Husband and I have struggled wih our bouncing baby boy. OK - let’s be realistic - I’ve struggled. Husband not so much, in case you didn’t get the hint from my last post. For six weeks it has been a story of frequent crying. And when I mean crying, I mean that loud hard cry, where Soul Boy’s body gets as stiff as a board and he turns purple while he cries. I talked to the doctor (at three weeks) and the advice nurse (at five and six weeks) and they all concluded it was gas, gave me some suggestions (changing fomula, etc.), and stated it would go away on its own. After six weeks I was at the end of my rope. I was ready to disappear and leave the baby to Husband - let him handle things for once.
After dealing with the extreme crying over the Thankgiving holiday, I made another desperate call to the pediatrician. My doctor’s ofice was closed so I was forwarded to their AfterHours advice line. I answered a slew of questions and the nurse promptly stated that she would get me in to see another doctor at the same practice today.
A couple of minutes later she called me back to say se had called the docotr at the practice’s other location and explained to the staff that they had to get me in today. I just had to call and get an appointment time. I quickly called, scheduled the appointment, and Husband and I made out way to the doctor with our little bundle of pained crying.
We had a long wait (which i will discuss in another post), talked to the doctor about we had been going through for six weeks, she examined him and, thank goodness, we had a possible diagnosis.
Acid Reflux. Apparently it is something fairly common in babies as their digestive systems may not be fully developed.
Couldn’t someone have figures this out a few weeks ago????
The baby is on a new formula and medication and will be evaluated from time to time to see if he can stop either or both.
Oh my god, it is like a freakin’ different baby. Yeah, he’s still fussy, but it is like night and day. I actually have a baby that smiles and seems happy most of the time. And I’m getting a bit more sleep. And I don’t feel like a complete failure as a new mom.
Once again - someone couldn’t have thought this was a possibility a few weeks ago?
My current pediatrician is pretty popular and well-known in the area for being a good doctor, so I’m not going to jump ship over this. Up to this point, I have been very impressed with my current pediatrician. He was on vacation the last three weeks, so he didn’t really get a chance to follow up like he thought he would. But I will be watching him.