Penelope is 2 months old!
Hi time, where did you go?
It’s hard to believe that that what was once a tiny, snuggly squish has already emerged into her own person, with a distinct personality, smiles for days (!), and is so much fun to have around.
Here’s what’s happening at 2 months:
–The reflux is becoming more manageable. She’s spitting up more than ever (so we’ll be heading back for another weight check), but she doesn’t seem to be in nearly as much pain. The laundry is no big deal; it just makes me happy to see what she’s not crying as much with the reflux, and seems to be much happier all in all. Now if we could find a way for the food to stay down, it would be wins all around.
-She likes holding her head up -she’ll push away to look at everything she can possibly see- and is getting control of her limbs. Instead of flailing her little arms about, she brings them to her mouth, clasps them together to play with her fingers, and can hold her Oball and rattle.
-Her baby coos are incredible. She’s already very good at making conversation… and I am currently the goo-goo ga ga queen. It makes me laugh because Liv mimics everything I say to her, so Liv will get up in her face with the most ridiculous smile and high-pitched voice. I just can’t help myself.
-She got her first set of shots last week, and no matter how many times you see it, it is heartbreaking to watch your baby get a shot. She was lying on the table kicking her feet, smiling and cooing at the nurse, who promptly injected her in the thigh. P’s face turned bright red, and she cried so, so much. It was heartbreaking.
-I have no idea how to do tummy time with a reflux baby, because when we try, it turns into a spit-up festival. She’s held often, so her head isn’t flat, but I’d love some ideas to help her with head and arm strength without direct pressure on her tummy.
-Since we’re starting to get into a groove a little with her routine (we do the EASY method in the Baby Whisperer books as we did with Liv), it will be fun to start planning more outings and adventures! It would be fun to do a baby music class, similar to the MyGym classes we did with Liv.
Likes:
Bath time!
Getting her hair brushed
When I rub her little eyebrows before bed (she closes her eyes until she crashes)
Anytime big sis is around
Reading books
Dislikes:
Cold
The carseat (still)
When I sneeze (understandable. My sneezes are frightening haha)
We love you, Miss P. Keep growing, little love bug.
xoxo
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She is so cute!! My daughter had some tummy issues and couldn’t have weight directly on her tummy. We had an occupational therapist make us a little tummy time wedge-just a foam wedge with a hole cut out for the tummy. Not sure if that would work for P but just an idea! Might be worth visiting an OT if you can-they can be pretty creative!
So sweet! Glad to hear she isn’t in as much distress with the reflux. She’s such a little cutie and sounds like she is just taking this reflux in stride. I think I read somewhere that time spent on mom and daddy’s chest counts as tummy time, especially as they begin to push away more and look around. Maybe that position would be better for her reflux!
Maybe try to do tummy time on a Boppy (arms over the front, tummy in middle). Maybe that would relieve a bit of the pressure. Just closely supervise since she would be on something soft on her tummy.
ohh that’s a good idea!
We had a reflux baby (not too much spit up, but lots of tummy trouble). He loved being over our shoulder at that age and he could lift his head, push up with his arms, etc. Just as good as tummy time and actually made him happy to see the world from up high!
She is BEAUTIFUL! I love little P updates!!
My little girl (now 8 months old) didn’t have reflux, but she kind of sucked at tummy time – ha! I would lay her on her stomach and she would just put her head down and go to sleep. Cool. So we didn’t do too much tummy time. She was like P in the sense that she was always pushing away and kind of did tummy time in our arms – lifting her head to see everything she could! So with our little one, actual real tummy time wasn’t VITAL to her head/neck control.
good to know!
tummy time in your arms is still great tummy time! 🙂
Glad the reflux seems to be a little better! I know it sucks- but as long as it’s not hurting her, the spitting up will eventually get better, but may take a while. We honestly didn’t do much tummy time with my son because of it (and when we did we just put a burp cloth under his head), and he developed JUST fine. What a cutie you have!
thank you! that’s good to know! the ped was like “how’s tummy time going?” and i was like uhhhhh
Good to feel P is feeling better! Hopefully the trend will continue and she will grow out of this. It must be so hard when she can’t communicate with you what’s wrong. My Mom’s sneezes still scare me to this day!
hahah!
She is sooo pretty! Her big eyes are amazing! The reflux may be hard for you and for her, but it will get better when she grows older. All the best for you!
Eva
thank you, friend!
