Vivi: Thirty-Three, Thirty-Four & Thirty-Five Weeks

Wow, I let myself get way behind writing Vivi's weekly updates.  Second child syndrome rears its ugly head!  Sorry, Vivi.

Vivi wants to crawl so badly.  She's still not sure how to get one of her knees out behind her.  Instead she rocks her body back and forth while she leans forward on her hands like she's getting ready to launch.  In the meantime, she's figured out how to scoot about without crawling.  She moves all around the playroom to reach the toys she wants.  She arms crawls backwards when she's on her tummy.  Pretty soon everything will click in place, and she'll be following me around the house instead of crying every time I put her down.  Also, I better start cleaning the floors more often.

Sleep is becoming a real issue.  Her patterns are getting worse instead of better.  In April, she was starting to sleep for eight-hour stretches, and she took two solid naps a day.  Now, she wakes up two to three times during the night, and she very rarely naps unless it's a quick snooze while she nurses.

I know she would be a much happier baby if she were better rested, we're just struggling to find a way to make that happen.  We had a plan of action for Madeline, but we're having a hard time finding something that works well for Vivi.  Anyone have any tips?

She's been eating her  cocktail of prunes, juice, oatmeal, and laxatives every day, and it's still working.  We haven't had any more tummy troubles since starting the medication.  Now that she's not getting backed up every time she eats, I've been able to give her more solids.  She likes getting food other than prunes!   

On the other hand, Vivi's eczema has been terrible over the past month.  It's spreading to her chest, but her ankles and the backs of her knees are still the worst areas.

I opened her pajamas one morning while we were in Vermont to find her covered in an unsightly itchy, red rash, so we brought her to a walk-in clinic at a local hospital.  Guess what?  She's allergic to her eczema cream...her hypoallergenic, fragrance free, dye free, National-Eczema-Association- recommended baby moisturizer.  This was the second hypoallergenic brand we've tried that she reacted poorly to.  So...yeah...there's that.

We met with the GI specialist yesterday, and while he was pleased with her weight gain, (15 lbs, 10th percentile) he was worried by her rash.  She has so many strange symptoms even though I've changed my diet.  And while her tummy is getting better, it's taking two daily medications to get there.  

In a round-about way, he basically told me to switch to formula.  Breastfeeding is best, but not if it's continuously making my baby uncomfortable.  He suggested I pump while we add in more formula to see if her symptoms improve.  That way, I won't loose my supply if the formula doesn't work out.  

Even before we saw the doctor, I wanted to start adding in formula.  First, I'm worried that my supply isn't keeping up with Vivi's demands.  There's been a lot of biting and pulling and fussing while eating recently.  Secondly, as the doctor suggested, I wanted to see if it helped her out.

Eric buckled down and really tried to get her to take a bottle of her hypoallergenic formula this week.  The first few times she wasn't having it, but eventually, she gave in.  Yesterday she had two bottles without incident.  We'll continue to gradually add in more bottles over the next week before Eric goes back to work.  Then we'll have to see if she'll take a bottle from me.  We'll see.

It's funny.  I thought I was better prepared to have a baby the second time around, and in a lot of ways I am, but this baby just keeps throwing more surprises my way.  Parenthood is one giant experiment.