Ahhhh...memories. My first baby had severe GERD and was very, very unhappy for much of his early days. I can relate to what you are saying. Everyone seems to have happy or "typically" fussy babies and here you are with a screamin' guy. Once my son was medicated, he was happier, but still not completely mellow. Keep in mind that he did have other medical issues that probably added to this. Hang in there and be open to some possible medical interventions (oral meds). It should make a difference! FYI, my son is now 14, pushing 15 and is a regular teenager! My best!
Get a sling and wear him everywhere. It will keep him calmer and he will like the feeling of a semi-return to the womb. Being against your body when you move will help gently remove his air bubbles. I liked using orthodontic, silicone pacifiers too. Don't get hung up on worrying about future problems like addiction to a pacifier. Find something that calms you and your baby now. He needs to learn to trust you to take care of his needs, and you need to grow confident with your ability to do so as well. Carry him when he is sleeping too, so he can trust falling asleep and not feel that you are going to ditch him and put him down. I also recommend co-sleeping. One last thing, and that is burping. I had a baby nurse show me that my daughter needed to burp twice after each feeding. Some babies just swallow more air. It took patience to get that second burp, but was well worth it. Best of luck. Sending you loving thoughts and support.
gerd is a possibility, but having just recently gone through this check with the doctor about a milk allergy. especially if your family has a history of this. i know its hard....just stick to your guns, you as a mother knows what a very unhappy baby is, the doctors like to believe we are exagerating....if they prescribe medication for gerd and it dosent get better in two days go back untill it is settled, good luck.
Oh my dear- do I ever know first-hand what you are going through. I would say that the first year of life with our first son was a little like walking through a kind of nightmarish hell. And hope must spring eternal, because when I got pregnant again I thought the same thing COULD NOT happen twice. Well- our second son was born 2 weeks ago and he has the exact same thing. Here are all of the things that I can think of to share with you that we learned from the first time.
1. Elevate his head- always- especially during and after a feed- for 30-40 minutes.
2. Learn how to do a good swaddle- and do it often.
3. Get an exercise ball and hold him on his left side facing you and do a gentle bounce- sometimes we are "on the ball" for 6-8 hours a day.
4. If your are breastfeeding- eat oatmeal for breakfast as often as you can tolerate it- for some reason it makes very good breast milk and was always my re-set food when the GERD got really bad.
5. This is a hard one: take all dairy, butter, yogurt and hidden forms of dairy in processed meats, etc out of your diet. I can send you a list of foods if you email me. You will probably see a difference in about 5 days. Although it wasn't a magic bullet for us, it was a component in making our lives more sane.
6. GET HELP- even 1-2 hours a day to walk away from the situation will help. Believe me- I tried to tough it out myself the first time and I remember getting close to feeling like I was going to have a nervous breakdown. I am a very feeling person and watching my baby suffer after every feed for hours and the lack of sleep was killing me.
7. Do see a specialist. He or she will probably suggest Zantac to try. It helped us- although again was not a magic bullet- just kept the crying from escalating to the absolute desperate panic cry that he had had before. We saw a Ped GE this time right away- his suggestions? Everything we already knew, but he added that a glass of red wine every night for Mama would not hurt baby and would help me :).
8. Prepare for the long haul. I know that this is hard to imagine, but most children outgrow this at about the time they learn to walk. It is bittersweet to look at your child and think how sweet it is to have this little baby, but to simultaneously wish for the year to pass as quickly as possible.
9. Hire a photographer to take some pictures of your baby. We realized that because our little guy was crying 24/7 we had no time for pictures and now we have so few photos of him in his early days. Although we are in the same boat now, I don't want to make the same mistake.
10. Try a bunch of different swings, motion things- the ball was the only thing that worked for us, but a friend said a swing worked for her.
11. Try a recording of a heartbeat- it seemed to help our little guy stay calmer.
12. This is very stressful on a new family so if you can get therapy together do it. We had no time for it, but there was part of me that got "shell-shocked" by the experience and I think it is pretty common. Dr. Sears, I believe mentions that a hurting baby can cause a "hurting family".
Hang in there and email me anytime- I will be going through the same thing along with you. I'll send you some good thoughts while I am on the ball at all hours of the night. I feel for you- but remember that in time he will outgrow it.
Sonya
PS- added later- forgot to mention two things- ear plugs- This might sound awful, but when you are doing everything you can to help your little one and he is still screaming, using ear plugs can help you not get as rattled by the experience and helped me keep my stamina up during those especially long periods of crying. We are even considering getting some for our toddler who is also feeling the stress of the baby's crying.
