Two For Two

We did it again! We have another reflux baby. That's two for two: 2 girls, 2 NICU babies, 2 milk allergies, and 2 refluxers. Yea for us!

Even after the butt diagnosis, we were still on the lookout for any changes in Addie's habits. On Tuesday, she threw up. Not spit up. Threw up. Then again on Wednesday. Then again Thursday. We examined the pattern and decided something was amiss.

This is how things would go with Addie: We feed her 8 times in 24 hours. About half of the time, she would eat with no issues. She was eager and happy. She was content after eating and slept well between feeds. Then, she'd have one feed where she'd be a little less happy. She'd root around and act hungry, but as soon as she took the bottle, she'd cry and fuss. She pulled her knees up, arched her back and was miserable. Then, she would eat but would choke, sputter and cry through the feed. The next feed would be the same, but even worse with her taking even less food. This, of course, made it hard for her to sleep between feeds. Then, we'd get to the third feed with these problems. Finally, she'd eat a little, throw it all up, and about 10 minutes later would finish the bottle and seem happy. She'd be fine for the next four feeds. Then, it would start all over again. This had become a reliable pattern and it just wasn't sitting well with me.

My nurse friend called last night to check on Addie. When I had told her about the butt problem, she immediately called her other nurse friend and a pediatrician. None of them had ever heard of the problem and thought the method to fix it was absurd. She recommended we go to the ER as our doctor had told us to do if anything changed. She said that the throw up was a new pattern and a sign that something else was going on. So, we loaded up and went in to the ER.

We had another great set of doctors. We've had really nice, empathic doctors who are genuinely concerned about our kid. That has really helped since we've been going in almost every other day for the last week. They heard our list of issues and experiences and said that Addie was a pretty confusing case because she had so many different symptoms. They suggested we might need to have x-rays, barium tests and ultrasounds to rule out any conformation deformities (which is what our pediatrician had mentioned, too). Our initial doctor called in his boss to visit with Addie. He watched her for about 1/2 an hour and then started asking me some questions about her behavior. Does she thrust her tongue a lot? YES! Does she arch her back a lot? YES!

They both agreed Addie was a typical case of GERD, or acid reflux. We had over looked many of the signs because we had only seen Lexi's extreme manifestation of reflux. We figured the thrusting was a normal baby thing. We figured the barfing was normal. Hey, for us, it was a break to only deal with 3 fussy feeds and one episode of throw up compared to what we had with Lexi. Both doctors jaws dropped when we told them how we had experienced reflux and told us Lexi was not the normal presentation! Good to know.

So, Addie was given a prescription for Zantac. They both said to make sure if anything else develops or she doesn't seem more comfortable in the next 3 or 4 days, to take her back in. The throwing up will likely get worse before it gets better with a peak around 4 months. Most fluxers resolve by 6-9 months (which would seem like a dream since we had to live with it for 18 months with Lexi). But, the medication should reduce the pain factor quite a bit. It usually takes a few weeks for the acid to start hurting so Addie's progression has been normal and it's finally hurting enough for it to effect her feeding and sleeping. The major difference here is that when Addie does feel good, she is eager to feed. Lexi never wanted to eat and every meal was a fight. If we can just get Addie pain free, things should go pretty smoothly.

At this juncture, these are Addie's diagnoses: she has a definite milk allergy which manifested as blood in the stool. We will have to keep her on Nutramijen for the first year of her life. Then, we can try milk since most kids grow out of it in the first year. She also has reflux. She'll stay on meds for at least the first 6 months and then we re-evaluate. The poor thing was hurting on both ends! This seems to fit together so much better than the other answers we've received. I feel way more at peace with this new development than the previous ones. Before, it just wasn't settling well. I knew we were missing something. I didn't think reflux, though. But, after hearing the doctor and watching Addie, it looks pretty obvious. Hopefully, we'll get this kid comfortable and in a few months, this will be a distant memory!!!