Gaining weight?

We've had a pretty busy couple of weeks.  Baby GL is adjusting very well to the new place.  At the same time he had to spend a few nights at Grandma's while we were working some late nights.  He really loved it.  There's a lot more space to crawl and move around over there.  He's made great strides crawling.  My family loves to entice him to crawl with a remote control or a cell phone.  He will choose the electronic devices over any other toys in his direction.  Even this morning he managed to crawl and pull up on the ottoman to pull down the remote.  Before that he bypassed his ball for my cell phone.  I just hope that his interest turns into a great job someday.  Now that he's moving around so much he's getting more balanced and stronger.  Something PT has been working on is getting him up to sitting on his own.  He can now crawl, stop, sit up, and continue to crawl.  He'll then bring himself over to anything he can pull himself up to.  Soon he'll take off walking.


On Friday we had an appointment with Pulmonary.  It's been a while since we've had a clinic visit so it felt strange going in to the hospital.  I knew what we were going to hear.  Last week we did his pulse-ox test overnight to measure his oxygen saturations.  I noticed the numbers were low so I could only assume the answer was to keep him on the O2.  Sure enough, it was.  His saturations were actually within normal ranges for a normal child.  However, a child with lung disease and pulmonary hypertension, the doctors want better saturations.  So for now he will remain on the O2, at least until we get onto a medication for the pulmonary hypertension.  We are going in within the next few weeks for another echo to get a general measurement of the pressure on his heart.  Once they decide to medicate then we could probably move away from the O2.


Prior to any appointment we get Baby GL's weight and height.  He absolutely hates it.  He's such a big boy now that he sat on the big scale that everyone else stands on.  Unfortunately, we found he has lost weight.  At the time of his surgery back in June he was about 15 and 1/2 lbs.  As of Friday he was only 15lbs 1 oz.  His weight loss is not something the doctors want to see.  His height wasn't accurate.  The best they could get was 24.5 inches, which I know he's much taller but he screams and thrusts his body around that we can't get an accurate measurement.  We've known for a while now that his weight has been a struggle.  He's been getting the same formula, Neosure, for nearly a year.  He began on breast milk, but it was fortified with the Neosure and since Christmas he's been strictly on 27 cal Neosure.  He is eating fruits and vegetables pretty well 3 times a day.  His activity level is so high that it's just not enough.  A normal 1 year old would be getting off formula and moving to milk.  Baby GL is not eating enough to move in that direction, though.  So instead he's moved to Pediasure.  I was a little leery of it because typically it's recommended for 24 months and older.  It is more calories, 30 over the 27 we were giving him with the Neosure.  We just have to see if it will be enough.


Baby GL has been on the Pediasure for the weekend now and he seems to like it.  We don't have to thicken it with cereal, which is nice.  It comes already premixed so there's no messy powder to deal with.  I can't complain about that. The only thing I don't like is that Pediasure only comes flavored, which means extra sugar.  We chose to stick to the vanilla for now.  I don't think we'll ever try the chocolate or strawberry.  I just can't help thinking it will be too much sugar in his system.  Well, at least he's eating.  If he grows faster he may move to more solid food, giving him the opportunity to get off so much of the Pediasure. A nice side affect of the Pediasure is that Baby GL smells like vanilla all the time.   I'm going to assume it's from the random spills that land on his clothes, etc.  It just makes me want to cuddle with him more.