Hallie turned 9 months old this last Sunday. Why is it that the 9 months of pregnancy drag on and on, but the first 9 months of a baby's life go by so quickly? It really has flown by. This last month has been a little more trying with her that the months before. She has has some minor health issues that we are trying to get figured out. Because of those, she has been super fussy and her sleeping patterns have resorted back to newborn status. I'm especially not loving the sleep part. The rest of her fussiness can be dealt with, but she turns in to a monster at night. She doesn't want to eat, she doesn't want her binki, she doesn't want to sleep. All I can figure out to help her (and me) is BENEDRYL! Don't get me wrong, she is still a really good baby, but I just know that there is something that is bothering her. She is not typically a fussy baby. I'm hoping to have that all figured out here soon.Here is what we found out with her at her 9 month check up.
*Weight: 21 lbs. 10 oz. 94%
She has slowed down quite a bit in the weight gaining department.
*Height: 28 3/4 inches 89%
*Head: 45 1/2 cm. 90%
As far as the minor health issues go:
*She has been really constipated since January. I thought it would all go away once we got the tubes in her ears and she was off all the antibiotics. Not the case. She is now on Miralax. It is working wonders for her. So that is one issue we have under control now.
*She has had a pretty good case of Eczema. She is itching all the time. She has scabs from scratching on her head since the rest of her body is covered at during the day and night with her clothes. But if her body isn't covered with clothes for a period of time, she will scratch away. We have tried a bunch of different creams, medications, lotions, etc. Right now we are putting them on twice a day. We alternate 2 different creams for her body every other day. And there is a foam that we are using for her head and face twice a day as well. I think we are starting to get her body under control, but her head is still having issues. I'm hoping it gets resolved soon. If not, off to the dermatologist we will go.
*Our pediatrician thinks that she has a milk allergy, but there's a possibility of something else as well. And because of that, he's thinking that the eczema is a side effect of the allergy. I am usually very cautious when introducing new foods so that if there is an allergy it can be caught without having to wonder too much about what caused it. The only new food that we have tried lately are yogurt melts and a baby yogurt. I normally don't give my babies those types of dairy items until they are closer to a year in age, but these are on the baby isle and the package says they are for sitters/crawlers. So I figured it was ok. Once I started to give those to Hallie, her eyes started to get red and puffy. There was a question initially if it was just her eczema acting up, but now we are thinking allergy. So since Tuesday we have started to cut out all milk based foods and she has been changed to a soy based formula as well. We have also cut out anything with high fructose corn syrup. So no more animal crackers, or nilla wafers that she has been enjoying. We will try this for a couple months and then slowly reintroduce each item. The hope is that her body just isn't ready for those types of foods and if we give it some time she will out grow it and also we are hoping this will help with her eczema. There is always the possibility of a permanent allergy, I hope not, but we'll just have to wait and see. Whatever it is, I would just like to know what we need to do to make her more comfortable.
Things Hallie has been doing this last month in no particular order:
*She started crawling the weekend of Valentine's Day. She is getting faster and faster every day. She has kind of a silly crawl. She pushes with her right leg and drags her left leg. It's almost more of a scoot than a crawl. It gets her to where she wants to go. I think she has enjoyed this independence.
She has slowed down quite a bit in the weight gaining department.
*Height: 28 3/4 inches 89%
*Head: 45 1/2 cm. 90%
As far as the minor health issues go:
*She has been really constipated since January. I thought it would all go away once we got the tubes in her ears and she was off all the antibiotics. Not the case. She is now on Miralax. It is working wonders for her. So that is one issue we have under control now.
*She has had a pretty good case of Eczema. She is itching all the time. She has scabs from scratching on her head since the rest of her body is covered at during the day and night with her clothes. But if her body isn't covered with clothes for a period of time, she will scratch away. We have tried a bunch of different creams, medications, lotions, etc. Right now we are putting them on twice a day. We alternate 2 different creams for her body every other day. And there is a foam that we are using for her head and face twice a day as well. I think we are starting to get her body under control, but her head is still having issues. I'm hoping it gets resolved soon. If not, off to the dermatologist we will go.
*Our pediatrician thinks that she has a milk allergy, but there's a possibility of something else as well. And because of that, he's thinking that the eczema is a side effect of the allergy. I am usually very cautious when introducing new foods so that if there is an allergy it can be caught without having to wonder too much about what caused it. The only new food that we have tried lately are yogurt melts and a baby yogurt. I normally don't give my babies those types of dairy items until they are closer to a year in age, but these are on the baby isle and the package says they are for sitters/crawlers. So I figured it was ok. Once I started to give those to Hallie, her eyes started to get red and puffy. There was a question initially if it was just her eczema acting up, but now we are thinking allergy. So since Tuesday we have started to cut out all milk based foods and she has been changed to a soy based formula as well. We have also cut out anything with high fructose corn syrup. So no more animal crackers, or nilla wafers that she has been enjoying. We will try this for a couple months and then slowly reintroduce each item. The hope is that her body just isn't ready for those types of foods and if we give it some time she will out grow it and also we are hoping this will help with her eczema. There is always the possibility of a permanent allergy, I hope not, but we'll just have to wait and see. Whatever it is, I would just like to know what we need to do to make her more comfortable.
