This morning Tyler and I went to see one of our favorite people - Dr. Grady. I know I have said it before, but I absolutely LOVE Tyler's pediatrician and so does he. It cracks me up how the second Dr. Grady walks in and starts talking Tyler follows him and is very attentive to his every move and word. It's as if he knows that this is the man who is going to fix whatever ails him.
This morning's visit had two purposes: one, to get his 2-month well check (shots included), and two, to follow up on the whole tummy issue. We started the visit with vitals. My little Mr. now weighs 11 lbs. and 2 oz., is 23 1/2 inches long, and his head circumference is 15 1/2. He has successfully reached all milestones for this age except for raising his head when laying on his tummy. I told Dr. Grady this was completely my fault. See, Tyler HATES being on his tummy and throws a horrible fit when I have tried tummy time. I have to admit that I have been a bad momma while trying to be a good momma, and I have not forced him to stay on his tummy and rarely even placed him in that position. I have known all along that it is an important thing to do, but with all the tummy problems he has been having over the past month I was afraid this was causing even more discomfort. So tonight we started trying to rectify this even through all the screaming. All other aspects of Tyler's check up were very positive and we were assured that he is growing well, he is in the 35 percentile for 2-month-olds, and that he is reaching all other milestone right on time. All very good news.
As for Tyler's follow up...not such good news. Apparently he has both colic and reflux. Awesome (sarcasm inserted)! The good news is that most colic is outgrown by the time the are about 3 months, so we're on the downhill stretch with that one. The bad news is that reflux generally last until about 18 months. Dr. Grady went over the fact at there is a valve at the base of the esophagus/top of the stomach that has just simply not grown enough to close completely. Therefore, every time the stomach contracts to help with the digestion of his intake it literally pushes everything back up and out of the stomach. Apparently something like 90% of all babies deal with this, but the only thing coming to my mind was "Yeah, but this is MY baby!" He then went on to explain that there is another valve at the base of the stomach and that this one has the opposite problem from time to time. He said that this one can actually grow too thick and prevent anything from moving past the stomach so that when the baby is fed more and more it has nowhere to go but back out the way it came in. Fortunately he is pretty sure this is not Tyler's problem because he is still having we and dirty diapers, but if the projectile reflux continues we will have to go back in and possibly get an ultrasound done to see if there are any other problems. Luckily Tyler has been better since I started nursing him again. He has only graced me with his "used" milk a couple of times and nothing like he did yesterday afternoon!
So what are we going to do you ask. Nothing. Dr. Grady explained that he could prescribe something, but that he is more reserved and "old school" in the way he works. This is a fact that I appreciate and respect! He told me that it was once thought that Nexium, Prilosec, and Zantac work on adults so well that they should be used on babies. However, it turned out that these medications were causing upper respiratory problems and pneumonia in many babies. He would rather Tyler share a little "used" milk every now and then than to risk the side effects of putting him on medicine. Of course, if it gets worse we are certainly to take him in. He also wants us to continue watching his diapers to make sure everything is working it's way through and also to keep watching his weight to ensure that it continues climbing.
Overall we had a good visit with a good doctor. Then we had a good day! He was much less fussy today than he has been in a while. I have no doubt that this is a reflection on my attitude. I was finally able to relax a bit knowing all of this is "normal" and that it will also all work it's way out - eventually.
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