Finding a voice

Although Elliott has been "gooing" and "gaaing" for some time now it seems that today he really found his voice ... he figured out that it's him that is making the noises and can do it whenever he wants to! Continuous sounds of "Oooooow" were heard from Elliott as we drove home from our lactation consultant visit today and continued all day long.

Lactation Consultant Visit

This morning Elliott and I ventured out early in the day (9am appointment!! That's hard!) for our visit to see the lactation consultant. Of course, while we were there Elliott fed excellently (typical!) although we did have lots to talk about still and the consultant gave us her thoughts on our little feeding "problems" ...

1. Elliott is 'snacking' instead of having full feeds which perhaps means that he's not getting really hungry at all (and thus not feeding well or for more than 5 minutes at a time on some days);
2. Because of the snacking Elliott may also be getting a lot of fore milk (which means he could be getting too much lactose) which may account for the increase in the number and amount of 'possits' he has lately;
3. Elliott's poor sleeping habits (day time, and recently at night) are likely due to him not feeding well and vise-versa.
4. She doesn't think he has reflux because he didn;t possit when lying on his tummy (apparently he would after 10 seconds if he had reflux).

So, we have been advised to persist with day time sleeping - trying to get Elliott to have more day naps and for longer (1 1/2 hours each, or 2 sleep cycles). This means initially trying to tolerate an amount of crying, but hopefully it will mean Elliott will learn how to settle himself eventually. On a practical note, this would be good because he's so heavy now that it's getting harder and harder to rock him to sleep!

Other comments the consultant made were:

• Elliott poos at least twice per day - this may indicate that Elliott is getting more than enough to eat (not unusual for a breastfed baby to poo once a week!)
• Elliott is a very alert baby and obviously loves watching the world ... she thought perhaps he'll walk early (not going to take this too seriously, though!)
• 6 or 7 feeds per 24 hours is usual at 12 weeks of age
• At this ateg, or a little later, breastfed babies often become fussy at the breast and get easily distracted when feeding
• Suggestion not to wrap Elliott to sleep in the day (or 1/2 wrap so that he can suck his thumb if he wants to).
• Instead of the earlier "feed, play, sleep" pattern advised for a newborn, a 12 week old now fits more the "feed, play, sleep, play" pattern, as he becomes more active.
  

Feedback corner

We've received some complaints about the recent post entitled "Bath time rocks!". We've now consulted with our legal team and concede that while all images in this post were not intended to offend, some readers may have been confronted by the level of nudity, in particular of Elliott's over enthusiastic Dad. We've now issue a full and unconditional apology and the following message:

Warning to future Blog readers, some images may offend some readers ;o)

Having said this... the post will stay!

A day of checkups

Today Elliott and Kel had a couple of appointments, the first with the community health nurse (scheduled checkup) and then with the GP (to chat about some trouble Elliott has recently been having).

First the vital stats:

He weighed 6.7 Kg
He is now 63.5 cm long
and his head is 42.5 cm around

These are good numbers and mean that Elliott continues to track along the 90th and 80th percentiles for length and weight, even though his weight gain has started to drop from earlier weigh-ins (300g/wk to 150g/wk)... she said that this was nothing to worry about as normal weight gain at this age is 150-200g. She also made an appointment for Kel to see the lactation consultant to hopefully get some advise on fussy feeding. She also pointed out that at around 3-4 months breast fed babies often get a bit fussy with their feeding and often change sleeping habits..... Aha... this is extremely poignant information!

Over that past month we've been though stretches of fussy eating and sleep has been good and bad in patches. Although this may be a little early the community nurses advise is comforting for both of us. In fact the last couple of days have been really tough with Elliott basically refusing to sleep in the day VIGOROUSLY and waking every 3-4 hours during the night! This development has troubled us all and Kel and myself have been doing some novice diagnosis. One suspicion is that Elliot has been suffering reflux, he certainly continues to spit-up after feeds for some time after feeds (despite prolonged and productive burping) and you can often see when a bit of milk gets back up and he has a bit of a gurgle (we all know how that tastes...yuck!). We suspect that this might also be waking him up at night. Anyhow, this was one of the motivators to visit the GP.

