18 months and 20 pounds!
Well, Sophie turned 18months on the 8th and we've had a lot of stuff going on since then. We've had 3 doctor visits and also just got back yesterday from a 4 day weekend in San Antonio/Austin. Sophie had fun staying with my parents in San Antonio for a couple days, and Stephanie and I spent some time relaxing in New Braunfels and Austin.
As Stephanie said, the new medicine Sophie is on seems to be helping a good bit. It's not a silver bullet--there are still some spit ups and you can't just give her a large amount at one time--but using it and learning to read some of her cues that's she's uncomfortable have helped us really improve the average amount she can handle (and keep more of it down). This has resulted in some very good weight gain. She's put on 2lbs in the 2 months since we last saw the new GI doc and most of that was in the second month, since she started the periactin. In fact, half a pound was in less than the last 2 weeks. As a result, she's now 20lb 2oz.
The GI doc is very happy with this. She is still just barely off the growth chart for her weight, barely is on for height, but for weight/height combined, she's in the 25-50% area. This confirms what we've always said, she's small for her age (weighs as much as an avg 10.5 month old and is as tall as a 14mo), but is very proportional. People are still surprised by how much she walks because they think she's about a year old. Anyway, now she's starting to catch up some and the doctor said that we may have to watch out that she doesn't gain too fast here soon. This just shocked me. I wasn't sure how to comprehend her gaining too fast, after focusing so long on just getting her more, more, more. But he said that toddlers caloric requirements taper way off between 1.5 and 2 years old. So before we were used to having to bump the volume she took in up all the time as she got bigger, trying to stick to a calorie/weight ratio, but now we can start to relax that. He wants us to basically maintain her diet & calories for the next 3 to 6 months, since she's gaining well.
So now we can start trying to shift some of those calories from formula that is given through the feeding tube to real food taken by spoon. We're still close to the limit of volume she can eat at one time before she just seems to get full, but the GI doctor said that as she gets bigger, that will hopefully improve. I think we'll have to have that happen before we can feed her without using the tube for supplementing calories. Now she gets formula overnight, but we can go all day with just doing meals by spoon feeding. She is really doing well with it and we do 4 or 5 meals most days.
Other doctor visits were also good. Pediatrician was just a vaccine and checkup. The cardiologist follow up was great. Her EKG was good and they did blood pressure on all 4 extremities. The fact that they got 4 readings is remarkable in itself. Baby bp readings are hard to get with the tiny little cuffs. They usually would have to try 3 or 4 times to get one good read, and often the nurse would leave the room and have us push the button on the machine, since Sophie gets upset. But this time Stephanie said that Sophie was calm as could be. Anyway, her bp was good, which is something the cardiologist watches closely. In 4 months she'll get an ultrasound, then probably won't have to go back for 6 months, and then just annually after that.
Otherwise, Sophie is doing great. She is so busy. She never sits still, except to flip through books. Now she is getting to where she can climb on some furniture, too. Not our couch yet, but at other people's houses, which is fun. She can almost run. She puts her head down and waves her arms with a burst of speed for a dozen steps or so. She knows just about everything we tell her. She knows "mommy is home", go outside, go to the car, feed the dogs (her job is to fetch one of their foodbowls), playground, time for Sophie's meal, get your chair/tray/bib, etc. She can point out the different farm animals in her books and puzzles by name or by sound they make. Still not talking yet, but her babbles seem to have more intonations. Her favorite thing now is turning off all her toys that have small on/off switches and then making an "Eeeh?" sound. It's a fun age because she can respond to us, but is not old enough to say no or talk back, and still mostly does what we ask.
As Stephanie said, the new medicine Sophie is on seems to be helping a good bit. It's not a silver bullet--there are still some spit ups and you can't just give her a large amount at one time--but using it and learning to read some of her cues that's she's uncomfortable have helped us really improve the average amount she can handle (and keep more of it down). This has resulted in some very good weight gain. She's put on 2lbs in the 2 months since we last saw the new GI doc and most of that was in the second month, since she started the periactin. In fact, half a pound was in less than the last 2 weeks. As a result, she's now 20lb 2oz.
The GI doc is very happy with this. She is still just barely off the growth chart for her weight, barely is on for height, but for weight/height combined, she's in the 25-50% area. This confirms what we've always said, she's small for her age (weighs as much as an avg 10.5 month old and is as tall as a 14mo), but is very proportional. People are still surprised by how much she walks because they think she's about a year old. Anyway, now she's starting to catch up some and the doctor said that we may have to watch out that she doesn't gain too fast here soon. This just shocked me. I wasn't sure how to comprehend her gaining too fast, after focusing so long on just getting her more, more, more. But he said that toddlers caloric requirements taper way off between 1.5 and 2 years old. So before we were used to having to bump the volume she took in up all the time as she got bigger, trying to stick to a calorie/weight ratio, but now we can start to relax that. He wants us to basically maintain her diet & calories for the next 3 to 6 months, since she's gaining well.
So now we can start trying to shift some of those calories from formula that is given through the feeding tube to real food taken by spoon. We're still close to the limit of volume she can eat at one time before she just seems to get full, but the GI doctor said that as she gets bigger, that will hopefully improve. I think we'll have to have that happen before we can feed her without using the tube for supplementing calories. Now she gets formula overnight, but we can go all day with just doing meals by spoon feeding. She is really doing well with it and we do 4 or 5 meals most days.
Other doctor visits were also good. Pediatrician was just a vaccine and checkup. The cardiologist follow up was great. Her EKG was good and they did blood pressure on all 4 extremities. The fact that they got 4 readings is remarkable in itself. Baby bp readings are hard to get with the tiny little cuffs. They usually would have to try 3 or 4 times to get one good read, and often the nurse would leave the room and have us push the button on the machine, since Sophie gets upset. But this time Stephanie said that Sophie was calm as could be. Anyway, her bp was good, which is something the cardiologist watches closely. In 4 months she'll get an ultrasound, then probably won't have to go back for 6 months, and then just annually after that.
Otherwise, Sophie is doing great. She is so busy. She never sits still, except to flip through books. Now she is getting to where she can climb on some furniture, too. Not our couch yet, but at other people's houses, which is fun. She can almost run. She puts her head down and waves her arms with a burst of speed for a dozen steps or so. She knows just about everything we tell her. She knows "mommy is home", go outside, go to the car, feed the dogs (her job is to fetch one of their foodbowls), playground, time for Sophie's meal, get your chair/tray/bib, etc. She can point out the different farm animals in her books and puzzles by name or by sound they make. Still not talking yet, but her babbles seem to have more intonations. Her favorite thing now is turning off all her toys that have small on/off switches and then making an "Eeeh?" sound. It's a fun age because she can respond to us, but is not old enough to say no or talk back, and still mostly does what we ask.
Labels: update
posted by brd @ 7/21/2009 01:18:00 AM
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