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.