On Strike

Henry had another late night on Thursday. We gave him a bath, which is ever so important, now that he's playing with rice cereal.

Henry has decided to go on a bottle strike. On Friday and Saturday, he ate less than 600 mls per day (that's less than 20 ounces per day). On Friday, Jeff weighed him at 15 lbs 6.5 ozs. On Saturday, he somehow managed to weigh 15 lbs 8 ozs. He is eating his rice cereal, but he isn't eating enough to make up for the calories that he should be getting from breast milk. He should be consuming around 800 calories per day. We are bit frustrated by this turn of events. We also feel strongly that we can't force feed him either. That can cause food aversions. Cuyler (Henry's occupational therapist) is coming on Monday. We plan to discuss the situation with her then.

On Friday, we had the Synagis shot in the morning. The pulmonologist's office weighed Henry at 15 lbs 8 ozs. Henry had fun on the tissue paper as usual. Then came the big shot. As I have mentioned on previous entries, the Synagis shot is considered one of the more painful shots. Henry cried for 2 seconds, but then was comforted by his dad. Grandma and Grandpa were unable to visit on Friday. My mom had a speech to give in Sierra Vista. Henry and I spent the morning listening to children's songs from a CD that I bought him. He was very tired in the morning. I guess the Synagis shot really wiped him out. Plus, he had stayed up the night before and then had to get out of bed earlier than usual because of the Synagis appointment. Bitsy made a good attempt at getting as close to Henry as possible. She very much wants to play with him, but Jeff and I keep ruining her plans.

Tara, Henry's developmental specialist, visited on Friday afternoon. He was asleep through the first half of her visit. When he finally woke up, he let her hold him. He studied her face intensely. He let her put him down for tummy time. He did an impressive job. His push ups were very high. He inched himself around. He even managed to get his backside up a little bit into the air. And for once, he smiled and giggled when he was on his stomach. He worked up quite an appetite. Tara had the opportunity to watch me give him some rice cereal. She said that she hadn't seen a baby be so "aggressive" over eating his food. As the spoon came into his sight, he grabbed by my hand with both of his and pulled the spoon to his mouth. She was impressed again. She is really pleased with his progress. When Henry was originally assigned to her case load, his prior case manager had labeled him as a FTT child (FTT = failure to thrive). When this label was assigned to him, Jeff and I didn't agree with it. My reading of the literature (admittedly it is a limited reading) put much harder stories under the FTT label. It is true that Henry had a rough start in the NICU. But since he has been home, he has steadily gain weight (until December when he got sick...and even then, he has gain some weight). Jeff and I did not contest the labeling as we decided to leave it to the experts; besides, it gave Henry access to the therapists he needed to see. He got shifted from AZEIP (AZ early intervention program) to DDD (Division of Developmental Disabilities). Although the transition from one program to the other took forever (the prior program took a long time to send DDD Henry's file), we are very pleased by Tara's commitment to our son. Tara has another patient who is a true FTT child who is almost 3; for obvious reasons, she didn't get into details, but I can tell that the situation is a difficult one. When Henry was first assigned to her, she assumed he was FTT because that's what she had been told, so his progress since she has known him has been a pleasant surprise for her.

We asked Tara when Henry will next be evaluated on one of the tests to see where he's at in terms of his development. Interestingly, she said that all of the tests that they use evaluate him are based on his actual age, not his adjusted age. Based on these tests, he's always going to be considered "delayed." She said that there is one test that assesses where their development is, not how delayed they are in comparison to their actual age; she said that it was the one that the pediatricians often use. So Henry will be tested by the early intervention program, but we have to keep in mind that the base of the scale is actual age. I suspect that the early intervention programs do this to justify their funding. I guess it isn't enough to say, "Hey, this kid was born 15 weeks early, is in a high risk group because of his prematurity, and therefore should be monitored closely. Duh." They have to "prove" that the kid is behind.

As usual, we went on our evening walks on Friday and Saturday evening at dusk. We have still been skipping the morning walks with Henry. Jeff takes the dogs out by himself. Henry loves his walks. I can't wait until it warms up so that Henry will get two walks a day instead of one. Henry is still staying up late. Don't know what to do about that.

Henry continued his hungry strike with the bottle Saturday morning. Henry had just about finished his rice cereal packets altogether, so I went to the store and got him more rice cereal and jars of first fruits. Jeff wants me to hold off giving Henry fruits until we see Cuyler. I'm respecting his request, but I really think that Henry's ready. He practically hangs off my arm trying to get spoonfuls of rice cereal into his mouth.

Grandpa came over on Saturday afternoon. He had missed Henry, because he hadn't seen him Thursday or Friday. Grandpa observed that Bitsy is getting a little territorial over the Baby Einstein caterpillar toy. It's true. She thinks that it is hers. Whenever Henry isn't using it, she sits under it. She loves playing with the dangling ball. She's even made a few baskets with it through a hoop that sets off the music. When Henry is using it, she stalks around it.

While I was out shopping, in addition to getting more rice cereal, I also got Henry a whole lot of bibs. He's eating so often that I figured it was a good investment. I strongly suspect that he will be a frequent eater once he really gets going...no mere three square meals a day for this boy! Henry was a good rice cereal eater again this evening. We also got a little bit of a bottle into him before Jeff put him to bed. And, he woke up around midnight (as I was completing this entry) for another bottle. He is now soundly asleep. And I'm tired. So off to pump and then I'm hitting the hay.