Thursday, December 29, 2016

Dominic // 7 Months

Age
7 months
Size/Stats
18 pounds 8.5 ounces. Still wearing 9 month clothes and size 3 diapers.

Feeding Schedule
Still nursing on demand...not much really seems to change in this department. He eats about every 3 hours still while he's at home. He drinks 3 5 ounce bottles while at daycare. He usually goes about 3.5, sometimes 4 hours between feedings at daycare.
We've still been trying solids here and there...nothing real consistent at this point. At the beginning of the month he really didn't care for anything. I'm sure that had something to do with not feeling well. Recently he has liked carrots and sweet potatoes the most. I usually feed him a little bit at night while Rocco is eating his dinner. We've also tried peas, bananas, and apples all of which he hated. We tried prunes a few times and he doesn't hate them but doesn't eat much of them. He loves baby oatmeal and would eat bowls of it, but I try not to give him too much since it seems to make him constipated.

Sleep
Sleep still isn't great. He won't stay asleep for longer than a few minutes anywhere but in our bed. Even while sleeping next to me in our bed he's still up several times each night. Usually anywhere from 3-10 times depending on the night and the situation.
At the beginning of the month I transitioned him to one arm out of the swaddle, then both arms out for about 2 weeks, and then I got rid of the sleep sack all together. He has seemed to do fine with the transition (in our bed) but it's hard to say how it'll go in the crib. I keep telling myself I'm going to try the crib again but I'm just so exhausted and I feel bad that he doesn't feel well, so in our bed he stays for now.
He takes 2 naps at daycare (in a crib in the zipadee zip) and sometimes naps in the car on the way home.Towards the end of this month he's seemed to fall asleep less in the car. I usually start getting him ready for bed around 7:00-8:00pm depending when he woke up from his last nap. On the weekends while he's home for naps he will only stay asleep if I hold him. I love the snuggles and it's usually not an issue as Joe is home to play with Rocco, but I would like to get him into his crib for naps at home so I can have some one on one time with Rocco.




Milestones
He has been watching himself open and close his hands a lot lately. It looks like he's waving to himself, but I'm sure he's too young for waving yet.
He has been putting more consonants together while babbling...mostly "da-da-da-da"...but I think Joe has been coaching him.
He cries every time I walk away from him or leave the room even if someone else is holding him.
He's been able to sit up since about 5 months but has always been pretty wobbly. This month I've definitely noticed an improvement in his strength and steadiness while sitting. He can sit without anything behind him and reach for toys to play with.
 




Favorite Things
He still really likes to jump in his jumperoo, he likes the basket of baby toys we have - anything he can chew on, he especially likes toys that play music. He loves it when we sing to him, he loves watching his brother play, he laughs at everything Rocco does, he likes taking baths and splashing the water everywhere, he loves being held more than anything else.
Least Favorite Things
He hates when I walk away from him or stop making eye contact. He will practically roll out of his bouncy seat to keep me in sight. He really hates his crib and staying asleep in general.
 
Favorite Gear/Products
No new products this month.
 
Health
This month has been tough on our sweet boy. At the beginning of the month he had a surgery to correct a congenital defect that prevented us from getting him circumcised right away. Even though it was an outpatient procedure, the recovery was really tough on him. A few days after his surgery we took him in to have the rest of his vaccinations that he hadn't been old enough for before his surgery and he was diagnosed with an ear infection. I was suspicious that he may have one because while he seemed healed from surgery, he was still flailing around all night and waking up screaming, sometimes inconsolable. He was acting really fussy while nursing and sometimes would completely refuse. How he was acting while nursing was the same way Rocco would act when he had ear infections. Sure enough, his pediatrician looked in his ears and after pulling out wax so she could even see, she said he definitely had an ear infection. We did a 10 day course of amoxicillin but he was still acting the same. We took him in again and sure enough...still an infection. Either the first never went away or he already got another one. So we did a 10 day course of cefdinir. Tomorrow is day 10 and he's still not any better so we have another appointment to check his ears in the morning.
We went through the same thing with Rocco when he was a baby we had to wait until he had a certain number of ear infections before we could be referred to ENT. It seemed crazy since obviously he was just going to keep getting them, but we were told our insurance wouldn't cover tubes until we had reached a certain number of infections. In the end he did get 2 sets of tubes but in the meantime he developed c.diff. from all the antibiotics he had taken. We voiced our concern about this same thing happening to Dominic to our pediatrician so she agreed to refer us to ENT at his next ear infection. I certainly don't want Dominic to need tubes, but I also don't want to keep pumping him full of antibiotics that aren't helping.
Other than ear infections we've been blessed with good health for our little buddy. He's had a few colds, but has somehow escaped pink eye, hand foot mouth, and croup that have all gone through daycare.
We stopped giving his reflux meds just before his surgery as well and he hasn't seemed bothered at all.
We are still giving a vitamin d drop daily as well as a probiotic drop.


Sibling Interaction
Dominic still thinks everything Rocco does is hilarious and Rocco still always wants to include Dominic while he's playing. I love their bond and am so grateful that we haven't really had any issues in this department. Rocco has had a hard time staying in his bed all night ever since being potty trained. He gets up to use the bathroom and then comes to our room to sleep in our bed because he says he's "wonley". I asked if it would help if Dominic was in his room and he told me it would. He jumped onto his bed and told me that Dominic would just lay right next to him and he would rub his back until he fell asleep. So sweet. I had to break it to him that Dominic would need to stay in his crib if he were in Rocco's room and Rocco told me that that would be ok, he would just sit on the floor next to the crib and "hold his hand". Love his sweet heart.





It's been a hard month with this sweet boy not feeling well but we're hopeful that next moth will bring better health.
Much Love,
B.