Two Months with Little Miss
Little Miss is two months old today. The time has flown by. Sadly this milestone was marked by a trip to the Doctor's for her first set of injections and her eight week check. She was not at all impressed and screamed. A lot. Her little leg really bled too which was upsetting.
I went into her eight week check with a few questions. When Little Miss was four weeks old I took her to see our GP as she had been breathing noisily and seemed chesty. He thought it was a virus but asked us to go up to the hospital to have her checked out. We did so and, thankfully, found that there was no infection but the Doctor there diagnosed Laryngomalacia or a 'floppy larynx'. I'd never heard of this before but the doctor was quite flippant and said it was really common and that she would grow out of it. I've done some research and it turns out that this is caused by immature cartilage in the larynx which collapses inward as the baby inhales and can obstruct the airway. The condition usually resolves itself by the age of two, with significant improvement from six months onwards. A small minority of cases need surgery however.
I had to find out all of the above information from Google. The doctor I spoke to at the hospital really didn't explain it beyond saying 'don't worry, she'll be fine.' I went into our appointment today with questions to ask and our GP answered all of them brilliantly. We will have another appointment when Little Miss is six months old and he will decide if there has been an improvement and whether or not to refer her to a specialist then. As LM is thriving and gaining weight really well he expects that she will be fine but we are to book an appointment if we have any concerns. I feel so reassured.
Everyone who meets her seems to notice the 'hooting' sound of her breathing which is a characteristic of the floppy larynx so at least I can now explain it properly to them, and her prognosis for it.
These two months have passed by in a blur. Little Miss has fitted into our little family perfectly. She is a wonderful baby who is happy as long as she is kept well fed. That said she is a feisty little character with much more of a temper than her big brother. She can go from calm to screaming in the blink of an eye and definitely makes her presence felt then. She is bright and alert and generally a happy baby. We are very much enjoying her first smiles and attempts at eye contact. I'm loving having a little girl and a boy. I'm always complaining about the lack of nice boys' clothes around so having a little girl to buy all the lovely girls' clothes around for may well bankrupt me!
Another surprise is how well she sleeps. She feeds late in the evening (between 10pm and midnight) and then usually sleeps for around seven hours. Bud was about six months old before he slept for that long! I was amazed the first time she did that as she was only two weeks old. I woke in a panic as breastfed babies 'aren't meant to do that' but she is gaining weight really well so I'm sure she isn't going hungry in the night. She just loves sleep like her Daddy. Now our family is complete and she has brought a whole new dynamic into our life together. We can't remember what life was like before she arrived, our beautiful girl.
I went into her eight week check with a few questions. When Little Miss was four weeks old I took her to see our GP as she had been breathing noisily and seemed chesty. He thought it was a virus but asked us to go up to the hospital to have her checked out. We did so and, thankfully, found that there was no infection but the Doctor there diagnosed Laryngomalacia or a 'floppy larynx'. I'd never heard of this before but the doctor was quite flippant and said it was really common and that she would grow out of it. I've done some research and it turns out that this is caused by immature cartilage in the larynx which collapses inward as the baby inhales and can obstruct the airway. The condition usually resolves itself by the age of two, with significant improvement from six months onwards. A small minority of cases need surgery however.
I had to find out all of the above information from Google. The doctor I spoke to at the hospital really didn't explain it beyond saying 'don't worry, she'll be fine.' I went into our appointment today with questions to ask and our GP answered all of them brilliantly. We will have another appointment when Little Miss is six months old and he will decide if there has been an improvement and whether or not to refer her to a specialist then. As LM is thriving and gaining weight really well he expects that she will be fine but we are to book an appointment if we have any concerns. I feel so reassured.
Everyone who meets her seems to notice the 'hooting' sound of her breathing which is a characteristic of the floppy larynx so at least I can now explain it properly to them, and her prognosis for it.
Another surprise is how well she sleeps. She feeds late in the evening (between 10pm and midnight) and then usually sleeps for around seven hours. Bud was about six months old before he slept for that long! I was amazed the first time she did that as she was only two weeks old. I woke in a panic as breastfed babies 'aren't meant to do that' but she is gaining weight really well so I'm sure she isn't going hungry in the night. She just loves sleep like her Daddy. Now our family is complete and she has brought a whole new dynamic into our life together. We can't remember what life was like before she arrived, our beautiful girl.
