Sam is actually napping next to me right now - a miracle!
She's 3.5 weeks old today, and now that B is back at work - the days are long, but rewarding. It's tough being a stay at home mom! I salute those of you who will be doing it longterm. (I go back to work at the end of August). It's amazing how skilled one gets at doing things with one hand, while holding the baby with the other. ha.
Here's where things are right now:
Feeding:
Well, her latch improved 50%. It's not AS much of a struggle to latch. I still only try once a day, since she won't eat more than 5 minutes. (So I still have to bottlefeed her and pump). I enjoy that 5 minutes a day, and it's enough to satisfy me. The pumping is still really hard - my nips feel like they've been rubbed with sandpaper! I pump 6-7x a day. I think in a few months I may go to 5-6x a day, then decrease from there. It's really getting very painful, so I may need to make adjustments. I'd love for her to be getting 90% breastmilk now, and by 3-6 months at least 50%. So much for my original plan of 100% breastmilk for a year. :)
Reflux/Colic/Gas:
WOW, has this struck like lightning at our house! Sam has pretty bad reflux - always spitting up, she'll also scream from the acid in her throat when it comes up and she swallows it back down. Pedi says she prob has sores in her throat now. We started her on Zantac, but so far I don't really notice anything. We have to keep her upright 30min after she eats. Sleeping at night is impossible - nothing works for her.
She also has SO much gas. We tried different bottles, I've cut out all ABC veggies, dairy, etc.... Kid just has lots of gas. Her belly looks so distended after eating just an ounce. She will grunt SO LOUDLY every 10 seconds, especially all through the night. She cringes up, pulls in her legs, her face gets red, and she half-cries after grunting. This continues every 5-10 seconds ALL.NIGHT.LONG. And no, I'm not exaggerating. None of us get sleep. She grunts all night long, and usually ends up crying every 20 minutes. We've tried EVERYTHING: swaddling/shushing/jiggling, 3 brands of gripe water, mylicon, cycling her legs, massaging her belly, her swing, bouncy chair, even her car seat. Nothing works. She doesn't even like pacifiers most of the time.
I know that this, too, shall pass. Right now it feels like it will never change. Ever. :) But alas, I know she won't be 16 years old and spitting up and crying from gas. I really wish there was something to help with the gas. We even tried a formula last night that's specific for gassiness.
The grunting all night long is the worst. It's constant, and LOUD. We even put ear plugs in, and can still hear it. It breaks my heart to hear her in pain. usually after HOURS she will get some toots out, but then the gas buildup starts all over again.
I wish we had that one magic thing that would get her to sleep. Friends tell me "Oh my kid slept in her car seat till she was 4 months! It was the only thing that worked!" Or it's the swing that conked them out, or bouncy chair. We have nothing that soothes Sam to sleep. Not even holding her.
Tough little birdie, eh? Well aside from all the challenges, she's as cute as can be. I put her in a little summer dress today, it's so cute. She's already gained over a pound from her birthweight! She'll prob be up two pounds by the end of this week. Today she was crying so hard, and for ONCE she was soothed by me holding her. She looked like a little squished up froggie on my chest, and I just walked around the house and stood on the patio. It was so nice to have her happily snoozing in my arms. :)
Now for some pics!
Monday, May 3, 2010
3.5 weeks old - Sleeping & Reflux
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12 comments:
She's so beautiful.
We are very lucky that we only had mild-moderate reflux issues here, though we had massive gas issues. I hope they pass quickly, and that the meds help her soon. *hugs*
Such a pretty baby.
multitasking should be listed on the back of prenatal vitamins.
You might want to look into a nap nanny to help her sleep a little more upright. Helped with my refluxy little girl.
Oh man. Reading your post brought back some memories. A post I could have written much of if only I'd had the time when it was happening.
I know it's of little comfort now..but we are only at 14 weeks and already when I read this, I have a very faded memory of how bad it felt at that time.
Your mommy brain hormones must do something special, because otherwise we wouldn't get through it or have more children!
It does get better, week by week.
Once the Zantac started working it made a HUGE difference, so hang in there.
Also, the more she cries, the more air she swallows and the more she toots. She will also swallow more air with bottles than the boob, and the cycle will continue.
So IF you can, try a bit more breast feeding. I used to just keep trying W2 on the boob all day long just to calm him down.
Until she stops crying so much, she will keep being a farter. Again, we went through the SAME exact thing with W2.
Unfortunately, if you don't have a fussy baby, you don't get how bad it is.
I get it.
But if I only had Grunter, I would have no idea what you are really going through.
I know i've mentioned it before, but have you looked into probiotics?
I've heard great things about the nap nanny, too. We're going to be getting a set of these chairs - supposed to be great (esp for reflux babies) and help them sleep longer too:
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3739296
She's absolutely beautiful, and it sounds like the two of you are WONDERFUL parents. I'm sorry the reflux and gas are so bad right now, I hope it passes quickly! (Er, no pun intended.)
She's adorable!
Has your LC mentioned anything about using pacifers? We didn't introduce a pacifier until Ryan was 6 weeks or so. Maybe that would help with her latch?
My God, she's beautiful. It totally sucks that the poor little girl has so much gas. hopefully as her digestive system matures, everything will settle down, especially that grunting! poor mommies.
She is absolutely beautiful. Just precious.
A friend of mine swears by her nap nanny.
http://napnanny.com/
Her son has battled reflux since he was born almost a year ago and this really helped.
Zantac liquid worked on Bliss but not Soul, it caused her terrible stomach cramps. I switched to Nat Phos 30x, it is a homeopathic and it WAS a magic pill, or pills I gave 3 at a time as a dose as is usual.
So you may want to give it a whirl.
god luck
Hi there... I wanted to let you know that our son had terrible reflux and gas. He would scream for hours on end, projectile vomit, sleep twenty minutes, etc. It took about three months to figure it all out, but once we did, he was so much better. He takes prilosec, zantac, and eats Elecare with rice in the bottle. It was the only combination that worked. He's almost 13 months now and is still on all the medication but doing fabulous! He eats real food too with out a problem.
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