Jaundice, Thrush & Reflux Oh MY!

As I said on the "Things I've Learned So Far" list, there really is nothing worse than seeing your baby girl in pain and not being able to do anything to fix it. Unfortunately, we've been feeling that agony a lot over the past week. Thankfully, we finally found a way to help!

To go back a few steps, the day they released Josie from the hospital, the pediatrician suspected jaundice. So, they did a bunch of tests (and re-tests) and concluded (after a scare that she may have to be admitted) that she did in fact have jaundice and that we needed to take her home & keep her connected to a bili-blanket 24/7. (You may have seen the glow-in-dark baby photos from the first week when she had a big cord coming out of her blanket). Lou & I obliged, but honestly felt skeptical about the severity of the whole thing. We're less than thrilled about the whole "medical model," but since it only involved light therapy and not medication, we went along with it.

A few days later, we noticed that Josie's tongue was covered in a thick, white paste (yuck) and suspected thrush. This was no surprise since I was forced into four courses of antibiotics during labor. Rather than using the prescription, we decided to treat the thrush naturally with acidophilus & homeopathics. Fortunately, we later found out the the white tongue is probably just a heavy coating of milk, so it's a good thing we didn't use the Nystatin after all.

So, a few days later, Josie started spitting up - ALOT. And I'm not talking your normal baby spit-up...I'm talking projectile, clear the room, change all of your clothes and hers, choking, tears in her eyes, painful spitting up. It was only happening about once a day for a few days. Then, it started happening more regularly. Then, she started having trouble eating (thrashing around, coughing and gagging, getting frustrated). Then, she started this terrible grunting, moan after she ate. She did this for hours on end (and all night long) while wriggling and arching her back. It was clear she was in a lot of discomfort and no matter what we did, we couldn't make the pain go away. It was terrible.

We had to get help. The first call was to the lactation consultant from the hospital who said I was making too much milk and that she was getting too much foremilk (the watery stuff that comes out first) and not enough of the creamy hindmilk at the end. This oversupply of liquid, she said, was too much for her little tummy to handle so out it came. She recommended a crazy feeding schedule that involved double-feeding on each side, pumping the other, etc. It seemed overcomplicated (and dangerous to mess with nature), but I'd do anything to help out the baby girl. After a couple of days of that not working, we decided to schedule an appt with a lactation consultant who could sit down & help us get to the bottom of this. After an hour long appt, we learned a lot of things: 1) Oversupply is B.S., 2) Josie is definitely not having problems gaining weight (pushing 11 pounds now), 3) The problem is acid reflux.

Poor little girl, she's got terrible heartburn. The back arching was her attempt to stop the pain & the moans and grunts were in fact signs of discomfort. How sad! So, left equipped with a full arsenal of ways to combat reflux - nursing her sitting up, natural remedies, small but frequent feedings, keeping her upright, etc.

Then, we had 24 hours where she spit up everything she ate. She didn't have any meals that she kept down. She moaned and groaned all day. She was clearly in lots of pain and we couldn't do anything. She didn't want to be held or put down. She wailed when put on her back (which made changing diapers nearly impossible). We had to do something! We called the doctor who agreed to see us at 8pm that night. After meeting with us and examining her, she got diagnosed with GERD & prescribed Zantac. When all this first started, Lou & I swore we would not put her on medication. But, it's amazing how your opinions will change when the happiness of your child is at stake. To me, it was incredibly selfish to make her continue to be in pain because of my own stubbornness regarding prescription drugs. So, we're on Day Two of the Zantac and it appears to be helping. We've only had one major spit-up today and the moaning and groaning has almost stopped.

I'm sure this is just one of many more lessons that are sure to come as our venture into parenthood continues. Really, all that matters is that you do what is best for your children, even if it means putting your own beliefs aside.

With that, I've got some cuddling to do. Until next time, Carri