Acid Reflux

I have been so out of the loop! Our internet was down for a week, then all hell broke loose with the munchkin, then I had to go back to work.... I couldn't keep up with my email.... I barely ever even turned my computer on. Things are finally settling down. I am starting to get back into the swing of things. Going back to work has been a huge adjustment. But it does make me feel like I am part of the world again.

About 2 weeks ago, the munchkin all but stopped eating. It was scary and I had no idea what was wrong. Every time I would try to feed her she would scream and cry. It was a Saturday when it all really started. She had been going longer between feedings (about 4 hours) for the last couple of days and then, after nursing normal during the night she decided to go the entire Saturday and only eat once. She went an 8 hour stretch the first half of the day, drank about 2 ounces from a bottle, and then 6 hours till she had another 4 ounces from a bottle and then we put her to bed. I kept trying to nurse her all day long and she wanted nothing to do with me. She was also super fussy and crabby all day. Then during the night she nursed same as usual as if nothing was wrong. I had called the nurses line for our doc's office on Saturday and the said if it didn't get any better to call back on Sunday. Sunday was pretty much the same thing, except maybe she would take a little more from a bottle here and there. I called the nurse's line again and they told me to take her to the ER. While we were at the hospital they checked her over from head to toe and told us everything was fine and she probably just had some off days. She also decided to nurse while we were there. They told us to just follow up with our doctor on Monday.

I was so worried about her. I knew this was something more then just a couple of "off days". What 11 week old refuses to eat for 8 hours during the day? She was clearly upset about something. It was hard to calm her down when she would get really worked up. I wasn't getting any sleep. I was constantly trying to get her to eat or calm her down or figure out what was wrong. And I didn't even have internet access so I could find information about what the problem might be. It was so frustrating!

Monday came and she started to nurse again. I was so relieved. She didn't seem to be eating near as much as usual though but I was glad that atleast she was nursing again and hoped it would get better. She was still fussy, but she seemed a little better. Tuesday morning came and she was crabbier then ever and wouldn't nurse again. I called the doctor's office and asked if we could come in to see him.

We went in to his office and I told him what had been going on. He immediately suggested acid reflux. Others had suggested this to us as well, but I didn't think that was the problem because once she would finally eat she seemed fine afterwards. I assumed they would be worse after they got done eating, not before. But it was definitely worth a shot. I left the office and went to pick up her meds as she screamed in the car then entire time. I thought I was going to lose it. I felt so bad for her. We gave her the first dose about 4:00 and by 10:00 she drank 4 ounces from a bottle and went to bed in what seemed like a pretty good mood. We started to think maybe this was the problem, but we didn't want to get our hopes up too much.

She nursed normally thoughout the night, but then again nothing had ever changed really changed about her night time routine. We woke up the next morning and she seemed to be in a much better mood. We gave her another dose of medicine and crossed our fingers. She started nursing every 3 hours and although she fussed a little before each feeding, she would still latch on pretty quickly and was much happier throughout the day. By the next day, it was as if we had a completely different baby on our hands. She was nursing great and seemed to much happier! She was giggling and cooing all the time. We could sit on the couch with her in our lap wide awake and just hang out. This was something we had never been able to do before! The only way she would hang out on the couch with us was if she was sleeping. Otherwise we had to be walking around with her, rocking her or bouncing her. She seemed so much more relaxed and calm.

So that was it all along. My poor baby had been in so much pain and the acid reflux medicine made her all better! Thank goodness cuz I was going back to work in a week and I had been really worried about her going to stay with Sarah. Plus the whole ordeal had forced us to give her a bottle pretty often and now she was much more comfortable taking one, which she would have to have ofcourse once she was at Sarah's house every day.

Yay! So I will save everything else for the next blog... she is started to get really bored in her floor play thingy and I better get her out. More to come....