Month of June, 2007 - Continued

Neil was sick this month – his first ear infection. Neil seemed feverish on June 1^st, but we thought it was simply a by-product of his cold. When the fever hovered between 98 and 101 for 4 days, I called the doctor’s office where they told me that if the fever goes up over 100, to bring him in. We took him to the doctor’s office on 7^th where he was diagnosed with ear infection. He hadn’t shown any symptoms like tugging his ear or reduced appetite, so the diagnosis was a surprise! I was a little bummed but Neil seemed to be doing just fine. He was prescribed a 10-day dose of Amoxicillin (an antibiotic). Also, I learned that Tylenol should be given only when the fever is above 100 or if the baby is in pain (to reduce the feeling of pain); but for fevers below 100, there is no need to give Tylenol.

Neil started losing his appetite the second day after he started taking the antibiotic. It was sad to see him like that but he recovered pretty fast and by mid-week (around June 14^th) he was back to being himself. The first few days back at the day care he was very clingy and fussy. But by the end of the week, his appetite and his good nature was back! I was so relieved – all this night waking up and looking after him caused me to get really sick. I ran a temperature of 102 and was diagnosed with sinus infection! Boy, oh, boy, it was getting to be an interesting month of being a mommy all by myself i.e. no help from anyone else! I recovered after a bout of antibiotic as well. Sri managed to work from home during the week that Neil was sick, so that certainly helped out.

After all this, Neil is still not sleeping very well through the night. I have tried all kinds of variations in his schedule and diet but to no avail. I have moved his dinner time closer to bed time, added formula for his pre-bedtime feeding along with nursing, given him a lovey, a soft blankie – all have been failures so far. He manages to sleep through the night for 2-3 out of the seven days in a week. The rest of the days he has a very erratic schedule. He also does not sleep very well during the day in the day-care.

Apart from that his progress has been fantastic. He is now eating more adult-like food – he loves to eat bread, chapatti, rice – anything he can munch on. He has graduating to eating yogurt and cheese. Its really fun to see him eat all this. He also demands food now – which is quite entertaining. He is beginning to exhibit quite a temper and his personality is starting to show. He moves around a lot and tries to stand up quite a bit. He has also started pulling the cabinet doors and drawers in the kitchen. Time to get those child locks on, I suppose!