It's ACID REFLUX WEEK on Mommy Shorts! It's just like SHARK WEEK on the Discovery Channel except the sharks are screaming and living in YOUR OWN HOME!
Are you excited?
I wrote about Harlow's digestive issues a few weeks ago. At the time, I wasn't sure what could be attributed to normal newborn fussiness and what was an actual problem. For some reason, I refused to say she had colic.
Every time I explained my situation to someone, they would say sympathetically, "Oh. It's really tough when a baby has colic…" to which I would irrationally respond, "SHE DOES NOT HAVE COLIC! SHE IS NOT CRYING FOR THE SAKE OF CRYING! SHE IS CRYING AFTER SHE EATS BECAUSE IT HURTS HER!!!!"
On some level, I thought saying Harlow had colic meant I was stuck with a "dud". A "lemon baby" if you will. I'm also really bad at accepting sympathy. I like to pretend I can handle anything.
Harlow was diagnosed with acid reflux at her one month check-up, when "she didn't gain as much weight as we would have liked" and the doctor put her on Zantac.
At the previous check-up, I had told the pediatrician that Harlow was spitting up a lot. She said it might be because my milk flow was too heavy or she was getting too much milk. From that point forward, as soon as Harlow started spitting up, I would stop feeding. Harlow would cry which I attributed to indigestion. But, I now think it was a combination of indigestion and hunger.
Since she was put on Zantac (just before Christmas), Harlow's reflux has improved greatly. Whether that can be attributed directly to the medication, I am not sure, because we have made numerous changes. We got the Fisher Price Rock n' Play Sleeper (update: sadly, that product was recalled yesterday), we switched to a more straight-jacket like swaddle (anybody that says their newborn doesn't like being swaddled— it might be that you are not swaddling ENOUGH; try the Miracle Blanket
or the Woombie
As of last week, Harlow began to resemble the cute little peaceful newborn we brought home from the hospital. Her baby acne cleared up (she would get incredibly red and rashy whenever I fed her), her tear duct problem went away (from massaging her inner eye as often as possible) and she doesn't look quite so pissed off all the time (an expression she clearly inherited from her father). She is also sleeping for a pretty solid stretch at night (from 10pm-2am and then again from 2:30am to 5am) which makes everybody happier.
The only negative is she still spits up constantly. She spits up if you lie her flat on her back, she spits up if you put her in any sort of a sitting position (stroller, carseat, bouncer or just on your lap), and she spits up as soon as you tighten the straps on a carrier or wrap (which gives your cleavage an especially nice treat).
THERE ARE NEVER ENOUGH BURP CLOTHS.
Although, we did find these nifty burp cloths/bibs from aden + anais
The spit-up makes it almost impossible to leave the house. Every time I feed her, I have to wait until she spits up before I put her in the carrier or the stroller, which really narrows my window of time before I have to feed her again. Feeding her out of the house is pretty hazardous as well, since she makes no distinction between the couch that we have at home and the couch some poor soul is about to purchase at Room & Board.
If you want to line your house with plastic like it's Dexter's kill room and invite me over, that would be FANTASTIC.
But I can deal with spit-up (which doesn't seem to bother her) as long as I get to see an occasional smile on Harlow's face. A few weeks ago, if she was awake, she was unhappy. She cried after every feeding, she grunted through the night and seemed generally distressed at all times.
I don't know if this was colic but it doesn't matter because I think it's over.
Now, in the small window of time between feedings and spit-ups, I can plop my baby in the bouncer and enjoy her.
She copies my smile.
She coos the most delicious sounds.
She is the polar opposite of a "lemon".
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I used to get absolutely enraged if someone tried to say my daughter had colic. Old people were the worst, if she cried at all they would look at me and say oh sorry your baby is colicky. I wanted to punch them in the throat, but of course you have to be nice to old people or something.
our girl had reflux as well, and I was so greatful when the medicine started to work. Congratulations on having your happy baby back!
Glad she’s feeling better, yay! (this picture here looks remarkably like the one of Mazzy in your header!)
My little one used to spit up a lot too -I just gave up wearing black and let him throw up on me. Yes, I did smell a bit. Oops.
Oh acid reflux. How I loathe thee. My oldest son had horrible acid reflux–I had more burp cloths than I care to think about. Honestly, it didn’t get better until he got old enough to drink regular milk. Since then, he has been healthy and hasn’t had any issues. My second son has had no issues at all–it’s crazy to us that we don’t have to change our clothes five times a day and carry around four burp cloths and three changes of clothes for the baby for a trip to Target. Now I have all these burp cloths and nothing to use them fr! I’m okay with that though!
