Well, the good news is that we are pretty confident now that Sweet Pea is NOT dealing with reflux.

Our follow up appointment was at 10am this morning. By the time we were in a room and the doctor came in, it was feeding time (11am) so Dr M got to witness a feed.

Dr M saw that Sweet Pea had no problems starting the feed but then as I was feeding her Dr M pointed out the way Sweet Pea was pulling her legs up as her stomach started to cramp.

This made Dr M feel even further that Sweet Pea’s issues are gastrointestinal and not from reflux.

We discussed breastmilk since I had several friends offer to pump and give me breastmilk for Sweet Pea. (SO incredibly selfless and sweet.)

I was actually expecting Dr M to jump on taking them up on the offer since she is a holistic doctor and breastmilk is the natural food for babies!

However, she did not, and again, I totally understand her reasoning.

Dr M said that giving Sweet Pea breastmilk from multiple donors possibly would only complicate matters because if there was something in the breastmilk that Sweet Pea is sensitive to, we wouldn’t have a way to know which milk was causing the sensitivity.

Dr M wants me to put her on a prescription formula for now so that we can control what is going in her system to see if the prescription formula makes any difference.

The prescription formula can easily be controlled. It would be harder to do that with breastmilk coming from multiple donors.

Coming from a holistic doctor, I trust this reasoning and it makes total sense to me.

The new game plan is to put Sweet Pea on the prescription formula and go from there.

Dr M did say that if this formula doesn’t bring Sweet Pea any relief, then we will just have to wait this out until her system grows and matures and has time to recover from the drug exposure.

In other news, this baby girl is GROWING!

At one day shy of one month old, Sweet Pea is …

8lbs. 1oz!

She gained 10 ounces in seven days! (Another indication we are not dealing with reflux.)

Don’t miss Sweet Pea’s newborn photoshoot below!

First of all…thank you!

I’ve checked into the FB page “Human Milk for Human Babies” briefly and I have just one concern: safety!!

I know the breast milk at breast milk banks is extensively screened, but does anyone know if the breast milk is screened before being donated through “Human Milk for Human Babies”?

The little I was able to read about it on their website, it just sounds like you join the FB group and post a thread saying you need breast milk and then someone (a complete stranger) responds to your thread and you go from there getting the donated breast milk.

That is really awesome that so many women are willing and able to donate milk like that, however, safety is a huge concern.

Like I said, I was only able to read about this very briefly so maybe I missed something. If I did, please let me know!!

It was also mentioned that I could try to induce my own lactation.

I haven’t told many people this and I don’t think I’ve shared this on the blog before but…I did actually try to induce lactation with Little Bug so that I could breastfeed her.

I never produced a drop of breast milk, even after being on the domperidone medication for weeks. (No surprise there, really. As I said last night…why would the body who can’t even produce a viable egg be able to produce breast milk?)

After being told I was literally going to have to pump constantly to even attempt getting somewhat of a supply, I gave up because after all I had just been through with infertility treatments, I just wanted to enjoy my new baby girl and not be totally stressed out trying to induce lactation.

My pedi told me to put Little Bug on Similac Allimentum because it is most like breast milk, so even though it was over $25 (without a coupon) a can, that is what Little Bug ate her first 7 months of life. It agreed well with her tummy and that was that.

To even attempt this right now, I think I would have to be insane. I am nearly there, however, I do have one sliver of sanity left that is telling me trying to induce lactation with an energetic 2 year old and a newborn to take care of would be next to impossible to accomplish.

I have other options.

I just keep replaying what Dr. M said on Thursday …

We will get to the bottom of this!

And what my grandfather, who has been deceased for over 25 years, would always say …

This too shall pass!

I’m just getting around to posting this because we were at the doctor from 3:30 to 6:30 tonight! They fit us into the schedule last minute and even though we were the last patients in the office, the doctor took her time with us and did not rush us out.

Dr. M asked when Sweet Pea starts having pain. She wanted to know if it was during a feed or after a feed.

I told her that Sweet Pea eats her formula just fine, but then, after she eats she becomes restless, uncomfortable, fussy and has to be held upright for a while.

I made it clear that I wanted a prescription for a reflux med!

Then she explained to me that theoretically speaking it sounded like Sweet Pea’s issues are intestinal (sensitivity issues) and not from acid because (again theoretically speaking) babies who are having acid reflux cry in pain while eating.

Dr M suggested I put her on probiotics. I’ve had Sweet Pea on probiotics since leaving the NICU, but with her being in the hospital and on antibiotics, Dr M said all those probiotics were washed away with those antibiotics.

So, when we started probiotics again after being discharged Tuesday, it’s like we are starting over from the very beginning.

Dr. M did give me a prescription for Zantac (I asked for a different one but she said she would not give that).

When we left the office tonight at 6:30 the plan was for Sweet Pea to be on the probiotics for about a week and see if that made any difference for her. If I did not see a difference, then Dr. M said I should try the Zantac for a week.

