Atticus's Mommy

I was prescribed Methylprednisolone for an ear infection a few weeks ago. I questioned taking it and even considered NOT taking it as I was on Amoxicillin as well and I guess I should have trusted my gut instinct and not taken it. Now I have just (and I mean JUST) found out I am pregnant. If my cycle is where I think it is then I probably conceived about 2 days or so after finishing my 6 day pack of Methylprednisolone. I was really happy to find out I was pregnant despite it being a complete surprise but now I am scared because I know you really shouldn't take this medication while pregnant. I am barely 4 weeks pregnant and due to some personal issues at home will not be telling hubby until Christmas probably (he is really stressed about money now with our other two childrens birthdays being directly before and after Christmas...telling him now might give him a heart attack!) which means probably won't be going to the Dr. until then either. Should I be worried or not since I was already done taking it, or if my cycle was off (which I dont think it was as I have lots of cycle tracking experience) then it was during the last day or so of taking it? Obviously I will tell my OB once I go in, just looking for some peace of mind to hold me over through the holidays!

I am scheduled to have a myringotomy done on the 11th of December. My period is also due that same exact day, though I believe I may be pregnant. I have two children already and everything is exactly (to a T!) how it was when I first became pregnant with them, so I am 99.9% sure I am pregnant. I believe it is still just a few days too early to take a test, and even so I'm pretty sure it's going to be positive. I would really like to go through with the procedure because I really need the tube inserted to give relief from fluid build-up in the ear. And I really don't want to postpone it either because I have family lined up to babysit my other children while I go and they would question why and well basically this whole thing was totally unplanned (though I am happy!!) and my husband doesn't even know yet and I keep thinking to myself if this was my first baby then technically I probably wouldn't know until it was done anyway. Plus what I read seems to say that local anesthesia is safe during pregnancy anyway. Just wondering if anyone else had this done while pregnant. I mean if I have to obviously I will make up a lie why I cancelled it for my family doesn't suspect anything (want to keep it a secret for a bit as my brother just had a baby!) and postpone it until later but I was kinda hoping to just get it done with. Anyone else have this done while pregnant???

Ok so I've had questions about my sons behavior for a while. Certain things about him always had me wondering "is this normal?" as I'm sure most new parents ask themselves. Around the age of 3 he started outgrowing a lot of his quirks, but now at 3 yrs 10 months he seems to have more "quirks" than ever. Now I am wondering if I should be concerned with things like Autism/Sensory Perception Disorder? I apologize for this being a lot but I am going to try and cover all my bases starting with when he was born. Please anyone who has a child that has been diagnosed let me know if this sounds like your child.

When he was born he was 9lbs 1/5oz. His growth slowed from about the 90something percentile to the 50th but we weren't concerned. Breastfeeding him was a challenge from day one and things didn't heal/go smoothly until around 6 weeks in. Once he was nursing well he suffered horrible undiagnosed reflux and also had a dairy intolerance/allergy. (How do I know this? Because my second child acted the same way and WAS diagnosed with both after much pressure on the doctor to check him out. My shoddy pediatrician ignored my pleas for help with my first and thus he suffered until about 18 months old when he grew out of both.) Around 6 months old he literally plummeted off the growth chart completely. He was a very bright baby and did everything super early. Sat up at 4 months, stood at around 7-8 months, cruised at 8-9 months and walked across the room himself at 10 months old. However, he rarely laughed. I blamed this on the pain from the undiagnosed reflux/dairy problems. He also never slept through the night which I also blamed on those problems.

He knew all his colors and numbers to 10 and entire alphabet by the age of 1. He didn't speak, but if I asked "where is the letter T" he would point to it. By 13 months he could complete his shape sorter. By 15 months he was stacking Jenga blocks on their tall end up to 8 high!!! Around 18mo-2 he started tantrumming if we changed schedule or did something slightly different. He would scream if I tried a different route for our walk. Around 2 yrs 3 months he started talking, byt 2.5 he was saying complete sentences and using rather large words like "it's blustery today" and "I'm going on a journey!". Finally slept through the night at 2.5 years old!!! He always has been a picky eater and hates certain textures. He would throw up if I made him eat rice! He will NOT eat what I make for dinner its literally like torturing him and he gags and throws up and cries his heart out. He likes to eat everything cold or frozen. He will eat the precooked chicken nuggets frozen but will gag if he eats them cooked. He loves crunchy things too: crackers, chips, carrots, celery, cucumber strips, apples. If his mac and cheese is room temp he cries that its too hot...not whining but like seriously afraid he will get burned.

