Monday, April 30, 2012
too good to be true
Yeah, so, turns out it WAS too good to be true :( the last few days have kind of sucked in regards to napping and night sleep. Asher's been having a hard time... not sure if it's teething, stomach issues, and/or just sleep struggles, but he's fighting sleep again which sucks for all of us. The good news is we know what to do and also know he has the capacity to do better. Still puking. ugh. He had visitors all weekend (thanks for coming, Grandpa, Gigi, and Mimi!!!), and was a champ for most of it, saving all of the puking for AFTER they left. Anyway, in some respects (generally) he's doing "better", but the reflux is in full swing still, unfortunately. I've read in more than one place that if babies are "thriving" as evidenced by development and weight gain, reflux, even severe reflux, is simply a "social problem and laundry inconvenience". Yes, that's not a ridiculous understatement at all! It's true, he is growing and developing fine. It's true that it is a HUGE social problem, in that it inhibits our ability to take him our too far to too long (because he will puke all over himself more than once. It's true that it comes with an insane amount of laundry. It's very true that it's incredibly frustrating and horribly inconvenient for us as parents. But mostly, it causes him to suffer. People keep saying, "well he's happy, so it's NOT THAT BAD". You have no idea, nor are you qualified to judge "how bad" our situation is. It causes Asher daily discomfort, and that in itself is not OK. That's why it continues to be a burden and way more than a social problem or laundry issue. It's a struggle that I am DAILY trying endlessly to solve, so he can be free of pain and have a "normal" life. He's the sweetest thing you will ever see, and a complete joy to be around most of the time, so I can't even imagine him without pain/discomfort/eating issues/sleep interruption all caused by the reflux. STUPID REFLUX!
Saturday, April 28, 2012
month 7
Things seem to be flying by now! Asher is crawling like a pro (finally crawling "right" and VERY quickly!), and is now pulling up to stand with ease. He's testing the waters with "cruising" but still isn't quite there yet. This boy is fearless, SO curious, and ridiculously persistent. Watch out world!!!
Lots of updates... After MUCH toil and debate, heartache and tears, we had to part ways with our beloved "Gus Gus". He just wasn't acclimating to Asher as we'd hoped (which is typical for his breed), and with Asher's needs and our TINY condo, it just couldn't work. They couldn't share space because Gus couldn't be trusted with Asher. Whenever I wanted to bring Asher out in the living room (or out of his room at all), I had to crate the dog or put him in the laundry room with his litter and bed, put a blanket down for Asher so he wouldn't get caked in dog hair (although we vacuumed it constantly), put all Asher's toys down, then bring him out... then reverse it all in an hour to feed/nap Asher and let Gus back out. Gus was constantly barking at neighbors and waking Asher up, and most importantly, Gus had recently shown aggression toward me on several occasions, which we found out later translated to Asher too. Asher was interested in him and liked to try to "pet" him (with us right there, of course), and Asher would grab handfuls of fur and PULL... then a few times Gus snapped back at him ready to bite. Not good. And not an option because we literally could not allow them to share space for a second without us in between them. Long story short, after a LOT of going back and forth on our part, we decided the best thing for everyone (us, baby, and dog) would be to let Gus go to a home that would give him the love and attention he deserved, what we couldn't do anymore. He is now living with a nice single middle-aged woman who works from home and treats him like a REAL baby. She adores him. We found her through my sister's friend who meticulously runs a dog rescue. It's a PERFECT fit for Gus, and he's being babied and adored just like we wanted... but it was a hard hard goodbye.
