We've been a bit of a mess around here for a few days now. Over the
weekend Gio started struggling quite a bit more than he had been and I
noticed a cycle tied to feeding with several hard symptoms. I started
to considered possible causes, from basic gas, to dairy intolerance,
to reflux. After doing a lot of reading I came to the conclusion that
Gio likely had reflux. He exhibited all of the symptoms 80-90% of the
time. Since we had his one month check up scheduled for Wednesday I
started out with some homeopathic colic aids to see if they helped and
scheduled an appointment with our chiropractor.
The homeopathics helped but not enough. The adjustment was good, but
not enough. I wasn't worried though. We would talk to the pediatrician
on Wednesday and go back for another adjustment on Friday. I could see
the light. He was still sleeping fine and eating well. He clearly hurt
and was unhappy as a result but we were functioning acceptably.
Wednesday we went to his check up. His poor sister was home with a
cold but in good spirits so I just needed to get him some antacid
medicine and we would be moving in the right direction.
At his appointment we determined he was also suffering from thrush.
This is an overgrowth of yeast in the mouth from milk sitting in it.
Since I had taken antibiotics the week before, this didn't come as a
huge surprise to me. I tried to avoid it with probiotics for us both,
but wasn't diligent with them. So he had violet gentian put on his
tongue and I was instructed to treat myself also (we can pass it back
and forth while breastfeeding if we are not both treated). We had an
order for Zantac so things were looking good. Gio weighed in at a
whopping 12 lbs to boot so really, things were going well.
Then, last night happened.
Poor boy screamed on and off for 14 hours. All. Night. Long.
I was losing my mind. He was miserable and there was nothing I could
do it seemed.
In retrospect I think it was a prefect storm of events. He had caught
Bella's cold and couldn't breathe properly. His mouth hurt from the
thrush treatment making it painful to eat. So he hurt and was hungry.
He had extra gas from his first dose of Zantac and the thrush. The gas
was painful when occurring with an empty stomach. Then the screaming
made all of those things worse. He couldn't even suck on a pacifier to
soothe since his mouth hurt. Totally brutal.
So today we suffered through the aftermath of no one having enough
sleep, and everyone already sick or battling this cold. I'm so run
down from lack of sleep that I have no faith I can fight it off.
This is by far the most difficult day we have had yet. I at least was
able to keep a relatively good attitude and not give in to my lack of
sleep. Now I just need to get my babies well and hopefully get all of
us some rest!
Well wishes and quick healing thoughts are welcome and appreciated!
I'm ready to "get my life back" as much as you can with a new baby. :)