Rebecca didn’t have colic, but she wanted to be held ALL. THE. TIME, so it felt like colic because if I put her down, or even SAT DOWN while holding her, she’d SCREAM. But at least she’d stop crying if I picked her up so I know it could have been worse. I think she had some mild reflux, we had her on mylicon drops for a long time, but I’m not sure that even helped.
Glad it’s improving!
So glad the Zantac is working! We did Prevacid at about a month old. I hear ya on the spit-up — S would launch, exorcist-style, pretty much after every feeding. I was mortified to leave the house or feed her in public (apparently your baby either spits up, or it doesn’t, and people either understood completely or would stand in gaped horror). It led to eventually being put on some crazy-ass formula so she would gain weight, but at 2 1/2 she can now almost out-eat my husband at dinner so the concern about eating hasn’t lingered.
I would recommend (if you don’t have them already) Aden + Anais burpy bibs. They are extra large – they even cover the back! You know that shit gets EVERYWHERE – and are super soft and absorbant.
wow, thats a cute baby!
Love the pic! She’s adorable! So glad to hear that she (and you) are doing much better. We’re coming up on my 4th due date of March 1st and hoping things go smoothly with this little guy. Just ordered a newborn size Woombie this weekend – discovered them with my last baby and am looking forward to using it from the start with this one.
My daughter also has reflux and the only thing that got her to stop spitting up was for me to cut dairy AND soy from my diet. I’m sorry to tell you this, because soy is in Every. Thing. Hope you like almond milk! 😉
Uggghh…I feel your pain. Glad to see that she is happier now. The meds didn’t work very well for one of my twins who had reflux because she never kept them down for even 30 seconds. I took her with me to the chiropractor at 6 weeks and he adjusted her as well. Within a week, it was like I had a new baby and she rarely spit up anymore.
I’m so glad she’s doing better and everyone is returning to sanity! I know some people don’t like this but it’s always something to consider, my son was awful with the crying (He did actually have colic) until we took him to a chiropractor. One adjustment and he was back to being a normal happy baby! I hope your successes continue and the up all nights stay away!
My 2yo had reflux…I remember at his second checkup, he had hiccups, and the nurse practitioner said, “Get ready…he’s going to have reflux.” I wish she’d given me a prescription for Xanax at that point!
We went through a couple months of absolute MISERY, for him and for us. Just like Harlow, he was almost always unhappy (to the point where taking him out for anything social was impossible), and I was ALWAYS covered with spit-up. I gave up dairy, wheat, nuts, soy, and shellfish (all at the same time – try to come up with a satisfying diet without any of those!) for weeks, and then gradually added each one back in, with NO CHANGE. It wasn’t a food sensitivity…it was flat-out reflux. When we got him on Zantac, it helped a little, but things didn’t really start improving until we switched to Prevacid. Then it was like the clouds parted and the sun came out. He still spit up quite a bit, but we had a completely different child who could sleep relatively comfortably for 6 hours straight (we actually had him sleeping on a wedge for a few months) and actually smiled.
I swear, ANYONE could throw up on me now, and it wouldn’t faze me one bit. I lived covered in stomach acid for almost a year. Our new couch was layered in old sheets to save it from the onslaught. SO. MUCH. LAUNDRY. 🙂
I’m now one of those people who believes “colic” is, in most cases, reflux…even “silent reflux”, if the child isn’t really spitting up. This book saved my sanity and made me realize I had to get our boy to a pediatric GI specialist ASAP: http://www.amazon.com/Colic-Solved-Essential-Infant-Difficult/dp/0345490681
Bless you for dealing with this with a toddler at home at the same time! So glad you got help and things are improving…my husband and I honestly feel like we went through hell that first few months.
Both our boys have had reflux- massive amounts of laundry ensue, and I have more burp cloths than outfits, which is saying a lot cause we have a gazzilion baby outfits which are adorable and basically unused cause I don’t even dress the baby at home like 90% of the time. The spit up is their digestive system figuring out which way is down, and them pushing from gas and pooping, so we just accept it (me more than the hubs, who complains constantly ever time he gets spit up on… uummm are you still surprised? STILL???) If I remember correctly from my first at about 9 months this will be a memory, I am in month 5 with baby #2, so we are almost ready to go places where I can wear clothes without wondering if they will be ruined by spit up if left in the car for over an hour, but really it’s no biggie. I look awesome in Pjs and track suits with spit up stains and a huge post preggo belly muffin top, I make this look good!