The GP checked him over and everything appears to be well. He'd done a urine test since his last visit and that came back all clear. Collecting that sample in the yellow lidded jar had been quite a challenge. This time the Doctor sent them away with a brown lidded jar (no prizes for guessing what that will soon contain). The GP agreed that reflux is a possible explanation for Elliott's recent troubles and gave him a script for Zantac (a H2 antagonist). As an aside, I think it is so cute how his name is Master Elliott Finn Graham on the script. Anyhow, for the time being we've decided that things might be getting a little better so the Zantac is our last resort if things get much worse. We've also propped his bed and change mat a little to help him keep his dinner in his tummy. It's a terrible dilemma to have to weigh up side effects of treating your suspicion against not treating it and potentially leaving your little boy uncomfortable... isn't it. I think we'll have to consult our Pharmacist buddy Dave on this matter. To finish on a good note, the GP also had Elliott's ultrasound results and his hips are all clear (see Elliott's swinging hips post for background).

As I write this Elliott is punching ZZZZs in his cot, we'll keep our fingers crossed that the 7-4-7 nightime regimen is just around the corner, but at the end of the day we're just so lucky to have a healthy happy (most of the time) little boy.

Bath time rocks!

Well we've noted a couple of times now that after a couple of false starts in that first week... Elliott loves bath time! From the baby bath, to the big boys bath, sharing the bath with Mummy or Daddy, and in more recent times, having a feed with Mummy in the bath occasionally (Elliott will be lying on Kel's chest and manages to snuffle his way down to her breast and have a feed... combining two of his favourite things... he's good that boy. Incidentally, Kel reckons it is one of the nicest experiences she has with him, he's just so relaxed). So we thought it only fair to share some of the fun on the Blog.

People who have bee around to see Elliott perform will attest to his prowess in the water (just ask Dan, Nicole, Steve and Adel). We really look forward to taking him to the ocean baths this summer and down to Nan and Pa's pool too! The odds are that he'll be ecstatic to see such large bodies of water available for his pleasure.

Despite all this fanfare and great fun though... we can't go without noting that last night was the first time that Elliott let off a depth charge in the bath... poo warning ! It wasn't a dedicated event, more a bit of a follow through under the pressure of a cough. Anyhow, Kel was in the bath at the time, so I'm a little gun shy about getting in with the little guy again... but in the end, it's all too much fun to miss.

Graduating to the Big Cot!

Last night was Elliott's first night in his big cot. Until now he has been sleeping in the bassinet that was first used by me (32 years ago). It's a testament to Mum that: 1) she kept the bassinet in such good condition that it lasted for her four children; and 2) that she kept it for long enough (and again in good enough condition) for her children to use it with their children! There was something about this piece of baby furniture that brought it all home to me, just the fact that I once slept in it and now Elliott has... nostalgia I guess.

Old Cot

On the issue of his new bed, the news is good! Elliott had a great nights sleep and below is a picture of his first morning smile in it. It's cool how when you go to get him up (not just in the morning but especially then) and he realises it's either myself or Kel, a beaming smile comes across his face, as though to say "There you are, I'm so glad you've hung around, what fun stuff are we doing today?"

New Cot

Today we packed up the bassinet and sent it back to Mum and Dad's. We look forward to finding out where its next destination will be???

Old cot packed and ready for its next adventure.

We run the risk of being lynched by other new parent by talking about sleeping patterns... but this is a record to help us remember Elliott's milestones, achievements and other baby stuff. So, after having had a run of about a month where Elliott was sleeping like a dream (at night... see other posts for details of challenges in the day sleeping), about a week ago he all of a sudden decided to go back to about 4 hourly intervals (7 pm...11 pm...3 am...7 am)! This was a bit of a shock after the 7 pm...4 am...7 am pattern we'd come to know and love. Even with this change we know we have no real grounds for complaint because even under the four hour interval regimen, he still only gets up, has a feed and we put him straight back down, so the blocks of sleep were still able to add up.

Anyway, given that background the last 2 nights he's gone back to the single feed in the wee hours of the morning, and about 12 hours sleep (for Elliott) over the night. We know chaotic sleeping is probably just around the corner again, but for the moment we'll enjoy things while they last!