I felt good about this plan however, around 10pm (ish) tonight Sweet Pea started what we thought was another “reflux spell”. Dave brought her to me and we started talking more about the doctor visit. We decided to go ahead and get that prescription filled.

Dr M said if we do probiotics and Zantac all at once we won’t be able to see what makes the difference, which is why she wanted me to try the probiotics first and then, if there are no changes after a week, add in Zantac.

However, we are so tired of seeing our baby in pain and I figured since the probiotics haven’t had time to build up yet from her being on antibiotics, we could go ahead and try the Zantac.

If there is improvement, we know she needs Zantac. If there is no improvement after a week or so, then we will turn to the probiotics.

BUT, then while Dave was at the 24-hour pharmacy I got to thinking maybe Sweet Pea was just hungry and ready to eat. Because of the doctor visit and other things that happened today, her feeds were not right at the 3 hour mark (several feeds were 3.5 hours apart) all day today, so I got to thinking that maybe she was wanting to cluster feed right before bedtime so that she can go longer between feeds through the night.

So I went and got a bottle ready and she took it after only 2 hours since the last bottle.

Dave took her out into the living room to finish the bottle, hold her upright for about half an hour and then he is going to lay her in the bouncy seat to sleep for the first time tonight.

We’ve come to the conclusion that the cradle put on an incline is just not comfortable for her at night. I LOVE this clever invention…

Fisher Price Newborn Rock and Play

…but instead of spending the money on that, we are going to try her out in the bouncy seat first and see if that helps her sleep more comfortably at night.

So far…all is quiet out in the living room. Maybe she was just hungry and we can give probiotics a shot before calling in the big guns.

So, that’s the reflux update. Definitely not cut and dry, but is ANYTHING cut and dry with a baby??!

Moral of this post??

Babies are complicated, but I do feel confident we will get to the bottom of this and bring Sweet Pea relief soon.

And, praise God, tonight a little bottle of Zantac sits in my house.

I think I feel better just knowing I have the option now to give it to her should I feel we need to go that route before trying probiotics first.

I really do trust my pediatrician, so I really would like to give probiotics a shot first.

However, I trust my instincts even more and I will not hesitate to use the little bottle that now sits in my house should I feel we should go ahead and use it.

For anyone choosing to follow this reflux sage, I’ll update again when there is any new development.

For now, I am going to bed while Dave holds down the fort out there.

And so far all is still quiet out there…

Reflux is not fun for baby or parents.

Sweet Pea has multiple times throughout the day (and even recently, through the night) where she just cannot get comfy because of the reflux.

It is so sad.

I’ve heard that it can be difficult to get the pedi to put baby on a reflux med so I was not surprised at all when the hospital doctor told me “it is developmental and she will outgrow it”.

Yes, reflux is outgrown in most cases, but why not medicate baby with a benign medication if it is available??

I didn’t even bother asking the hospital again about the reflux after speaking to that doctor, especially when we were able to come home after 3 days.

But I knew I was going to call the pedi and make an appointment and pray that she would hear me and agree to prescribe my poor baby a medication so that we can see if it will make a difference in Sweet Pea’s comfort level and fussiness.

I go to a holistic pediatrician (which I love), but being that they are holistic I was a little concerned that they would not be very anxious (like I am!) to get Sweet Pea on a medication!

The pedi called me last night to check on Sweet Pea and she asked in general how she is doing.

So I brought up the reflux. And I told her that I had made an appointment to come in to the office to talk about this.

I am very hopeful I will get a prescription for a medicine tomorrow because she said over the phone last night that it is very possible that because of everything Sweet Pea has gone through, she may very well benefit from being on a reflux medicine.

I was so relieved to hear her say that because I was prepared to have to put up a fight to get a reflux med for Sweet Pea.

I am so glad it sounds like my pedi is going to support me as a mother who knows something is not right with her baby and really wants to try a medication to see if it will help.

Our appointment is tomorrow afternoon.

When Sweet Pea’s reflux flares up I call it “spells”. She had a bad spell in the hospital the night before she was discharged and then she had another pretty bad spell last night from 11:30 to 2:30. Her daddy took that one. This morning when I woke up he told me about it and he said, “Now I know why you are so afraid to handle these girls on your own! I couldn’t do ANYTHING but take care of her last night from 11:30 to 2:30 until it passed.”

When a “spell” hits Sweet Pea you can not put her down and even when you are holding her she is squirming and totally restless as you are burping her, holding her upright and trying any and everything to help relieve her pain.

But then, when the spell passes, she passes out too from exhaustion of being so uncomfortable for so long.

She has to sleep basically sitting up though. Even the incline of an inclined sleep positioner for the cradle is not enough of an incline for her! We have to put blankets under the positioner to bring her to nearly a sitting up position.

Friends are letting us borrow this seat and it has become a lifesaver since it allows Sweet Pea to sleep practically sitting up.

No, reflux is no fun, but I pray the pedi does prescribe Sweet Pea a medication tomorrow (without a fight!) and that it does bring her some relief soon.