Today marks baby boy’s 5 week birthday! Last week I mentally was chuckling, thinking how ‘funny’ it would be if we woke up to celebrate his birthday… note to self… it’s not so funny when it’s only Mommy invited to celebrate. LOL.

Last night, I heard DH saying something about him rolling over, but didn’t think that he’d let baby boy do that without me in the room to see. WRONG. He did… how sad, I missed his first rolling over.

He rolled from his stomach to his back DH said, 1 day before his 5 week b’day. I’m not sure how this lines up with the other children, I don’t usually have time to sit and watch them on their stomachs – I’m either holding them or they’re sleeping.

I guess it was 2 weeks ago that DS2 came in my room early one morning, saw the baby in the bed, and said his name for the first time! I was shocked since it’s kinda a hard name for a toddler to say (I would think). He says it quite well, and it’s the cutest thing ever.

Apparently I say it a lot when he’s fussy, over and over again, because if those two are ever together and the baby starts fussing, DS2 starts saying his name over and over trying to calm him down – it’s TOO CUTE!!

He still looks the most like DS1 to me, as far as baby stage goes. I can see glimpses of DD and DS2 here and there as well. On Sunday (4 weeks, 4 days), he weighed around 10 lbs., 14 oz – so I’m safe to say he’s over 11 on this 5 week mark. I still have yet to measure his length.

Sunday was the first time I gave him a bath that didn’t involve him screaming! He was great the whole time. I started by sliding him in, with one arm still under his back. It worked, so I kept it there while I began bathing him. It was wonderful being able to take my time with the bath. He didn’t scream until it took 5 mintues to get him dressed. (My parents dropped by on the way to church, and that was right as he came out of the bath/ before getting dressed.)

We’re developing a rountine – which I like. My babies have never had a real true routine, so it’s wonderful to know what’s going to happen when – I’m spoiled! The only things that I don’t really like are that it begins at 6:40′ish each morning, and he doesn’t really sleep much at all until lunch time. Then he sleeps most of the rest of the day, waking for an hour or two maybe once or twice – then sleeping all night.

I’ve been introducing foods back in. He got to spitting up/ fussing more the other day after I had Pizza Hut. I know, but we were out and were starving! That pizza was the BEST thing because of the hunger, but also because I’ve been deprived of my pizza multiple times a week. (Not carryout – mainly frozen, sometimes homemade)

Paci’s are being accepted better now. I’ve learned that most of the time he’ll take it better if I hold him like I’m about to nurse him – with my hands holding his arms in the fetal position. Weird – but it works! He won’t take it if he’s hungry, but readily will if he’s tired.

I LOVE how I’m learning all of his little ways. Maybe I’m wrong, but it seems like I’m understanding him better than I did the other ones. Of course, there are still times that he’s screaming and I can’t figure out what’s wrong for anything. I guess there are just times that babies will fuss – it’s just part of the day (but only for 1 or 2 spells).

It’s late, and I’m getting to bed earlier now that he wakes me up earlier. We still don’t know if our house is sold – they haven’t gotten approved for their loan yet. Today, I just had to separate myself from it mentally – I’ve been way too stressed out about it all. We’re supposed to move out in 3 1/2 weeks and don’t have ready land, a trailer, or even know if they’re approved!

“Little Mommy”

I just couldn’t let the opportunity to share this with an unknowing female out there…. Do you know how the birth control pill really works? I first began hearing about this years ago, and now it’s really beginning to come up more (thankfully!).

Forget the fact that the pill can cause your blood to clot and kill you or cause liver damage, and see birth control for what it really is.

It is controlling your own life, your own future, your own plans. It’s not allowing God to decide and plan according to HIS plans, but you being “The Boss” of your body.

How can we live by ‘trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding’ if we aren’t trusting Him with our family size and we’re leaning on our own reasoning to decide just how large our family will be?

For those that are still in need of further convincing, think about the 10 Commandments – more specifically the 6th one, “Thou shalt not kill”. With that in your mind and heart, watch the video at the link below to learn what you might have never heard before, because your OB/ GYN won’t be telling you this…

Yep, our baby is 1 month old today! WOW! It’s true – how things can seem so long, but so short of a time as well.

Baby boy is growing well, over 10 lbs. now. Somehow I got 11 lbs. last night, but it was over 10 this morning. I wish I’d gotten his length today, but it’s been a crazy day.

Two days ago, we had the couple that looked at our house the week before the baby was born call us. They wanted to see the house again and talk details. I set them up to come tonight.

