25 August

We continue on...

Max is working hard on his solids. I try a new one every three days or so, just to make sure there's no adverse reactions. So far we've tried carrot, kumara, pumpkin, potato, zucchini, apple, peach, prune juice and rice cereal. Yesterday we tried broccoli - and I think we've found our first 'no' food. he screwed up his face when he got his first spoonful, and later he choked and gagged, requiring a bang on the back to get it out. Hmmm. Well, we'll try again today, a teaspoon only, and see if we get the same reaction.

With the change in diet, we've had a corresponding change in the 'output'. A little worrying as it has become much thicker and 'formed', and Max has started the odd 'grunt' - which is normally very funny & cute in normal babies, but with his bowel history it scares the hell out of us. Hence, the prune juice. I add 5-10ml to his breakfast cereal/fruit, and it does seem to be making a difference.

This week's food will be broccoli (if we can), avocado (if the ones I bought today for 79c each are actually any good) and banana. I have been warned that banana can contribute to constipation, so we may do a 'go slow' on that one, or add prune juice to the mush. We'll also try the odd 'vege mix', to make sure that he doesn't lose the tase for the veges he's already tried. I've found that if I add formula to the veges, and warm it all up a little, it's a kind of vege soup. He tends to slurp it off the spoon rather than open his mouth up, but we're getting there.

He still loves holding the spoon, but for my own sanity (and to reduce washing), now I hold both his hands (one under my arm) and only give him the spoon to play with at the end of the meal. Otherwise, he flicks the spoon out of his mouth, and food goes on him, on me, on the walls, on the cat....

He is still a bit weak in his upper body, but his legs are going great guns. He loves to stand up, and is holding himself for longer & longer (well, up to a minute) without buckling at the knees. He's trying to roll, but his upper body is letting him down. If he could push up a bit more with his arms, he'd be fine. In fact, there have been one or two good rolls from front to back, but only with great encouragement. I simply hope he'll catch up. We have a physio appointment on Monday, so we'll see then.

He seems to have a 'lazy' eye - and occasionally will go cross-eyed. I hoped this was just a growth thing, but just to be sure we're going to see the eye doctor in early October (rather than December) to have him checked out.

He is now over ten times his birth weight (at 6.4kg) and over double his birth length (at 63.5cm). The weight is consistent and doing well, around the 5th percentile, but his length has leapt from below the 1st percentile to up around the 8-10th! He's still a shortie.

13 August

Yes, another interesting week.

Despite me saying that he should start solids when he is six months corrected, this week he was advised to start! (He was 5 months corrected yesterday). So, on Wednesday, he had some rice cereal, which went down very well - eventually. He does OK when you spoon food in, but much better if he's allowed to hold and suck on the spoon. The spoon needs to be upside-down, though, so he can get at the food.

Thursday he took 2t of rice cereal, and we tried carrot on Friday - loved it. We could probably have kept on spooning it into him - but we weren't too keen to overload his bowel so early! Saturday he took carrot again - double the amount he had the day before (4 teaspoons over two 'meals'). Yesterday he had one 'meal' of 2 teaspoons of carrot, and another of 4 teaspoons of rice cereal. He actually is anticipating the spoon a little (occasionally). The plan is to try a new food every three days, but keep going with the other ones as well. We have kumara, pumpkin and zucchini all cooked & ready to go (easier to cook it all at once, then freeze it. If he doesn't like it - well, no great loss). He's still continuing with his bottles - always between 450 and 550ml per day - sometimes slightly less, sometimes slightly more.

He is getting better at 'tummy time' - is lifting his head a reasonable amount, and is also starting to try and lift his legs as well. It could be the beginning of a crawl motion - we'll see.

He visited his bowel surgeon - who is great - and he is fine not to see Max again until he's 18 and can buy the doc a beer at the Adelaide Oval on the first day of a test.

6 August

Just a weight update - he's now 6.090kg, up 350g in 14 days. He's tracking quite well along the 10th percentile line, so despite the small amounts of food he's taking (or so it seems to us), he's growing!

5 August

This week has seen a few interesting changes. Firstly, Max has decided that he likes to be held in a standing position rather than in a sitting one. For a month or two now, if you hold his hands/forearms (with him gripping your thumbs), he has braced himself and tried to pull himself into a sit. Lots of fun, and he's getting better at holding his head up (though he'll still allow it to drop down sometimes). From Wednesday, however, he not only pulled himself up, but pushed down with his feet and straightened his legs - resulting in a standing up baby! Quite frightening at first, as he was gripping my hands so tightly that I found it hard to let go and hold him! He still doesn't have a good amount of strength in his upper torso, so while his little legs are working hard to straighten and hold him up, his shoulders & body are flopping! Ah well, it's all good physio.

He also is trying to blow 'raspberries' - but basically he ends up with pursed lips and a bit of air and spit blowing out. Very funny to watch.

We also had our first 'Parent's Group' session - actually a very nice group, almost all girls (only Max and one other boy), and a variety of 'stories' to tell. Although some had bad birth stories (but, thank goodness, one in particular was extremely positive - good on you), I was still jealous. Quite hard for me, listening to some of it, but I think the group will be a good one. I hope so, anyway. It would be nice to make some different friends - ones with 'normal' babies and from different backgrounds - to add to the fabulous premmie parents we already know.

I have had people ask about how we'll keep up the blog. basically I'll try and make an entry every week or fortnight, unless there's something to say. It is quite hard to actually get to sit down at the computer for more than a couple of minutes at a time - Max doesn't like being ignored, and still hates daytime sleeping!