So we brought Aiden home after his three day visit in the hospital. While in the hospital Aiden's feedings were supplemented with Similac Advance. He seemed to be okay with this while we were in the hospital, but when we came home he seemed a bit more aggitated by the formula. He seemed to be struggling or even in pain.
So, as new parents wanting to do what is best for our son, and having recieved about 6 cans of different sample formulas to try, we switched Aiden to the Enfamil Lipil. For a couple of days this seemed to work out just fine, but by the third or fourth day we were right back to the painful arched back baby. So we switched again, this time trying the Similac Soy formula. No better results found there.
After a couple of days of struggling we called the pediatricians office and were told that babies are not able to just switch their formula willy nilly. It isn't like an adult who can choose to have a hamburger for lunch and then eat a pizza for dinner. No... The baby has to get accustomed to the formula, which can take a good four to five days. So we were recommended to go back to the Enfamil and give it a week and see what happened.
A week passed and our baby is arching his back, spitting up, and generally not happy with the way things are after his feeding. He eats, oh yes, the boy can suck down a bottle. But he is in pain afterwards. We call the pediatrician again, the nurse recommends we try Gentlease, another enfamil product with partially broken down protiens so it is easier on the baby's stomach.
We switch formulas, and notice an almost immediate difference. Yay! Aiden seems to be tolerating this formula better. Well not so fast my friend. About 4-5 days after starting on the Gentlease, we are right back to the painful arched back and struggling. We keep him on it for a little longer trying to see if things work themselves out... they don't.
Another call to the pediatricians office. Try Lactofree. This one has no lactose and still has the broken down protiens. Raquel is lactose intolerant, so this might make sense. We bring home the Lactofree and again, notice an immediate improvement. But no, once again after a week or so the pain returns.
I have always been a researcher, since I discovered the internet I look everything up. Being a parent has been no different. I go into reading all sorts of different message boards and interesting infant sights, and from what other parents are experiencing, I think my son has Acid Reflux. All of the symptoms sound familiar, spitting up, arching the back, not sleeping well, etc. Many of the parents who have posted this experience stated that their pediatricians refused to diagnose their children with Acid Reflux, or GERD, instead calling the baby colicy and telling them to deal with it until the baby grows out of it. So Raquel and I prepare a list of all of our arguments why we think that Aiden has Acid Reflux.
I had to work the day Raquel took Aiden in to see the doctor, but Raquel took him in, showed the doctor the list and basically said the doctor looked at the list and said "Yep. Yep. Yep. My second son had the exact same symptoms, we will put him on Nutramigen and Zantac twice a day and he should see improvement". No arguments. No push back at all. What a relief, our doctor agrees that there is a problem and gives us a solution to fix it. Hoorah!
Aiden at this point is 4 weeks old. We try the nutramigen and Zantac and low and behold, we have improvement. Still not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but the arched back is gone as is most of the painful grunting.
So month one was the month of one thousand formulas. Eventually we got it to the point where he could tolerate, and that is good. It would take awhile longer to get him to be overly pleased, and I am still to this day not really sure if we have the mixture right, but we are on the right track, and with a baby, that is a very good thing.
So, as new parents wanting to do what is best for our son, and having recieved about 6 cans of different sample formulas to try, we switched Aiden to the Enfamil Lipil. For a couple of days this seemed to work out just fine, but by the third or fourth day we were right back to the painful arched back baby. So we switched again, this time trying the Similac Soy formula. No better results found there.
After a couple of days of struggling we called the pediatricians office and were told that babies are not able to just switch their formula willy nilly. It isn't like an adult who can choose to have a hamburger for lunch and then eat a pizza for dinner. No... The baby has to get accustomed to the formula, which can take a good four to five days. So we were recommended to go back to the Enfamil and give it a week and see what happened.
A week passed and our baby is arching his back, spitting up, and generally not happy with the way things are after his feeding. He eats, oh yes, the boy can suck down a bottle. But he is in pain afterwards. We call the pediatrician again, the nurse recommends we try Gentlease, another enfamil product with partially broken down protiens so it is easier on the baby's stomach.
We switch formulas, and notice an almost immediate difference. Yay! Aiden seems to be tolerating this formula better. Well not so fast my friend. About 4-5 days after starting on the Gentlease, we are right back to the painful arched back and struggling. We keep him on it for a little longer trying to see if things work themselves out... they don't.