They made an offer, a good bit lower than we were hoping – but we accepted based on the market. Plus, we prayed that God would work it out if He willed, or close the doors if He didn’t. For me, they wouldn’t have come back or made an offer if it wasn’t His will.

We might not be 100% debt free for a few months, as the start up costs on the land are more now that the contractor we hired ripped us off. He took our money, spent it on Christmas, and never did the job.

So now we’re having to try to get back a little from him (he’s offered 1/2 of what’s ours back, but we haven’t gotten it yet), plus pay the higher bidder his price to finish prepping the land and doing the septic tank.

We’re starting trailer shopping tomorrow. I’m praying baby boy won’t hate his carseat for once! He’s been better somewhat with his fussiness. I’ve been introducing one trigger food a day, and have noticed some spitting up/ choking, but he’s not near as fussy.

He got a ball thrown to him yesterday – needless to say, he didn’t catch it. Oh, he caught it in his face – but that’s not the same is it? Poor thing, he screamed for 10 minutes probably. It was one of those hard rubber kickballs.

I’m amazed at how well he can look around and how much strength he has. He wakes up around 6:45 each morning (yuck), and first thing he does is starts looking back and forth in our room – window to window. He’s taking it all in. I wonder if he’ll realize he’s in a different place? How soon do they start recognizing things?

I do worry about the older ones. They’ve all had big adjustments with this baby – and now we’re throwing them another big one. Stuttering and crying have been the main things – we’ve really been able to see their uncomfortable with things.

I’ll be posting less, trying to be a great mommy as much as possible for them right now. (Though shouldn’t I always!) We only have 4 weeks, and it’s going to be CRAZY!!

Oh, I did try cloth diapers all afternoon on Wednesday. We had 2 dirty ones, and it didn’t all wash out – not sure what I did wrong? I did like the ease of the cloth wipes going right in the diaper… I need a bag or pail for sure before I start this full time.

“Little Mommy”

Well, I’m on my 4th nursing baby, and decided I’ll be on my 20th before I have a perfect nursing experience with no problems.

I’ve tried cutting out nearly everything in my diet – tomato based products, cheese, extra butter, now even an occassional fast food and cinnamon – in attempts to find out what is putting my poor baby in such misery.

He gets better, then hits another wall – like yesterday. He and I both were in tears, literally. I physically hurt because I’m SO hungry, and he hurts from my milk (or what I’m eating).

This conversation has mainly been on Facebook, but I decided I should share it here for anyone else that might need to read what we’ve been discussing.

Basically, baby boy has been having a really hard time for the past 9 days. Spitting up rarely, but rather swallowing what’s trying to come up his throat most of the time. He’s begun thrashing around while nursing – he wants to nurse, but once latched on he fights it.

He hiccups often, and gets very upset with these. He appears to be in pain when he burps – and these are sometimes ‘wet’ sounding burps. His screams are heartbreaking, and you can see the pain in his eyes. No baby should ever cry like this on a regular basis – this is sign #1 that something isn’t right somewhere, and Mom better start investigating.

Babies at this age should only cry 5 to 10 minutes at the most IMO – if there’s nothing wrong. First thoughts would be to check for a wet/ dirty diaper, ask if the baby is overly tired, and one that I experienced with my last baby  – check their fingers and toes for hairs.

Our last baby cried for ages, death screams. Just as we were about to take him to after hours care the 2nd day of crying, DH happened to notice that he had several of my hairs around 2 of his toes! It was bad, they were so tight, we could hardly get scissors in to clip them. They had dug into his toes, cutting deep into the skin.

I felt horrible! My hair was longer at the time, and I had play time with him – he would be lying on his back on the floor, and I would lean over his face with mine – laughing and smiling together. Apparently, he kicked his feet up while my hair was hanging down, and it got all twisted.

But back to the point – little babies shouldn’t cry much IMO. If they do, something is wrong.

Our dear one seems fine at times, then appears to be dying at others. The doctor said reflux during they day, but feels his night time fussing is colic. Well, a drs. opinion isn’t the end for me, I keep searching for answers until I find one that I know is right.

Sure, the Zantac he gave me would fix a symptom for a short while, but it wouldn’t fix the problem. Thus, my diet went to basically eating bread and water. Even if I’d eat cereal, or toast, he’d scream hours later – until I realized the cinnamon was a common ingredient, so I’m trying to exclude it for a while.

The other day, a FB friend, Melissa, commented that maybe this isn’t reflux, but another issue that I had never heard about. Overactive letdown, or oversupply of milk are just a couple of the names of this condition which I had never heard of before.

