Give that Mouth a Break!

Some cute pics of Cooper without the NAM. He still has the duoderm on his cheeks though.

More of the NAM

So, the first week of having Coop's NAM in was something I was unprepared for. Since the day he was born Coop has been nothing but an easy baby. Eats, sleeps, get his diaper changed, and the cycle continues without any fuss. But that first week of the NAM changed everything. He had trouble eating, spitting up over his NAM, and was just generally in a bad mood. We didn't encounter any troubles of this nature until the NAM. I wish I was more well informed of the purpose of the NAM at that time. The doctor said it would help his performance eating, but in our case it did nothing but actually make it more difficult for my son. He was able to breastfeed before, and that became a real struggle to where it was only possible to pump and bottle feed.

Thankfully I have better news now. THAT WAS ONLY THE FIRST WEEK, IT GETS BETTER I PROMISE. This is a common problem for other parents of NAM babies, and though I was ready to just take the darn thing out and say forget it, I new it would help prepare my baby for surgery. After all isn't that why we signed up for all this in the first place?? It has been a month now since the NAM was put in, and Cooper is doing excellent. He's over his cranky mood swings and eats like a pig. He's gained significant weight which is exactly what we're going for. He still isn't too happy when I have to go through the process of cleaning/replacing his dressings and putting the piece back in, but once I get that accomplished, he knows he has a nice warm bottle to devour and voila, my happy boy is back!

NAM :(

We met with Cooper's pediatric orthodontist May 28th for his NAM appliance to be put in. Surprisingly Cooper did amazing the entire morning, being pried at and poked with the retainer-like mouthpiece. After 2+ hours of not feeding we figured he'd be the grumpiest little boy on earth, but the "pretty" lights in the office captivated him enough to deter his attention off what we were really there for. The doctor was beyond impressed with how well Coop took the the piece, saying most babies freak out over it and have a hard time feeding. Not this case. He ate there at the office with a new bottle. Previously he was using the Haberman Feeder, to this day he is using the Mead Johnson Nurser and doing very well. We were back in the car on our way home, and before we left the parking lot, his mood shifted once he realized what the heck was just put in his mouth and screamed the ENTIRE way home. We enjoyed the lovely 2 hours of pure screams coming from such a little being. Bad on our part, he was having paci withdrawals. He wasn't able to use it anymore due to the "button" sticking out of the NAM. This was JUST THE BEGINNING!