Asher is eating better and better... the feeding aversion is getting better by the day, I think partly because we are kind of "starving" him into submission ;) He is now eating fewer bottles (only 3 during day, morning, noon, and late afternoon, then a 4th at bedtime) and much bigger bottles (8oz, a full bottle, and he sucks it dry almost every time). This in itself is a miracle because months ago he would only take 2-4oz over 60-90min... now he DOWNS 7-8oz in 10-15min, and then is out like a light. He still loves his solids, although he can currently only tolerate organic oatmeal cereal, pears, and avocado (that I make myself with organic produce). He will eat, and really likes everything else we've given to him (pear and avocado are actually his least favorites!!!), but these are the only foods that don't make him puke constantly. SO SO frustrating. He is still on the medication, but it's not helping at all as far as we can tell. We're going to try it for a while longer then might stop it. His reflux is so much worse than ever, which is strange since he's eating better than ever with little fight now. A good day means him puking (not just spitting up) 5-10 times. A medium day = 10-15 times, and a bad day can mean 15-20 times a day that he pukes. It's usually a substantial puddle that warrants a new bib, new clothes, and cleaning whatever blanket/crib sheet/carpet he was on. Rarely, it's been projectile vomit of the ENTIRE bottle, which is scary to watch. Also, a handful of times he's has puked up blood (not a ton, but specks and what appear to be clots in it), which has been horrifying. Not sure what the cause is/was other than something he's ingesting :( Poor poor pumpkin. He's a trooper. Still playing all day, and having happier moments. He smiles often and laughs a lot. He loves to make others laugh. He loves to mimic and is pretty good at it, then makes noises and waits intently for a reaction. SO adorable :)
We hired a sleep consultant a while back who has truly been worth her weight in gold, and then some. It's INSANE how much it has helped. We are still in utter disbelieve. It was a hellish fight.... soooooooooooooo hard to get through, but so incredibly worth it for every one. Every tear he shed was SO worth him getting the quality sleep he's getting now. I could not recommend them highly enough. It's basically a small business this mom started when she had a baby with severe sleep issues... She knows her stuff and incorporates bits from all of the famous expert sleep doctor stuff (Ferber, Weissbluth, etc), but does it with a MUCH gentler approach that is far more organic and specified exactly to meet your family's needs, as well as your parenting philosophy (co-sleeping all the way to "cry-it-out"). It's genius, and it really really worked for us. Asher used to be HORRIBLE at sleeping. Naps were a nightmare (for us), where, since he was transitioned to the crib right after 3mo, he would wake after 20 min of napping and only going back to sleep if held and rocked the entire time. There was a long stretch where he was up every 60-90min ALLLLLLL night, every night. It was HELL. Truly. It took a tremendous amount of hard work and dedication for us, but his nights improved fairly quickly, to where he was having far fewer night wakings, and only waking to eat 3 times... we then tackled reducing night feedings since he didn't truly need to eat all of those times (he wouldn't eat much each time), and it would disrupt his sleep because he would fight going back to sleep each time. We had a customized plan from the consultant and on-going coaching via email when something wasn't working so we could tweak the plan. We reduced night feedings to 2 a night, then Asher went to only 1 immediately after all on his own. Then, he decided to just sleep through the night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's not an every night occurrence yet, but he's done it a handful of times including the last 2 nights... and if he wakes at all now, it's only once (after 8-9 hours of sleep) for 1 big bottle. He wakes often through the night as we all do every night, but has learned to roll over, re-insert his pacifier by himself (thank you Jesus!), grab his "lovey" to snuggle, and go right back to sleep... 99.9% of the time. AMAZING. The problem is, we still stay up until almost midnight every night doing crap, and Asher is up by or before 6:30am every day! Naps were insanely awful for sosososo long. They were also MUCH harder to "train" him on than night sleeping, specifically training him to lengthen the 20 min naps. We dropped him to 3 naps which helped for the time being... he then all of a sudden consistently protested his 3rd nap, so we removed it. He is now doing a morning nap and an early afternoon nap, and for the last few days, he's been sleeping close to an hour (sometimes a tad less, sometimes MORE!) for both naps... which again, is absolutely unheard of for him. It feels like we can breathe now in regards to sleep, and it's been such a long time coming. FINALLY, he's close to "normal" at least in this regard. PRAISE THE LORD! We are still in disbelief and waiting for it to fail ;) I know there are common sleep regressions at certain ages to come, but at least now, we know what to do and how to manage him successfully!
Video highlights:
Asher likes to make noise.
