Health Matters

After our frightening experience with the gas leak, I thought we'd had our excitement for the month. But I forgot that life with a baby is always an adventure...

Two weeks ago, Noah started coughing - or should I say barking? His congestion was enough to get us both up through the night for a week. Then, he shared it with me. And since I can't take sudafed (b/c nursing), I discovered the only way I could breathe through my nose (and thus eat) was to exercise. So I spent this last week on our treadmill or hopping around the kitchen. Noah was highly amused, and I'm afraid his father may have caught me on video. But you don't know what a beautiful thing it is to breathe clearly until you can't.

By Thursday, we both seemed on the road to good health, until Noah woke Friday with a 100.5 fever. Thankfully, he's a happy guy who likes to snuggle, so we're riding this out and hoping he's just teething.

Last but not least, for the past 2 months, Noah has steadily been shifting his milk intake from daytime to nighttime -- a worrisome trend for any parent who prefers not to be nocturnal. At first, I blamed the upheaval of the holidays and illnesses, but his consistent refusal to eat more than 2.5oz or 4-5minutes at a time during the day taught me otherwise. I finally broke down and called the doctor when he went 3 days only eating 4-5oz. during the day (that's usually enough for 1 feeding, not 3).

I can't tell you my relief when she said this is just a phase. He's distracted during the day (eating is boring!) and makes up for it at night. He's also more efficient when nursing and dislikes bottles, so judging his intake by his bottle feeds probably isn't fair. Since he's a healthy weight (15lbs, 4oz), eating, peeing, pooping, and still smiling, she's not worried. According to her, it's ok to go ahead and feed him at night for now. If we can just make it to his 6 month birthday, then we can start solid foods (much more exciting) and he'll naturally shift back toward daytime. We'll see about that.