beefcake

We had the visit with the cardio doctor today and got her stats: 7lbs 10oz and 20" long. Sophie now weighs more than the average newborn! She put on 1lb2oz over the past 3 weeks. This works out to 20g/day. The doctor said we should see 20-40g/day, so this is better. She also updated the plan to get her more calories. Since there is a target caloric intake per kg, and she is now heavier, we have to increase the number of calories she takes in. So we're bumping up her 4 daytime feedings 15mL each (yes, one tablespoon). The good news is that her EKG was fine and after examining her the doctor said there's nothing indicating any problems with her heart, so we'll just keep growing her.

Hopefully when we get this reflux thing figured out, that will be easier. We got a new medicine (prevacid) from the pediatrician this week, but we're not sure yet if it's helping. We also have an appointment with the GI clinic in a couple of weeks. Bottle feeding has almost come to a halt, so we're hoping the study on Friday with the speech therapists tells us something, too.

The good news is that now Sophie is out of her harness for 12hrs a day, which is nice. She has her baby push-up routine to try and strengthen her neck muscles. Well, she can lift her head pretty well, but it's mostly when she's mad. But given enough time, she can kinda squirm forward on the floor, usually while making gurgling noises. She doesn't seem to have a goal or target in mind, just wiggling. The downside of this is that it's hard to get her to take a nap on your chest now. She just squirms the whole time and I think it's because she's trying to get moving.

Sophie is sleeping better and taking more naps. We've almost eliminated the evening crankytime thanks to a video we got from the library. It's called The Happiest Baby on the Block (there's a book, too). It's amazing. There are 5 steps, but we found that we can just use 3 most of the time: turn her on her side, "shush" her, and rock her back and forth. Pure gold, I tell ya. We've also started using the swings a lot more to get her to take naps. She still doesn't nap very long, usually just 30 mins, but will take 4 or 5 during the day now. We think before she was so fussy in the evening because she often wouldn't nap, and then be overwhelmed by 8 or 9pm. The best part is that the last few days she's been taking a nap during our dinner time. Yay! So we don't have to eat in shifts, or eat one-handed. Oh, the things we used to take for granted.