Since about 2 he has hated loud noises. Around 3 he started to outgrow it but now its coming back. He's super sensitive and breaks down when you scold him, he even cries his eyes out if you play a slow song. For example he has the talking/singing Scout puppy dog and if you play the bedtime music he starts to cry. He is always on the move, climbing, jumping, spinning, swinging. We enrolled him in gymnastics to help with this. He could swing and jump all day long!

He loves building things. He has those Gears toys, loves stacking dominos (yes he stacks them on the tall end just like the Jenga blocks...like 5 or 6 high until they fall!). He loves legos, anything that he can build and use his hands. He likes to collect tiny things...lite bright pegs, rocks, coins and put them into things...boxes, dump trucks. He also likes to organize his cars by size or color sometimes. He loves wheels but isn't obsessed with spinning them all day. He loves science and planets and right now is obsessed with learning all the facts about the planets and is obsessed with Particle Smashers and atoms and those types of things. We read books to him well above his age range. He hates to have his hands dirty and freaks out if you don't clean them. Always puts toys in his mouth. He memorizes facts and books word for word. He memorizes parts of movies word for word. He has ridiculous memory and remembers things from being a baby! He tells me if I'm going the wrong way to Grammys house! He loves to pick things apart...play-doh, crayons, chalk. Oh and he was fully potty trained/accident free by 2.5.

An example of a typical day is today he screamed at one of his favorite toys for being too loud, tackled his brother for playing with the blue basketball (because basketballs aren't blue they are orange!) and bit his brother for sitting too close to him. Is this all normal?

Since a baby my son appeared to have a dairy allergy. He was given formula once before my milk came in and had a horrible reaction which included gas, vomiting, diarrhea and was miserable and screaming for hours. After that incident, I noticed he would react the same way after I ate dairy and nursed him. With his doctors suggestion I eliminated all dairy from my diet and it was smooth sailing for 6 or 7 months, until I tried to introduce dairy again, first into my diet. He would still get gassy and fussy and have diarrhea. I eliminated it again for another month or two and then reintroduced it just a tiny bit. This time he was not nearly as fussy or gassy and I didn't notice any diarrhea. I decided to give him the Gerber cruncher things that look like cheese curls, actually it was kind of accidentally as they said "Veggie Dip" but I neglected to read the fine print that said "cheese flavored". He loved them but almost immediately got a red rash on his face from contact, and later had diarrhea. He was only very mildly fussy to the point where I'm not even sure if that's what caused the fussiness or if it was just teething. Again we eliminated dairy. Around 10-11 months old we tried the Gerber curls again, same skin reaction on his face: red patches. Our pediatrician finally suggested at 12 months old that we get a milk protein allergy test done. He is now 13 months old and just had the skin test this week, which showed no milk allergy whatsoever. Our allergist seemed to think that he is in the process of outgrowing the allergy, if not outgrown it by now. He recommened we get a blood allergy test as well to completely rule it out. We are taking him for the blood allergy test tomorrow, but because he passed the skin test we decided to try again tonight at a Super Bowl party and let him eat some Cheese Curls (he actually stole them from big brothers plate!). Again he received the same red patches on his face. He is now sleeping but so far has not been at all fussy or gassy...I will find out tomorrow morning if it effected his bowels or not as he usually poops once a day after breakfast.

My question is, why is he still getting the red rash all over his face from eating foods that contain dairy when he passed the skin allergy test for dairy with flying colors? What could he be allergic to in things like cheese curls other than dairy? He eats pretty much all other foods without any reaction including wheat. He also had the same reaction once to icing on a cupcake at his first birthday party. The package said "May contain milk ingredients.". Does anyone have any idea what could be causing his reaction?? I am seriously confused since he passed the skin test without any red patches but he's still getting them on his face from contact. Oh and he consumes soy milk without any problems. Please help!!!