We really did very little tummy time because of M’s spit ups and then cold early on. Just before 3 months she really started to improve, and we do lots of tummy time now! She is still working on rolling over, but I just couldn’t bare putting her on her tummy. And yes the cries! We just took M in for a non-shot appointment but just seeing the doc made her cry bloody murder. So sad.
She is beautiful and you are doing a fabulous job. Re the tummy time for reflux babies all three of mine had bad reflux. My third would spit up (no exaggeration) sometimes 20+ times after a feed.
Tummy time doesn’t have to be lying down. If you are holding her hold her like a football with her tummy down, or hold her up right and she will practice lifting her head off your shoulder, feed her with her lying on top of you (you can be sitting up or laying back at angle), play games with her laying on top of you. Basically they told me any time my baby was not laying passively on her back and was working to use her neck and back muscles it was a positive. Also she will spit up more of course then another baby would doing any activity let alone tummy time, so try to wait a little after a feed. That said don’t stress the tummy time is extra beneficial to reflux bubs as the stronger they become the faster they outgrow it! Good luck xo
awesome- thank you! we hold her a lot, so i was hoping that was helping her as she’s always pushing off and turning her head around
did you do anything to help the food stay down? it’s just a bummer because she’s eating, but not gaining like she should be since she spits up so much
xoxo
Holding her a lot definitely helps develop their neck muscles. I tried to hold her upright after a feed and not bounce her too much but there was still lots of puking. Luckily she was a bigger baby. I felt like I was constantly nursing because she was always just puking it back up.
She is precious, Gina. Her big eyes and cheeks, swoon xxoo
thank you! <3
Way to go, Mama! She sounds like a joy. You’re handling everything so beautifully, you’re an inspiration!
thank you, friend. she is seriously amazing. i’m just so happy she’s starting to feel a little better!
I love the suggestions for alternative tummy time positions in this post (on a blog I love as well!): http://mamaot.com/tips-for-making-tummy-time-a-little-less-um-miserable/
And my daughter has been going to Music Together classes since she was 6 months old, and we love it. It’s a national program so maybe there’s one near you! Ages 0-5 go to the same classes together, so you could take Liv and P together. It’s adorable!
https://www.musictogether.com/
thank you so much for posting these! just found a class nearby that works with our schedule. i can’t wait to check it out!
My reflux baby would also spit up a ton during tummy time, but laying him on my chest was somehow different. I would recline on the couch and put him on my chest so that he wasn’t totally flat on his stomach, but was at more if an angle. Maybe there was less direct pressure?
She’s SO adorable! What beautiful eyes she has, too! With all of her conversation skills at such a young age, I bet she’s going to be the life of the party when she gets older 🙂
hahah i could see that!
She is just adorable!
For tummy time, you can also put her across your knees. Put one of your knees under her chest and one under her legs. Works because she doesn’t have the pushing on her tummy. This worked for us!
oh that’s a great idea
We used a baby boppy that came with our playmat for tummy time. My son enjoyed it much more than regular tummy time! The little boppy is perfectly sized for their little bodies!
Similar to this one: http://www.kmart.com/boppy-tummy-time-honey-bee-123/p-024W004747964001P?sid=KDx01192011x000001&gclid=CjwKEAiA8K20BRDetNv3p6DNhXwSJADSwa3tTmeWZ9L056AB22O9qBt2nX_sL_JqEfyE9fZUnTi_sRoCSEDw_wcB
oh perfect! thank you!
What a sweetheart! You could also try a pool noodle under her armpits for tummy time, though like others have said, for a normally developing baby, she is probably getting many other opportunities for strengthening her back and neck muscles. My son, who’s Liv’s age, was a happy spitter who always hung out at the bottom of the growth curve. I remember being so stressed out about it all the time… I’m sure you are doing great!
thank you, friend! that’s reassuring to hear
Happy Two Months P! I am sending you all my healing reiki for little P and for Mama too! <3 <3 <3 You are a champion <3
i appreciate it so much, friend!
Tummy time can be on the boppy or in your arms. You can also try rolling a blanket and putting it underneath her shoulders and chest so there isn’t quite so much pressure on her belly. You can also do tummy time with her on your chest, when you are reclining (like in a recliner chair or propped up in bed).
Your girls are beautiful! My son HATED tummy time so I was always on the lookout for ways to make it more tolerable for him. I really liked the ideas I found from this occupational therapist! http://mamaot.com/tips-for-making-tummy-time-a-little-less-um-miserable/
awesome- thank you!