Elliott's Swinging Hips

Today Elliott had an ultrasound on his hips to check that they were alright. The Doctor had noticed a bit of a click in one at his 8 week checkup and suggested it was worth getting checked, just to be sure. Anyway we haven't got the results yet but the sonographer said it looked good (without saying it looked good... only a Dr. can actually say that???). This was our first real "out of the ordinary" medical check, standing there, holding Elliott's hand as he had his ultrasound. He was an absolute champion... we joked afterwards that the sonographer was probably thinking "why am I doing this, his hips are so strong he nearly broke the transducer, I haven't seen hips this good since Elvis!". In reality, he did fine and didn't even cry when he had the uncomfortable bit where they image his hips while under pressure. He's our brave little hip swinging hero!

Thumb sucker!

11 weeks old today!

Well, this week we are seeing some things that Elliott is getting better at as well as things he is starting to enjoy more. As you can see from the picture below, Elliott has become quite proficient at sucking his thumb. He has done this before but the past 2 days he has been much more able to put his thumb in his mouth whenever he wants to rather than it happening by chance! He really likes it and, I'm sure, thinks he's pretty clever to be able to do it all by himself. The only problem is he isn't coordinated enough yet to control his other fingers while he's sucking his thumb - quite often ends up gauging his eye with his other fingers! He also makes himself gag sometimes by putting his thumb in his mouth too far!

He is also starting to 'regard' his hands - every now and then over the past 2 days he has seemed to notice them as if they weren't there before. He can hold a rattle, but only if we put it in his hands, and he doesn't yet really take much notice of it. He certainly doesn't seem to realise he is holding it (in fact he just hits himself in the head with it as he tries to suck his thumb!).

Today he had a really big laugh while we were playing ... he likes it when you pretend to laugh really BIG! We have also been playing the harmonica quite a bit together. He really likes it, although I'm sure he wishes I knew how to play more than "Oh, When the Saints" and "Pop Goes the Weezel". Hopefully Elliott will want to learn to play an instrument himself one day. Perhaps the trumpet!

Today we also tried out the baby papoose the other way around (with Elliott facing outwards). I think he likes it much better than facing inwards and he is pretty good now at holding his head up. I think he could probably manage 1/2 hour in it like that. When he has tummy time (which he doesn't like very much at the moment) he really lifts his head high and keeps it there for a while. It looks as though he's even starting to push up a bit on his elbows! We also had a bath together tonight ... the last few times we have done this I have put him on my chest while lying down and he has just about drowned himself trying to get a feed!

Tomorrow Elliott has an appointment at the John Hunter to have an Ultrasound done on his hip - at his 8 week check up the GP thought his hip was a little clicky, so she thought he should have it checked, just in case.

Finally, just a quick word about the feeding (always on our minds!). It is still better than a couple of weeks ago but Elliott still seems to have 'off' days. I guess adults have days where they aren't as hungry as others, so perhaps babies do too? Generally, it's all okay though. I suppose we still just need to try and get used to the whole unpredictability of raising a child - it's still taking some getting used to! (It does sound strange saying "...raising a child..."!! I can't believe we're doing it!). Anyway, I'll be very interested to see how Elliott is growing at our next clinic check up (next week, I think).

Weekend picnic

Last weekend we caught up with a few friends over at Kate and Matt's place in Stockton. As usual, the boys (that's Elliott, Alfie and Benji) had a great time catching up (and so did we). There was lots of great food and even some champagne!

Elliott surprised us by spending a record amount of time happily sitting on our laps (he usually hates sitting down with us and prefers to be up and about taking in the sights). On Sunday, he was more than happy to just sit on our laps and check everyone out - probably had something to do with the fact that there were so many people to watch!

We also finally got a photo of the nine of us ... we are so lucky to have such a great group of friends to share time with as all our boys grow up.

Below is one of the best photos of the day ... little Ben with his Mum ... Oh, I mean, his Dad.






This weekend also marked the end of a long run of long night sleeps ... sadly the 12 hour night time sleeps Elliott was having the previous week (7pm - 7am, with a wake up dream feed at 4am), came to an end with him deciding he would like to feed a couple of times a night afterall. His sleep has been much less settled too. Not sure what that is all about. Oh well, it was good (no, GREAT!) while it lasted!

Belly Button Controversy

A couple of weeks ago, there was a big controversy in the household of our good friends Paul and Beth. It centered around whether their little boy Alfie (born a month after Elliott) had an "innie" or an "outie". For the record, I'm with Paul, Alfie has the best of both worlds an innie with a bit of outie. Anyway, this caused a little navel gazing in our household. A number of questions sprang to mind:

1) is Elliott's belly button an innie or and outie?