I always wondered if there was something different about my son and lately I have been getting more and more worried about autism and things of that nature. I don't know if I am just being an overly worried mom, or if there is actually reason to worry. Here are some examples of things my son does...

Ever since a baby he has been very very advanced with fine motor skills. He picked up a fly off our beach blanket by its wings at 6 months old. No joke. It freaked me out...he tried to eat it! Haha. He was stacking Jenga blocks on their long end (the skinny way) at 15 months old 7-9 blocks high before toppling over. At a very young age (15-18 months) he could screw a nut onto a screw and take it back off. Ever since a baby he does not like having his hands dirty. He constantly fusses if he touches something "yucky" and has a breakdown until his hands are wiped. One instance that sticks out in my mind is when he was about 2, he fell down at my brothers house and hit his head pretty hard. He had been eating something sticky. My husband picked him up to comfort him and instead of hugging my husband back, my son cried with his hands sticking out and refused to touch/hug his daddy or anything else for that matter until they were wiped. He does play in dry sand fine but freaks out when his hands get caked with wet sand. He will play with finger paint for a few minutes then freaks out to have them wiped. He hates anything with a mushy texture. He will not eat mashed potatoes, bananas...anything of that sort. He has started with a new habit of eating frozen things...french fries, waffles, chicken nuggets. I cook them and he refuses to eat them...but it might be related to another thing which is that he is scared to eat things "hot". If it is slightly warm to the touch it is too hot and he won't eat it. He hates loud noises. He runs into his room, shuts the door and sits on his bed with his blanky when I need to vaccum. He hates the blender too. There is this fun place called Ballocity around here he loved as a young toddler but now has a complete breakdown and tantrum when we go because it is too loud. He is scared of lots of things that are too loud. He loves to run around and dance and move and jump. He will jump off of chairs, benches, etc and ask me to catch him. He loves to swing swing swing all day long. He loves to be tossed about and go up and down. He didn't talk until almost 2 1/2, but now talks very intelligently and uses really big words most 3 year olds don't use. Examples of this are "Thomas is going on a journey!", "I like constellations!" "Mommy you can be an astronaut!", there are more but I can't think of them at the moment. He knows how to get from my parents house to our house if I give him two options while driving, ie "Should Mommy go left or straight to go home?". He has these wierd fits upon waking sometimes where he just cries and cries and cries and sometimes screams and flails and won't calm down for another half hour or so. It usually takes a bit of distracting to calm him down. These have become less frequent recently but still occur. He is a very picky eater but seems to like things with strong flavors. He loves onions, sushi ginger from the jar, minced garlic from the jar, etc. He does not take well to change in plans. An example of this is going for a walk, we usually walk the same way. If we try to go another way he will tantrum. He loves race cars with wheels and LOVES taking things apart (he has those take-apart toys with screws that you take apart and put together again). He loves tiny little trinkets as I like to call them such as buttons, screws, etc. He breaks down if you take them away from him. Santa recently brought him counting bears to try and compromise with this specific trait.

I just want my little guy to be happy and healthy like any mom out there, but do you think I really have reason for concern?

My son turned 3 a few days ago. We have been struggling to get him to eat for about a year now. He doesn't eat much of anything. He will eat wagon wheels with sauce, homemade pickles, sometimes regular cucumber slices, string cheese, peanut butter and marshmallow fluff sandwiches, strawberries, peaches, mac and cheese sometimes, crackers and fish sticks. Sometimes he will eat salad, and will eat french fries if offered (but I try not to offer them often). He basically eats no meat whatsoever. Oh and he eats homemade yogurt and peach popsicles I make for him.

