Sometimes Hope Wears Toe Socks

We had a good session with the physical therapist today. Her assessment showed that Alex has the muscle tone of about a 4-month-old, but of course, he has the body of an 8-month-old. That means that it can be uncomfortable or even painful for him to do all the things he wants to do, like crawl, stand, sit up etc... Basically, he's uncomfortable all the time, and the problem is getting worse as he gets bigger and his gross motor skills develop and he does more physically.

It explains why Alex is having trouble sleeping. He simply can't find a comfortable position. And it explains why he's flopping around in our arms at night. (It's like trying to hold a tornado.) Think about having a weak leg and trying to make it work like in rehab -- instead of having good control over your muscles, you would fling it forward to take a step.

In addition to the general physical therapy findings, the therapist also did a lot of craniosacral work on Alex. His lack of muscle tone has led to a lot of muscle tension that may be causing some of his digestive issues as well.

We will continue Alex's reflux meds, but I'm not going to worry about changing his formula and taking him gluten free right now. I want to give this a chance to work first, and then we'll see where we are. We have another appointment next Friday.

The therapist was very pleased with how well Alex responded. She was confident that she could help him (and already had in the first session), and that we could postpone a GI scope.

I share her confidence. As she assessed Alex she was able to tell me things about his behaviors, like the fact that he bangs his head in the crib and tends to sleep with his head turned to the left, that amazed me. How would she know those things? Because it creates certain tensions and tight muscles and she could feel all that.

I left the appointment with a wiped out baby. And while Alex may not sleep well yet tonight, a load of worry has been lifted off my shoulders.

I feel like we've got another soldier on our side in this battle to find and fix Alex's problem.

She just happens to wear toe socks.