babyblog

Who are you and what have you done with my baby?

Over the last couple of weeks Tabitha has become more & more miserable. For certain periods of the day she has been very very fussy indeed, obviously in alot of discomfort, writhing her body in pain

She's had what felt like very trapped wind all of the time, and has been throwing up quite alot after feeds and between feeds. Basically every minute that she's been awake she's either been feeding or very unhappy, and it's been a real struggle, especially at 2am for 4 hours at a time.

Not much has consoled her, gripe water has occasionally soothed the pain for 5 mins, but mostly she's been crying or grizzling, and yesterday I think both G and I reached a point where we became concerned that this was just not right, that we should have a happy baby, a contented baby, and not a baby who is clearly struggling with pain all of the time.

When I woke this morning it occured to me that she could have a problem with milk protein in my diet. Cutting out dairy is one of the first things to do when you have babies with this kind of problem. The other 'suspect' was acid reflux.. something I've heard a bit about and can be quite common with babies.

Anyway - I took her to the pediatrician this afternoon and asked him what he thought and he was fairly convinced that she has acid reflux. He suggested I might cut out what seemed like a couple of obvious triggers to her problem - namely my afternoon nonfact decaf latte and my evening sugar-free ice cream - but otherwise don't cut out all dairy & we will start by treating her for reflux with zantac, and see how she does. The pediatrician said he was almost going to guarantee that we'd see an improvement with the zantac,

Anyway - I came home and gave her a dose of the zantac medicine and it was like someone switched her for another baby, one who for the first time sat contentedly - smiling and looking around her for a good hour.. who sat happily in the car seat looking out of the window.... who enjoyed being in the park looking at the trees...who came home and lay for a good 30 mins on my lap smiling at me. All things she has never done before due to being always in pain and discomfort.. it was amazing! When G came home, she lay in his arms doing the same then contentedly fell asleep.

I hope I haven't jinxed us by thinking that we've just found a miracle cure, but wow :)