Life on The Reflux Front

Little C has reflux.  Great news is, it's not that bad.  Just enough to make her uncomfortable, scream and bring formula flying through her nose.  And I hate that.  I cannot tell you how I abhor it coming through her nose.  It makes me a nervous wreck.  She could easily suck what she brought through her nose and aspirate it into her lungs and wind up with pneumonia. But, I'm a veteran at using bulb syringes and pulling gunk out of noses....'cept they were the noses of puppies.  It really isn't that different.

I did invest in a product recently and it was clearly the best $20 I have ever spent.  It is the battery operated aspirator by Graco.  I cannot sing its praises enough!  Big C detests having his face sucked out and thrashes, kicks, screams, thrashes some more looking like he is having a convulsion.  It takes forever with the bulb syringe to get that liquidy goo out of his nose.  I pin his tush down and turn this bad boy on and in like 20 seconds its all collected in the cup and its a lot!  Poor kid can finally breathe afterward.  So, if I know you and you are knocked up and inviting me to the baby shower...that is what I'm buying you.  And I don't care if it isn't on your registry or that it won't be a surprise.  Trust me.  You will totally want to make out with me when you use it for the first time.  OK, maybe not make out, but you will think I'm a pretty big deal and stuff.

Anyway, back to Little C.  She was switched to the Enfamil Gentlease formula about 2 weeks ago for her gas issues.  I have to say, it has helped.  She can still rip them off with the best of them, but it is much better.  However her screaming and crying continued.  We had a recheck with the pediatrician on Wednesday and after describing our daily routine, feeding schedule and baby happiness level it was determined that Little C is suffering from some reflux and that it could be due to milk protein sensitivity.  She has been gaining weight steadily.  She is now up to 9lbs. 13oz. and she totally grew an inch and a half in 4 weeks!  She's 21 inches now.  The Dr. has started her on Zantac and it seems to be helping.  If there is no real improvement in 1 week then he wants me to switch her over to the Nutramigen and see how that goes.  I always thought reflux babies barfed all the time and had little weight gain in addition to screaming constantly.  Apparently that is not the case.  I guess some babies are more sensitive than others and so their symptoms are far worse.  Luckily, Little C spits up often, but not a lot in volume.  She does arch her back and stretch her neck when it happens, so I know that sour burning in her throat is the culprit.  We shall see.  The Zantac has been keeping some of her discomfort at bay, but she had a pretty bad episode this morning, spitting up twice in a row, bringing it through the nose and screaming bloody murder.  Other than that, my baby girl is growing and growing!

The in-laws have arrived and Little C's christening is scheduled for this Sunday.  We are frantically working to get everything pulled together and I think we'll make it.