Monday, January 23, 2012

spits and fits


Duke has always been a big spitter.  It's funny, though, because usually when we tell people, they look at us like Oh, aren't you sweet; you think your baby spits up a lot when actually he spits up like every other baby.  Mmm, nope.  He's a crazy spitter.  That's just all there is to it.

He'd always been a happy spitter, but this changed at week 11.  I could tell something was different.  Not only was it frequently projectile, but he started acting uncomfortable and, eventually, in pain when he was spitting up.  One night I had just had enough.  I started crying and said out loud to myself and Duke (which happens a lot), "This is not normal.  I am calling the doctor tomorrow."  There's just something deep down in that mommy gut that tells you when something is not okay.  When you feel it, trust it!

I was a little nervous about calling since I would sound like a typical first time mom who thinks everything is a big deal, but I did it anyway.  The nurse was very sweet and it ended up that we needed to see our doctor about this.  She said he had reflux and prescribed Zantac.  Things were better the first 2 days and then they actually got worse.

What was he doing exactly?  After he ate, he would cry ... like the crazy, shrill, high-pitched cries you really don't hear too often unless something is really wrong.  He was also as stiff as a board and arching his back.  I knew these things weren't okay.  After 6 days of Zantac, I called the nurse again and told her everything.

(Side note:  It also turned out that Duke hadn't, and still hasn't, had a dirty diaper in several days.  I thought the Zantac might be related but she assured me that it probably wasn't and that a lot of babies go through a phase where they just don't poop.  She also said that when they do decide to finally do it, it'd be a big one.  Something we can look forward to.)

The nurse spoke with our doctor and she decided we needed to stop the Zantac and switch to Prevacid.  What a difference!  It's been 4 days now and it has worked wonders.  (Let's keep our fingers crossed that it will stay that way!)  We finally have our happy boy back.  It's totally relieved his pain, he doesn't cry for an hour after he eats, and he spits up happily like he used to.  The volume of spit up has basically remained the same, except for a few feedings here and there where it's a bit less than the normal amount.  Of course, the spit up wasn't the problem.  I'll take spit up over pain any day.

Seeing your child like that and not having the power to fix it is rough.  I'm just glad I didn't wait it out and do my typical "I'm his mom so I should be able to handle it" business.

I'm grateful we finally found something that works.  I'm also grateful for intelligent and kind doctors and nurses that really care about what they do.  I've talked to several nurses the past couple of weeks and not one of them was condescending or made me feel silly for my concerns.  That's a good feeling as a new mom.

Onward to happy spitting days!

1 comment:

  1. Riggins was a major spitter-upper too, but luckily he was a happy spitter the whole time. My doc gave us a prescription for Prevacid, but after seeing how much it cost we decided that since he wasn't in pain, it probably wasn't worth starting him on meds just for the sake of me doing less laundry ;) It eventually got better (around 9 months-ish), but he still has a pretty weak gag reflex. Actually, just today he spit up (at 21 months, for pete's sake!!!) because I didn't know he had a bunch of diluted juice while with Jonathan all morning, and I gave him a cup of milk when they got back. Add a little running around the house, and next thing I know I'm cleaning puke off the floor!

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