Well there you have it. I'd so hoped that we had been doing well enough on the solids that Enya would crack the 5kg mark but she didn't she went from 4920g to... 4920g. You got it, in the last week she ahs not put on a single gram, for the first time since December.
In part I think it is due to the change over to solids- they are not as calorific as formula, but also due to the diarrhea caused by the corn oil we were giving as instructed by the doc (we had to stop concentrating the formula when we changed to the anti-reflux formula).
Where to now? I don't trust the advice given by my doctor.
31 Mar 2008
All alone
Well, except for the girls of course! My mom was here last week as Z had to go to Stockholm for a work presentation (poor baby, even there he didn't get much sleep as the hotel room was overheated and with underfloor heating he had no way to adjust the thermostat).
I'm incredibly lucky with my family, they've all been here at least twice since the girls were born, staying at least a week each time. When Z found out he had to go away my mom immediately said she would try come out or failing that one of my sisters would. How fantastic is that!! It makes life so much easier when I can just concentrate on one baby at a time and know the other is being taken care of too.
It was really great having her here but I think she thinks I'm becoming terribly "german". In this household we record everything the girls eat (yes I'm afraid we weigh the food bowls before and after) and drink, if they poo, what they weigh and their temperatures (at least we've stopped recording if they wee, no point the nappies were always wet;-) ) . We will not keep doing this forever, when we know that Enya is eating enough to grow consistently we will stop but in the meantime my mom thinks we're crazy!
Anyway Z is back and my mom is back in good old Blighty and life continues
PS. on the sleeping front NOT GOOD. The last 4 nights they've been waking at 2-3am again. I can't work out why as they are both drinking enough during the day and I try make the last bottles at night big ones. Today we start 3 meals a day so maybe with solids just before bed they'll sleep through. I'll keep you updated!!!
I'm incredibly lucky with my family, they've all been here at least twice since the girls were born, staying at least a week each time. When Z found out he had to go away my mom immediately said she would try come out or failing that one of my sisters would. How fantastic is that!! It makes life so much easier when I can just concentrate on one baby at a time and know the other is being taken care of too.
It was really great having her here but I think she thinks I'm becoming terribly "german". In this household we record everything the girls eat (yes I'm afraid we weigh the food bowls before and after) and drink, if they poo, what they weigh and their temperatures (at least we've stopped recording if they wee, no point the nappies were always wet;-) ) . We will not keep doing this forever, when we know that Enya is eating enough to grow consistently we will stop but in the meantime my mom thinks we're crazy!
Anyway Z is back and my mom is back in good old Blighty and life continues
PS. on the sleeping front NOT GOOD. The last 4 nights they've been waking at 2-3am again. I can't work out why as they are both drinking enough during the day and I try make the last bottles at night big ones. Today we start 3 meals a day so maybe with solids just before bed they'll sleep through. I'll keep you updated!!!
27 Mar 2008
Bad blogger/feeding update
I know I've been a very bad blogger but I've been having mini meltdowns due to Enya's eating issues which we may, I repeat MAY have resolved.
After fighting to get a minimum (450ml) in Enya over the last weekend I phoned the paediatrician on Tuesday, to be told that I should try give her an extra cereal meal at night (HUH!?!). When I suggested that she might be having reflux he said that I could try an anti reflux formula (I had already worked that out myself I just wanted their okay on the formula change).
The results are with a thicker formula and a larger teat (with a bigger hole) SHE HAS STARTED TO SUCK!! Not consistently and not frequently but this is still progress! She still occasionally puts up some resistance when I bring the teat to her mouth but it very quickly subsides. She has drunk 600ml of milk today (our goal is 500-600mls) as well as eaten over 100g of solids!
This evening after I thought Enya was finished with her bottle, she cried until I brought the bottle back to her mouth and then kept pulling my hand with the bottle to her mouth, sucking and then pushing it away from her mouth. She landed up drinking another 20mls this way. I'm debating whether I should be looking into a baby cup for her so she can control her intake (at least for water/juice after solids)-although she is very young to be starting this. I will have to run it by the SLT next week.
Cross fingers hold thumbs this continues!!
After fighting to get a minimum (450ml) in Enya over the last weekend I phoned the paediatrician on Tuesday, to be told that I should try give her an extra cereal meal at night (HUH!?!). When I suggested that she might be having reflux he said that I could try an anti reflux formula (I had already worked that out myself I just wanted their okay on the formula change).
The results are with a thicker formula and a larger teat (with a bigger hole) SHE HAS STARTED TO SUCK!! Not consistently and not frequently but this is still progress! She still occasionally puts up some resistance when I bring the teat to her mouth but it very quickly subsides. She has drunk 600ml of milk today (our goal is 500-600mls) as well as eaten over 100g of solids!
This evening after I thought Enya was finished with her bottle, she cried until I brought the bottle back to her mouth and then kept pulling my hand with the bottle to her mouth, sucking and then pushing it away from her mouth. She landed up drinking another 20mls this way. I'm debating whether I should be looking into a baby cup for her so she can control her intake (at least for water/juice after solids)-although she is very young to be starting this. I will have to run it by the SLT next week.
