A diagnosis

  This week was eventful in that we determined Max was unhappy for a reason and got a diagnosis.  But I'll get to that in a bit...

I wasn't completely sure whether Max had my lips or Peter's until one morning I woke up and looked at my two sleeping boys.  Their lips are exactly the same.  Max has his dad's lips, no question.

Movie - Max has started to interact with the toys on his mat.  He's having more fun down there now and sometimes I can get breaks as long as 20 minutes!

Max deciding if the "skater" look works for him in his beanie and his vans.

Ignore the pants.  I have only a couple pants/shorts that can go with multiple tops.  That's the problem about "outfits" for babies.  So often it's obvious that they only go with the matching pieces of the outfit.  So I thought I'd try these Levi's with his top...not quite a winner in my book.  Guess I have to go shopping.  :)

Max LOVES when his dad holds him like this.  He can be happy forever.

 Movie - Kisses from daddy - just staying calm

Getting tummy time

Max has always been a fussy baby.  Not to the point where I would say he has colic but he's so particular about what makes him happy.  He is pretty fussy when other people hold him, he rarely will sit calmly for very long in the bouncy seat.  He doesn't like to be laid down,etc.  Well, Peter's co-worker Andrea came over to visit a couple weeks ago and saw how fussy Max was.  She suggested that he might have acid reflux like her daughter had.  She talked about once they got her medication, she was a much happier baby.  After Andrea left, we looked into the symptoms of acid reflux in babies and it didn't seem like a good match.

All of a sudden this week, Max's fussiness changed.  He wasn't just fussy, he was crying like he was in pain.  He had trouble sleeping.  I'd lay him down for a nap and he'd be asleep when I laid him down but then within a minute he'd wake up and be screaming again. 

Here is some of what we got to enjoy...

He was throwing his head back and arching his back when we would burp him.  He also wanted to nurse a lot.  Often when he'd nurse he'd fall asleep.  And since he hadn't been sleeping well, I would leave him laying on my lap so he'd get some sleep rather than putting him in bed or sitting him up to burp him.

Max sleeping on mom's lap

One day, I had to some things to get done in Max's room.  He wasn't liking the bouncy seat but sometimes would calm down when we had him in the car seat and could rock him (and he didn't like the mini swing we tried).  So I put him in the car seat and rocked it with one hand while getting stuff done with my other hand.  He fell asleep!  No Problem!  I couldn't believe it since I was having so many issues with him sleeping.  A light bulb went on.  He was sleeping vertically rather than horizontally in his bed.  That, combined with the "I am in pain" cry, led me to think that maybe he did have some reflux going on. 

So we re-looked at the symptoms, lots of them fit this time, and made an appt with his pediatrician.
At his doctor's I described how he was acting and she said it sounded like he did have some reflux.  She wrote us a prescription for some medicine (basically liquid zantac) and said she would see how he did over the next week and then if necessary try something else at his 2 month visit.  She said that eventually babies with reflux grow out of the problem but it can take up to when they are 9 months old.  (You mean I have to medicate my son for the next 7 months?!)  I was happy that there was something we could try that could help my baby feel better.   But, it was also a lot of pressure and made me nervous at the same time.  She listened to what I described and diagnosed him off of that.  There was nothing she could look at on him to tell her what was going on.  What if I hadn't noticed something he was doing that she needed to know about?  What if I had exaggerated in my mind what was actually going on?  I don't like this part of being a parent.  There are times you just have to make a judgement call and hope it's the right one.

(He weighed 10 lbs 12.5 oz. )

Max waiting to see the doctor, again sleeping in the car seat

However, my fears and concerns were calmed over the next few days as there was a visible difference in Max.  He still fussed but not as much and the "I'm in pain" cry stopped.  He slept better.   It was good to see that the medicine was helping and I felt bad that he had been in pain before.  :(

Little boy hanging with dad

Funny face

Yeah for peaceful sleeping!