Rafe's 12 week immunisations and weighloss worries

My blog has been very much neglected recently. I am going to try and post more regularly but I make no guarantees of this actually happening. This past week has been testing to say the least. Firstly Richard's car died. Completely died, something wrong with the engine that would cost an absolute fortune to fix (RIP Vauxhall Insignia you piece of crap) so he is getting rid of it and now has his heart set on either a Mercedes, and Audi or a BMW. Great. And until he finds his dream car he is using mine to get to and from work. This wouldn't usually be a problem, we live a 20 minute walk from our local town and doctors surgery and I would usually walk rather than drive anyway, exercise fanatic (weirdo) that I am. But on Monday Rafe had his 12 week immunisations and the great British weather had been living up to it's awful reputation,and as much as I enjoy a good walk I don't enjoy it in a torrential downpoar.

Luckily Monday was the standard overcast day and not raining. After the usual morning battle to get myself and my baby in a presentable state to face the world (cursing myself for booking a 9:30am appointment) we made it to the doctors surgery on time and looking fairly smart...Rafe not me. 
Now at Rafe's last injections (when I was driven and had Richard by my side throughout) he was an angel. So brave, no fuss, few tears when the needle went in but that was it. Typically this time when I was by myself he screamed the place down from the moment we entered the surgery. It was like he knew what was coming. Everyone in the waiting room was eyeballing me and my apparently uncontrollable baby (they probably weren't but that's what it felt like). So I went and hid in the baby changing room until our appointment time.
A little off topic here but does anybody else find it so incredibly annoying that despite every doctor, midwife, health visitor, the government EVERYBODY advising that breastfeeding is best for you baby there is never anywhere private to actually whip your boob out and do it? There wasn't even a plastic chair in this baby changing room, I had to put the lid of the toilet down and sit on there and try and feed my hysterical baby.

Anyway he had the 5 in 1 jab again and the Rotavirus liquid to drink (cried the entire time) and we escaped with me on the verge of a mental breakdown. The minute we started walking home he fell fast asleep in his pram.
Now I hate it when Rafe has jabs because last time the aftermath was horrendous and this time was no better. I let him sleep when we got home, when he eventually woke up he was super grouchy and completely off of his food. He had a dodgy stomach all day which is a common side effect of the rotavirus vaccine and I could tell he wasn't feeling well. He did not have a temperature with these jabs, but he would not settle or nap for the rest of the day and I gave him a dose of calpol in the evening to try and calm him down and thankfully he did then have a good feed and go to sleep. We had a good night, he didn't wake up any more than usual but then Tuesday was AWFUL. 
He woke his usual time between 7-8am and fed normally, he seemed okay in the early morning but I noticed the injection site was quite red and had formed a hard lump. He refused to take a nap the entire day and he just seemed to get more and more distressed, he was massively clingy and just screamed every time I tried to put him down. He wouldn't feed properly either and I think the combination of feeling ill from the jabs and being overtired resulted in a very testing day. I bathed him earlier than usual to try and calm him a bit. Sure enough he was back to happy Rafe splashing in the tub but then he started screaming again as soon as I took him out and got him ready for bed. I gave him another dose of calpol and he had a medium sized feed and fell asleep at 7pm woke at 10pm and fed again then slept through until 4:30am.

Wednesday was a bit better, he at least had a nap but his appetite was still massively reduced from what's normal for him and I decided to go and get him weighed and the doctors surgery on Thursday morning. His length and head circumference are all fine and on track but he has dropped a whole percentile on the weight chart. I was so unhappy, I am still exclusively breastfeeding so I feel like his weight is entirely my responsibility and we had been doing so well. The health visior that weighed him advised that it's not a drastic drop and to come back in a week or so just to check things are back on track. I decided to start pumping to keep my supplies up whilst he isn't eating as much and to check I am producing enough for him. Well I got 125ml in under half an hour so I know it's not a lack of milk causing the problems, it's his lack of appetite. The rest of Thursday he ate fairly well and today (Friday) he seems back to normal eating-wise, although still very hard to settle.

All in all it's been a horrible week. I am by no means anti-vaccinations but I am considering post-poning his next lot and having them in six weeks time rather than four weeks time. Especially as he has the Men B one again in the next lot. It has definitely taken a good 72 hours to recover from them and he still isn't 100% himself. I don't want to scare anybody who's baby is about to have their jabs, every child reacts differently and some are completely fine. I would however avoid making any plans a couple of days after them just in case. 

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