Reflux, Pain, and the whole crazy thing

Infant reflux is one of the hardest things for new mommies to deal with. Often misdiagnosed as colic, and/or resulting from an allergen consumed by the breastfeeding mother, mommies with newborns will do elimination diets and have multiple pedi visits before a being given a proper diagnosis. And sometimes, it isn't even the proper diagnosis, its an allergy versus true reflux. Any mom dealing with a baby who they think has reflux should see a GI to ensure the proper diagnosis is given.

The struggle doesn't stop once diagnosed. There are 4 different types of meds given to combat reflux, given in order of severity: Antacids, H2 blockers, PPI's, and Pro-Motility drugs. Click here for the Marci-Kids description of each type of drug. What is one of the hardest aspects of having a refluxing infant is that the body builds resistance to the meds as the infant grows, and because infant growth is initially very fast, keeping on top of the reflux via medication requires frequent adjustment and increased dosages. Then, sometimes, they stop working all together, and you need to try something more aggressive.

Chase was diagnosed with reflux at 6 weeks old. He really had been experiencing bad symptoms for 3+ weeks, but I, like many others, attributed most of his crankiness and inability to calm or sleep to just being a cranky baby. I felt like I was doing everything correct for him to be healthy and happy, and yet, he (and yes, we) were miserable. The blood curdling scream-cry from that time is something I hope to never hear again, because I now know how much pain he was in. Luckily, my husband kept saying, "something is not right" and we did eventually figure out that yes, this poor little guy has reflux. We actually found out as a result of last resort. Chase had been crying for 5 hours straight one night, I was about to loose my mind, and I just was willing to try anything to help the poor kid. I found something online about reflux and Mylanta, so I gave him a little and it was the most amazing sight: Chase looked at me, in still silence, relieved, and immediately fell asleep. So my baby has reflux....

Chase was initially put on Zantac, an H2 inhibitor. It worked for a while, but we needed to keep upping the dose frequently to keep up with him. Finally, we reached the peak dosage and it stopped working. We then switched to Prevacid, a PPI, it was working ok for a while and then stopped. After checking the dosing calculator on Marci, the NP at my pedi's office DOUBLED his dose to 30mg a day. That worked up until a few weeks, maybe a month ago, when he started waking up more at night not as a result of teeth (he has 6 already!) and wanted to nurse frequently. Figuring that the high dose of Prevacid he was already on was taking care of the reflux, I assumed his troubles were Milestone and Growth Spurt related, or even another Sleep Regression. I never expected that it could be reflux again, as docs tend to say kids start outgrowing reflux at 6mo. I started cutting out gluten and casein, just in case he had allergies and cut out corn and all corn products because he definitely had a reaction to his cheerios. Nope, not a big change. So two weeks of nearly hourly wakings, horrible supply as a result of all night nursing, sore nipples, frustrated mommy, I started googling again. Google: Arching back, throwing head back, frequent waking, 8mo old, only sleeps when held, crying while asleep.

Why it didn't don on me that all the symptoms I was googling were reflux related were beyond me. Maybe the sleep deprived brain really is useless! But every article I came up with, including the responses to my post on Mothering, pointed back to reflux. DUH! Sometimes when I have these Duh-lightbulb moments, I feel guilty for not being in-tune enough with my child, like I should have known all along it was reflux, but then I step back and remind myself that 1, I am not a doctor, I only play one in my house, and 2, easing reflux is like trying to play pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey, drunk, and in a zero gravity tank.

So, the plan for now is to survive this week by doling out the Mylanta as needed, on top of the Prevacid. Its not a suggested course of action because it weakens the Prevacid, but for now, short term, the benefits of a good night's sleep for all seem to be outweighing the risk. We have our first GI (Gastrointerologist) appointment next Monday, when we will see what he has to say about the current course of medication, and also get an IGG allergy panel, to see if there is anything Chase is reacting to. Maybe one day we will have it all figured out......