Asher likes to open and close things... over and over.
This is his fake cough. He LOVES to illicit a response with it. over and over :)
The jumparoo! Thanks Sister for loaning it to us! And thanks Brother for buying it for Sister!!! :) Asher wasn't sure of it at first, but now that he's learned to spin and bounce, he bounces like crazy to the point of his arms flailing for a few seconds... then takes a break... then does it again. This video is a mild version, but you get the idea!
This is the first day he learned to pull up on his own. He does it like a pro now! Actually, he's a bit too fearless for my liking... He tends to do something, and then bite it hard, cracking his poor little head on the way down. Month 7 = the first of many bruises for my little man.
Exploring the tiny condo. He's fascinated with the outlet covers, and often stands against the wall to touch them, then lets go with one hand, turns, and wipes out majorly before I can get to him to catch him. I literally can't leave his side for a SECOND, or he's doing something dangerous ;( If you listen closely at the end, you can hear his signature suck/puff action that he does so much. Frickin' adorable :)
Lots of updates... After MUCH toil and debate, heartache and tears, we had to part ways with our beloved "Gus Gus". He just wasn't acclimating to Asher as we'd hoped (which is typical for his breed), and with Asher's needs and our TINY condo, it just couldn't work. They couldn't share space because Gus couldn't be trusted with Asher. Whenever I wanted to bring Asher out in the living room (or out of his room at all), I had to crate the dog or put him in the laundry room with his litter and bed, put a blanket down for Asher so he wouldn't get caked in dog hair (although we vacuumed it constantly), put all Asher's toys down, then bring him out... then reverse it all in an hour to feed/nap Asher and let Gus back out. Gus was constantly barking at neighbors and waking Asher up, and most importantly, Gus had recently shown aggression toward me on several occasions, which we found out later translated to Asher too. Asher was interested in him and liked to try to "pet" him (with us right there, of course), and Asher would grab handfuls of fur and PULL... then a few times Gus snapped back at him ready to bite. Not good. And not an option because we literally could not allow them to share space for a second without us in between them. Long story short, after a LOT of going back and forth on our part, we decided the best thing for everyone (us, baby, and dog) would be to let Gus go to a home that would give him the love and attention he deserved, what we couldn't do anymore. He is now living with a nice single middle-aged woman who works from home and treats him like a REAL baby. She adores him. We found her through my sister's friend who meticulously runs a dog rescue. It's a PERFECT fit for Gus, and he's being babied and adored just like we wanted... but it was a hard hard goodbye.
Asher is eating better and better... the feeding aversion is getting better by the day, I think partly because we are kind of "starving" him into submission ;) He is now eating fewer bottles (only 3 during day, morning, noon, and late afternoon, then a 4th at bedtime) and much bigger bottles (8oz, a full bottle, and he sucks it dry almost every time). This in itself is a miracle because months ago he would only take 2-4oz over 60-90min... now he DOWNS 7-8oz in 10-15min, and then is out like a light. He still loves his solids, although he can currently only tolerate organic oatmeal cereal, pears, and avocado (that I make myself with organic produce). He will eat, and really likes everything else we've given to him (pear and avocado are actually his least favorites!!!), but these are the only foods that don't make him puke constantly. SO SO frustrating. He is still on the medication, but it's not helping at all as far as we can tell. We're going to try it for a while longer then might stop it. His reflux is so much worse than ever, which is strange since he's eating better than ever with little fight now. A good day means him puking (not just spitting up) 5-10 times. A medium day = 10-15 times, and a bad day can mean 15-20 times a day that he pukes. It's usually a substantial puddle that warrants a new bib, new clothes, and cleaning whatever blanket/crib sheet/carpet he was on. Rarely, it's been projectile vomit of the ENTIRE bottle, which is scary to watch. Also, a handful of times he's has puked up blood (not a ton, but specks and what appear to be clots in it), which has been horrifying. Not sure what the cause is/was other than something he's ingesting :( Poor poor pumpkin. He's a trooper. Still playing all day, and having happier moments. He smiles often and laughs a lot. He loves to make others laugh. He loves to mimic and is pretty good at it, then makes noises and waits intently for a reaction. SO adorable :)