Things Hallie has been doing this last month in no particular order:
*She started crawling the weekend of Valentine's Day. She is getting faster and faster every day. She has kind of a silly crawl. She pushes with her right leg and drags her left leg. It's almost more of a scoot than a crawl. It gets her to where she wants to go. I think she has enjoyed this independence.
*She is able to go from sitting to crawling and then back to sitting. This came really quickly after learning to crawl.
*She moves around a lot more on the bed than on the floor. I don't know why. Maybe she thinks that since it's softer, it's safer, even though that's not the case.
*She loves to play peek-a-boo. She thinks it is the best thing ever. She would play all day if we would play along all day.
*She is vocalizing more and more each day. The sounds we are hearing are the d's, n's, m's, b's, k's (for kitty-you can kinda hear her say it as she's trying to crawl toward the cat in the video. It's quiet, but it's there.)
*We are working with her on waving hi/bye and doing "so big" by putting her hands up in the air. She can do both, but it's still a little inconsistent.
Hallie doing "so big" and the silly face that comes with it.
*We moved her into her big girl car seat. This has been an adjustment. It's a lot tougher going into the store with Grant and Hallie together. So I just try to avoid it all together unless Mikkele is there to help me.
*She laughed at me the other day when I told her "no". I hope this isn't a sign of things to come.
*Her hair is getting a little longer. She doesn't like to have her headbands on her head anymore, she just pulls them off and then tries to pluck the flower petals off. She will leave in a little clip, if you can get her to sit still long enough to put it in that is. (You can see one in the video above) Mikkele got her hair into a little pony on the top of her head. It's still not quite thick enough to do too much, but it's something.
If you look hard you can see the hair above the butterfly clip. It's there...I promise.
*She's getting better at feeding herself. She loves to eat puffs, cheerios, fruit leather, crackers, etc. Some of which we are having to stop for now. But she is really improving on those fine motor skills.
*She shakes her head at us to say no if she doesn't want something (food, bottle, binki). It's kinda frustrating that she's learning no already, but it's still cute.
*She has never been much of a cuddler, but she has started to want to cuddle a little more lately. It's really sweet, except when she wants to do it at 4 in the morning.
I think that's about it. I'm sure I'm missing something, but this post is long enough already. We love our cute little Hallie May! We are excited about all the different things she is learning and doing.
*She moves around a lot more on the bed than on the floor. I don't know why. Maybe she thinks that since it's softer, it's safer, even though that's not the case.
*She loves to play peek-a-boo. She thinks it is the best thing ever. She would play all day if we would play along all day.
*She is vocalizing more and more each day. The sounds we are hearing are the d's, n's, m's, b's, k's (for kitty-you can kinda hear her say it as she's trying to crawl toward the cat in the video. It's quiet, but it's there.)
*We are working with her on waving hi/bye and doing "so big" by putting her hands up in the air. She can do both, but it's still a little inconsistent.
Hallie doing "so big" and the silly face that comes with it.*We moved her into her big girl car seat. This has been an adjustment. It's a lot tougher going into the store with Grant and Hallie together. So I just try to avoid it all together unless Mikkele is there to help me.
*She laughed at me the other day when I told her "no". I hope this isn't a sign of things to come.
*Her hair is getting a little longer. She doesn't like to have her headbands on her head anymore, she just pulls them off and then tries to pluck the flower petals off. She will leave in a little clip, if you can get her to sit still long enough to put it in that is. (You can see one in the video above) Mikkele got her hair into a little pony on the top of her head. It's still not quite thick enough to do too much, but it's something.
If you look hard you can see the hair above the butterfly clip. It's there...I promise.*She's getting better at feeding herself. She loves to eat puffs, cheerios, fruit leather, crackers, etc. Some of which we are having to stop for now. But she is really improving on those fine motor skills.
*She shakes her head at us to say no if she doesn't want something (food, bottle, binki). It's kinda frustrating that she's learning no already, but it's still cute.
*She has never been much of a cuddler, but she has started to want to cuddle a little more lately. It's really sweet, except when she wants to do it at 4 in the morning.
I think that's about it. I'm sure I'm missing something, but this post is long enough already. We love our cute little Hallie May! We are excited about all the different things she is learning and doing.
