Maggie's Daddy Week

Zac kept photo documentation of their daily activities to share with me this week. I thought all of you might enjoy seeing how they spent their time as well...

Apparently it's really fun to pull out the umbrella stroller and chase Boston around the house. I hear both Boston and Maggie enjoyed this activity.


Peppa, Maggie's dolly, was giving Maggie some loves after Maggie woke up from her nap. I think Doudou is a little jealous!

Here's the daddy smile.

Here is a video showing Maggie playing and eventually rolling over to her back. Enjoy.

Maggie and Zac have had a great week together--they are quite the playful duo now. I've been amazed at how Maggie will just watch Zac from across the room, and when she gets the slightest glance from him in her direction she brightens up instantly and gets a beautiful, huge grin on her face.

As I mentioned in my last post, I have some new details to share about the choices we are making concerning Maggie's allergies. After Dr. Ally and I had a lengthy discussion when she called the other night, we have decided to go ahead and transition Maggie to the Neocate Formula. Our rationale for this is simply that we can't stop the bleeding, and we need to get her symptom free before we start solids. This way we'll actually know when she's having an allergic reaction to something, rather than just thinking that is how Maggie always is. Dr. Ally spoke with both Dr. Thompson the pediatric gastroenterologist, and Dr. Jeppson, a pediatric allergist. They both agreed.

This obviously has been a very, very difficult choice for us, especially me. Dr. Ally keeps reminding me that she doesn't know any mother who's been able to breast feed this long with a child that has allergies like Maggie. I just keep telling myself that we're almost to six months (the minimum amount of time recommended for exclusive breast feeding by the AAP).
Our plan is to slowly introduce the formula, mainly because we don't have a choice, Maggie's currently refusing it. This will also help with the tremendous cost of this formula. Zac was hesitant to pull out his calculator, but he finally did, and we had the very harsh reality of how costly this is going to be. It isn't going to be easy, at all, but we'll make it work--we have to.
We bought Maggie a new bottle, so we don't upset her when she thinks she's getting her breast milk from her usual bottle. We are going to start with one ounce formula and three ounces of breast milk, and slowly start decreasing the breast milk. I'm still going to breastfeed Maggie for her early AM feeding, and right before she goes to bed, until she's taking exclusively the formula from the bottle. This morning she actually drank the breast milk/formula mix from her new bottle, so we are hopeful.
I'm trying to think of this as a transition to new and different things rather than the end of something. I know many of you who have been breastfeeding moms, understand me when I say it's very hard to quit breastfeeding. We will be starting solids at the end of the month though, if Maggie's feeling well, and that will be a great new adventure as well.

As always, we'll keep everyone updated.