The First Year

By about 4 months Brandon´s gastric reflux had settled down somewhat and he was becoming a more settled and happy baby. He had to date, reached all his developmental milestones without any problem, some might have been considered a little on the normal "late" side but still were normal. We had a year full of viral tonsillitis (it runs in the family - large tonsils), but health-wise otherwise, it was good, apart from disturbing reactions to immunisations such as the Triple Antigen - fevers and prolonged crying. (When I checked this out, I was reassured by health professionals that all was in order). Just before the closure of our first year, I took Brandon along to a Child Health Nurse practitioner for some ideas and assistance about his sleeping and eating habits. He was still not napping and getting overtired and having restless sleep overnight. As for his diet, he was becoming increasingly selective about the food he ate, disliking textures and tastes that he had not so long ago loved. He gagged violently so easily on foods and textures that he did not like. There was no medical reason for this. However, with the help that we got, things seemed to settle a bit in the New Year. He started head banging though, which would start in the cot when he was put down for a nap, a slow rhythmic knocking, which went on to progress to a full-on head bang on any hard surface he could find. There was no obvious trigger, he would just start banging and not stop unless he was physically prevented from doing so. I had a very bad feeling that he would head bang all day if he was allowed to. It was terrible - he used to head bang and bruise himself so much I was worried that someone would report me to the Child Protection Agency! I spent that time constantly telling anyone who would listen to me about his head banging.