Cross fingers hold thumbs this continues!!
23 Mar 2008
Vojta
Cathy asked what we do for physiotherapy.
Where I live in Siegen, Vojta is the therapy of choice for babies and children with delayed development. It is a technique that was developed in Munich, Germany and the international headquarters are nowhere other than in our local Kinderklinik. Needless to say the doctors all swear by it and when we spoke to our paediatrician about changing to Bobath, he told us it was Vojta or nothing (In Germany therapy has to be prescribed by the doctors, therapists are not first line practitioners).
Vojta is a way of provoking reflexes that contribute to normal movement strategies. Reflexes are provoked by stimulating specific pressure points with the body in specific positions e.g. baby lying supine with head turned to right, by applying pressure on the 6th intercostal space on the right and maintaining the position of the head, the baby should open both hands and drop her left shoulder as well as breathe deeper and longer. Mostly it works as they say it should but not always.
After only having one appointment in February (vaccinations and physio was ill) however our girls developed some bad habits -resisting all attempts to do the techniques effectively. Ciara threw herself into overextension which defeats the object of the technique, as she was supposed to flex her legs up to her trunk.
Needless to say we have been working for the last month trying to ease them out of these bad habits and still keep the momentum going forward. I'm not sure that we've managed that but at least Ciara hasn't been going into overextension the last few weeks.
I'm not sure if I explained the theory behind Vojta Therapy that clearly so I've included a couple of links that explain it a bit better
http://www.nidd.org/therapy_vojta.htm
http://www.vojta.com/cgi-local/ivg_eng.cgi
Where I live in Siegen, Vojta is the therapy of choice for babies and children with delayed development. It is a technique that was developed in Munich, Germany and the international headquarters are nowhere other than in our local Kinderklinik. Needless to say the doctors all swear by it and when we spoke to our paediatrician about changing to Bobath, he told us it was Vojta or nothing (In Germany therapy has to be prescribed by the doctors, therapists are not first line practitioners).
Vojta is a way of provoking reflexes that contribute to normal movement strategies. Reflexes are provoked by stimulating specific pressure points with the body in specific positions e.g. baby lying supine with head turned to right, by applying pressure on the 6th intercostal space on the right and maintaining the position of the head, the baby should open both hands and drop her left shoulder as well as breathe deeper and longer. Mostly it works as they say it should but not always.
After only having one appointment in February (vaccinations and physio was ill) however our girls developed some bad habits -resisting all attempts to do the techniques effectively. Ciara threw herself into overextension which defeats the object of the technique, as she was supposed to flex her legs up to her trunk.
Needless to say we have been working for the last month trying to ease them out of these bad habits and still keep the momentum going forward. I'm not sure that we've managed that but at least Ciara hasn't been going into overextension the last few weeks.
I'm not sure if I explained the theory behind Vojta Therapy that clearly so I've included a couple of links that explain it a bit better
http://www.nidd.org/therapy_vojta.htm
http://www.vojta.com/cgi-local/ivg_eng.cgi
Fighting
Sorry, I have not felt in the mood to post these past couple of days as we've been fighting to get Enya to drink. Before we started solids she was drinking 600+ml/day. Since Thursday we've been fighting to get her to drink over 400ml/day.
As soon as we put the teat in her mouth she starts arching away and moaning, if we rock her and talk to her we can normally get her to take 80-90ml but then she starts refusing to swallow. She eats her solids and laughs at us so it is not that her mouth is sore, I think she finds solids easier to cope with and would now like to be "on a solids only diet, thank you mommy". We have started mixing extra milk into her food to try get the milk down that way. She doesn't seem to have cottoned on yet but she is a smart little cookie, I wouldn't put it past her!
I'll be phoning the SLT on Tuesday to see if we can get an emergency appointment to see him next week but after the first appointment we had with him, I'm not expecting much help from him!
As soon as we put the teat in her mouth she starts arching away and moaning, if we rock her and talk to her we can normally get her to take 80-90ml but then she starts refusing to swallow. She eats her solids and laughs at us so it is not that her mouth is sore, I think she finds solids easier to cope with and would now like to be "on a solids only diet, thank you mommy". We have started mixing extra milk into her food to try get the milk down that way. She doesn't seem to have cottoned on yet but she is a smart little cookie, I wouldn't put it past her!
I'll be phoning the SLT on Tuesday to see if we can get an emergency appointment to see him next week but after the first appointment we had with him, I'm not expecting much help from him!
20 Mar 2008
Sad day
Z just phoned me to tell me that the JT, the little 23 weeker who was opposite us in the NICU, passed away on Monday. He fought for a long time, he would have been 6 months old next week.
Shit, life just isn't fair!
Shit, life just isn't fair!
19 Mar 2008
Last time ever
Well that's going to be the last time I ever boast about how well the girls are sleeping. What are they? Telepathic? They both woke up at 2am this morning and despite polishing off 240 (!!)ml, Ciara was awake and screaming at 6am again.
Tonight is my night out. I'm meeting a friend for coffee (tea) and a movie. We all just have to survive physio first!
Tonight is my night out. I'm meeting a friend for coffee (tea) and a movie. We all just have to survive physio first!
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