Ah, Hank. What a roller-coaster this kid takes us on sometimes! This past month brought an increase in the severity of his reflux, as well as some pretty crazy sleep regressions. We were so spoiled for about one week when Hank started sleeping through the night at the end of March, and then that all stopped. He started to get up every night between 4 - 5:30am, and continued to get up every 15 - 45 minutes until it was time to get up. We thought that was bad, then he started getting up every 45 - 60 minutes all through the night. It was pretty miserable. We've been reassured by the doctor that this is very normal, and we should considering ourselves lucky that he can get himself back to sleep on his own most of the time. He's been napping okay, but the night sleeping is a killer. Here's hoping to more solid sleep soon!
Hank is now up to 15 lbs. 7oz. and 27.5 inches long. When the nurse told me how long he was, I asked her to remeasure him - he'd grown over 2 inches in less than a month! Crazy! He's 47th percentile for weight and off the charts for height. He looked great at the doctor, but had a bad reaction to his shots again this time with a fever, extremely fussy and uncomfortable, and a lack of interest in eating. It lasted longer than usual, though, and he didn't get back to his normal self for FOUR DAYS. It was a long week of recovery for both Hank and Mom!
Sadly, Hank also started spitting up a LOT more (so much that he was hungry a lot of the time between feedings) and was back to being incredibly irritable when he ate and as he was spitting up. We talked with the pediatrician, and she decided it was time we got referred on to the pediatric gastroenterologist. This was familiar territory, as Lyla had to see a GI specialist as well. I was really impressed with the quality of care we received (And how sweet all the nurses and doctors were to Lyla - she got more stickers than she could count!). After almost an hour of going through everything with the specialist, she doubled his dose of Zantac and gave me some additional practices I needed to start taking to help minimize the spitting up as much as possible. Reflux generally peaks around 4-6 months, so let's hope we're seeing the worst of it now. I don't want to see how much worse it could get! After a week or so afterward of trial and error and increasing his medicine dosage once again, we seem to be on a better track. We took him off rice cereal added to his bottle, got him a great laxative (My first time giving a baby a laxative and let me just say - they sure do work!), and he's now up to 7 oz. bottles every 3 hours.
We're so lucky that other than our sleep being infringed on and Hank having some reflux issues (that are now under control!), he's such a happy camper! He's so full of smiles, and he coos and talks to us every time he sees us. We've heard him laugh a few times - not quite a hearty laugh yet, but he's definitely cracked a few chuckles, especially when Lyla's involved. He's starting to grasp objects, which is great - let's hope he can get his pacifier into his mouth sooner rather than later! He's super strong, and also learned how to roll over from back to stomach pretty consistently. He is doing great with his "tummy time", and he can now lift up from his torso and kicks his legs like crazy! He loves taking baths and kicks his legs in the water like it's the best experience ever.
We were joking that Hank can be such an angry little man when it comes to his sleep being interrupted, and it seemed that he just got more upset when one of us went in to comfort him. Not the best feeling when you can't seem to console your own baby, but things seem to be turning around. He doesn't cry every time it's nap time, and our presence seems to be quite a bit more soothing. I am hopeful this is the beginning of things being on more of an even keel.
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