Kathryn Reese: 4 Months

Weight: 13 pounds, 8 ounces (30th percentile)

Length: 25 inches (75th percentile)

Head Circumfrence: Enormous (95th percentile)

Clothes: 3-6 month

Diapers: Size 1

This month has been...rough. Girlfriend, your little digestive system just doesn't work very well. At the end of month 3, we started on Prevacid ($360 for a month's supply) which we were promised would be a miracle worker. Um...not so much. Two weeks later, I was back on the phone with the nurse because you were still pretty uncomfortable and vomiting at least one bottle each day. So, we decided to start on a thicker formula designed specifically for babies who spit up excessively...some help in the vomiting department, but since it is thick and not nearly as broken down for your tummy, it's very hard to digest and your stomach has been pretty upset. We've had to give you some pear juice and some...ahem, assistance...from time to time to help keep you...ahem, regular. Three days ago, I stopped giving you Prevacid, and you are doing SO much better! Dr. Newton told us this morning that the spit-up formula has to have stomach acids present in order to work, and the Prevacid was preventing your stomach from making acid...hence the discomfort. Soooo, all of that to say, feeding you is challenging. The plan going forward is to keep you off the Prevacid and ON the Similac for Spit-Up. We are going to hold off on solids for a while, too, given your sensitivity, and start with fruits and veggies in six weeks or so.

You are a PHENOMENAL sleeper at night, and you are slowly getting more and more consistent in the nap department. Most of the month, you took short naps around 8:30 and 11:30 and then went down for a good 2-hour stretch around 2pm. The last week or so, you've decided to make the morning nap the long one, so we'll see if that sticks. We've started putting you down more awake and letting you go to sleep on your own which seems to have helped quite a bit. You fuss for a few minutes, but generally speaking, you've got it figured out well. We did our new nap routine consistently the last two days and your naps were all at least 90 minutes long. (Wahoo!) Once we get your tummy figured out and I know you aren't crying out of pain/hunger, I think we'll be able to get on a more consistent schedule. 

You really are a sweet, happy little baby, but when your tummy hurts, you let us all know. Loudly. And when you're tired and ready for a nap, you let us all know. Loudly. Something tells me that your strong will and very opinionated nature won't change anytime soon...wonder where you got that from?? :) 

You are doing SO much better with your head/neck. We are still doing PT every 2-3 weeks to work on your tummy time aversion and stretch your tilt out, but you have ZERO trouble with your range anymore. You willingly look to the left (and can often be found sleeping that way!), but you still struggle with some tightness in the front of your neck. You are tolerating tummy time so much better though, and when on the Boppy, you do SO well looking up at my phone or a toy.You looked right on track this morning when Dr. Newton looked at your head control, so thank goodness for that! One less thing to worry about!

We look forward to celebrating your first Christmas with you in a few weeks! Love you, ladybug!