The more I’ve read, the more I’m hoping this IS what I have. The symptoms match reflux very closely – and I can say that with each of my children I’ve had way more milk at times than needed.

With my first, even after nursing I would be full, so I began pumping. One day while pumping, I didn’t really pay attention to what I was doing, but pumped until I felt relief. Imagine my shock when the bottle was FULL – and this was an 8 to 10 ounce bottle – on only 1 side!

Nursing with him was frustrating, because I’d either have way too much milk, or would dry up and have nothing. When my supply would get back to normal, he’d empty both sides, but then a few days later I would be overfull again due to him emptying me each feeding. Ughh… endless cycle.

Some symptoms of this are leaking, over abundance of milk, baby choking or gagging during letdown, spraying. The gas and tummy pains are due to the baby only getting foremilk. Think about it, you have tons of milk – like 8 ounces a side for a 2 to 4 ounce feeding.

After 10 or so minutes you switch sides. This means the baby is only getting foremilk on each side, not the fat content of the hindmilk. Well, with this condition, the baby’s tummy can’t handle the lactose/ sugars from all the foremilk – there’s no fat to balance it out – so their stomachs become irriated.

One remedy is block feeding, which is something I have begun the past few days since Melissa brought this to my attention. I nurse the baby on one side for a 2 to 3 hour period. This doesn’t mean continuously, but each time he wants to nurse during that time, I allow him to do so – but on that ONE side.

After that initial letdown, the flow slows down for the baby. This helps them eat without gulping too much air = gas pains. Plus, after the first feeding, they will be getting ‘fatter’ milk – more calories which will satisfy their hunger more. In between times I give him a pacifier – this is when I can tell he’s full by his pulling off and fussing, but still wanting to nurse.

He has been doing better the past two days, so we’ll see how it works out. I added pizza into my menu today, scraping off most of the sauce and cheese though. He’s appeared to be fine from it so far – only a little gassy once.

But it’s been wonderful to be able to hold him or place him in his swing and him be content – not screaming! Believe me, this is extremely stressful on mom!

Oh, one last thought…. In my attempts to cut out trigger foods for reflux, I was so excited to find that my homemade granola recipe would be okay to eat. Let’s just say I’ve had a LOT of granola since the baby was born, only now I have to take out the peanut butter and chocolate chips – replacing them with dried cranberries.

In my state of hunger, this has been WONDERFUL, and I’ve been wolfing it down the past three days. Even with the block feeding, I’ve had lots of milk. Then last night I came across something – oats stimulate your milk supply! I had no idea! So, if any of you need to boost your milk – eat oatmeal or granola – it just might solve your problem (it’s made mine – LOL).

If any of you have any thoughts or comments here, I’d love to have you jump in and share with me and the other readers. I love that I’ve already learned so much (on my 4th baby!!) from some of you I’ve met online the past few months! Thank you for taking the time to share with me, and maybe some other mom can benefit from our discussions too.

“Little Mommy”

An online acquaintance, Diane, shared this link with me, and I must admit it’s pretty funny (and true)!!

Get a deep breath of air, cause you’ll be on the edge of your seat for the next couple minutes….

“The Mom Song – Funny”

Hope you had a wonderful day celebrating one of God’s greatest gifts – motherhood.

“Little Mommy”

Unusual title? We’ve had an unusual experience!

During all of the screams of pain from reflux the past week, we’ve seen quite a bit of the inside of little boy’s mouth. Something caught my eye a few days ago though…

As I was walking him, holding him out in front of me, I guess I walked under a light. Something in his throat looked strange, I didn’t see that little thing that hangs down in the back of your throat. In fact, his throat looked really weird….

Each of our children has a different type of congenital issue, so we’ve been keeping our eyes open for anything unusual on baby boy. Genetic tests haven’t been able to pinpoint exactly what’s going on, but we have to at least be on alert for DS1′s heart problem showing up in another child.

DH and I have since spent time trying to look into baby boy’s mouth with a flashlight, then comparing his throat to the other children’s. We didn’t think much about it, but decided we would keep his 1 month appt. next week – just to have him looked over.

Well, yesterday I remembered to search online for what this might mean. I found out that the little hanging thing is called a uvula. People CAN be born without it and have nothing else wrong whatsoever. BUT, other symptoms are cleft palate (really glad I didn’t take that steriod from the ENT now), heart abnormalities, or other congenital defects.

This raised my eyebrows. Though none of our children have cleft palate, it can fall into the genetic category of things the genetics dept. has looked into with our crew. Then, we DO have heart abnormalities already, along with other issues.

