Blog

Faith’s 4 Months Immunizations

SherryNovember 6, 2012

Good news! Faith survived her second round of immunizations today :) No worse for the wear!

Check out her huge band-aids :)

I love seeing her happy and full of smiles after her doctor appointment. It’s a relief to see because she was just miserable when she was being injected. I have never heard her scream so loud before… not even with her first round of immunizations when she was 2 months old. I think it hurt her worse this time because a different nurse gave her the shots, and she wasn’t quick to get the injections over with. By the time the third and final needle went into her thigh (which hit a capillary, and blood was instantly dripping out of the band-aid) she was screaming so loud my ears were ringing. I felt even worse than I did that last time she went through this. I grabbed her up in my arms after it was over with, and her cries came out in short screams as if she was trying to gasp for air. Her cry was different this time. Worse. It was very unsettling… and I could do nothing about it. I’ve always hated needles… now I loathe them even more.

On the bright side… Faith did recover a little bit faster than last time. She didn’t cry as long as she did last time. In fact, she gave us a few smiles before leaving the office :) My tough girl. Tough, tough, tough!

Aside from her immunizations, everything else is perfect.

Weight: 13 lbs. 3 oz (25-50 percentile)

Length: 24 1/4 inches (50 percentile)

Head circumference: 41 1/2 cm (50-75 percentile)

The pediatrician said that Faith’s physical and mental development is that of a 5 1/2 month old! My smart girl. The pediatrician said that he expects she will be crawling early.

I’m so glad this emotionally exhausting day is over. Faith is napping in her swing right now, and I am ready to go to sleep myself. Sweet dreams everyone ♥