The first two weeks, as I mentioned, are a bit of a blur. It was a little rough due to the nursing struggles for sure! But when we switched to formula, a whole new set of issues arose. The wonderful world of REFLUX. Ugh. Thats a world we are all too familiar with from little Mack. But it took us about 6 weeks or so to get things even vaguely diagnosed with him... this time I was VERY aware that her symptoms were exactly like his and so I insisted on some treatment asap. The pro's and con's of having dealt with this stuff, I guess. So, here's the run down:
Thurs, Aug 14: Lainey is born! Weighing 7lbs 9oz
Friday, Aug 15: Discharged from hospital weighing 7lbs 4.3oz
Tuesday, Aug 19: Weight check. Weighing 6lbs 14oz. Here is where we made the switch to formula and gave her what breast milk I could pump until I dried up. I also mentioned to Michelle (who examined her) that day that Lainey's left index finger was pretty red and had a sore on the right side of the cuticle. She said it was INFECTED! She debated giving her an antibiotic but since her tummy was already not super happy she decided to wait it out and see if we could see resolution with warm epsom salt soaks. This is NOT an easy task, friends. I tried keeping her finger dipped in a little cap of it but yeah... thats like giving a cat a bath. So I decided at each feeding I'd mix up some and then dip my finger in it and dab it on her finger repeatedly as long as she ate. It WORKED! Her finger started clearing up really quickly!
Friday, Aug 22: Weight check. Weighing 7lbs 4.3oz. Back up to where she was on the day of discharge from the hospital. I asked to see the Dr this day, however, because I was noticing some signs of reflux. Namely her inability to sleep flat, an occasional forceful vomiting (not frequent but definitely repeated) and her constant hiccups (actually coughing followed by sneezing followed by hiccups). Dr Messick checked her throat and said it looked fine but that we were likely catching it early so he went ahead and prescribed Zantac.
Over the course of that weekend, Lainey started having more frequent bouts of vomiting. Entire contents of the bottle kind of vomiting. I was pretty sure that Zantac just wasnt going to be sufficient in treating her, but didnt want to seem impatient and so we waited till our next weight check to talk to the Dr about it again.
Wednesday, Aug 27: Weight check. Weighing 7lbs 8.3oz.
I scheduled this appointment right at her eating time in hopes of getting a few ounces in her right before being fed (in hopes of not having to return every few days) and also in hopes that someone in the office could see how she ate and could witness my concerns. I gave Lainey a pep talk and told her it was important to NOT poop so she could keep all her food in her and to eat her WHOLE bottle ;-) Well, she did neither! Actually, Rhyan had an immunotherapy appointment first and then Lainey's weight check right after. So, I fed Lainey while we waited for Rhyan's appointment to be over and then headed downstairs. But before we could head down, she was sure to stink up the exam room we were in. NICE, Lainey. So much for holding it all in for a great weight check! HA!
Again, I asked to see the Dr (whoever was available). Harriett (the LC I love) came in first to talk with me and as I was explaining to her the "projectile puking" as I called it, she scolded me slightly and said using those words would land Lainey in the hospital. That at best it may be "forceful". And about that time, Lainey showed Harriett just how "forceful" her vomiting really is. And Harriett immediately said "OH! Wow. Yes, thats forceful for sure! Let me get Michelle"
Disgusting, yes. But I was SO glad she did that right there in the office. IN FRONT of Harriett.
Michelle came in and I told her first that the finger looked better! Hooray! Which she agreed. Then our attention turned to Lainey's tummy. I told her about the vomiting, not sleeping well laying flat and cough/sneezes/hiccups and she said it all sounded pretty classic, like Mack (she saw him a lot too). She took Lainey to examine her and almost as soon as she put the stethoscope to Lainey's chest/tummy she HEARD her reflux. Thats not mega common. You have to catch it at just the right time. So I was SO grateful that, once again, she witnessed it! I also talked to her about Lainey's stools which were way watery and acidic. Which I knew what all of this meant, but wanted confirmation.
MSPI
Milk Soy Protein Intolerance
Basically, Lainey's immature gut cant break down the protein in milk. And this causes diarrhea and reflux symptoms. Which brings us to the issue of formula. We talked about potentially trying Similac Total Comfort but when we talked about Mack having to use Alimentum, she suggested we go ahead and go that route so as to give Lainey's little tummy a break. And she prescribed a PPI (Proton Pump Inhibitor) to help with the reflux. I requested Prilosec instead of Prevacid mostly because Prevacid is a pill that has to be broken and dissolved in water and then drawn up into a syringe and administered orally. Its very difficult to adjust the dose and not fun to administer. Prilosec, however, is liquid already. The only difficult thing with prilosec is that it has to be compounded at a compounding pharmacy. Oh, and insurance doesnt cover it. Nice. But, for your kid, you go with whatever works and figure out the money part as you go, right!? :-)
So, off to the pharmacy and store for her medicine and new formula (although they did send us home with as many samples as they had of the alimentum which was super nice!).
In the midst of all of these weight check appointments, I decided to pursue Chiropractic care for Lainey as well. I had NO idea who to take her to so I put it out on fb as a question and had lots of great responses and just kind of picked one closer to our house. I'll be writing a separate post on that, but wanted to mention that it is something we started at that time!
We went ahead and decided to head to Sky Valley for Labor Day Weekend with jeff's parents and while she did have some vomiting, it seemed to be better. What I noticed that weekend was that when I pushed her to eat all of her bottle (which they encouraged me to do for her weight gain), she would puke. So I pretty quickly said forget that... she'll eat what she eats and gain what she gains... she certainly wasnt going to gain anything if she kept puking up every bottle!
Our next weight check was that Tuesday when we returned from the Mountains
Tuesday, Sept 2: Weight Check. Weighed 7lbs 15.3oz.
I discussed, once again, my concerns with her continued spitting and so we upped her dose of prilosec. I also decided to take the advice of a friend and go out and get some Gerber Soothe drops. They are probiotics and are about $30 a bottle for a months supply. I figured if a dollar a day could help her tummy, I was all in! So we started those that night in her last bottle of the evening.
The next few days I did see an improvement. Her gas seemed better (although still an issue), she didnt spit up nearly as much and overall seemed to sleep more soundly! I was very encouraged...
Till about 4 days later when spitting seemed to increase again, gas was worse, constipation was becoming a regular occurance and she was crying out in her naps again. So I called the nurse advice line and, once again, they upped Lainey's dose of Prilosec. And at that point we hit close to a max dose of meds.
I was looking for all sorts of solutions for Lainey's tummy. One thing we had done was start using MAM bottles. I had been giving her gas drops at every feeding, as well. But the gas was still a big issue! So I took advice of a facebook friend and ordered Mommy's Bliss Gripe Water and a box of Windi's.
The Windi is AMAZING. Its just a box of them (one time use) and you put baby oil on the tip and insert it into the baby's bottom and it allows them to release the gas with ease! Oh my, why, oh why did I not know about these things with my last two kids?!!?!? If you're a mom with a baby, just order them on Amazon. DO IT! ;-)
So thats pretty much where we stood at the end of Lainey's first month. Trying to find the right chiropractic care, on prilosec, taking alimentum, using gas drops and gripe water, probiotics and releasing "wind" with the windi. It was a full time job but we were seeing some improvement so it was the best we could do at the time!
But rest assured, I was starting to look into options for helping her get better without having to use all of that! And will write more about that next!
In the meanwhile, here are some sweet pics from weeks 2 and 3!
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