An Update on my Sweetie!

Today was another dreaded immunization day. The past 2 times, Grace screamed hysterically and was very hard to calm down. Last time, the nurse even commented that Grace had the loudest cry she'd heard in awhile...nice. Thank God, today was different. :) I was able to distract her while the nurse poked her with the first needle. She didn't even flinch and continued to play with the toy I held in front of her. We flipped her around and went for the other leg. The nurse warned me that this needle would burn, so I squeezed Grace even tighter and hummed in her ear. She let out one little cry and then was fine. Yay! I was a proud Momma! My baby girl is getting tough!

She had her hearing and vision tests done (all is well), and got weighed and measured. The solid food seems to be making a difference, because Grace gained almost a pound since her doctor's appointment 2 weeks ago. I was relieved, because I had been concerned she wasn't getting enough to eat. She's still a tiny little thing and is low in the percentiles, but she's perfectly healthy! :)

As many of you know, Grace has been having major belly issues since we started solids. She has bad gas pains and wakes up screaming in pain. I spoke to the nurse about it and she offered some good advice that I hope will work. She thinks it's probably just too much iron that she's not used to and possibly too much starch for her (from all the cereal). Because she doesn't get formula on a regular basis (which has more iron than breast milk), her body is not used to all the iron and it's making it hard for her to digest. She said it's VERY common with breastfed babies starting on solids. She said to basically start over and cut her solids way back for now. She said to just give her rice cereal (1 tbsp, twice/day - I've been giving her 2-3tbsp, 3 times/day). She said not to do meat and to avoid formula for a week or so if possible (she gets formula when I'm not home, 2-3 bottles/week). It will take about a week for everything to get back to normal. She said that if she's still the same by the end of next week, I should try a week with no solids, just breast milk. She's still young, so it won't hurt her to go a little longer just on breast milk if we have to. Because her belly is so sensitive, we just have to do it more gradual. I can start her on vegetables, because they aren't high in iron or starch, so they shouldn't bother her. We started sweet potato tonight and she absolutely loved it! :)

I am praying that these changes help to get Grace back to her happy self! I will keep you updated! Thanks to everyone for your advice! For your viewing pleasure, I have included some pictures of our adventures with solid food! Enjoy! :)

She LOVES her cereal and gets so excited for it!

YUM!!!

She enjoys sticking her tongue out as far as it can go!

I may have tried to mix some beef in with her cereal.
She was not impressed. LOL

This is her "meat face"!
She may love her cereal, but she HATES meat!



YUCK!!!

On a side note, when I got home from Grace's needles today, I reached down to stick a paper in my pocket. There was no pocket there. I was confused, because I was wearing my Lululemon Still pants and I know that they have big pockets!!! I'm standing there puzzled when I realize that my pants are inside out. Yep, that's right...I went out in public with my pants inside out and didn't even notice. I should clarify that these pants are not reversible. Embarassing! Can I still blame things like this on baby brain? LOL