We hired a sleep consultant a while back who has truly been worth her weight in gold, and then some. It's INSANE how much it has helped. We are still in utter disbelieve. It was a hellish fight.... soooooooooooooo hard to get through, but so incredibly worth it for every one. Every tear he shed was SO worth him getting the quality sleep he's getting now. I could not recommend them highly enough. It's basically a small business this mom started when she had a baby with severe sleep issues... She knows her stuff and incorporates bits from all of the famous expert sleep doctor stuff (Ferber, Weissbluth, etc), but does it with a MUCH gentler approach that is far more organic and specified exactly to meet your family's needs, as well as your parenting philosophy (co-sleeping all the way to "cry-it-out"). It's genius, and it really really worked for us. Asher used to be HORRIBLE at sleeping. Naps were a nightmare (for us), where, since he was transitioned to the crib right after 3mo, he would wake after 20 min of napping and only going back to sleep if held and rocked the entire time. There was a long stretch where he was up every 60-90min ALLLLLLL night, every night. It was HELL. Truly. It took a tremendous amount of hard work and dedication for us, but his nights improved fairly quickly, to where he was having far fewer night wakings, and only waking to eat 3 times... we then tackled reducing night feedings since he didn't truly need to eat all of those times (he wouldn't eat much each time), and it would disrupt his sleep because he would fight going back to sleep each time. We had a customized plan from the consultant and on-going coaching via email when something wasn't working so we could tweak the plan. We reduced night feedings to 2 a night, then Asher went to only 1 immediately after all on his own. Then, he decided to just sleep through the night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's not an every night occurrence yet, but he's done it a handful of times including the last 2 nights... and if he wakes at all now, it's only once (after 8-9 hours of sleep) for 1 big bottle. He wakes often through the night as we all do every night, but has learned to roll over, re-insert his pacifier by himself (thank you Jesus!), grab his "lovey" to snuggle, and go right back to sleep... 99.9% of the time. AMAZING. The problem is, we still stay up until almost midnight every night doing crap, and Asher is up by or before 6:30am every day! Naps were insanely awful for sosososo long. They were also MUCH harder to "train" him on than night sleeping, specifically training him to lengthen the 20 min naps. We dropped him to 3 naps which helped for the time being... he then all of a sudden consistently protested his 3rd nap, so we removed it. He is now doing a morning nap and an early afternoon nap, and for the last few days, he's been sleeping close to an hour (sometimes a tad less, sometimes MORE!) for both naps... which again, is absolutely unheard of for him. It feels like we can breathe now in regards to sleep, and it's been such a long time coming. FINALLY, he's close to "normal" at least in this regard. PRAISE THE LORD! We are still in disbelief and waiting for it to fail ;) I know there are common sleep regressions at certain ages to come, but at least now, we know what to do and how to manage him successfully!
Video highlights:
Asher likes to make noise.
Asher likes to open and close things... over and over.
This is his fake cough. He LOVES to illicit a response with it. over and over :)
The jumparoo! Thanks Sister for loaning it to us! And thanks Brother for buying it for Sister!!! :) Asher wasn't sure of it at first, but now that he's learned to spin and bounce, he bounces like crazy to the point of his arms flailing for a few seconds... then takes a break... then does it again. This video is a mild version, but you get the idea!
This is the first day he learned to pull up on his own. He does it like a pro now! Actually, he's a bit too fearless for my liking... He tends to do something, and then bite it hard, cracking his poor little head on the way down. Month 7 = the first of many bruises for my little man.
Exploring the tiny condo. He's fascinated with the outlet covers, and often stands against the wall to touch them, then lets go with one hand, turns, and wipes out majorly before I can get to him to catch him. I literally can't leave his side for a SECOND, or he's doing something dangerous ;( If you listen closely at the end, you can hear his signature suck/puff action that he does so much. Frickin' adorable :)
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