When baby is sick… these are great things to know

I really like my pediatrician and his office staff. They have a great phone nurse who I can call with questions. Yes, I’m a nurse, and like I have said before, sometimes that extra knowledge is trouble. I still call and check with my Ped for lots of things. If my specialty had been pediatrics then this might not be the case but I like to be careful, they’re my kids!

My Ped gave me a print out on our first visit with common questions and recommended doses of Acetaminophen (Tylenol). This has been VERY helpful. Babies are constantly growing and, believe it or not, a pound here or there can make a big difference in what dose of medication they get. My suggestion is that you print out this blog, take it in to your next pediatrician visit, verify that your pediatrician agrees with the following information, and then keep the print out handy (on the fridge, in the medicine cabinet, you get the point…).

Another bit of information that was very helpful to me was knowing that the average baby intake is 2-3oz of formula or breast milk per day per pound. So if your baby weighs 15lbs, most babies their weight will drink 30-45oz a day. If you are breastfeeding it is nearly impossible to keep track of their intake so you rely on how often they have a wet diaper and weight gain to assure you that they are eating enough.

My children also had constipation issues. FUN. Because of this, I learned that it was ok to give them 1 oz of juice for every month old they are. So a 4 month old could have 4 oz of juice a day. I gave my kids apple or prune juice diluted in water to try helping with their constipation. I wish that had been our quick fix. The drama, however, continues.

I hope these tidbits are helpful to you! I know I used them frequently.

What to do with a mouth owie

Recently, during her post-nap bouncing around in the crib routine, my daughter bounced the wrong way and somehow wound up putting one of her teeth through her tongue. Oh what fun. Of course, I was at a doctor appointment and my sitter was freaked out by the blood that was on her sleep sack and running from her mouth. That phone call ranks up there with the one I got from my husband after a car wreck. JOY! Anyways, she was fine. After a good inspection I called my pediatrician’s office and spoke to the phone nurse to make sure I was doing everything I should be doing. It wasn’t continuing to bleed and didn’t appear to need stitches so I was instructed to give her Ibuprofen for the pain and any swelling and to give her cool soft foods for a few days. Thank goodness the mouth heals so quickly! Problem. My daughter loves to eat. She is 20 months old and loves her REAL food. She has been getting finger foods since 6 months and can use a spoon eloquently, so keeping her on soft, cold foods was a challenge.

I started with yogurt. My kids love it. My son has gone through stages where he didn’t want to eat it but that was very short lived. I don’t know if you have ever seen the YoBaby yogurts that mix fruit and veggies in with yogurt, but they are a hit with my kids. Yes, the pear and green bean yogurt is their favorite. Since yogurt would be a staple I decided to get a big tub of it and add my own extra ingredients. Adding things like carrot, green bean, broccoli/zucchini mix, non-citrus fruits pureed (or from a baby food jar) made life easier. Yogurt melts, puffs and fiddlesticks met her need for chewable foods. Make sure to stay away from salty foods or anything with vinegar. Those burn! I also added some cooled baby food oatmeal to yogurts or hearty baby foods. Cottage cheese worked well for her also. For breakfast I scrambled some eggs and added some cheese on top and let them cool. I was happy to get some protein in her! I also got some organic canned black beans and kidney beans for some protein too. I knew all this bland food was going to be a drag for her so I cooked up some squash, added some cinnamon and let that cool before giving it to her. She ate so much!

Two weeks after her tongue incident my daughter got a couple sores on the inside of her upper and lower lip. SERIOUSLY? So, we were back on this cold, soft diet for another week. Poor thing. Damn us for giving her kisses! This is precisely the reason I didn’t want the kids getting kisses on the lips from anyone. The problem is, if you are affectionate at all in front of your children (and I hope you are) they will see a kiss on the lips. Of course they will want to imitate that. So after being repeatedly “kissed” by my son (which, in the beginning, meant licking your face) I got over the “no kissing on the lips” hangup I had. Look what it got me, or rather look what it got my daughter….