Vivian at 8 Months Old

Our sweet little Vivi Grace is now 8 months old! This past month Vivian has really warmed up to solid foods and now eats one puree "meal" and one BLW "meal" a day which is always peanut, avocado and dairy free since she is allergic. Vivian has had sweet potato, apples, pears, cashew butter, almond butter, pancakes, walnut butter, eggs, chicken (disliked), carrots, peas, banana, spinach, kale and oatmeal. We luckily haven't had anymore allergic reactions, but I have been very slow with introducing new foods. I have avoided shellfish which is something Oliver is allergic to and I'm kicking myself for not having the allergist check when we did Vivian's testing.  I also give Viv a straw sippy cup with an ounce or so of water that she loves to sip throughout the day.

Vivian's skin is SUPER sensitive and dry. Even just wiping her up after meals her skin gets all irritated and pink. One week this month Vivian had a huge flare up with he face eczema and it was bleeding. I am not sure what caused it, but it healed after a few days of putting breastmilk on it and making sure we put mittens on her hands during naps so she couldn't itch it!

Day 1 vs Day 3 

Vivi naps two or three times a day one morning nap around 8am, midday nap and one late afternoon nap around 3pm. If she has a long nap midday she won't take a late afternoon nap. A few nights this month Vivian has slept 9pm -530am which has been AMAZING, but usually still does her one wake up around midnight which I do feel she needs! With her bedtime being around 6/6:30pm I wouldn't expect her to sleep 12 straight hours at her age. 

Vivian is still breastfeeding and it's going really well though having all the kids home still doing virtual learning causes her to be distracted and snack a lot more than getting a full feeding in. I like to feed her in her room with the lights off as much as possible.

This month brought a lot more babbling and high pitch shrieks along with Vivian's first word Dada this makes her no less of a Mama's girl though and everyone in the family will agree to that haha. The way she lights up when she sees me makes my heart melt. We all just adore her SO much! Viv brings so much joy to our lives. 

Vivian at 7 Months Old

 Vivian is officially 7 months old and this past month a lot has happened!

After Vivian's 6 month appointment I gave her a tiny bit of peanut butter since her pediatrician recommended doing so. Soon after she started throwing up! Vivian threw up three or so times and then she stopped. I called the on call doctor and they said that if the throwing up continues, she starts swelling or breaking out in hives or struggling to breathe to take her to the hospital. The rest of the night she acted normal and nursed as usual. 

The next day I gave her avocado.  Since she had it once before, I thought it was a safe food. Again she started throwing up, but this time she threw up about 15 times in 30 minutes. It was absolutely heartbreaking to watch her struggling between gags. Vivian started looking very pale and her throw up turned from breastmilk/avocado to full on thick mucus that she was choking on trying to get it out. Matt and I decided it would be best to take her to the urgent care. 

Matt stayed home with our other kids while I rushed her alone and terrified in the dark, throwing up in her carseat to the closest children’s urgent care! They gave her Zofran so her little body could have a break from throwing up and after a little monitoring I was able to take her back home. I watched her like a hawk all night. Vivian nursed well and slept normally. 

I took Vivi ASAP to an allergist where she got a skin test done to see if it was in fact an allergic reaction. The results came back that she is allergic to dairy, peanuts and avocado. 

I’ve been nervous to start up solids again after her allergic reaction, but I’m relieved to have some answers and to slowly start trying new foods. We also now have an epipen! 

When I gave her her first taste of food since her episode she wouldn’t even open her mouth as if she remembered what had happened. Vivi has slowly started getting better about foods and prefers to feed herself which is obviously messy, but whatever works, right?! 

So far she has had oatmeal, apple, spinach, egg, sweet potato, banana, strawberry and kale. 

If I had to say one was her favorite I’d go with sweet potato, but she really makes a yuck face for all of them haha. 

Obviously, Vivian being allergic to dairy isn’t ideal especially the closer she gets to a year when most babies switch from breastmilk/formula to cows milks, but I’ve done some research and think I might just keep nursing her throughout her second year when having cows milk won’t be so important. Really I’ll just cross that bridge when it comes. Other nondairy options are oat milk or almond! 

Also, I’d like to mention I had been having dairy during my pregnancy and since she was born while nursing without any issues! I’ve also had peanut butter at first we thought that might be the cause to her eczema, but after eliminating dairy and peanuts from my diet for a few weeks I haven’t seen that much of a change so I don’t know if I’ll avoid it any longer. 

Vivian had her first road trip this past week and her first beach trip! She was really good in the car considering she hasn’t been in it much since we don’t ever go anywhere. 

She’s such a sweetheart and lights up when she gets any attention from her siblings. 

Vivian loves being held, grabbing at everything, sitting, being in the carrier, rolling right out of tummy time, jolly jumper, baths and nursing.