Dealing with Developmental Leaps

Well it’s taken longer to write my second post than what I anticipated.  Chloe has just gone through a clingy and not sleeping during the day patch, which meant any plans or tasks I would set myself to do each day has most likely got left as not completed.  As long as I got breakfast, had a shower and made the bed I’ve felt as if I was wining.

These sleep regression and clingy patches can be described as Developmental Leaps.  I came across a book and app called the Wonder Weeks and so far when Chloe’s sleep patterns are all over the place, cries more and doesn’t feed properly it’s like clockwork to what the book says.  As there can be developmental delays with Noonan Syndrome it really does reassure me that she is hitting these developmental leaps.  Each day there seems to be something new that she is focusing on one day it will be a particular sound she makes, then the next day it will be sucking and moving her tongue around as much as possible or she will be obsessed with touching different textures.

Boy does your patience get tested during these Development Leaps, and it does not help that you are surviving on little sleep.

One day you are having a great day and then the next is complete disaster where she isn’t having any naps longer than 20 minutes, constantly wanting the boob but not wanting to feed properly.  By the time it’s late afternoon you are dealing with a very overtired grumpy baby which you just know is going to take forever to get to sleep that night.  What also tends to happen on these bad days is that Chloe tends to gag more when I’m giving her Duocal supplement, and when she gags its a snowball effect to bringing up whatever is in her tummy.  If it’s a super bad day this can happen numerous times over day, it’s just so horrible to watch.  I stand there holding her, hoping and telling her to keep all that precious milk in her belly.

Even though she is hitting this development leaps, I still worry constantly if she has enough energy and fuel in her body to get stronger and develop.  Cause she is so small and lean it seems crazy that she could soon be rolling around on the floor . . . is she going to burn those precious calories even more???  I had thought that she was physically going to be a bit further behind other babies just cause of her size and also she didn’t seem to be that interested in those kind of skills.  But over the past couple of weeks all of sudden she is no longer content to lie back in my arms, she uses her tummy muscles bring herself more upright so she can have a better view on whats going on.  I had been a bit relaxed with giving her time on her tummy cause she hated it so much, well over the weekend all of sudden she is happier on her tummy and is more up right and being all fancy by rolling onto her back . . . . I feel so proud!  It’s only a matter of time that she is going to give herself a big fright by rolling from her back onto her tummy.  When that day happens there will be no holding her back.

There is one thing that I would really really really like her to master and it’s to laugh and giggle.

She is such a serious little girl most of the time, she is very picky with who she smiles at and when.  We get glimpses of a cheeky little girl when she wakes up and you go to pick her up, she will give the most gorgeous smile and pokes her tongue out at the same time . . . I just hope that starts show this side of herself more and more.  In our household we like to have lots of laughter and joking around, so she is bound to catch on at some point.

Next Monday is bit of a yucky one, she is going to be having her next lot of blood tests, weighed, catch up with the Dietician  but also her 5 month vaccinations.

Wish us luck and fatty thoughts!