2) are belly button features inheritable? Does Elliott's look more like Brett's or Kel's?

3) can you pick which of the belly buttons below are Kel's, Elliott's, and Brett's?

Beware some images may offend some viewers.

Hints: Brett's belly button is widely recognised as one of the biggest lint producers in Southeast Asia, in keeping with Kel's funky taste she had a belly button piercing before she was pregnant, and Elliott's belly button... well its as cute as a button ;0)

Momentous event !!

Well, unfortunately there are no photos to show for it but on Thursday (14th June 2007) Elliott was a very clever boy ... he rolled over for the first time! Elliott and Kel were at the Mum's and Bub's exercise class (very apt!) and Elliott was lying on his tummy next to Kel when he suddenly rolled over (on his right side) onto his back. At first Kel was taken by surprise and had no idea what he was doing! He did it twice before getting too tired to do any more.

Unfortunately Brett wasn't there to witness the big event (I'm sure he wonders if it actually took place! We have witnesses - Kate saw it all!) and Elliott hasn't cooperated since by showing his Daddy his latest party trick ... but we're hoping he will soon enough (we have an awful lot of video footage of Elliott just lying there, while we wait for him to roll over!).

Some positives out of the long weekend

After all the Drama of Friday and Saturday, we had what could quite possibly be described as the perfect Sunday. In the morning, the three of us hung out together and went to do the groceries (OK this makes it slightly short of the perfect Sunday... but you gotta eat).

In the afternoon, some friends (Paul, Matt, Louise) and Family (Dad, Nicole, Dan) came to see the Tigers play the Knights at Marathon stadium. At the same time Kel and Elliott had Paul and Matt's partners (Beth and Kate) and boys (Alfie and Ben) over to hang out for the afternoon. The footy produced a Tigers victory and an added bonus of seeing Aunty Maureen, Cathy, and Chris (family on Dads side). The Knights put up a typically spirited effort, given the motivation of the weekends events, and really took it to the Tigers in the first half. The Tigers weren't bad... but the lacked intensity and were a bit loose with the ball in hand. Thankfully, they picked up their performance in the second half and ran in a couple of spectacular late tries, including a juggling effort from Liam Fulton who had been knocked senseless only minutes earlier.


For the Tigers, it was good to see Johnny Morris continue to improve and adapt to the Tigers play. Robbie Farrah directed the team with distinction and Dean Collis had a great day in attack and with the boot. Our forward pack has to be one of the hardest working in all the NRL with the likes of Ben Galea and Chris Heighington going all day long. Keith Galloway also put in a good effort in his return to first grade.


For the Knights, I was particularly impressed with their halfback Luke Walsh, he was dangerous in attack with the ball in hand or off the boot. Brad Tighe also had a whale of a game with a pair of tries.

After the game, us boys (Matt, Paul, and myself) went and got some take away noodles for dinner. We found that the Girls and little boys had also had a nice afternoon of cheese, lemon tart and plenty of chat time. The girls even choreographed a little dance for us (I think it was for us???) ... best described as a mix of scary and seductive. We had a lovely time chatting and relaxing and have even committed (in principle) to organise our first real camping trip together when the weather warms up. The little boys continue to get to know each other (don't have much choice with their parents hitting it off so well) and I'm sure they are forming their own friendships that will last a long time to come.


Good stuff all... we'll have to do it again soon :0)

Elliott's first Natural Disaster (apart from leaky nappies)

What a Queen's Birthday long weekend we've had! It's a gorgeous monday with the sun shining in Newcastle... but most people will be aware that the last 72 hours have been eventful to say the least. Friday started pretty normally, although we did wake with no power. It was raining in the morning and Elliott went to sleep after breakfast, so I decided to work from home until he woke up (so I could get a lift into the uni). Luckily the power came back by about 9:30 am, just as my laptops battery was getting low and soon after I got a lift in with Kel and Elliott. I arrived (~10 am) to a fire alarm in my building and had to wait outside in the rain while the building was checked over (false alarm... as usual). While outside we got word that there was a major event unfolding on Nobbys Beach, the "Pasha Bulker" running aground). For anyone unfamiliar with Nobby Beach, this is a big event!

