I don't get the feeling that she's sick - she has no fever, no cold symptoms, no signs of stomach upset, etc. Last night I had coffee with two friends who each have boy/girl twins (hi, Gretchen and Trish) and after describing Lily's behavior they both told me that it sounded like the beginning stages of teething. This could be possible, since biologically the babies are almost 5 months. The girls recommended that I give her Tylenol 30 minutes before a bottle to see if that helps. If she sucks better after the Tylenol then her gums may have been bothering her. I plan to give that a try and see how it goes.
On the contrary, Charlie has been Mr. Easy Going. I guess he's trying to balance out his sister. For the last few days all he's done is eat, play, sleep, repeat. Such a good boy - for now. I'm sure he'll take his turn once Lily perks back up.
As for the great search for a pacifier holder, we've reached a big fail. The Wubbanub is cute but still doesn't stay in their mouths well. So I ordered Paci Plushies, which are also cute but also do not stay in their mouths well. And Lily decided that there is nothing worse than the pacifier that comes with the Paci Plushie. The moment I put it in her mouth she started to gag. I immediately removed it, of course, but she continued to gag until she threw up all over herself and me. Ooops. Okay Lily, message received. No new binkys! I'm assuming these things will work better when the babies are a little older and can grasp better. We'll see. For now Joe and I are resigned to replacing binkies in mouths as often as needed.
On Sunday we took Charlie and Lily to the cemetery to visit their sister. We've been wanting to do this for some time but hadn't gotten around to it. But on Sunday the weather was so gorgeous that we decided we better do it then since it could be the last nice weekend we have for awhile. It was a sad thing to see, Charlie and Lily's little car seats in front of Annaleigh's headstone, but we thought it was important for them to "see" her again.
Afterwards, Uncle John and Aunt Rebecca came over with dinner for us - manicotti, salad, bread and pumpkin whoopie pies - which helped cheer us up. When it came time to eat both babies were asleep in the living room - Lily in her bouncy seat and Charlie in his swing - so we decided to go all out and eat in the dining room (with me leaping up every 5 minutes to peek in on them). When I heard Charlie wake up over the baby monitor I unplugged him from his apnea montior for a few minutes and brought him into the dining room with me. He was fascinated by these new surroundings - the babies rarely leave the living room since they are tethered to the monitors. He was staring around at everything all wide eyed. I guess we need to start taking field trips to other rooms in the house!
Every once in awhile Lily will stare at something over our shoulders and make this face. I can't say it's not a little unnerving. What is she looking at?!?! Although maybe she's just practicing her scared face for a career as a horror movie actress. Scream 10 anyone?
Sorry, Bug. Not the most flattering picture of you, but I love the look on Charlie's face!
Lily always looks confused when she's put with Charlie. It's like she's thinking, "Who is this kid and why do they keep shoving us together?!?"
Hip hip hooray for Mommy!
20 comments:
It definitely sounds like it is teething you are dealing with. Our daughter did the exact same thing, Hylands teething tablets and Tylenol did the trick.
Are the babies Using Soothies? It is the only bink our Daughter will use and we FINALLY found a holder for it at babies r Us they have a clip on one end and the other has what looks like a hair tie but it isn't stretchy, you just feed it through the hole on the soothie and you are set...no more chasing them around the house
Don't worry too much, I know how it can be having a baby in NICU for a long time. You get really good with numbers, and when a baby isn't taking in that magic amount every feeding it can be scary. Our son did the same for awhile, we would push for bigger amounts by doing the bottle twirl etc, he started to like his feedings less and less. Hope the tylenol helps. I know it's rare, but normal for babies to be born term with teeth, I've actually seen one little 6lb boy with a razor in the bottom of his mouth, so even without their actual age under consideration, yes they could be teething.
As soon as I started reading the first thing that popped into my head was that she is teething. Definitely try the baby tylenol and see if that helps. Her gumming the nipple probably feels good!
Good Luck!
Was thinking teething also, but wanted to throw out that you may want to experiment with a different nipple.
Sherry
Awwwwwww....the pictures are adorable. Hope your teething issues are short lived. :-)
When our babies started not eating like Lily the actually were flattening the nipple of their bottle! They needed to move up in nipple flow! Also in the pic of Lily where you apologizze that it isn't a good pic of her, WOW does Charlie look like his daddy!
p.s. I have never left a comment on your blog, this is davenmissy from the board!
Haven't commented before, but follow your blog! Anyway, when my little one started pulling stunts like Lily, we got her a faster flow nipple. Worked like a charm, although we did not have breathing issues/monitors, etc. Just thought I'd mention it. And the Wubbanubs do get better as they get older. Two of my three LOVE theirs. Just plan on propping pacis for a long time--there's no perfect solution out there (not that we could find, anyway). Good luck! Amy @ http://andtripletsmakesix.blogspot.com
for the pacifier holder check out
http://www.learningcurve.com/product/detail/Y44340001?locale=en_US
or type in something similar in ebay my daughter has the flower clip one for her soothie pacifier. Hope that helps!
http://www.babyearth.com/the-first-years-soothie-pacifier-attacher.html
I was gonna say teething as well..but i'd watch giving her tylenol, just 0.4mls of it. being tiny I might do half that but I'd say 0.4 should be fine. On my chart of meds anyway, it says 0.4 for her weight. Good luck
What is she staring at? My guess is her sister who is always there to check up on her siblings. :)
Hold onto the Wubanubs. Our girls are 18 months old now and they are great because they don't roll out of the cribs as easy as the regular soothies, so it saves us from midnight trips to locate fallen pacis.
I'm probably one of the few people that may say it might not be teething. My kids were 3 months preemie and my pediatrician indicated that the majority of the time (every now and then this isn't right) kids will get teeth at their gestationally corrected age, not according to their birth age. My twins are 7 1/2 mo (4 1/2 corrected) and no signs of teeth. We did have some moments of not eating as well and it usually sorted itself out within a week and had more to do with being around a growth spurt. Adam seemed to fluctuate more with behavior but Sara was pretty consistent.
We gave up and just resorted to replacing pacifiers, too. And then one day we didn't have to any more! Here's to your day coming soon!
The kids continue to be adorable. Hope your schedule is getting a little more regular. How is the burn on your leg?
I don't think it sounds like teething. I think it sounds like reflux. Is she on reflux meds? If not, maybe she should be or her dosage needs to be adjusted. This sounds very much like the behavior my preemies did when they got reflux. My kids did not come home from the hospital with reflux. They developed it several weeks later.
I second the suggestion of maybe needing to go up on nipple flow.
Brooke, one thing that I didn't realize when I had my first baby was that there are different nipple lengths for bottles. My daughter wasn't eating well all of a sudden. It took me a while, but that was the problem. Another thing to try, maybe??? Hopefully Lily will be back to herself soon!!!
I love Lily's face in that picture! My son sometimes does the same thing. It's particularly unnerving when I peek into his room toward the end of nap time - sometimes he hasn't made a sound, but he's sitting there staring at me. Creepy!! I call it his "children of the corn" face.
Brooke- your family is darling. As always. Anastasia the Paci Queen will onlytake Nuks. But I almost switched to Gum
drops because they've been rumored to stay in easier. I also think I sounds like teething or nipple flow issues. You and Joe Are doing an amazing job.
your family is beautiful!! I love your blog!! you are tremendous parents!!!
When our babies look over our shoulder (or anywhere) and appear to see something we don't, we always say they're seeing angels. Perhaps her sister is playing with her?
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