Our baby is now almost 8 weeks old and my wife has gone back to work. She was unable to breastfeed so we started out on formula from day one. At 3 weeks old, the baby had blood in his stool and we found out that he was allergic to the milk in formula. We switched to a special (expensive) formula called Nutramigen and the blood cleared up but now the baby has reflux. It's almost impossible to get the baby to sleep unless I'm holding him. I stay up most of the night taking care of him and then try to take care of him and our 2 year old until my wife gets home from work. The problem is that I can't put him down or he starts crying and our, usually good natured, 2 year old starts acting out because he isn't getting enough attention. It doesn't help that I'm not getting any sleep and have little patience. I've tried everything from "The Happiest Baby on the Block" and it works for a short period of time but never more than about 20 minutes. It's heartbreaking to see him so miserable and it's difficult to neglect my 2 year old. He's crying again right now so I have to finish. Any advice or support? Thanks, Tim
Colic
Hi TimB - sounds tough! Have you tried using a sling to carry your baby around? My son didn't have colic, but apparently "baby wearing" can help babies with colic. He also didn't like to be put down on his own for the first few months. We used the Moby Wrap a lot when he was young (they are kind of expensive here in Norway, but we got a good deal on Ebay). It is unwoven cotton, so it is really soft and stretches a little - good for small babies but too stretchy for older babies.
Putting your baby in a sling - especially with skin-to-skin contact (you no shirt, baby only a diaper) can really calm the baby down AND allow you to do other stuff and pay attention to your 2 year-old. Some nights when my son would wake up and cry when he was very young I would put him in the sling, he would calm down, and we would both fall asleep on the couch (better than walking around for hours!) - this also worked on the plane, btw.
Oh - one more thing - my sister-in-law was a colicky baby and they couldn't figure it out for a long time - turned out she was a celiac...
Good luck, man!
I have four, the youngest is now 6 months. All of them have had reflux (baby still does). I have a thought; smell your baby's breath. If it smells like vomit, make an appointment and tell your pediatrician. There are several treatments for this, and they can make a difference in as little as a day. The first line of defence is usually liquid Zantac. Yup, the same over-the-counter drug you or I could take, only this is prescription only. Next is probably a medicine called Axid, and it goes on and on. If it really is reflux, you and your son will be sleeping better by the weekend. Untreated it can lead to really bad things. Oh, and they usually grow out of it in the first year of life, so you don't have to continue the meds indefinitely. Some are based on weight, so you have to adjust the dosage as baby gets bigger. Talk to your doc, go there with questions, don't leave without the answers.
Good Luck!
Jim - Boulder, CO - Dad to Cole, Luke, Trev & Delaney - Regional Coordinator, DaddysHome Inc.
Thanks for the suggestion about the skin to skin in the sling. I've tried the sling and it helps a little but not the skin to skin.
The baby has reflux and the pediatrician prescribed Zantac. Unfortunately, the baby empties all of the contents from his stomache about 20 to 30 minutes after taking it. Plus one of the side effects of Zantac is insomnia. We stopped giving him the Zantac yesterday and he slept for 6 hours last the night. But now the reflux is bad again. The doctor has since tried prescribing Prevacid but the insurance company has denied coverage for it. We have an appointment with a Pediatric Gastroenterologist next week so maybe they can prescribe something that won't make him throw up and the insurance company will cover.
Joined: 2008-06-21
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