Another call to the pediatricians office. Try Lactofree. This one has no lactose and still has the broken down protiens. Raquel is lactose intolerant, so this might make sense. We bring home the Lactofree and again, notice an immediate improvement. But no, once again after a week or so the pain returns.
I have always been a researcher, since I discovered the internet I look everything up. Being a parent has been no different. I go into reading all sorts of different message boards and interesting infant sights, and from what other parents are experiencing, I think my son has Acid Reflux. All of the symptoms sound familiar, spitting up, arching the back, not sleeping well, etc. Many of the parents who have posted this experience stated that their pediatricians refused to diagnose their children with Acid Reflux, or GERD, instead calling the baby colicy and telling them to deal with it until the baby grows out of it. So Raquel and I prepare a list of all of our arguments why we think that Aiden has Acid Reflux.
I had to work the day Raquel took Aiden in to see the doctor, but Raquel took him in, showed the doctor the list and basically said the doctor looked at the list and said "Yep. Yep. Yep. My second son had the exact same symptoms, we will put him on Nutramigen and Zantac twice a day and he should see improvement". No arguments. No push back at all. What a relief, our doctor agrees that there is a problem and gives us a solution to fix it. Hoorah!
Aiden at this point is 4 weeks old. We try the nutramigen and Zantac and low and behold, we have improvement. Still not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but the arched back is gone as is most of the painful grunting.
So month one was the month of one thousand formulas. Eventually we got it to the point where he could tolerate, and that is good. It would take awhile longer to get him to be overly pleased, and I am still to this day not really sure if we have the mixture right, but we are on the right track, and with a baby, that is a very good thing.
Other tidbits from the first month:
-We brought Aiden home on Tuesday. He weighed 7 pounds 5 ounces at birth and 20.5 inches long.
-The Thursday after we brought Aiden home our Air conditioner broke down. In Nashville we had one of the hottest June-Augusts on record. Aiden and his momma went and stayed at grandma and grandpa's house while daddy stayed home with the pets. Eventually a friend fixed the air for us, but it was a tough couple of days.
-Aiden didn't sleep very well in his basinet yet. His basinet by the way is a family heirloom over 100 years old. Aiden's prefered sleeping place, sleeping on top of his boppie pillow in daddy's lap in the office chair while daddy has his feet propped up on the desk. Aiden and Daddy averaged a couple of hours a night of sleep in this position for the first week or so.
-With both Mommy and Daddy off work this week a nice fairly balanced schedule was worked out where Daddy, being a night owl, took care of the feedings and changing until 4am, after which time it was mommy's turn to get up with him. This allowed both parents to get, if not enough sleep, at least a decent amount.
-Aiden likes to spend a lot of time in his swing. The rocking motion lets momma sleep for a couple of extra hours in the morning.
-Aiden had a pretty good bout of Baby Acne to deal with. His cheeks were very red and pimply much of the time.
- Aiden got to meet his new friend Clark who was born just before Aiden.
- at 1 month old Aiden weighed in at 10 pounds 5 ounces and was 21 inches long.
-We brought Aiden home on Tuesday. He weighed 7 pounds 5 ounces at birth and 20.5 inches long.
-The Thursday after we brought Aiden home our Air conditioner broke down. In Nashville we had one of the hottest June-Augusts on record. Aiden and his momma went and stayed at grandma and grandpa's house while daddy stayed home with the pets. Eventually a friend fixed the air for us, but it was a tough couple of days.
-Aiden didn't sleep very well in his basinet yet. His basinet by the way is a family heirloom over 100 years old. Aiden's prefered sleeping place, sleeping on top of his boppie pillow in daddy's lap in the office chair while daddy has his feet propped up on the desk. Aiden and Daddy averaged a couple of hours a night of sleep in this position for the first week or so.
-With both Mommy and Daddy off work this week a nice fairly balanced schedule was worked out where Daddy, being a night owl, took care of the feedings and changing until 4am, after which time it was mommy's turn to get up with him. This allowed both parents to get, if not enough sleep, at least a decent amount.
-Aiden likes to spend a lot of time in his swing. The rocking motion lets momma sleep for a couple of extra hours in the morning.
-Aiden had a pretty good bout of Baby Acne to deal with. His cheeks were very red and pimply much of the time.
- Aiden got to meet his new friend Clark who was born just before Aiden.
- at 1 month old Aiden weighed in at 10 pounds 5 ounces and was 21 inches long.
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