Monday, September 13, 2010

Ava at Four Months

Ava will be 4 months old tomorrow. We had our doctor appointment today. We had lots of questions and got some answers too. First for the important stuff:

Ava was 13 lbs 2 oz and 23 3/4 inches long - those are both in about the 35%. So she is super proportional! What is crazy is she gained a pound in a month! When we went in last month for her ear infection she was 12 lbs! She is still coming in smaller than Carli was at 4 months. Carli was 13 lbs 10 oz and 25 inches long. So Ava just seems bigger to us b/c she got her Momma's short genes. :)

On to our questions...

Ava has been the baby that spits up. She spits up a lot! At her 2 month check up, I didn't think it was reflux b/c she swallowed so much air when she nursed since she didn't latch on correctly. When she spit up, it was usually within 15 minutes of nursing and it didn't seem to hurt her. Fast forward to through the last two months and Ava has horrible gas and will spit up an hour or so after she has eaten. And it is obvious that it hurts when she does spit up. She still eats about every 2 to 2.5 hrs and at night every three hours. So, I was concerned about the projectile spitting up, her hurting, the gas and not sleeping...turns out I worry too much.

The doc said that her frequent feeding is actually a sign of reflux and is good. That she is taking frequent small feedings so that her tummy can handle the milk. And to keep doing what we are doing. The massive spit ups are probably occuring when she is taking in a lot more than normal and her tummy can't handle it. She said that all babies have gas, the only difference with Ava is that we smell her's and it is b/c of the frequent feedings and her getting more of the foremilk instead of the hindmilk which acts as a balancer to neutralize the smell of the gas. All that to say, we are going to try some reflux medicine to see if it will take away the pain when Ava does spit up. We are not going to try cereal for another two months and at least I got a pat on the back for my deprivation of carbonation! :) We are hoping by 6 months her tummy will have matured more and that will help with the reflux as well as being able to sit up on her own which will help her tummy digest better.

Ava is an alert little thing. She handles tummy time much better than Carli ever did. She loves her floor gym in the mornings and will kick and flail her arms for a good 30 minutes. She loves to coo at you one on one, absolutely hates the car seat, rolls from her tummy to back, is super ticklish under her arms and loves to sit up.

Some days it seems like 4 months have flown by, some nights it seems like it has not. But she is the sweetest little cuddle bug when she is tired and has the biggest grin for you when we wake up. Wow, 4 months old!






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