Taking enzymes. I can't prove this worked, but my acupuncturist mentioned it and I am starting to try this- he said that the issue is often a food that the mother's system is not fully digesting- which ends up in the breast milk. He said that enzymes could help my body break those foods down and may help a great deal. I think it's worth a try- and I will let you know if I see an improvement.
Try out Hyland's Hompeopathic Colic tablets. They carry them at most pharmacies. Hope this helps!
My son who is now just over 2 years had very bad acid reflux. It took about 2 months to diagnose. He was miserable. He would cry and cry after nursing. He was not constantly miserable, but the good times were very short and infrequent. I was hesitant to put him on medication so young, but am really glad we did. It took only about a week or so and he was so much better. We finished the medication after one month. He was so much happier and feeding him was no longer such a stressful time for him or us.
When my son was an infant he was diagnosed with GERD and was put on all the medications to treat it. There was some relief, but it took time more than anything for the crying to cease and the spit up improve (about 6 months). 3-years later my infant daughter was miserable and cried all the time. She didn't spit up like my son, but she was more miserable than he was. We determined that she was allergic to cow protein (found in cows milk and dairy). Once I eliminated all cow dairy (milk, yogurt, cheese, etc.) out of my diet (as I was nursing), our lives were peaceful and wonderful. My daughter eventually outgrew her allergy and I now wonder if that was my son's issue also. We'll never know, but you may want to try eliminating cow dairy as a first step.
Read "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" by Marc Weissbluth it has some really good insights on fusy/colicy babies and ways to soothe them.
Patricia,
Are you nursing or formula feeding? My son was like yours - miserable, uncomfortable, crying, never sleeping. I was nursing and did an elimination diet (dairy, soy, eggs, caffeine, chocolate, fish, shellfish, nuts, peanuts, citrus and tomatoes). Within a week he was noticably better and by the end of 3 weeks he was an entirely new, happy child. I was then able to add everything back into my diet except dairy, soy and eggs (I was able to add eggs back when he was close to 1). He's 2 years old now (and weaned) but he's still very allergic to both dairy and soy. If your baby is formula fed, you should check out hypoallergenic formulas. Similac Alimentum is the "1st" level of hypoallergenic (nothing is truely non-allergenic but some things are more or less allergenic). If that doesn't work, Elecare or Neocate is "more" hypoallergenic. It takes dairy close to a month to leave your system entirely. If you are nursing you do an elimination diet, you'll need to make sure you are reading the labels on everything you eat. Dairy and soy are hidden in many other foods.
Is an elimination diet a pain? It is hard to start but not all that hard to maintain - after you figure out what you can eat. Is it way better than having a miserable baby? Oh, yes.
My son was on Zantac and then we went to Prevacid, we also did gas drops and tried gripe water, chamomile tea and all that but nothing really helped until we identified the foods that were bothering him and eliminated them. After about a month of me being on the elimination diet we were able to half his dose of prevacid and after a couple of months (for his GI tract to heal) we were able to eliminate the medication entirely.
I found that doctors - including our pediatric GI doctor - were clueless (or disbelieving) about food allergies in babies (much less the idea that food proteins could cause problems in a breastfed baby) but moms who have been there and done that believe.
Good luck!
Tera
I'm so sorry for what you're going through. Gerd and/or allergies make for VERY trying times. Rest assured you are not alone. My daughter was a preemie diagnosed with gerd. She received pumped breast milk exclusively until the Dr. prescribed a high calorie diet and we had to switch her to a combination of breastmilk/high cal formula. Her ped. had personal experience with gerd and allergies and we were able to rule out allergies by the time she was 3 mos. She was prescribed zantac and took that until she was a year (basically when she was upright more than horizontal). She slept in her papasain chair until she was 10 mos old (set in her crib). Keeping her upright certainly helped. Also, smaller feedings. Solids also helped, but not until she was older (thickened formula didn't help). Unfortunately, she developed a negative response to food - Food = pain. It took a few months for her to really want to eat after we discovered the gerd. Hang in there! There is a lot of good advice from the ladies here!
Hi Patricia,
Please google: Chiropractic and reflux in infants......the chiropractor my son sees treats many infants for this and usually within a few visits the problems is resolved.
He can explain it much better than I can, but during the birth process the nervous system can become upset.....within a few treatments, everythings gets back in alignment and the nervous system calms down.
I'm not sure where you live, but you should be able to find someone who treats infants. I'd be happy to put you in touch with my chiropractor.
Best wishes!