I was looking for that link! I had read somewhere that a stability ball worked well, and certainly knew you would have one in your stash!
What a cutie! She has gorgeous eyes! Sending positive vibes that the reflux continues to get more under control!
thank you!
She is so precious Gina I’m praying that her reflux gets better. Poor baby girl. I love these updates by the way. So fun to watch her grow up.
She is so precious!! Glad to hear she’s feeling better. As I read this, I kept thinking of stories of my little brother who was a HUGE baby (seriously…almost 13 lbs at birth!). My Mom said he threw up ALL the time (although he definitely didn’t have the same horrible tummy issues), but was happy as can be and gaining weight. He has always been more prone to getting sick than the rest of us kiddos. Just part of his charm I suppose
charm is a good way to think of it 🙂
Aw, she looks beautiful and SO happy! Glad the reflux is getting better, that must be terrifying and heartbreaking.
Sounds like Livi is being such a good big sister! <3
livi has been amazing
thank you! it’s been a hard road but we’re hanging in there
My second son had reflux terribly bad. His weight went down significantly in the first 6 months. No one knew what was the cause. Then at 8 months, he caught a cold and the pediatrician sent us to the Ped-ENT who after a scope decided an emergency surgery was necessary. It was laryngopharyngeal reflux and he had Supraglottoplasty. It completely solved the issue. 100%. It was horrible torture as parents to hand him over for emergency surgery but we know his life was saved by that Ped-ENT. His weight started packing on and he sprang back on the growth chart. He was keeping his food down and had no reflux within 4 months. It was scary and tough. I know you mentioned hers is allergic reaction which is completely a different ball of wax but I wanted to write you to remind you that time will heal this. This too shall pass. You are doing such a wonderful job and you and Tom are her best advocates. Your intuition is right when you have to make choices. You will all make it through. You are not alone. Hugs.
wow, i can’t believe you went through that. thank you for the support. it is SO hard. i’m definitely ready for it to be behind us.. it’s broken my heart to see her in constant pain, but i can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. her docs don’t think it’s structural at all, since she has no signs of either type of stenosis. the spit-up shoots out a little, but most of the time just dribbles down her face :/
xoxo
What a cutie! Great suggestions about the tummy time you have from readers. I agree! My refluxers did tummy time on angled wedge. I honestly didn’t sweat it. They both were late rollers but crawled and walked on time. Time is best thing for reflux. Lots of spit up can be common for many babies. The medication reduces the acid and the pain. But the food will still come up. Did she have an upper GI test done (barium swallow study to check anatomy). Not sure if the amount of spit up she has warrants it. Mine projectile puked a ton and found to have anatomy defect. Other was just normal reflux. Big hugs. I’ve been told reflux peaks at 4-6 months. But it will get better!!! Hang in there! You are a good mama and one day it’s all a distant memory.
thank you so much for the support, and i’m sorry to hear you went through it too. i’m so ready for it to be a memory <3 she didn't have an anatomy test done since it's not usually projectile; it mostly dribbles down her face (and our her nose.. poor girl)
??
I had a lot of reflux with my twins too and this what we did to help keep the food down. We were breastfedling and also supplementing with Similac Neosure at 1 scoop formula plus 2 oz water. We diluted it to 1 scoop to 3 oz water and the difference was like was night and day. Spit ups reduced by 50% the first week!
It may seem counter intuitive since we want them to gain weight so lowering the formula ratio is not a good idea. But it works because the babies actually keep it down and gain weight slowly but surely.
Good luck!
I HATED the car when I was a baby…turns out I have really bad motion sickness and that’s why I would cry. Maybe she’s the same way 🙂 What a cutie!
Check out this website…she has GREAT ideas and suggestions! http://mamaot.com/
Gina!
It’s been a while since I have read your blog. I plan to read it again daily since we have little ones so close in age now!! We have major tummy time issues with Logan and he just hates it no matter how much we try. We have the flat head issue pretty bad so trying to work through it. We ordered a cute little lamb flat head pillow off Amazon and I think it has helped. For tummy time alternatives, we try the bobby some even though he still hates that. My best luck has been with the Rainforest jumperoo. I know they should have complete head control before using but I put him in there and just keep my hands near his head. He seems to love being in it and has helped us with head strength! Good luck!!
She is so precious! I have loved reading your updates about her as she is a few weeks younger than my son. I’m so glad her reflux isn’t upsetting her as much anymore!