Thursday, April 11, 2013

WOW! Mason is 16 months!

     I can't believe Mason turned 16 months old a few days ago! Seriously?!?! WOW! Time flies, especially when you have a child! The beginning of March, Mason had the stomach bug that lasted off and on for almost 1 week. YUCK! He went for his 15 month check up right after that. It was discovered that he had lost over 1.5 pounds and had fallen off HIS growth curve. His immunizations were put off for 3 weeks since he had just gotten over the stomach bug and he also needed a weight check because of falling off of HIS growth curve. The stomach bug took more of a toll on Mason than just weight loss. He reverted back to mostly rolling instead of commando crawling and taking 100% formula.
     In the weeks that followed, Mason gradually put back on the weight he lost and gained the strength to commando crawl again. Once the opened can of formula was finished, I decided to try giving him straight 100% cold milk. Before the stomach bug, we were doing a gradual reduction in the percentage of formula in each sippy cup and increasing the percentage of milk along with getting him used to the coldness of the milk. For whatever reason, Mason took that first sippy cup of 100% cold milk with no problem and no looking back. When we had tried that before the stomach bug, he flat out refused it.
     At the 3 week follow up he received his immunizations and the weight check showed he had regained the lost weight. So you would assume that was the end of it, he gained back his lost weight. Nope. Like I mentioned ^^^, he had fallen off of HIS growth curve. The doctor plotted the weight gain, he is back on his curve for now, but just barely. He goes back in June for his 18 month well child visit.
     On a side note, I'm getting a little tired of hearing people say not to worry about his growth curve. I guess ignorance is truly bliss because this is very important for 2 reasons. The first reason is for EVERY child, staying on his/ her own growth curve is important for achieving milestones. The second reason is that for a child with CP, EVERY movement is several times harder for them than for a child without CP and delays the progress of achieving milestones. Since a child with CP expends more energy/ calories on 'simple' movements, then the risk for falling off the growth curve is higher and increases the delay in milestone achievement even more.
     I will end on a more positive note ;), we have noticed a substantial gain in Mason using of his left hand (even when the splint isn't on...YEAH!).  It was truly a PROUD mama moment when he instinctively reached to turn off the light switch with his LEFT hand.