I know what he eats isn't too bad for a kid his age, but it's the struggle with each meal that bugs me more. I taught him to say "no thank you" rather than just say no and push food away, but he still refuses to eat any meal I cook. I tell him he can have breakfast the next day if he doesn't want dinner and he gets down from the table but 5 minutes later he is asking for candy or junk. I really do not give him candy often, but I run my own business making homemade chocolates so the stuff is always around, especially around the holidays. I try to keep it out of sight but sometimes it is hard to keep it all away from him. Lately all he asks for is junk food. I try to give him options at dinner and he says "I want nothing" and pushes his plate away. I try to have him take a bite of dinner to taste before giving him what he wants (cereal or something of that sort) and he refuses to take a bite and breaks down into tears. I try not to get upset but I have another son who will be 1 in a few days and is teething and also not eating due to the pain and some days I am at my wits end and wind up getting really mad at him for not eating. I know it's better to stay unphased and ignore his antics, but some days it's just really hard. We got into a habit of promising dessert if he eats some of his food but it's gotten to the point now where he eats like 4 bites and then expects dessert and breaks down into tears if he doesn't get it. We give him ice cream a lot because it is fattening but I want him to eat healthy meals with the rest of the family.

I am also concerned with his eating as he is only 25 pounds and used to be tall for his age up until about 6-9 months ago and now he seems to be short. He is a teeny tiny little thing and off the charts skinny since 6 months old (was born at 9lbs!) but doctor always says he is consistent and growing fine and isn't worried. I give him vitamins and pediasure when I have a coupon. Any suggestions for the food battles would be greatly appreciated, and any recipes/new things to try that he might like as well. Thanks!

Ok let me start by saying that ever since birth my baby never pooped! After about the first 2 or 3 weeks he went down to pooping once every 2 to 3 weeks. After constant calls to my pediatrician they keep reassuring me that this is fine. At first they said that breast fed babies don't have much waste. Once he started solids I was still concerned but they insist that this is just the way his body works. I am concerned that either he is perpetually constipated or has a more serious underlying issue. Here is a little background:

He has a milk protein allergy. I am still breastfeeding about 6-7 times a day and avoiding any and all dairy. He also had reflux and took Zantac which he was weaned off of about 2 months ago. Once starting solids he didn't poop for 3 weeks or longer despite stimulation with an anal thermometer. He finally pooped solid hard balls which pediatrician wasn't concerned about since it was "only once". Since then he has play doh consistancy poop about once every week or two. The past three days he pooped every day and twice today...but my family just got over a stomach bug with diarrhea so that might be the culprit for the sudden pooping.

Since a baby every time he has a bowel on its way he will start fussing and sometimes all out screaming/crying. Usually over night he will wake up screaming suddenly and only nursing him will calm him down. Every time - it never fails - he will wake up in the morning either with a poopy diaper or will poop within the hour. Pediatrician nurse line never seems to be concerned with this.

I tried giving him prunes... pureed #1 gerber prunes three times a day for 3 whole weeks. No difference whatsoever. Recently started trying to give him prune juice in a sippy cup and that doesn't seem to help either...though in all fairness he is only getting a few drops at a time because he is new at the sippy and doesn't quite know how to work it yet. I do not give him a bottle because he is breastfed and never has had anything in a bottle. I don't see why I should start now with juice which is why he is trying a sippy cup.

Please let me know if you have any advice or if any of you have experienced this with your children!? I would like some reassurance that this is indeed normal, or some advice/experience in case it is not. Oh and just for the record he is a perfectly happy, healthy growing boy at about 18 lbs and 29.5 inches at 8 months old (he's TALL I know!).

I currently take my 2 year old to the Wyomissing office of the Reading Pediatrics branch and have had nothing but trouble from them...many unreturned phone calls and when I do get return calls most of them are rude. Not to mention it's a huge hassel every year to get my child a flu shot. I am fed up and looking for suggestions/reviews for other Pediatricians in my area. My second baby is due any day and I don't want to have to deal with them for two children.

I currently take my 2 year old to the Wyomissing office of the Reading Pediatrics branch and have had nothing but trouble from them...many unreturned phone calls and when I do get return calls most of them are rude. Not to mention it's a huge hassel every year to get my child a flu shot. I am fed up and looking for suggestions/reviews for other Pediatricians in my area. My second baby is due any day and I don't want to have to deal with them for two children.

