Heart of a Lion

Little Man had his cardiology appointment earlier this week, and I'm happy to report that he received an "A plus-plus-plus," according to the doctor.  Little Man was given a thorough examination; I was asked a zillion questions; then he was given an echocardiogram for about 30 minutes. 

The results confirmed that there isn't even one teeny-tiny thing wrong with his heart.  Not even a little pinhole, which is common in young infants, often causes a murmur, and resolves itself within the first year.  Little Man's murmur is apparently just due to the way his heart beats and its location in his chest.  It might go away someday, but it doesn't matter because his heart is 100% healthy.

Perfect appointment, right?  Not so fast.  As part of a routine appointment, they weighed Little Man.  Since he weighed 13 pounds 5 ounces at his 4-month appointment before Christmas, I naturally assumed he would be close to 14 pounds by now.  Unfortunately, he weighed in at 12 pounds 15 ounces.  That's right -- Little Man lost weight. 

Yikes.  Never a good thing for a baby.  Of course it was a different scale than at the pediatrician's office, but scale calibration wouldn't account for 6 ounces difference.  That's almost half a pound!  And besides, he should have gained weight in the last 3 weeks, not stayed the same, and certainly not lost.

All of a sudden, a lot of things started to make sense to me.  Little Man has been sleeping very poorly, but we assumed it was the typical 4-month sleep regression.

Little Man has been eating for shorter durations: 6-7 minutes instead of the 20-25 it used to take him.  Since he hasn't been screaming during meals, I assumed he was just becoming a more efficient nurser.

Little Man has been extremely fussy these last few weeks. We assumed it was his reflux getting worse, so we put a call in to his gastroenterologist about it.  She called back and added another reflux medication, Axid, to the Prevacid he already takes, and we have an appointment set up for later this month.

His reflux getting worse accounts for all these symptoms: why he's not eating as much, why he's fussy, why he's not sleeping well, and why he's lost weight.  We need to fix this problem quickly, though.  If the Axid doesn't help within a week, I will start him on some baby oatmeal (solids often help babies with reflux).