Confessions from a Mommy who has a baby with Reflux

It stinks! Have a baby with reflux can be extremely challenging. Extremely. I have been fighting with it from day one. A week ago Brandon and I took Bennett to the Vanderbilt Children's Hospital to speak with a GI Specialist and I have never left a doctor's office feeling so great about everything! Vandy is the way to go, for sure.

When he was first born I had no clue he had reflux. I knew he spit up a lot, but from all of the research I did online, everything said, 'All babies spit up. Spit up is ok. It's normal.' So, I just continued to change my clothes, his clothes, bibs, sheets, cleaning carpets and spots every where... with a deep breath and a smile on my face. 

Once I took Bennett to the sitter when I went back to work she then informed me.. this is a lot of spit up and is not normal. Hello mommy instinct! I knew it. I took Bennett to the doctor for round 1. They adjusted the amount of food he was getting, told me to be more intentional with burping, etc. About a month later nothing had changed. I sadly had to quit breast feeding. No matter what I ate, no matter how bland my food was, he cried in pain, was extremely gassy, and spit up a lot. I put him on Prosobee Soy. Within a few days there was a complete 180. Even my dad noticed. And for a Papa to notice.. that's a big deal. Sad to stop breast feeding, but I knew that it was the right decision.

After switching to formula a few weeks had gone by and nothing had changed. Back to the doctor we go. They gave him Zantac. It worked! At least a little bit... It didn't stop the reflux completely, but it helped. We gave it to him as soon as he woke up and at 2:00. That worked best for him. 

About a month later it seemed to stop working, which was about 4 months old. Back to the doctor and they switched him to nexium. After 2 weeks, that definitely was not helping so... we called the doctor, got switched back to Zantac and they upped his dosage. It worked!

At 8 months we noticed that things were getting bad again. Lots and lots of spit up. We called the doctor and they switched him to Allimentum. It's a complete dairy free formula. Expensive. We were told to try it for 2 weeks. We did. At 1 week and 4 days, after several loads of laundry I called back, switched back to Prosobee Soy, and made an apt to go to Vandy. 

They scheduled me an apt for July 28. Um.. no. Not ok with that! I called up there and got an apt bumped up to June 19th. I called back everyday and after two days I had an apt from a cancelations for the next day. {Insert Super-Mommy Dance!} Whoop whoop!

We went up to Vandy for the apt and it was wonderful! We got all of our questions answered, the doctor was so thorough, so descriptive. I feel like she would have sat there for days talking to me! It was so awesome not feeling like I was a check already written and they were ready to move to the next room! 

Our little trooper!

The Scoop:

There is no cure for reflux. You simply have to wait for the muscle that keeps the food down to get stronger. Which can be anywhere from 6 months to a year. The goal for a baby with reflux is for them to be 'Happy Spitters'.  Zantac and other similar medicines are Acid Blockers. The Acid Blocker keeps the spit up from having acid in it, which helps it from burning the esophagus. One of my concerns was how will this effect him long term? Since he is on an acid blocker.. it won't effect him. So, with all of that being said.. we continue on through life with our happy spitter with carpet cleaner and a rag in one hand, laundry going constantly, and a smile on my face.

There is hope other Reflux Mommies! Just push to 1 year and we will make it! We might have gray hair by 30, but we will make it!