3 Months

Our sweet Claire turned 3 months old on Wednesday.  Man, those three months have just flown by!  Claire is starting to show much more of her personality.  She's started smiling, especially when she sees a ceiling fan or you play peek-a-boo with her.  In the past few days she has found her hands and likes to clasp them together or grasp objects.  She also now moves her feet purposefully to kick the bouncy seat.  She's been a pretty good sleeper at night as well.  She's slept through the night a couple of times now, but most nights goes for a 7-8 hour stretch (usually 6 or 7 PM to 2 or 3 AM).

Poor Claire has had a rough go of things the past week though.  Last week she had a pretty high fever for a few days and the doctor suspected a UTI.  She had to have a catheter put in, which was painful for her and for me to watch.  After all was said and done, she did not have a UTI, but probably roseola (she broke out in a full body rash as soon as the fever broke). 

The most shocking discovery was on Tuesday.  I had taken Claire to a pediatric GI to follow up on her acid reflux issue.  After discussing what I've been noticing (grunting, straining, much fussiness), the doctor decided to get a stool sample.  It turned out Claire had blood and mucous in her stool...poor thing.  I had not noticed the blood at all.  The doctor also said Claire had mild excema, which I thought was just dry skin.  Even though I have two other children, neither of them ever had these symptoms.

So, the doctor diagnosed Claire with a food allergy.  It's most likely one of the major 5 allergens (milk protein, wheat, soy, nuts, or eggs).  Because of her age, they won't do a skin allergy test to find out which allergen she can't tolerate.  Basically, the GI told me I needed to stop breastfeeding Claire immediately.  In theory I could have cut out all of those allergens from my diet, but because of my diabetes, that just isn't a viable option.  She was put on a crazy expensive medical grade formula (hooray!  written in sarcasm font).  Luckily Claire FINALLY figured out how to take a bottle about 2 weeks ago...good timing!  After one day of being off breast milk and on formula, Claire was like a new baby.  So much more content, no more grunting, straining, and fussing.  Much less spitting up.  Just so much happier.  I was pretty sad that I had to stop breastfeeding Claire so abruptly, especially since she is my last baby.  But seeing how much her demeanor has improved makes me feel better.

So, that's the scoop on Miss Claire Bear.  I'm sure we'll have much more to report on her development in the next month. :)

14 lbs 6 oz and 24 inches long