Reflux

Olivia has been having some eating issues for a week or so now. She has been crying while she eats, refusing her bottle after burping half-way, arching her back, taking huge gulps, gagging, and lots of fussiness. We tried out a new doctor after feeling our current doc wasn't getting the picture and were really pleased. He is fairly certain that Olivia is having reflux problems. This would also account for the fact that she has been congested for weeks (which is what most likely caused her ear infection). We have already been doing a lot of things to help with reflux because that's what I suspected she had - elevating her mattress, feeding her upright and keeping her upright for 30 minutes after meals, etc., but it wasn't enough. We're trying her on Zantac to see if it helps. I'm praying it does. She just has not seemed happy or comfortable for a while now.
Interestingly enough she does not spit up a lot unless she eats too much. It's called silent reflux in that case because it still burns their esophagus and makes them pretty uncomfortable. I had never heard of it until I started researching her symptoms.
Thankfully the doctor doesn't think she is having an issue with milk or soy proteins so we can keep her on the preemie formula. This is important to me so she has extra calories, calcium, etc. to help as she tries to "catch up."
Oh, and when she was weighed yesterday she was up to 8 pounds 12 ounces! This doctor was also really pleased at how well she was growing. He answered our questions about how much to feed and how often and it looks like we are feeding her the right amount for her weight. He said we can try to squeeze in an extra feeding in the evenings and try to go a little longer at night without waking her up - like 4 hours instead of 3. I'm really hoping this works because we've been getting up every 3 hours for almost 10 weeks and it's really gotten old! If not, we'll keep doing it of course - anything to make sure she is healthy and growing.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Hey Moe,

Grandma & I say HI!

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