Then yesterday, baby boy began gagging – a lot more than normal. He has started choking when he nurses (also a sign of reflux – might have to pull that nursing shield back out to slow the flow a little). But we could have him propped up on our bent knees and he would choke.

Last night, he really scared us – he began choking/ gagging in his sleep. We both jumped up and lunged for the playpen. I had already moved it directly beside our bed (to help hold his paci in the other night – I’m lazy), so I was able to grab him up pretty quick.

Well, since I had read that the uvula helps close your throat so food doesn’t go up your nose, I thought it would at least be worth calling the pediatrician about and letting them decide the importance. Maybe he wasn’t dealing with reflux, but a true health matter that would need medical attention. (It can also cause chronic ear infections that lead to hearing loss.)

A million thanks to my parents for changing their ‘off day’ plans today to come watch our older 3 – because the dr. did want to work us in this morning. After over an hour wait, we finally got to see him. He did a very thorough exam, saving his throat for last.

I couldn’t believe my ears when he announced that he HAD an uvula! Yeah! Yesterday, I didn’t have a clue what this was, but today I’m so thankful God gave him one! It’s nothing important (as far as we know), but my concern was in it that if you don’t have it – other ‘big’ things could be wrong.

So why didn’t we see one? Well, when a baby screams his head off cries, the muscles in their throat tighten up. This causes the uvula to pull upward into the throat. But with the tongue depresser, we were able to see that he did indeed have a uvula – YIPPEE!

Heart sounded good – more good news. He didn’t look in his ears… guess we got distracted. Since this was a sick baby visit, they didn’t do all the measurements, but he weighed 9 lbs. 3 oz (with a little onesie and socks on – no diaper).

We’re good until his 2 month check-up, which I haven’t set yet. We’ll be going back sometime for sure, just to keep tabs on his heart. DS1 was 4 months old when they first heard his murmur. I myself never knew I had a murmur until I was a late teen, but mine is just mitral valve – nothing major.

How am I doing now? Ha – laughing at myself, but glad things turned out the way they did. I feel like a 1st time mommy all over again, getting panicked over nothing. The doc was so nice, saying it was good to have it checked out. I do still feel that way with our family’s medical history.

We came out with a RX for Zantac, but really, he’s doing much better since I’ve adjusted my diet. I’m just dropping weight like crazy now. Doc did have a good twist on peanut butter – I can try almond butter. He just wants me to be sure I’m getting plenty of proteins and fats (not my diet exactly).

We’re probably going to wait a little on the Zantac, since it only treats the symptoms – not the problem. Of course, I won’t put my baby in unnecessary pain though. If he’s really in a pain a lot, we’ll be giving it! He only has an hour or more of crying each night, which the doc said could be colic.

Hmm… I didn’t think that was a term that existed anymore since reflux was diagnosed. Apparently, it strikes around 3 weeks of age, and presents itself a night. Not sure about anything else about it – can you treat it? Just have to live with it? Didn’t think to ask.

“Little Mommy”

I’ll apologize now if anyone has sent in a comment and it hasn’t appeared. Computer time isn’t what it used to be, and so one of the things that I have been neglecting is keeping an eye on my comments.

Well, for some reason, this particular blog seems to bring in a lot of spammers – a LOT! If I miss a couple of days cleaning out my spam filter, I’ll have hundreds of comments to go through. It’s been nearly a week since I last purged, so let’s just say that I REALLY had a lot of comments.

Why am I apologizing? Because I decided it wasn’t worth the time to go through page after page after page of comments which were probably 100% spam, or at least 99%. If you’ve left a comment this week that was questionable on any of my postings (more than one link for example), it went to spam and just got deleted. Sorry, please try again.

Okay, now some pics. These aren’t the best quality, but here’s a few pics from our recent Target session. They only provide low resolution files for online sharing, but you can get the idea. (2 week old pictures)

“Little Mommy”

Oh my, our little bundle is 3 weeks old!! He’s such the cutest little thing, his face beginning to fill out thanks to some hearty eating.

I haven’t done measurements lately, but know he’s over 9 lbs. on our bathroom scales now. You can see how much he’s growing (size and length) when he’s in the swing – we’ll have to be letting out the buckle straps soon!

Since I wrote the other day, the reflux is better. I haven’t been able to have 100% avoidance of all trigger foods, but have used small amounts instead of normal ones. I can’t believe they’ve added peanuts and eggs to the list of trigger foods, they weren’t there 2 years ago (at least not what I can remember).

