Life with reflux

I've heard over the years of parents "suffering" with their children through reflux. My daughter Anna had reflux. She spit up - A LOT. I thought - well - so I have to do more laundry, but what's the big deal with reflux?

I have since learned what the big deal is with reflux. Anna had reflux but was what I now know as a Happy Spitter. It means that she wasn't bothered by all of it. Emma Leigh IS.

She's been fussy since birth. She was super fussy the first week of her life - but we attributed it to the jaundice and all the chaos around her for that. Then we worried she had colic. The gripe water treatment was a miracle, but it only worked some of the time. Then you could no longer call her "fussy". Miserable was more like it. Then at her 4 week check up we took her to the pediatrician and was handed down a possible diagnosis of reflux.

So after much research and reading - she has GER, which has been confirmed by her pediatrician. At this point we are still going to try and keep her comfortable with medication and not put her through the diagnostic testing process - YET.

She is miserable. We are miserable. I am amazed every single day what the impact is on our family. Some days are better than others, but we never know which we're going to get. Some nights involve a decent amount of sleep - others involve NONE. She can scream on and off all day long, or scream for 3-4 hours straight and sleep contentedly (or passed out) for hours. We rarely leave the house since we don't know what we'll get. Will she sleep? Will she scream?

The only thing that silences the screaming is to nurse. The milk calms her fiery throat, but only temporarily. And even then it's a double edged sword - the frequent nursing will fill her little belly and make her more likely to reflux again - causing more pain. She screams and sometimes shrieks in pain. It's one of the most horrid things a parent should have to listen to.

She is currently on a regimine of Zantac and Mylanta - it's helped. Some. Unfortunately the best you can hope for is to keep her "less pained".

Our lives consist of either Dan or I on Emma Leigh patrol and the other in charge of everything else. That includes the other girls, errands, cooking, cleaning, lots of laundry... not to mention applying for jobs and sometimes subbing. So really, nothing much is getting done well. Hopefully soon she'll tolerate the sling better and both of us will be able to be useful.

We know it's not life threatening and we count ourselves blessed that we're not faced with some of the horrors that other parents have to face. In the scheme of things - it's minor. It's just a minor thing that takes up every part of our days.

I'm lucky to have good friends who have been there with their kids and their advice and suggestions are priceless. If you are reading this because you found it from a search - I'll send you lots of hugs and give you some of the links that have been helpful to us so far. We're lucky because Emma's doctor is being very helpful and proactive. A lot of doctors aren't - so keep pushing till you find one that will take you seriously.

So - that's what we've been up to lately. Haven't had the mood to blog much... so consider yourself lucky, you'd hear a lot about vomit and not sleeping.

Here are some of the links...

Article about the stress of reflux - (definitely worth reading!)

Bundle of Misery article - very helpful for families dealing with reflux

One about symptoms of reflux

More about GER from Dr. Sears and talk about breastfeeding refluxers

Here is a guide to reflux

Another site about infant reflux