Wow, go Strega! That's great info. ita, do you want one of us to call and ask theoretical questions tomorrow? I could do that.

Also noted: the manhattan beach whole foods is SCHMANCY! There's not only a "we cook your meat" bar and a gelato bar, there's a wine bar (with seating), more olives than I've ever seen, a Mexican food bar ( with seating) and a couple other areas. Madness!!

Echidna puggle!

My day just got that much better. The video is adorable. I suspect Ryan will agree when he gets home.

Check out these awesome wildlife photos:

I love those photos. Photo 4, of the Australian fruit bat: over much of its range, there are crocodiles in the waters where it drinks. Grabbing a drink in that fashion (dipping its chest in the water then sucking the water off its fur) minimises the time they're at risk of being snatched. (They can actually swim too, if they misjudge and fall in.)

Cash, here's my two cents. Do NOT put him on ao g-tube just for slow growth. When kids are put on g-tube (with continuous feeds or without) they often lose the ability to eat orally. If he's taking a bottle (or is he breast fed now? Also formula?) then you don't want him to lose the ability to suck and eat. So no g-tube, unless he isn't taking food by mouth or never has.

They found his allergy to milk protein just after she brought him home. He drink a special formula along with a supplement for extra calories. He's allergic to breast milk and soy formula.

He's growing but it seems like such a slow rate. He's 9 months old and weighs just 9lbs. He's gaining something like an ounce or two a week. Developmentally, he seems just fine. He laughs, babbles, giggles, grasps and rolls. He's not strong enough to lift up to crawl but he can hold his head up pretty well. He eats a little bit of baby food and cereal but for the most part, they are seriously counting every calorie so the food is just for tasting and trying.

Because of his small size, it means that even after 9 months they are on a strict feeding schedule and he eats every 3 hours during the day and every 4 hours at night. Exhausting, to say the least.

My sister constantly frets about how much he eats and how much he gains. He's only ever lost on one weekly weigh in but made up for it the following week. She is determined to keep him off the tube because her own instincts and the practical advice of the nurses and therapists. Of course, it's a lot different when she goes in to see the pediatric specialist who always reminds her of the possibility. It's another stress on her. I think Reece is going to be itty bitty for a while yet and probably won't make up ground for years. But it's really, really hard for her to stand her ground when she's exhausted and paranoid about his size.

Is she breast feeding him, Cash? Can they put him on a high caloric diet?

Is she breast feeding him, Cash?

He's allergic to breast milk, so I'm assuming not.

Damn, Kat--speaking of fonts of knowledge, I hate listening to preemie parents give such levels of detail, because of all the sleepless nights and stress and glayvin that came with that information. But it's good when it can be shared.

do you want one of us to call and ask theoretical questions tomorrow? I could do that.

I dunno? I mean...I'm frozen with indecision right now. Being right is so clearly insufficient. I'm in the mode now of trying to throw everything at once, but I am hitting a bit of a brick wall with the therapies. Fucking logistics, man. But other people do this! I am not exceptional. So what am I missing? How do these facilities have the narrow hours that they do? I mean, the water therapy place is basically only open during lunch, but not really near me. Home or office.

::sigh::

Did I mention frozen?

It boggles my mind that a baby can be allergic to breast milk--but it happens. My sister is sitting on the mother lode of milk in her freezer. She's in the process of donating it to a milk bank.

Kat and Strega are both amazing.

It boggles my mind that a baby can be allergic to breast milk--but it happens.

Indeed. It happened to my younger brother.

Kat's amazing; I just knew a good place to start hunting.

ita ! I don't want to put more on your plate when you're at your limit. Can you just give a thumbs up on anything that doesn't use any personal identifiers? A couple of people here are just doing a little research project about this hypothetical situation. Hell, if you want we could whitefont or backchannel until there's something useful to report; if we go down a blind alley you don't need to follow along.

Skipping sadly-yet-again to post that, according to the Buffista Calendar, today is Kate P's birthday.

Happy birthday, Kate! With lots of wishes for a great day and a wonderful year!