You have my sympathy. I have had 4 (4!) reflux babies, and I clearly remember the misery. Zantac is a miraculous thing, though, and can really make the difference between a miserable baby and a happy (though still spitty) baby. Good luck to you!
I’m glad to know I’m not the only one! I don’t know why it pisses me off so much. It does seem to be more of the older generation who makes that assumption— LIKE MY MOTHER.
You’re right! I didn’t even realize! I should do a face-off 🙂
Oh my god— I thought we had burp cloths coming up out of our ears with Mazzy, but with Harlow we go through them all in an hour. We mainly use the packs of Gerber disposable diapers as burp cloths, just because we can buy a ton of them for cheap. The aden + anais burp clothes are awesome but you can’t buy 50 of them at once unless you really want to shell out some cash.
That’s why the swaddling is so important. The tighter it is, the more they feel like they are being held. Someone just sent me something called the Zen Swaddle which is weighted in areas to mimic the pressure points if the baby were being held. I haven’t tried it yet but will let you know if it works!
I just added the Aden + Anais bibs to the post because we have them and love them. I only discovered the snap in the back recently and it was the happiest discovery ever.
The only thing is they are too expensive to buy 50 of at once, so we mainly use the Gerber disposable diaper cloths since we go through them so quickly.
It terrified me the first time I put it on, but it TOTALLY WORKS.
I’ve actually been drinking rice milk in my coffee and cereal which tastes just fine. I haven’t tried cutting out soy yet. I hope I don’t have to! My doctor says that the dairy thing could clear up itself in a couple of months when Harlow’s digestive system matures so I’m hoping I can get back on the dairy train soon. Otherwise, there are a lot of frozen breastmilk bags in my freezer from when I first started pumping, that I am going to have to toss. Or donate, if that option still exists.
You are not the first person to mention a chiropractor. That never would have even occurred to me. How do you know that it is a safe thing to do?
I’ve never been to a chiropractor myself so maybe that’s the difference. I have no idea what goes on there.
I used to see a DNFT chiropractor–it’s a non force technique, very gentle and very effective. He used to see babies all the time. Here is their homepage so you can look into it and find one in your area.
http://www.nonforce.com/
Much better than the traditional chiropractors who crack everything, I think.
My middle child had acid reflux when he was a baby and also spit up everywhere. I used old swaddling blankets as burp cloths because they were bigger and contained more. I had a bunch of them from when my oldest was a baby that we did not use because we discovered the Miracle Blanket with my 2nd.
My son was on Zantac as well and it worked, eventually he grew out of it. I hope Harlow continues to feel better! She’s so adorable. Good luck!
I’m so glad to hear that Harlow is feeling better! I’m following this with interest, because I wonder if any future babies we have will have this problem. I have a hiatal hernia (the opening where my esophagus meets my stomach is a bit too big, and sometimes my stomach will slide up a bit into my esophagus, especially when I eat. For me, this causes GERD.) It was discovered as an incidental finding a couple of months ago when I was getting an endoscopy for something else. So, I’ve had this all my life (it’s purely anatomical – nothing caused it but genetics) and that’s what’s been causing me to have GERD, but I didn’t know it. Anyway, there’s a chance any babies I have will get that too, so I’ll be ready. lol.
So glad to hear that Harlow is getting better and that the Zantac is helping! Keep us all posted on this!
I’d be weary about bringing my baby to a chiropractor if I never used him/her before too.
Chiropractor! My son, who was a preemie, got his first adjustment at 6weeks (5.9lbs). Pediatric chiropractics are pretty safe, they won’t break her!! Your ped might even be able to refer you to one. Or even a good infant massage therapist (its different but could also be helpful):)
I think the yawning pic of Mazzy and the yawning pic of Harlow next to each other so it looks like they’re battling.
(Oh and off topic, did you know that Mazzy is in one of names on the “top ten names you didn’t think of but you wish you did” on one of the natural parenting sites. Too cool!)
Glad you have your sweet cooing girl back!!! I’m so glad you are finally getting some sleep at night!!!!!!!!
Has your baby been evaluated for tongue/lip tie? Here’s an article by Dr. Kotlow that may be of use to you. http://www.kiddsteeth.com/articles/aerophagia_2011.pdf
Were you getting the back arching too? My first had no reflux problems except, ya know, the usual baby spitting up. But the preemie? Good God! I thought he was just being a bitch for a while and then when I found out what the problem was, ugh…i felt terrible about myself. He’s almost a year and we still have to do Prevacid. This too shall pass. So glad you figured it out!