Here is some background on my child. He always went to sleep late, around 10pm as a baby and now somewhere between 8-9pm as a toddler, usually more towards 9. He always slept around 11-12 hours at night. For a while now he had been going to bed at 9 and waking up at 8 and taking a 2 hour nap around 1. Suddenly, he started waking up at 5am and staying up for an hour before finally going back to sleep (and thus waking around 9 instead of 8 because of the disruption in sleep). I know he isn't ready to get up yet as I got up with him once and he was cranky, rubbing his eyes and wouldn't eat breakfast he was too exhausted. He doesn't cry or get upset, just laughs in his crib and babbles for about 45 minutes before falling back asleep, quicker if I give him his paci (but we are trying to wean him from that). We have room darkening shades so that is not the issue. We live on a fairly busy street and my husband gets up at 4:45 every morning for work but I would think after 20 months of this he would be used to it and that would not be the issue. It is becomg a small problem though as we have a one level home and once he is up he hears my husband getting ready for work and gets excited thinking he is going to come in and play with him. He does always go back to sleep after about an hour of babbling in his crib, but being 24 weeks pregnant I am anxious to get him out of the habit before the new baby comes. Any idea what I can do to get him to stop waking so early?

He has been using a Nuby soft spout sippy cup since 8 months old. He does great with it except he keeps sticking his fingers in the top and ripping the spout. Since the cup is labeled as a trainer cup, we thought it was time to move onto a bigger kids cup anyway, except he won't use any of the sippy cups with a hard spout. At first it seemed like he didn't understand that he had to suck but then we found a cup he would suck a little from but then he gives up and refuses to use it anymore. Any ideas/advice for getting him onto a bigger kid cup? (please don't suggest a regular cup as every parent needs a sippy for outside play, shopping trips and whatnot where a regular cup is not practical)

Up until recently my son always ate his vegetables with little problems. Suddenly, he doesn't seem to eat anything that even resembles a vegetable unless it is in one of those Gerber Graduates bowls. Sometimes he will eat green beans or corn from a #3 jar, but since he is mostly on finger foods now I am trying to prevent him from regressing back to jarred. About 3 weeks ago he would eat steamed carrots and celery like there was no tomorrow, now he only plays with them then throws them off his highchair. He loves fruit, so that is not an issue. Any ideas how I can get him to eat more vegetables?

I understand that he should be getting some snacks now between meals, the only problem is that I don't know where to add them into his schedule. He typically wakes up around 8 and I nurse him right away. Around 9 he eats cereal and fruit and has some water in a sippy (he usually is in his high chair eating for 45 minuts). He naps at 11 and typically wakes up at 12:30. At 1 he has lunch which is either a Gerber graduates, or finger foods like diced chicken, steamed veggies and small cheese cubes or yogurt followed by some fruit flavored puffs, and again a sippy with water. At 3:30 he nurses and takes his second nap. Some days he will nap for a half hour, other days as much as two hours. I would say the average is just an hour though. Then he usually has dinner with us at around 5:30 which is again either a Gerber Graduates or part of what we are eating like veggies and meat, sometimes fruit and cheese and a sippy with water. Then we start to calm him down around 7, bath at 7:30 and nurse and bedtime at 8:30ish (he loves the tub and stays in for a while). We are going to start whole milk soon but he is sick and we are waiting it out. Does this sound like a typical schedule for a 12 month old? Since he is still nursing and I hope to continue nursing does he need snacks, and when should I try to add them into his schedule?

We recently started giving our 12 month old cow's milk mixed in his cereal. At first we were diluting it with water, then giving him a full 3 oz. mixed with his cereal. He seemed fine: no upset stomach, fussing or diarrhea; however we started noticing that his skin would turn red where the milk touched his face and dried. I took my finger, dipped it in milk and ran it over his cheek and let it dry. Within 5 minutes the area where it dried was red. I wiped it off and it took about a half hour for it to go away. I called the Pediatrician and spoke with a nurse who was perplexed since he had no other allergy symptoms and told us just to keep an eye on him. We have since stopped giving him milk all together...we want to stop for a week. He has had no other reactions to other dairy. He eats cheese, yogurt and even had a bite or two of ice cream with no ill effects. Any idea what may be causing this???

He turns one on Christmas Eve and we weren't sure where to take him to celebrate. We were thinking Chuck E Cheese but are worried it won't be appropriate for his age (or they won't be open that day). Anyone have any ideas for fun/age appropriate places to take him that might be open that afternoon?