The good, the middle ground, and the not so good...

Simonsaysbaby

The good news is that LO is sleeping through the night!  It only took us two nights of a little bit of crying and he is now going down about 8pm and waking between 5-7 am..  So proud of him.  He is also napping for 2 hours in the am and 2-3 hours in the pm...I had lots of moms tell me that once they start sleeping through the night their naps get longer, too..and they did  

The middle ground is that he is not showing any signs of sitting up on his own.  He just started rolling and is doing great with that.  He also is not eating any solids, which is ok..I am feeling better about that as I know that he will do it when he's ready.  As much as I know that he is really only developmentally at 4 months instead of 6 mo..it's still hard to see him a little behind.  I know he will get there.

The not so good...we were referred to Mayo Clinic's pediatric neurology dept this Friday as a head u/s of LO showed he does have benign external hydrocephalus.  We had hoped it was just a genetically large head as we all have super noggins..but we didn't escape that easily.  His head size grew so fast and so big we knew there was something else happening.  Overall, it is a self correcting condition, but can cause some developemental delays and speech delays.  I just feel bad that LO will have another thing stacked against him in addtion to his prematurity.  The literature about this condition is confusing as some choose to treat it with a shunt while others don't...I guess Mayo will lead us in the right direction for our little dude. 

Thanks mamas, I feel like you guys just get this stuff in a way that my mamas of term babies don't...

AlwaysSunny925

I'm sorry to hear about your LOs diagnosis.  Feel free to reach out if you have any questions.  Both my sons have hydrocephalus and both have shunts.  Thinking of you.

urbanflowerpot

I'm sorry about the not so good part

Try not to look at prematurity as a "delay", though. LO was born early - like way before his DD. There's no way he should be sitting up or have solids accomplished. It sounds like he's doing great for his adjusted age.

It's really hard to not compare to other babies their actual age, though. I know! 

punky917

I am sorry to hear about the not so good part! The Mayo Clinic does excellent work so I agree that they will lead your in the right direction for your LO. I know it is easier said than done, but I HAD to stop reading all that could happen with DS, especially since he had a Level III IVH. Just keep faith that your baby will keep on fighting and beat the odds. T&Ps to you!