AJ's Drs Appt

Yesterday was AJ's appointment with the gastroenterologist. It was LONG! We spent over an hour with the DOCTOR, which I kind of felt bad about since we were overflow! We did not have to wait very long though, but when we got out and walked through the waiting room, it was FULL!

We started the appointment out having his weight checked. Paul undressed him and went to take his diaper off and found a surprise! As I was getting the wipes out I asked AJ why he had to wait until we were at the drs office to do that. The nurse replies "Well, we are the butt and gut dr, so I guess there is no better place to do it!" Glad she understands! I told her that AJ is notorious for peeing on drs. She says "I have been doing this for 26 years and I have NEVER been peed on." Guess that is the difference in a male and a female!!

After the initial frustration of trying to remember EVERY detail of his eating and pooping schedule for the past 4+ months (come on - I have FOUR kids!!!), it went pretty smooth and was VERY helpful.

The basic theory of what the problem is...(drumroll please)...THE BOY IS TOO mellow!

The position in which I was breastfeeding him was not very good. The fact that I have three other, active kids that don't slow down when it is time for Andrew to eat may not help!! The way he was positioning he was not getting enough, if any of the hind milk, which is where all of the calories at. We start stomach to stomach, but as he gets more relaxed and I get more busy doing other things, his hip shifts out and he ends up trying to eat with his head turned at an angle. The dr made me take a drink of water and swallow it with my head turned to the side to show me what it was like for him. So she watched me feed him and got me doing it better.

She also said NOT to feed on demand or every four hours. Basically, Andrew is to mellow to put much effort into eating. He eats and then when it starts getting difficult or he gets tired, instead of "telling" me he is not getting what he needs, he just stops eating. By me waiting until he tells me he is hungry - he is way past the point of being hungry. So, anytime he starts sucking on his thumb, pacifier, my arm, anything - I am suppose to feed him. She says his feeding may only last 3 or 4 minutes, and that was fine.

This is all so different than EVERYTHING I have been taught over the years and four kids of breastfeeding, but after listening to her explain it all, it seems to make sense. I will try it her way and see if he gains weight.

She told me to keep feeding him food. I told her we stopped that Friday and she said that if he liked eating food and was good at it, to keep feeding him. She also said NOT to feed him baby food. She said that it was mainly water, with a little vegetable and he was not getting any calories, etc from it. We are suppose to start MAKING him food.

So, yesterday while I was fixing dinner for us, I was also cooking carrots, potatoes and mashing bananas to freeze. The only was this will EASILY work (the cooking food for him) is if I do a week or at least several days worth at a time. We did mashed potatoes, which he did not really care for (with just butter in it there is not a WHOLE lot of flavor) and carrots (I put a tiny bit of molasses in it to add some flavor) in the blender. I mashed up some bananas and froze them in small amounts. When I go grocery shopping again I will get some stuff that I know he will like better (at least he did the baby food version!). If anyone has any ideas or recipes, I am open to suggestions!

We talked about the fact that we had started giving him about 2 ounces of formula before nursing him. After a VERY frustrating week of trying to get him to take a bottle, I finally got him taking one every time it was offered Monday. She asked why I chose to give him the bottle BEFORE nursing instead of nursing and then topping him off with the bottle. I explained how we were having a hard time getting him to take one at all and I knew if he nursed first, he would NOT take the bottle after. See, although he is very mellow, he still has a stubborn streak (apparantly, I have a BIGGER stubborn streak though!)!! She understood and understood WHY we were doing it, even though I was not wanting to wean him, but thinks we can fix the problem without the formula. I AM going to continue giving him one bottle a day, just so I don't have to go through what I have been going through trying to get him to take a bottle. At least this way he will stay used to it!

She also found that he had just a little bit of thrush starting. He has to have Genetian Violet swabbed in his mouth for 3 days to clear that up. That stuff is PURPLE!! I mean big time, ultra-violet, black - light purple! Anything it touches, it immediately, permanantly stains!! Always fun to know when you are working with a baby!! Then we have to throw away all of his pacifiers and nipples (except for mine - whe was quick to clarify!), which is lovely since we spent ALL weekend trying to find a bottle he would take! There went all that money! Not to mention, all of his toys that have been in his mouth!

When the dr was finishing up the visit she played with AJ a little. As she was leaving she turned around and said that she knew he was only four months old, but he acts like he is at least 6 months old. The way he sat on our lap and squealed and talked and held and played with his toys and how attentive he was.

We will be going back every two weeks to see if these small changes are helping. If not, we will do more detailed evaluations and possibly some test to see what else could be causing the problems. It seem unlikely that it could be anything too serious without any pain, and he doesn't seem to be in any pain at all.

He weighed in at about 13 pounds yesterday. I know there has to be a margin of error with different scales, and I am not sure which scales are more accurate - regular scales or digital scales. I have a hard time believing he gained 9 ounces in 3 days though! His next visit is the same week he is supposed to go back for a weight check at the pediatricians office. I am going to have his weight checked there the same day as his appt with the gastroenterologist so I can see the difference. I do know that at the pediatricians office, I have had them use the same scale for all of his weight checks. So if they are callibrated a little different, it is always the same one!

SO....HOPEFULLY this is all that it is! When she first started telling me what she thought the problem was she told me not to feel guilty because I was busy and just trying to follow his cues. I told her to just tell me what the problem was, I had already been feeling guilty, was over it and just ready to find the remedy. She went through all of the longterm benefits of breastfeeding (for me and him) longterm (past one year, even if only a few times a week). I never knew some of the long-term advantages. I had heard it decreased your chance of cancer (which that in itself with our family history is a biggie) but she also said it decreased your chances of Osteoperosis. She said if I had a bone density test right now it would be bad. My body is basically eating my bones for calcium, but if I breastfeed past the one year mark and have a bone density test, my bones would be stronger than BEFORE I got pregnant. Never heard that before!

So, I am going to start doing some research on ALL of this stuff, see what I can learn and pray that this is all that it will take to get some weight on this kid!!