First Few Months....

At Lauren's four month check-up I explained to her Pediatrician all of my concerns with the crying and developmental delays.  She said that Lauren probably had acid reflux and prescribed her some Prevacid.  She said as for the crying "that's just her demeanor" and said that Iwould just have to deal with it.  She did, however, recommend that I get in touch with the Infant Toddler Services in our area and see if they would be able to help us out any. 
I received a phone call from Miss Susan, our Family Services Coordinator and our lives seemed to change.  I felt my first breath of hope after our first phone conversation.  Susan set up an appointment with me to come meet myself and evaluate Lauren with a P.T. from their office.  From first sight it was obvious to them that Lauren was very far behind in all elements of development.  First things first, we had to work on the crying, feeding, and get her to do tummy time.  She refused to use a pacifier and hated swaddling so I didn't have a lot of options. 
Lauren was very picky about her bottle nipples, but I just thought she was truly being picky.  Come to find out she has Oral Dysphagia and an extra large tongue.  While she eats I have to hold a rag under her chin to catch the formula that runs back out of the side of her mouth.  She has to drink her bottles in an upright position as well.  I ended up having to add rice cereal to each bottle to make it thicker and that seemed to help her keep the formula down as well as not drool out quite as much with each feeding.
Lauren did not respond to the sound of my voice, although she had passed her newborn hearing test.  Lauren also seemed to have trouble tracking objects with her eyes.  She could not control her neck and head to look around as well either.  She did not reach out or grab at toys intentionally.  She never brought her hands to midline or up to her mouth.  She loved to look at adult faces and watch different facial expressions.  At her four month check-up her development level was rated more towards a newborn's development.