Nobbys on a clear summers day

Nobbys on Friday 08/06/07

View of Nobbys pavillion on a Summers day

View of Nobbys pavillion on 08/06/07

The pictures tell the story far better than I could... but this was only the start of things to come. That same moring, after dropping me off at uni, Kel & Elliott headed to the shops to look for a couple of new warm things for Elliott (still growing @ a rate of knots). They got a nice fleecy suit to sleep in (more of that one later). Their trip home around lunchtime was apparently quite the ordeal, but Kel is best to tell that tale... here's her version...

... it was really scarey! I don't think it would have been quite so scarey had I not had Elliott in the car, but I was worried we wouldn't make it home. I could barely see 1 meter in front of me as I was driving - I pulled off the highway along side the Uni and made our way home the long way because it was too dangerous being on that stretch of road. I had to stop several times along the road, because it was flooded, before proceeding after being sure the car could get through. I think Elliott and I were lucky because from photos we have seen, another few minutes or so and perhaps those flooded stretches of road would have been too deep to pass through. We got home in one piece only to find the drive way flooded (although relatively minor) - I had to stand in ankle deep water to get Elliott out of the car (and our driveway is on a slope!). Needless to say, it was a relief to be inside the house, with the heater on (and Elliott put on his brand new fleecy clothes - what timing that purchase was!).


Early the same afternoon (~3 pm) the University was evacuated (which we were all a bit bemused by at the time). Luckily enough, there was break in the weather so I walked home. That night appeared as though it would be stormy (like the one before) but when we went to bed we still had power. When Elliott woke for a feed (~ 11 pm), the power was gone. leading to the rather romantic notion of feeding by candle light.


That morning (Saturday)... still no electricity and it turned out that we went the whole day without it. Amazing how it takes something like that to make you realise how reliant you are on those coal powered electrons (hopefully one day they'll be renewable). In the daytime the only difficulties were heating and cooking. It was pretty chilly so we were all rugged up, but it was fun to hang out all day (not much else to do). I read Elliott his first book, his interest was minimal but I got through it without him telling me to stop (in his own special way). For the record, the book was Little Miss Helpful, which I pointed out to Elliott is a story about his Mum (Kel the helper, she just can't resist).


In order to have some hot food and a nice warm cuppa we brought the camping cooker into the house... we'd always planned to take Elliott camping early on but didn't think we'd be doing it in our own house! Cheese jaffles and some earl grey tea really hit the spot.


Later that night we tried the gas lantern but there must have been a little leak because when I tried to light it flames came from the tap (a bit of a scare) so we opted for the candle option again (much safer).

After having no power for about 24 hours (it felt like longer!) we had heaps of food in the fridge and freezer that had to be thrown away ... along with all that stored (frozen) breastmilk Kel had built up - all 800ml worth! (see previous blog entry "Feeding difficulties..."). NOOOOO! All that liquid Gold! On the bright side, our fridge and freezer have been cleaned for the first time since we bought it!

Tricky week with feeding (posted by Kel)

Well, as this week nears it's end I think I need to jot down a few things that have happened with Elliott's feeding that have caused quite a bit of anxiety in the household (okay, mostly for Kel ... Brett was his usual calm and collected self!). Up until this week Elliott has been the most wonderful baby with feeding - he learnt how to feed quickly, established a good pattern with feeding fairly soon and even learnt how to attach to the breast all by himself pretty soon too (thankfully!). Kel even had relatively few problems early on with sore nipples etc...

How things change!

At 9 weeks of age (well, 8 weeks and 4 days to be precise) Elliott started to get REALLY fussy when feeding. On, off, on, off... 'wrestling' with Kel... only feeding for 2 minutes before pulling of and whinging and crying. Nothing Kel did could make him feed properly. Of course, this was pretty stressful (and upsetting) for lots of reasons:
1. Kel was worried Elliott wasn't getting enough to eat and maybe he'd lose weight;
2. Kel was worried he might get dehydrated (although the whole time there were no signs of dehydration);
3. Kel was worried that her milk would start to dry up if Elliott continued to refuse feeds on a regular basis;
4. Kel started to wonder if Elliott just didn't like her that much anymore (although deep down she knew this wasn't true).

Well, after talking to a breastfeeding counsellor and a nurse at the baby health clinic some of the concerns were eased. Apparently its not uncommon for babied to 'refuse' the breast every now and then and it's usually a temporary thing. Usually it's unknown why they do it but recent immunisations or Kel menstruating can do it ... apparently in the latter case it can make the milk taste salty. The advise was to try to stay calm and just stop feeding when it happens and try again later (and express off any extra milk after feeding to prevent the milk drying up). And of course, as Elliott gets older he'll become more efficient at feeding and only take a fraction of the time to feed than earlier days, so perhaps some of it is related to that.

