the week started off great. the weather was beautiful on monday, so daxon and i took a walk. i had a package to mail to my sister (all of his newborn clothing, minus one kimono shirt for me to cry over someday), so i put him in the bugaboo stroller that i got from a friend and off we went. after the post office we stopped in to rite-aid for mommy to get more hemorrhoid cream (note to the pregnant moms, get cream not ointment. trust me). it was lovely.
then we got home. daxon was in a fine mood when we got home, and mommy had to pee, so i put him in the rock and play and went upstairs. while i was in the bathroom he started to cry, but it wasn't his usual, "hey you left me alone, wtf am i supposed to do now" cry. this was a cry. i quickly finished my business, and went back downstairs. as i approached, i noticed his shirt was wet like he'd spit up a little. i've been suspecting he had silent reflux for a few days at this point (more on that in a minute), so while the spit up made me feel bad for him, i wasn't too concerned. but then i noticed the pink spots on his shirt, and panic ensued. my baby had just spit up blood. my initial reaction was to check his mouth and see if he had any sores or had maybe bit his tongue (which is, of course, completely illogical - he couldn't gum his tongue to bleeding!). obviously, i found nothing of the sort. so, after i put him on the boob to call him down, i called the pediatrician.
ok, let me back up now. like i said, i've been suspecting that daxon has silent reflux for a few days. why? the biggest clue for us was the gagging/choking he does after he eats. it could be up to an hour after he eats, and all of sudden he'll just start choking. it lasts only a second or two and then he's fine, and it doesn't seem to really bother him too much, but it's scary as hell. occasionally, he'll be sleeping, then all of a sudden start whimpering and/or crying - almost like he's having a nightmare - but i suspect he's actually refluxing in his sleep and it hurts. occasionally he'll push off me or pull away from the bottle, and when we sit him up to burp, he screams. i thought he was just mad cuz we took the food away, but now i suspect he's mad cuz burping makes the reflux bad. he especially hates being burped over the shoulder, probably because that puts pressure on his little belly. and he hiccups all.the.time. at least 3 times a day. he rarely spits up, though, which is why i've been suspecting that it's silent reflux.
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| i mean...if that's not the saddest face in the world... |
when the pediatrician called me back, i went over all of these symptoms with her. she agreed that it sounded like reflux, and didn't feel it was necessary to bring him in for an appointment urgently, since we are seeing her next week for his 2-month well visit (oh, god, the shots....i'm already dreading it). but she called in a script for zantac. i immediately took to the hellobee boards and dr. google, as well as consulted my friends on facebook. from what i read, zantac - if it works for your baby - works quickly to relieve the painful symptoms of reflux, but won't actually stop the spitting up. fine. he hardly spits up as it is, i just want it to stop hurting him! but i was also warned that for dinner babies, the zantac didn't work, and they required a visit to a pediatric gi specialist. does the word specialist make any other mama's skin crawl?
despite all of the evidence to suggest he has reflux, i'm still not totally convinced. and i'm the one who diagnosed him in the first place. but it seems like it's the worst in the evening. during the day he generally seems comfortable and content. he is always super fussy in the evenings, though. matt gives him a bottle around 6, and once he finishes that, it's fuss city. i wouldn't call him inconsolable, but everything we try only works for a few minutes before he's fussing again. i have two theories on this. my first is that he gets too gassy from the bottle, which aggravates the reflux (have you ever burped when you have heartburn? ouch.). so today we went out and picked up 2 new bottles - an anti-colic tommee tippee (we've been using regular tommee tippee bottles and he takes them well) and a dr. brown. i read reviews online and found that the tommee tippee, while designed with a valve to let air through the milk, is not a true anti-colic bottle. the only true anti-colic bottles are mam and dr. brown. i really didn't want to get the dr. brown, but babies r us doesn't sell mam bottles, so i didn't have a choice. tonight we'll try the tommee tippee and see if that helps, then move on to the dr. brown if not. my other theory is that we're keeping him up too late. i generally start his bedtime routine around 8, about 2 hours after he gets the bottle, and he's typically down by 9. i'm wondering if maybe we should treat the bottle like his bedtime meal, and put him down after he finishes that. i'm hesitant to do this, though, because then matt will hardly get any time with him. and matt is hesitant because he's been sleeping so well so far - why mess with it? i plan to see how it goes with the zantac and the new bottles. if his fussiness doesn't improve, then i will discuss changing his bedtime with the ped on tuesday.
it is torturous watching him cry in pain and not be able to do anything. i hope one of these things, or a combination of any of them, help him and maybe him feel better!
despite all of the evidence to suggest he has reflux, i'm still not totally convinced. and i'm the one who diagnosed him in the first place. but it seems like it's the worst in the evening. during the day he generally seems comfortable and content. he is always super fussy in the evenings, though. matt gives him a bottle around 6, and once he finishes that, it's fuss city. i wouldn't call him inconsolable, but everything we try only works for a few minutes before he's fussing again. i have two theories on this. my first is that he gets too gassy from the bottle, which aggravates the reflux (have you ever burped when you have heartburn? ouch.). so today we went out and picked up 2 new bottles - an anti-colic tommee tippee (we've been using regular tommee tippee bottles and he takes them well) and a dr. brown. i read reviews online and found that the tommee tippee, while designed with a valve to let air through the milk, is not a true anti-colic bottle. the only true anti-colic bottles are mam and dr. brown. i really didn't want to get the dr. brown, but babies r us doesn't sell mam bottles, so i didn't have a choice. tonight we'll try the tommee tippee and see if that helps, then move on to the dr. brown if not. my other theory is that we're keeping him up too late. i generally start his bedtime routine around 8, about 2 hours after he gets the bottle, and he's typically down by 9. i'm wondering if maybe we should treat the bottle like his bedtime meal, and put him down after he finishes that. i'm hesitant to do this, though, because then matt will hardly get any time with him. and matt is hesitant because he's been sleeping so well so far - why mess with it? i plan to see how it goes with the zantac and the new bottles. if his fussiness doesn't improve, then i will discuss changing his bedtime with the ped on tuesday.
it is torturous watching him cry in pain and not be able to do anything. i hope one of these things, or a combination of any of them, help him and maybe him feel better!
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