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Feeding |
After a few weeks Jessica began to wake up but I continued to express milk and she would have it in a bottle. I tried breastfeeding once she was more awake but she was not very good at it - very poor sucking. I was really disappointed as she had such a good suck whilst we were in hospital.
At 6 weeks the obstetrician prescribed Motilium to help my milk supply which was fading fast. Because Down Syndrome babies are very prone to sickness I wanted her to keep having the breast milk.
At 7 weeks I was reading some information on breastfeeding DS babies and it said that if you persevere that at about two months they should be able to breastfeed. So I decided to give it a go and Jess was able to. She could not latch very tightly but was able so I decided to see how she would go.
I could not breastfeed her out in public because of her inability to attach well and the fact that milk would dribble all over my stomach. Her stronger side she was able to do more efficiently then her weaker side. I did not have enough milk to fully breastfeed her so Jessica was supplemented with formula. She also had reflux which was worse when she was lying horizontal breastfeeding.
The formula prescribed for her was anti-reflux to help her reflux and anti-allergy which helped keep her from being constipated.
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| Immunisations |
Jessica had her two month immunisations and the Rotar Virus as well, as DS children are very susceptible to this virus. She coped well with these.
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| 6 Week Check Up with Pediatrician |
We saw the pediatrician at 6 weeks and I questioned her as to why she had not picked up the Downs. She told me that Jessica had unusual facial features but she could not tell for certain what it was so she did not say anything. She told me that Downs crossed her mind but that Jessica had no other outwardly overt characteristics apart from her facial features, sandal toes and flat back of her head i.e. she had normal creases on her hands and she could suck really well.
She recommended that I contact the state Down Syndrome Association and the local FECS team (early intervention team which consists of a social worker, occupational therapist, physiotherapist and a speech pathologist), which I did. I received a lot of very good information back from the Association and met the social worker and the physiotherapist a couple weeks later for an introductory talk.
I have to be honest and say that it was very difficult to read the information that the Association sent. My husband felt the same way. It was also hard to read anything on the internet to do with Downs - we wanted to educate ourselves but we didn't like what we saw - it all seemed too depressing. We shed tears and we mourned the loss of the child we thought we had, and then we moved on to the child who we did have. It took a few months for this process but little by little we were able to look at all the information.
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|
Milestones |
Nothing happened until she reached 9 weeks.
At 9 weeks Jessica
* made her first smile but then did not repeat it until she was nearly 4 months old.
* began following objects with her eyes.
* turned her eyes towards interesting sounds.