Night Owl

It seems like Carter takes after his Mommy & Granddad and is a night owl. Around 11pm each night, just when Brad and I decide it's time to head home, Carter decides it's play time. So that we could leave tonight at a decent time and the nurses could get some work done, Nurse Jessica wheeled in a TV/DVD player and put in some Baby Einstein for Carter. This is the first time he's ever seen a TV and he was mesmerized! What a bad habit to start so early. Here's a video of his first time watching TV.

We really think the move to the TCN was just what Carter needed. He's in a quiet back corner and has been able to show a lot more consistency with his feeds. Although he's not taking a large quantity of milk, his skills are improving (thank you Kelly & Leah for your advice). He's averaging around 5 ccs per feed, which is way more than he's ever done consistently. He even had a good day with his speech therapist and didn't furrow his brow at her (he likes her, he just knows she's going to whip out the bottle). Although we are likely to go home with a G-tube, now we feel much more optimistic about Carter's ability to bottle feed once he's home. He also gained 35 grams today (up to 11.4 pounds now)--go Carter!

It now seems like his issue is that he doesn't like it when the milk squirts into his mouth/back of his throat. It's part of his whole sensory processing problem. In the last few days, he's not been picky about what type of paci or bottle nipple he likes and he'll happily drink & swallow milk from a syringe, but he gets really upset when he sucks on a bottle and it shoots into his mouth. Today, we worked with a NUK Orthodontic bottle nipple and he took to it fairly well. Probably because (1) it's shaped like his pacifier and (2) because the hole is in the top, not the tip of the nipple, so when he sucks on it, the milk goes to the roof of his mouth, not his throat.

PLAYING PEEK-A-BOO WITH DADDY

CARTER'S NEW SPACE IN THE TCN



LAUGHING AT MOMMY & DADDY TRYING TO TRICK ME INTO EATING! Silly parents, I KNOW that's not my paci!

SNUGGLING WITH DADDY