This week has been pretty darn uneventful here, mostly due to the miserable heat. We've spent a lot of time hibernating inside.
We did have Miles' 9 month doctor visit on Monday with our new doctor. We just did not click with the first doctor we tried after Miles was born. I fully admit that I am pretty "hippy" about a lot of things and the first doctor was very traditional and we just did not see eye to eye on several issues. I think it is really important to have a doctor that is on the same page as we are because it ultimately leads to better care for Miles. So, I had heard great things about our new doctor from several different sources and I was not disappointed! She is a general practictioner, but also has training in Integrative Medicine and is a Internationally Board Certified Lactation Consultant (a rare find in a MD!). We had a great visit, she really took the time to answer our questions, and personally called us back with follow-up information. Bill and I both got a really good feeling and decided the switch was a smart move.
When Miles started getting his teeth I had noticed that I thought his upper lip frenulum was a little short, but it was hard to tell because he still didn't have any teeth on top. We decided to ask the doctor about it because we were wondering (if it was short) if it could cause speech problems eventually. Well, she checked it out and said that yes, it was definitely tighter than normal and that speech problems weren't necessarily a risk, but dental issues later on could be. So, we have been referred to a pediatric ENT and have a consult scheduled for Aug. 31 to determine if it will require surgery or not.
Just in case you're wondering, here is a picture of the upper lip frenulum:
We also discovered at Miles' appointment that he is pretty severely anemic. The doctor said that his hemoglobin level was the lowest one she has ever encountered in a baby this age, so that's not so good. We weren't entirely surprised because we knew that Miles was at pretty high risk for developing anemia because he was born early, had his cord clamped prematurely, and had borderline low birth weight. Babies get the majority of their iron stores in the last trimester of pregnancy and Miles missed out on about half of that time. In addition, when the cord is clamped immediately after delivery, the baby misses out on all that blood (sometimes up to 50%! of baby's blood volume) that was still being pumped from the placenta, including the red blood cells and oxygen that it was carrying. Miles was also right on the borderline of the "low birth weight" cut-off that is considered a risk factor for developing anemia. Anyway, long story short is that we have ordered an herbal iron supplement (one of the many reasons I love our new doc - she recommended an herbal supplement first!) and have begun feeding Miles all sorts of high iron/high Vitamin C (Vit. C helps the iron to be absorbed) meals. Some favorites have been a fortified cereal/breastmilk/steamed apricot concoction, an egg yolk/breastmilk/spinach omelette and kale chips with some avocado and muskmelon on the side.
Wow, that got long! If you made it this far, here's some more cute baby pictures:
