it started probably about a week ago in wisconsin. occasionally he would pull himself off, while breastfeeding and start crying. he also started to insist upon being carried only vertically. seriously, any position that wasn't straight up and down would set him off.
when you haven't had a baby before, you aren't sure what is normal. did this seem weird? yes - but so does yellow seedy poop, and that, as it turns out, is normal.
the crying during nursing got progressively worse, so we took him in to the doctor on sunday. emmett has acid reflux. the little valve near his stomach isn't closing as is should so he get stomach acid in his esophagus that can be really painful. this isn't uncommon in babies and it usually fixes itself by 6-9 months.
he now has some medicine, but it might take a few days for it to start working. also, we might have to tweak the dose, or change medicines all together if this one doesn't work. so we are still in for a few rough days.
i can handle a fussy baby, but once you know he isn't being fussy - that he is actually in pain. it makes the whole thing really hard to endure.
also, until the medicine works, i'm having to get really creative in terms of trying to find a nursing position that is best for him. so far, this has resulted in sore back and arms.
but this cutie is worth it.
Our Caitlin also had terrible reflux. She would projectile vomit at least once, often more per day. We were constantly changing clothes, etc. The doctor kept saying she would grow out of it, and when she stopped the vomiting, I thought she had. But it came back around age 10 months, and she couldn't lie down in any position without crying terribly and often vomiting. Only then did we start medication! you did the right thing by starting the meds earlier.
ReplyDeleteCaitlin still takes 1 mL of liquid ranitidine at bedtime, to prevent painful reflux from keeping her up. An easy well to tell if she is having reflux pain, at least for us, is that the refluxing acid makes her cough (fairly common). Good luck, and I bet that medicine will make life much easier for you both.
Thanks, Noel. Right now he is on .27mg of famotidine a day. We started yesterday, but I haven't noticed a difference yet. I'm trying to be patient, the pediatrician said it could take 3-5 days to start working. If no improvement by then, we might up the dose.
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