Hi Patricia,
So sorry to hear about the pain you and your baby are in! I know how tough it is! My second boy had reflux when he was your son's age, too, but my pediatrician just passed it off as colic (which I have learned tons of pedis do since most have not been trained in or taught much about reflux). My baby hardly slept, sometimes only a few hours in a 24 hour period, and he could not stay asleep long lying down. He would scream out in pain often and practically nothing would help him calm down. I had to diagnose him myself, at nine to ten months, after reading a book called Colic Solved (I forget the author, but his last name starts with a V and he is a GI specialist). Then I had to INSIST that my doctor give me a referral to see a GI because he still didn't think my son had reflux! Hmmph! Anyway, even though the book is titled "colic", it's really all about reflux. It's worth checking it out at your library or even buying it if your baby has the symptoms listed (there are around 6 or 8, not some mega long list from which everyone can identify!). It will help you through your reflux journey and understand what's going on at different stages or degrees of reflux.
You will likely start with a prescription like Zantac, which is an oral syrup. It has a strong, minty taste, and lots of babies do not like it, but your doctor will give you tips on how to administer it. You can also try flavoring it at the pharmacy, but it will only help a little. You have to try this first because it is less expensive than the one that really works for lots of people--Prevacid (go to Prevacid.com for a money saving card if you need to get it). Prevacid is expensive for insurance companies and they will want you to try Zantac first in order to even agree to pay for any Prevacid. It's much easier to give, though. You can even break the strawberry-flavored pill in half with your fingers and give it just by itself to your baby. The other thing with Prevacid is that lots of doctors only give it to older babies, around a year, so it depends on what your specialist says. The people at CHOC have been WONDERFUL if that's where you are going.
For now, just try to feed your baby 30-60 minutes before putting him to sleep, and try elevating his mattress at the head by sticking a book or something under the mattress pad. Anything stressful, such as crying or teething later on, will aggravate the reflux. It's a rough road, but it's great that you are getting help early. I wish I had help from a GI at two months! My life would have been and would be much easier now if I had. I'm trying to get my now 15-month-old to sleep through the night--we caught it too late and he already had formed his poor sleep habits. I do not believe in CIO (crying it out) and am not going to let anyone tell me otherwise. People do what they feel is right for them, so don't let others convince you to do anything you don't feel comfortable about! Plus, CIO will only aggravate reflux, esp if it is not under control.
I hope this helps you for now. It definitely sounds like your little one has reflux. I wish you and your baby lots of luck and peaceful sleep soon. Feel free to email me if you have any more questions.
Big hugs,
Yvonne :-)
Try sitting her up in a carseat or bouncey seat after feedings. there are meds they can give but if this helps keep the acid down it will stop the burning and that will help.
Hi Patricia,
My baby was very colicky and a "happy spitter". I eliminated a lot of foods I was eating (if you are breastfeeding): milk, soy, chocolate, peanut butter, beans and other gassy veg like broccoli, eggs. There is a cookbook out there -- google this: The Calm Baby Cookbook -- that you might find helpful.
I also got a Tucker Sling with Wedge to help her sleep elevated. I was going to sell mine (very good shape) if you are interested. You can also google that to find out more (they are expensive new!!).
But most importantly know that it will pass!! My little girl is doing great now and I can eat whatever I want. Of course teething is another matter... ;-)
You don't say if you are breastfeeding or not. This could and probably has to do with food allergies. If nursing, then start with dairy, soy, eggs and remove any and all things related to them (casein, egg whites, albumin). If formula, look into the www.neocate.com formula.
Another thing to make sure that you are well informed on is vaccines. You do not need to follow the AAP guidelines of too many, too soon. With an infant who is having problems already, you are best to wait until you get the digestive issues taken care of before assaulting the immune system too. Too many ways to mess up a perfect little baby. On the TACA website, you will find more information regarding the digestive / GERD issues and suggestions on what works and doctors who treat it.
Here are sites and books that I always recommend for people to start their research:
www.909shot.com
www.tacanow.org
www.generationrescue.com
Healing the New Childhood Epidemics: Autism, ADHD, Asthma, and Allergies: The Groundbreaking Program for the 4-A Disorders, by Dr. Kenneth Bock
The Vaccine Book, by Dr. Robert Sears
What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Childhood Vaccinations, by Dr. Stephanie Cave
Evidence of Harm, by David Kirby
Thanks to everyone who repsonded to my posting! It was great reading all of your suggestions and your own personal experiences. Some of the suggestions I had already tried and others where new. We had our visit today with the GI specialist and the baby’s formula was changed and prescribed Zantec which I’m a bite worried about. I’ve been using the Colic Calm which seems to be working. He still has his reflux which I understand he’ll have to outgrow but he doesn’t scream and cry nearly as much. I’m hoping with this new formula (Enfamil A.R) will help keep his feeding down longer. He was gaining weight too fast adding cereal in his formula. Thanks to all of you for the support!!