Wheat is also on the list, but there’s a big problem – I don’t feel full unless I have wheat, and lots of it. I know, that’s a bad sign and means I need to avoid it…. But I’ve tried to cut back before, and lost too much weight. (Yes, that’s possible)

I really need to try to do this though, because I believe all of my group shows signs of wheat intolerance. They all have some bumpy rash on their arms, and DS1 itches ALL the time. So if any of you have suggestions and recipes for wheat free foods, please forward them on!!

Okay, back to the baby. He slept a TON  yesterday! I think it was partly due to finally being able to sleep. We’d been placing him on his side to sleep, but it was still flat. So the reflux had been bothering him, causing him to wake up often.

Yesterday was the first full day of having him sleep in the Boppy Pillow. He slept nearly 4 hours one time! The only downside was that he wasn’t so sleepy last night – LOL.

Better go for now – we’re about to get some more severe weather here in AL. It’s getting darker and I can here the thunder getting closer. I can’t believe the tornado warnings we’ve had the past week. It’s usually mid-April when we have the most severe weather.

I’ll try to get some pics up later -

“Little Mommy”

I came across a HUGE baby gift giveaway today while reading a friend’s blog! Check out Mom 4 Life’s website for info on how to win some awesome prizes!!

Here I am with baby #4, and once again, I’m faced with a reflux baby. Poor little guy, he’s been screaming in pain all afternoon. Reflux seems to hit my babies around 2 to 3 weeks old.

I was ‘hoping’ my eating splurges this week weren’t going to bother him, but I was wrong. Bad, bad mommy! We had cake with peanut butter icing sent over this week (no no’s because the cake mix has hydrogenated oils and the peanut butter more than likely did). Oh, and from my reading tonight, peanuts can sometimes trigger reflux in babies! I’ve really been eating a lot of non-hydrogenated oil PB since baby was born.

Okay, mistake #2, for our anniversary this past Monday, I asked DH to pick up a cheesecake. Cream cheese is dairy – a HUGE no no for reflux. The graham cracker crust has hydrogenated oils. Who knows what else they stick in the mix itself.

Mistake #3 – Chocolate milk. I DID use goat’s milk, but chocolate/ caffeine are big no no’s with reflux too. Are you thinking what I am? It’s tough being a mom to a reflux baby! You can’t eat or drink lots of yummy things!!

There’s been a few other triggers – such as pizza and spaghetti (cheese and tomato based products). What is this milk, tomato sauce eating mommy supposed to do? Probably not eat anymore of that orange sherbet either. ;P

Signs of reflux he’s showing -

Screaming like he’s dying from being at a perfect calm

Inconsolable

Wants to nurse all the time, but this only adds more to his tummy, making the pain worse

Fast, rapid breathing

Gags when nursing

Burps/ chokes after eating

Spitting/ throwing up a LOT (our son isn’t doing this, but is swallowing it instead, which is worse since the acid comes up and then has to go back down)

Pained, worried look in his eyes

Screams when placed on his back

Oh, my heart breaks! I guess I’ll be dropping the few pounds I had left from my pregnancy as I drop a LOT of foods from my diet over the next few weeks.

Strangely, they say breastmilk is BEST – to avoid switching to formula for reflux. Mommy’s milk is easier to digest, although it’s my milk making him have reflux. Zantac can be used in infants, but I’ll only resort to this is he’s totally miserable and diet changes don’t work.

Really, this is what’s recommended anyway – changes first, meds later. Even if you DO begin using Zantac, it’s only recommended for 6 to 8 weeks at the MOST. This actually will begin to change your baby’s body chemistry, making the reflux worse. We didn’t know this until AFTER our first son was left on it for 2 years!

We’ll be elevating him to sleep now. It’s said NOT to place them in swings, carriers, or flat on their backs – as this causes more pressure on their stomachs. Hold baby’s upright (not sitting!) for at least 30 minutes after eating.

Shorten feedings, make them more often. Too much milk in their tummies will cause more pressure – more acid to come up. Let baby nurse a long time on side. Sometimes they’ll be content with milk on one side and happy to continue nursing once it’s empty – they just need the comfort, not necessarily the milk. Burp a LOT!

The hard part for Mommy? Patience for this poor little baby. It’s hard emotionally dealing with a crying baby all day long, having to hold them constantly, with screams still coming.

It’s hard on the other kiddos here, since I can’t do much with them since I’m with the baby. Pray for a quick recovery, especially since pizza was dinner tonight. I’m now nearly 100% positive this is starting!

Little Mommy

PS – Here’s a very interesting link if you think your baby might have reflux – http://www.pollywogbaby.com/refluxandcolic/remedies.html.