Brandon: 2 Months.

Septemeber 3rd, 2013:

Happy 2 month birthday to my little baby!!!! Let's start off with his stats from his 2 month well baby check up:

WEIGHT: 12lbs (41%)

HEIGHT: 23.75 inches (82%)

HEAD CIRCUMFERENCE: 39.5cm (38%)

Looks like our little bean has grown a good 3 inches in a month and a half, but only gained about 4 pounds. His weight gain isn't so bad, but he could have gained a wee bit more in my opinion. The past month has been rough. As I've mentioned before, Brandon has struggled with really bad reflux and gas pains. This has caused him to not nurse very well (goodbye milky boobs!), not sleep through the night (waking up every hour), throwing up in any position we put him in (stinky stinky!), and just being all around, uncomfortable and fussy. I refused to put him on any reflux prescription because he's such a little baby. I really think putting meds in his tiny little body would cause more harm than good. Besides, I wanted to try every homeopathic treatment in the book before I pumped synthetic crap into his body to make him feel better...

But alas. I caved in. I wanted Brandon to feel better. I wanted both me and him to get some much needed rest and sleep through the night. I wanted his tummy to feel better. And I just wanted him to be a happy baby. At his 2 month appointment, he was soooo fussy that the pediatrician asked if he was always like that. I reluctantly told her yes. It was the truth. So she asked me to nurse him to calm him down so that we could talk. As I nursed Brandon in front of her, the pediatrician witnessed the dynamics of me trying to nurse this baby... She must have felt awkward because not only was he crying, kicking, screaming, and arching his back like crazy, she noticed that (in her own words) I was sweaty and looked stressed. She mentioned that nursing is suppose to be a special bond between mother and baby and that it was suppose to be such a relaxing and calming experience. Trust me. I know. I nursed Madison til she was 18 months and she was a total dream! Anyway, she diagnosed Brandon with having "GERD" and gave me all of these options of helping him. I told her that we tried everything. Probiotics, inclined sleeping, infant tummy massage, homeopathic gas drops... And I finally broke down and asked her for the reflux prescription...

So we started Brandon off with a prescription for Zantac. We had him on it for a week. It wasn't a miracle drug, although it did make him start nursing a LOT better, and much more calm. Since he still had some signs of reflux, we switched his prescription to Prilosec. This is where we found some results. Brandon nurses better and longer. There's less throw up, and he's actually sleeping a lot more through the night. Yay! He is definitely a much happier baby. He doesn't cry or fuss as much anymore, and if he does, there's nothing like mama's singing voice to calm him down quickly. :)

We're suppose to give the medicine to him for the rest of the month. I'm not so sure how long we're suppose to keep him on it, but hopefully he grows out of this sooner than later so that we don't have to rely on yucky meds to make him feel better. I've also cut out dairy and tomatoes and onions and garlic (well, trying my best to) out of my diet to help calm his belly too. Apparently the foods I eat can affect him because he gets it through my breastmilk. And although I'm soooo happy that he's actually a nursing champ now, he's also decided that the bottle is just not for him anymore. He literally refuses the bottle. Damn. My baby is now my ball and chain. Nobody can feed him but me. It's always one problem to the next, eh?

Anyway, besides the reflux issue we've been experiencing (or lack thereof with the recent medication), our little baby is now smiling A LOT and cooing up a storm! At 2 months, he's VERY observant, loves to smile, LOVES LOVES LOVES to talk/coo, loves his bathtime, and has discovered his hand/fist. He loves to stare at his little hands and loves to suck on his fists. And he is now finally the happy baby that I've been waiting to have. And of course, he's getting much more handsome as the days go by. I literally am sooooooo in love with this guy!