Hi guys! It's been a while since I've posted an update on Cal. He's 9 months now (SO crazy to think he'll be ONE in less than 3 months!?!). He is such a little love. So full of joy and he has the sweetest, easy-tempered personality.
His followups with doctors and specialists have slowed down, which is good! We were able to cross off a couple of things we were worried about when he was born, and are now just following up with those doctors every 6 months to a year (his kidneys, and blood counts look good!). He still sees cardiology every couple of months, but things with his little heart have stayed stable. When he was born his cardiologist thought he would for sure need a valve replacement within the first year of his life. Now he's saying he thinks we may be able to wait a couple more years because things are looking okay. More time for Cal to get bigger and stronger and that's what we want!
We still work with a physical therapist quite often since Cal is definitely behind in hitting a lot of his milestones. He just barely learned to sit up on his own, and we are SO proud of his progress, but still have a long way to go.
He also has an occupational therapist come work with him because he still has his g-tube. Getting him off the g-tube is currently our biggest goal for him. He is such a happy, content little boy, but his g-tube seems to be the one thing that bothers him and even causes him pain, I think, sometimes. If it accidentally gets pulled or rubbed the wrong way, or even when I clean around it sometimes, he gets upset and I just so badly wish he could get it out. On the bright side, it's helping him get all of the nutrients he needs to grow and develop, and for that, I am grateful.
When he was in the NICU we was only taking about 30% of his full feedings by mouth (bottles with my pumped milk), and the rest was given through his ng tube. We worked with some amazing occupational therapists in the hospital on his feeding. Both of the therapists we worked with swore by Dr. Brown's Baby bottles. Not only are Dr. Brown's bottles known for reducing colic, spit-up, burping and gas, they also have different sized nipples for different baby stages to control the flow of the milk. We started Cal out with a premie sized nipple, and moved up to a level two.
Cal never progressed to the point where he was drinking enough to come home from the NICU, so after two months living in a hospital, he ended up getting the g-tube placed so he could come home.
We've been able to work on feeding him in the comfort of our own home, and still supplement what he needs through his g-tube. He never really learned to master drinking his full feedings from the bottle, but Dr. Brown's also has some great transitional products for going from bottle to a cup, and also products for solid food feeding. Cal has done much better with smooth pureed food than he did with a drinking a bottle, and has learned to drink from the Dr. Brown's Soft Spout Cup.
We are so blessed to have so many amazing baby products out there to help with Cal's feeding journey. Now Cal just needs to learn to love food as much as his mama does so he can get that dang tube out ;)
Thanks for reading! Please let me know if you have any questions on Dr. Brown's baby products or if you have or know anyone who has a baby with a g-tube and have questions about that.
Thanks you Dr. Brown's Baby for sponsoring this post. All opinions are my own.