Monday, December 8, 2008

Doctor Visit and Teething

So after his cold appeared on Saturday, Mr. Peabody seemed to be feeling worse and worse until last night he started grabbing at his left ear off and on and crying. I gave him Tylenol in half-doses all day yesterday to keep him comfortable and he wanted to nurse a lot, but mostly for comfort and not because he was extra-hungry. He had several good long naps yesterday and wonderful night's sleep last night, only fully waking for a feed once at 3 AM. BLESS HIS SWEET LITTLE HEART!

I got up and called the pediatrician's office first thing this morning and they were able to see us at 10:15. He seemed better this morning - his nose wasn't running nearly as much and he wasn't sneezing as often, although he did still have some dry crusties in his nose. He also wasn't grabbing his ear. And he was smiling. Not completely his usual chipper self, but definitely better than yesterday.

So I took him in, with Bean in tow. We were seen quickly and he had no fever. MY BOY WEIGHS 14 LBS. 2 OZ. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! I can't believe it! Go Mama-milk! Even the doctor commented on how HUGE he's getting and she sat and talked and played with him for a good bit (much to his delight, after his initial shy/coy responses) and commented that he acts much older than a four month old. She said he SEEMS like a six month old. And I guess when I reflect on Bean's four month vs. six month old behaviors, I'd say I agree.

She looked in his ears and said they both look 100% good - no redness or swelling, no nothing. He definitely doesn't have an infection or fluid in there. When she looked into his mouth to see his throat, she brought me over to see that his two bottom front teeth are juuuuuuuuuuuuust below the surface of his gum, and the tell-tale indentions are there. She said, "He is definitely teething hard right now!" (Which I already knew, but was nice to have confirmed of course.) It's possible the ear grabbing has to do with that, or perhaps the cold is causing some small amount of pressure in that ear canal or something.

So, no ear infection! I am SO relieved as I really didn't want him taking antibiotics. He's still so little!

The doctor mentioned as well that she'd have been surprised to find he DID have an ear infection, as exclusively breastfed babies rarely get them.

EXCLUSIVELY BREASTFED BABIES. LIKE MINE. WHOOOOOOOOO!

Yes, but on the teething, he is literally drenching the front of his shirt every hour - I've already changed him THREE times today, with the teething and stupid leaky poopy diapers. (I cannot find a diaper that can hold his poo! It's a mess every single time!) And he is constantly stuffing his whole fist into his mouth and biting down hard and SCREECHING with the pain. The Tylenol and teething tablets help that but OH, how I can't wait for those teeth to come through those gums, or at least to stop pressing upward for a day or two so my boy can get a break! I feel so sad for him. ALICE, DARLING, I GET IT NOW!

Bean NEVER showed any signs of teething. She just woke up one morning with teeth poking out. Now I am seeing the other side of that coin!

Anyway both kids are napping now and I've dragged a large stack of Amazon.com boxes in from the front porch and secreted them away to the basement, so now it's time for me to grab a little nap of my own before I'm back on Mommy duty again.

7 comments:

Tequilamonkey said...

aw poor little teething boy..... but way to go for the exclusively breastfeeding mama!

I hope you feel suitably proud of yourself. I'm so happy for you, I know how it feels to to feel like you've had that second chance :D

Mari said...

Poor boy! I'm glad it's not an ear infection though. They are miserable and it seems that if they get them once, they get them again.
Good for you with the breast feeding - you've done great!

ShelliGib said...

Found you by clicking around.. I think are little ones are close in age. Mine will be 16 weeks on Wed. Love your site!

Heather Oller said...

Yay,you!! You will be quick to notice now that you have an exclusively breastfed baby how many non-breastfed babies you WILL hear of having ear infections now. It is so wierd. Those bottles and the head tilt do a number on the ear canal. You are such a great mommy. As for the sleep training...you are much braver than I was. I couldn't do it any earlier than 9 months and even that was awful, but he got it in 3 days. I think I tried earlier and saw he just wasn't ready. Keep us posted.

leebeenz said...

Poor wee Peanut. I hope he gets a break from the teething soon. I don't think Sophie is teething just yet, but I understand the dribbling. Sophie is constantly wearing bibs when she is up as she just soaks her clothing so quickly. Everyone assumes she is teething, but no, she is just a dribbly baby!

And yay for the exclusive breastfeeding!!!

Nystral Djo said...

woohoo for mama's milk ;) have you tried just putting him in 1 size larger diapers? even if the package weight suggestion doesn't match up, i found with both my kids that that helped stop poopy diaper explosions (for the most part).

Bloggin' Mama said...

Poor thing! Hope those teeth pop up soon. My oldest 2 were exactly the same as Bean and Peanut with teething. I never had any indication the oldest was teething until the tooth appeared. The second was absolutely the worst teether ever.

Also, I agree with the previous commenter about trying a larger size diaper. That worked when we had tons of blowouts and leaky pees with my oldest. Something about the 'correct' size just didn't fit with any brand we tried, and when we went up all the leaks stopped.

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