I had the same problem with my little sweetie. At seven weeks, II took her to a craniosacral therapist and within one session she stopped puking and cried like a “normal” baby. I’m still not sure exactly what the therapist did (extremely gentle) but it worked wonders and changed both our lives for the better!
I would echo the advice on getting Harlowe adjusted by a chiropractor. I have always been to a chiropractor, but I was nervous about having my son adjusted…we had him adjusted when he was probably 2-3 weeks old and he goes pretty regularly now at 2 1/2. It sounds way worse than it is. For babies it is more gentle manipulation while the baby lays on you. I’d just do some research to find a chiro that works on babies/kids, because not all of them have that specialty. Glad you are enjoying the rock n play!!!
My sister’s youngest had major feeding issues and her chiropractor worked wonders on him. You would just want to be sure to find one that specializes in children/babies.
I’m just saying – I’m SO glad I’m not the only one! My little man is 11 months and still has severe reflux, I pretty much lived at the doctors for a month before they would give him anything.. Wasn’t until he barfed all over her that she said it was actually an issue and wasn’t normal! We got prescribed Ranitidine (I live in England!) but he was still being sick ALL THE TIME! So they eventually put him on Domperidone also and now he is never sick and hasn’t been since he was around 4 months old. Completely different baby… It’s amazing!
Excess burp cloths make for great baby doll blankies when she’s older. Whe have lots of burp cloths here, too. 😉
so sorry. I wrote this about it if it will help at all. http://www.ilikebeerandbabies.com/2012/09/acid-reflux-sucks-balls.html
also, after we got of formula (we switched to sensitive in the beginning suspecting as much), we found out our son was lactose in tolerant so I am sure a lot of things had to do with that as well.
My daughter had awful reflux – it sucks 🙁 One thing that REALLY helped – so supposedly babies will self-regulate how much they eat. Well my kid didn’t it turns out. I ignored my husband for weeks, and let her eat as much as she wanted every time, and then she would spit up tons. What we started doing was feeding her a few ounces of breast milk, then FORCE her to take a 10 minute break by walking around and showing her our house. After 10 minutes, we would let her keep eating. Most of the time, she ate less than she would have before, BUT she would spit up less! Good luck – it gets better, I promise…..
Oh and I had to quit dairy also, such a sad day 🙁 But I *think* it helped?
Our son had reflux and he would projectile vomit several times a day. The medicine really starts working better over time. Burp cloths are childs play when you have a baby with reflux, we converted our receiving blankets to burp cloths which helped for the bigger jobs. Good luck! Our son finally licked his reflux by about 2.5 years old… Needless to say, I was pretty much covered in spit up for over two years.
Poor little girl! But the photo is priceless.
I debated the chiropractor for several weeks while I did some research and spoke with our pediatrician about it. Definitely find one that specializes in babies/kids. Babies are adjusted differently than adults, but I was more comfortable with it because I had done it myself. I had started going to a chiro infrequently a few years before because of arm/shoulder pain and I prefer the ones who know that it is a complementary medicine practice, not a “cure-all” for everything. My chiro had adjusted his own baby twins and openly admitted it worked for one (the severe reflux one) but not so much for the less severe. He explained that it can be caused by a nerve connected to the stomach opening. I also rationalized it myself because what I was currently doing (she slept upright in a boppy in a crib with her twin) was definitely NOT recommended by the APA but was the only way she would sleep. The grunting and noisy breathing caused by her reflux as well as the constant feeding to replace everything she spit up was causing extreme sleep deprivation for me and quite frankly I would have tried anything at that point.
I love your blog and wanted to warn you about a recall for the fisher price rock and play sleeper. Just google fisher price – it should come up under recent news. There is something about mold and it causing respitory problems with infants.
Love this post…I felt like I was reading a post I would have written about our now 9 week old with reflux. She became a different baby after we started Prevacid (we attempted Zantac but she was that child that thought it was so gross she would throw it up). She had really bad baby acne and increased fussiness and gas until about 7 weeks of age when I completely cut out dairy!! Thanks for sharing!
