Oh No Reflux!

Over the past few months Allie has been a little difficult when it comes to drinking her milk. I've taken her to the doctor because of this and they all said it was probably just teething. Well it has become increasingly difficult to get her to drink any milk whatsoever. I have come to dread feeding her. It should not be such a difficult challenge to feed my daughter.

I called the doctor again on Monday. We got to see a different doctor this time. When we got there the nurse took her weight and in the past 3 weeks Allie had LOST 9 oz. I knew something wasn't right and just needed someone to listen. Well, after talking to the other doctor she told me that she thinks Allie has reflux which can also be silent reflux. Silent reflux is when she only spits up a little or it goes up but she swallows it and it goes back down. My poor baby has been in pain and not wanting to drink because it hurts. The doc said it was probably due to her prematurity. She told us that the valve that closes her stomach off from her esophagus was probably a little loose and still working on tightening up. She was surprised that no doctor had done any studies on her and caught it before.

Allie was prescribed some medicine to reduce the amount of acid in her tummy. She was given Ranitidine and takes it 2 x a day. It's peppermint flavor and she loves it. I'm so happy that she takes it without a hassle because she hates every other medicine she's ever had. She even spits out Tylenol and Motrin. On Monday Allie only drank 9 oz. and yesterday there was an definite improvement. She drank 16 oz. That's still not as much as she needs but I'll take any improvement.

We go back for a follow up in 2 weeks to make sure she is gaining weight and drinking her milk.

10 Months Already

I can't believe it has been 10 months already. Allie has come soo far. She's crawling, pulling herself up to stand, she even let's go and stays up for a good 20 seconds or more before she falls because she is soo proud of herself that she starts jumping up and down, and she's started cruising along furniture too! She hasn't attempted to take that first step away from furniture yet but I bet it is coming soon. We need to finish baby proofing.

Allie now weighs in at 16 lbs. and 13 oz. and is 26.5 inches long. She has been given the go ahead to start table foods and is doing great with the little things we've given her. She eats all kinds of baby puff snacks, little crunchies, which are like baby cheetos, and small pieces of soft fruit. She really seems to enjoy yogurt too! We give her the YoBaby yogurt made from whole milk especially for babies.

Allie now has four teeth in. Two on bottom and two are working there way all the way down on top. Allie, of course is getting her chompers on everything she can. You have to love teething babies and all of their drool.

I snapped a few silly shots of Allie last night. Enjoy!

Allie Starts to Crawl

Allie has been working on crawling. Sometimes she's up off the ground and sometimes she does the army crawl. She can really move across the room in no time when she wants to. It's almost frightening how fast she can be right next to you and then the next moment somewhere else.

Gargling Milk

Allie has discovered how to gargle. If we squirt a little milk in her mouth she'll gargle away. It's quite funny. She does it ALL OF THE TIME.

Mother's Day Card to Grandma

9 month+ Well-Baby Check Up

Allie had a well baby check today and another DTap shot. Poor thing gets stuck by a needle just about every time we go to the doctor. She weighed in at 15lbs. 11oz. and measured 26.5 inches long.

At 9 months: (***note: all percentiles are based on a full term baby not Allison's corrected age of 7 months)

your child is 15.6875 pounds, and that is
at the 3rd percentile for weight.

your child is 26.5 inches, and that is
at the 12th percentile for height.

your child has a head circumference of 17.5 inches, and that is
at the 59th percentile for head circumference.

At 7 months:(***note: all percentiles are based on Allison's corrected age of 7 months. Doctors use Allison's corrected age until she reaches 2 years old.)

your child is 15.6875 pounds, and that is
at the 18th percentile for weight.

your child is 26.5 inches, and that is
at the 44th percentile for height.

your child has a head circumference of 17.5 inches, and that is
at the 82nd percentile for head circumference.


Allison is still sleeping through the night. It's great being able to get a good nights sleep regularly. She'll sleep a good 11 to 12 hours a night.

Allie has a well balanced diet that consists of 20 to 24 oz. of breast milk a daily along with stage 2 baby foods: 2oz. of fruit, 2 oz. of veggies, 1 oz of meat, and 8 tbls of cereal. She's just getting into finger foods. We've given her a few graduate puffs and yogurt melts now. She uses her only 2 teeth to mash up anything we give her.

Allie is pulling herself up on everything she can get her hands on. She absolutely LOVES to stand up. Tonight she stood up without any support for a good 20 seconds. She was sooo proud of herself, as were we. We love to see her big grin when she accomplishes something.

Allie enjoys playing peek-a-boo daily. She initiates it at times by covering her face with a blanket or anything else she can use to hide her face. It's really silly. I cover her face and then she takes it off and giggles and waits for me to cover it again. Some of her favorite toys include the remote control and my cell phone. She can't seem to get enough of either.

Allison is starting to learn about strangers and has some stranger anxiety on occasion when we go to new places. She does well around most people generally.

Overall, Allie is doing great. She's continuing to grow and surprises us all of the time.

"I feel like Chicken tonight, like chicken tonight!"

Allie had her first taste of meat today. She dined on Chicken and Chicken Gravy. Mmmmm! Here's her reaction.