Allergies

I'd hoped Kiki would inherit her Dad's genes in regards to allergies or more to the point, his lack of them. Alas, it appears not to be the case.

She's always had a sneezy thing, but yesterday her sneezes were accompanied by coughs. And her nose got all plugged up so all night long it sounded like she was wheezing. So of course I took her in to the doctor today.

Being the baby-mother hypochondriac that I am, I pointed out the yellowish tint in her skin (my imagination), the wheezy cough (her lungs were clear and her cough magically disappeared during the entirety of the office visit), her snotty nose (yes, it was), the patch on her arm that looked like ringworm (it's eczema), the bumps on the inside of her arm (dry skin), and the fact that she doesn't seem to be gaining weight (in fact, she lost 2 pounds since June. In June, when she was 22 pounds, I got all hyped up that she needed a new car seat because her infant one was only rated to 22 pounds or so, and babies grow overnight, you know so -- and here it is August, and it appears we could have kept her in the old car seat until, oh, probably Christmas '08.)

Soooo, the upshot of the whole visit was: lotion on her arms 3x a day, Benadryl every night when she goes to bed, and put butter on her vegies.

We also added a humidifier, because it's there, and it should help.

So I came home thinking her cough was all in my head as well, and then she woke up every 15 minutes coughing during her nap. So there! Not in my head! And also -- ohhh, my poor baby!!!

I'm hoping the allergies don't get full-blown as bad as mine. I'm almost tempted to expose her to a million cats a day just to ensure her immunity.

And of course since I'm a worrier, I'm now focussed on her weight. The doc says 20 pounds for her age is actually good, but it's a little bit of a concern that she's losing weight, although she is extremely active and she could just be going through her lose-the-baby-fat phase. And she's got a lot of rolls. I mean the child does not look malnourished in the least. But looking at photos from a few months back and comparing -- yeah, she's gotten narrower in the face and shallower in the belly. Which is probably just her growing up too, you know.

Still, the current plan is, no kidding, butter everything and feed the kid every three hours. As long as three of those are snacks and she doesn't have to be confined in her high chair, I think she'll be okay. However, giving her a snack on the floor means she has to deal with the dogs, and if she drops anything, it'll get all hairy.

So I tested giving her a snack in her Pack and Play, and that worked pretty well. I spread peanut butter on a cinnamon graham cracker, broke it up, put it in a bowl and put it and a sippy cup of chocolate milk (calories!!! calories!!!) in with her.

First thing she did was turn the bowl upside down. Second thing she did was start chewing on the bowl.

Eventually she set about consuming her snack, so it was a success. Kipp was a little dubious about the mess in the Pack and Play, but I pointed out that there was a sheet over the mattress, and I have lots of sheets, and sheets are washable.

Then I realized I'm talking about 3 sheets a day. Hmm.

We're also trying to get in the habit of getting her to nap in her crib instead of the Pack and Play. Now that her Pack and Play will tend to be crumby, this will be very necessary. Of course, she naps just fine in her bedroom -- I tried this yesterday -- it's us who have to adjust. Trudging up the stairs and all. Because we're lazy.

Well, I could certainly use the exercise. She may have inherited my allergies, but luckily she did not inherit my sedentary nature.