The Woes of Reflux

Yep....Mason has reflux. Anyone who has or has had a baby with reflux knows this is not fun. At all. Just in case you don't know what reflux is, it's when stomach acid rises up into the esophagus and causes really bad burning. Basically like the worst heartburn you have ever had. I feel so bad for my little boy. I had awful reflux almost the entire time I was pregnant with him so I know how badly it hurts.

About 2 weeks ago (soo he was 4 1/2 weeks old) I noticed he stopped liking to lay on his favorite pillow on the couch. Then he stopped liking to lay on the floor (he LOVED laying on the floor; I think if he could he would have spent the entire day on the floor on his blanket). Everyday he was getting more and more fussy. He was also spitting up more with each feeding. Then he stopped sleeping at night. For 5 days we tired everything to get him to sleep. Needless to say those nights were extremely difficult. All night he was making this terrible grunting noise and clearing his throat. Nursing was becoming harder and harder (he was pulling his head back and scratching and screaming almost the entire time I was attempting to nurse him). Then the grunting and clearing started during the day. We literally could not put the child down. The second his bottom touched anything that wasn't a human he screamed bloody murder. I don't blame him though, he was in a lot of pain.

After too many days and nights of this, I finally decided it was time to take him to his pediatrician a week ago today. He was diagnosed with reflux and we were given a perscription for zantac. I gave him the first dose that night and it seemed to help. Unfortunetely it's not working so well anymore (the grunting and clearing has started again as well as the sleepless nights), which his doctor said might happen and we would switch him to prilosec if need be. Soo I'm probably going to call sometime today to get that switched.

Nursing has gotten better, slowly. I found a position he likes much better yesterday. I think he wasn't feeling secure with the other position I had been using. Ironically I learned the position from a youtube video (youtube is literally a life saver lol). Go figure!

We got him a reflux chair at Buy Buy Baby over the weekend. I usually put him in it after I feed him in the afternoon/early evening. It elevates his head to 30 degrees which is apparently the perfect angle for reflux babies. It also vibrates, which he really likes. I'll post a picture of it later. If anyone is interested in getting it, it's made by the brand Summer.

Well he's waking up now, so I have to cut this short. Here's to hoping the handsome little man feels better soon...