Anyway, on day 6 of this happening (see why I was worried?!) it started to get better. Instead of feeding for 2 minutes Elliott fed for a whole 10 minutes! Yippee! And today his feeds have lasted that long, if not longer. Phew!! One good thing that has come of this is that, because Kel was worried her milk would start to dry up, she started expressing off the rest of her milk after Elliott had a feed (for the record, anywhere between 20 and 200ml!). So, we have quite a supply of expressed breast milk in the freezer now!

Of course, Elliott seemed to be completely oblivious to all this angst - he was just as happy, alert and settled as usual ... and just as smiley!

Hello, my name is Elliott...

... and this is me with my buddies Alfie (Mr Strong) and Ben (Mr Snow). We are watching our Mums at their exercise class. This is them working out below ...











This is Ben's Mum, Kate. My Mum and Beth aren't in this picture. As you can see, all the Mums work extremely hard (that what they tell our Dads) and they hardly talk at all (is that what you wanted me to say Mum?).







Okay, bye for now. Mum says I have to go and have a little sleep or I'll get all cranky and whingey.

See you all soon,
Love, Elliott xxx










This is me with Mr. Strong (aka Alfie)

Good Buddies...

Well, I have finally gotten around to pasting the photo of Elliott and Ben that was taken a number of weeks ago at the first Mother's Group meeting in Stockton. In this photo Elliott was 5 weeks old and Ben was 6 weeks old.

Despite how it may look there was absolutely no coersion from the Mum's to get them to hold hands... we turned around and they were doing it all by themselves! What clever boys!

Trekking round Shortland

Over the weekend, Kel and Elliott enthusiastically got me up (at about 7:30 am... on a Saturday!) and took me for a walk, something that has become a bit of a morning ritual (for them). Usually, during the week as I've been getting ready for work, they get ready for their walk and then we leave at about the same time. Anyway, I was impressed with the territory they cover, especially with a pram in tow (and it's surprisingly hilly around here too)! When we got home, I plotted the route we took on Google Earth and calculated that they cover 4.2 kms in about 45 minutes, which means they set a cracking pace of 5.6km/hr. So if you're in Shortland early one morning and see a Black and gold flash (the colours of Elliott's Pram), shout out hello because it's probably Kel and Elliott! Hope there aren't too many rainy days ahead.

Keep Trekking guys :0)

Elliott versus the big needles

I'm sure this won't be the first time we observe that on some occasions it'll be hard to find time to update the Blog, but were trying as hard as we can. This past week things have really ramped up in terms of Fellowship applications go (future wages) for me and Kel and Elliott have had their usual 'full diary' of engagements. But... since Elliott had his community health check, we've had a few important milestones pass by that are crying out to be recorded for all time. Probably the most significant for Elliott was his 8 week immunisations! We anticipated that this would not be much fun and in hindsight, though it was over pretty quickly, we were right it wasn't fun for him or us. He had two needles, one in each leg, and got them both at the same time (one by the doctor and one by a nurse).

Dramatised reenactment of Elliott's first immunisation

He was his usually smiley happy self before they went in, but that soon changed. One of the most interesting things about the whole experience was that we heard a new cry from Elliott that we had not heard before. Sadly, it was a threatened and scared cry which was a bit heart wrenching to hear. On the bright side, the crying only lasted 5-10 minutes and then he was as good as new. One redeeming feature of the whole experience was being there to comfort him through it. He was left with a bandaid on each thigh to show from the whole experience and now has a 4 month break until the next set of injections!

Although Elliott has shown no real physical effects since his first immunisation, we have noticed that he has become very fussy at feeding time. He's on, off, on, off, whingey and overall hasn't been very into it. This has lead Kel in particular to worry that he might not be getting enough and that his behaviour might lead to her milk production slowing and potentially drying up. From what we read, fussy feeding and breast refusal can follow immunisation, so this may or may not be related. It's also apparently common (what isn't) for feeding patterns and behaviour to change at around 8 weeks. In most cases it's a temporary thing so hopefully we'll soon be writing how well he's feeding again... fingers crossed.