Fine. I'll Pretend Like The Bottle Isn't Even There

Here we go again. Kayley continues to be a very happy little girl. She greets us with smiles any time we talk to her. She still sleeps very well (thank God!). She's learning a lot of new tricks. When she doesn't want a bottle in her mouth (which is most of the time), she either blows into it to make bubbles or she talks around the bottle and acts like it isn't even there. It's very funny except when you're the one feeding her. Then, it's a little frustrating. She has also taken a liking to her feet. If we have her on the floor or in any one of her seats, she's normally got one of her feet in her mouth. We also broke out the jumparoo for her. She loves sitting in it and making noises as she jumps. She's very active. She's starting to notice more around her which includes Sox, our dog. I brought Kayley outside with me last night while Drew and I played with Sox. She giggled every time Sox got near her. I think we have another dog lover.

Since the last post, we visited the developmental pediatrician. She thought Kayley looked great but did have some extra stuff we needed to work on. Her head control that she had us working on last time looked great. Kayley no longer has a tilt and she controls her head very well. She was also pleased that we got Kayley's feeding time down to 35 minutes per feeding. However, she really wants us to start moving more and more to solids so that's what we've been focusing on. Since baby food has little or no calories, we have to add the formula mix to it. She's really starting to eat a lot better. With all the solids that she now gets, you can imagine how the bottle goes over...that's right...not well. We wait about 15 minutes after the solids but normally, Kayley doesn't want anything to do with the bottle. It's a struggle to get her to take 2 or 2.5 ounces. Hopefully the formula that she is getting in the solids makes up for what she's not taking in the bottle. She still seems to be growing so that's a plus.

While checking Kayley out, the doctor noticed that Kayley doesn't use her upper lip much. She's mostly using her tongue and lower jaw to chew on toys. So, we got some homework. We're supposed to massage her upper lip every now and then, let her get the food off the spoon when we feed her solids instead of dragging it across the roof of her mouth, and buy her a chew toy that vibrates when she bites it. All these things will help stimulate her upper lip so she starts to use it more.

The doctor also wants us to work with Kayley to help develop her core strength that will help her sit and eventually crawl. The doctor gave us a lot of exercises that include assisted sitting, side sitting, kneeling, barrel crawling (no kidding), and some other stuff. So far, the exercises seem to be working. Kayley is really close to sitting up on her own.

At the doctor appointment, Kayley weighed 15lbs 3oz with her clothes on. She also measured 26 inches. So, she's over 5 times her birth weight and almost 11 inches longer than her birth height.

We are feeding Kayley solids 3-4 times a day. She either gets carrots, green beans, peas, squash, or sweet potatoes. She's improved a lot in the last couple of weeks at eating solids. She eats 1/2 of the container plus the 1 or more scoops of formula mix. No wonder she's too full to take a bottle! We are a little concerned that it may not be fullness, though, but rather an allergy. Most of the time, Kayley's cheeks get pretty red after her feedings. We'll be sure to bring that up to the doctor at our next GI visit which just so happens to be this coming Thursday.