Reflux is the pits! Both of my little ones had it as babies. I know some people think it is becoming over diagnosed, and that we are too quick to medicate our babies, but I found that the reflux meds were complete life- and sanity-savers for us! So glad you’ve found a way to help out Harlow. I will just mention that Zantac stopped working for us with my eldest after just a few weeks, so we switched him over to Prevacid. The solutabs (if they still make them) are a breeze to give (just hold it inside the baby’s cheek with your finger until it dissolves), and the medicine seemed to work better for us. So if you notice a regression at all, you may want to check with your pediatrician about trying a proton pump inhibitor. Also, the Miracle Blanket rocks! 🙂
The new term for colic is the period of purple crying. Check it out: http://www.purplecrying.info/
Made me feel so much better about what was going on with my guy after reading this!
I have cared for one acid reflux baby, so I would be more than happy to pass on some tips for you!
1. papasan style swing
2. the baby will need to be fed in a more upright angle.
I think anythingelse please give me a suggestion plz……
Hey there! I’m on the Acid Reflux roller coaster myself. I read a couple of your comments that led me to want to pitch in my two cents:
One: for the breast milk you have pumped. You don’t have to throw it away. In a few months, Harlow’s digestive system will mature and she may very well be able to tolerate the milk she can’t tolerate right now. I am sad to say that I wasn’t mom enough to cut out all dairy as I should have (I am a RAGING cheese-a-holic) and while that presented some bad days and really really shitty days at first, it all still got better.
Two: AR will rear its ugly head again as she nears the 4 month mark. Apparently, 4-6 months is PRIME TIME for the AR monster to raise it’s ugly head. Mine is happening at the closer to 5 month mark. HOWEVER, to me, it is still easier now then when they are so new and tiny. Maybe because now I’m getting sleep and I’m not as much of a hormonal lunatic. I was planning to push the solids to 6 months but I’m buckling today since I heard cereal helps keeping things down. We will see.
Three: I have lived by the Rock-N-Play (that recall is odd to me b/c if you keep your shit clean, mold won’t happen…just saying) but let me tell you…trying to transition that kid out of that little snug piece of heaven is a bitch. My little guy is as round as he is tall so that butterball loves having his belly splayed all out while he’s cradled all around. Tells me to go to hell every time a put him in the crib. So while I worship at the alter of the RNP, maybe this will make you feel better if you went a different route but have still had great results.
Good luck. Her newborn pics are beyond adorable. Enjoy your blog immensely. I’m impressed you ever even find the time!
Nine years ago we went through the acid reflux horror with our first and only baby. Being first time parents we listened to everyone for three long months say, “It’s Colic.” Finally a friend who had gone through the same thing said it sounds a lot like acid reflux. We got her tested and sure enough she had a very severe case. Once again we believed all of the know it alls say, “She will eventually out grow it, don’t worry.” No, that never happened but the good news is, once she grows taller the spitting up will stop but the acid could still be coming up into the throat causing pain, scarring and a bad appetite. Even at 9 years old we still have nights that she needs a tums or two. One piece of advice, she maybe be willingly taking the Zantac now because she is so little but I guarantee that she will start fighting you with great force because it tastes horrible!!!! Ask your doctor if you can change to Prevacid, she will love it, it tastes like candy. Good luck, I am glad you got her treated early. Three months of no sleep and
My 2 month old was diagnosed just yesterday, and already we are seeing a tremendous change. For one thing, it’s actually quiet in our house right now! I know what you mean about the feeling that you got a “lemon”. Everyone looks at me with pity…..not anymore! I have a happy, healthy baby.
My little one had silent reflux. Which is the acid reflux without the spit up. So it would come up but then he would swallow it. He was on formula after 3 weeks of being born because I wasn’t producing enough milk for him. He was put on Zantac and eventually on a hypo-allergenic formula that did the trick! We too used the rock-n-play too. I did notice the recall for mold but we wash it every weekend and check the inside on a daily basis to make sure everything is good.
So happy to read this and know I am not alone. You are describing my daughter exactly,so I’m glad to know there might be hope that I will enjoy a smile sometime soon now that we are trying to control the reflux.
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[…] Acid Reflux: Newborn Enemy #1 – Mommy Shorts – Jan 7, 2013. It's ACID REFLUX WEEK on Mommy Shorts! It's just like SHARK WEEK on the Discovery Channel except the sharks are screaming and living in. […]
[…] Acid Reflux: Newborn Enemy #1 – Mommy Shorts – Jan 7, 2013. It's ACID REFLUX WEEK on Mommy Shorts!. A "lemon baby" if you will. She is also sleeping for a pretty solid stretch at night (from. But at least she'd stop crying if I picked her up so I know it could have been worse. […]
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