Coopers Fourth Week.

This week little man's reflux pain seems to have got progressively worse, waking him often...you can hear him reswallowing and then he wakes up crying.  Often we have to change bedding that has been puked on.  Most of the time he struggles while feeding now. It is always so lovely when we come across a feed that he doesn't appear to be wrestling with the breast and crying. 

I think lots of things are at play with feeding, I think he is refluxing, my milk flow is often too fast (I have started to take him off when I feel a let down and let it spray away on a cloth, then I put him back on once it settles down and he can cope a bit better).  He also gets wind and has colic issues to top everything off.  Merbentyl does help with his colic (bubbles in the bowel). Don't you just wish sometimes they could talk and tell you what the problem was?!    

I smell of puke and milk 24/7 thanks to his constant up chucking... but that's the least of our problems:) 

I have started to use the sling in the afternoons to keep him upright for a sleep and give me some hands free time.

Despite all of this I am still hopeful that come 6wks he will still be feeding and his reflux won't be as bad given he is on Losec... crazy woman!

I am finding that I am coping with this much better so far, I know it is likely to get worse, but seeing as I've done this twice I'm not worrying as much I guess.  I know he is in good hands with Doctor Liang and I'm just trying to soak up every lovely thing about Cooper seeing as he is the last little bubba I will have in my life, and I'm not wishing the time to go by any faster.  It might be a different story in a few months time, but for right now I'm really trying to enjoy our Mini Cooper;)

Round Three!

Well the inevitable has happened, I thought I was ready for this but obviously I still had a glimmer of hope.  I've allowed myself a little sniffle on the way home from the Doctors before I snapped out of it and reminded myself that in the great scheme of things, this is no biggy.

So Cooper is two weeks old and starting to show similar signs to Flynn and Chase in the old reflux department.  It's early days yet, but when you've been through it twice before, you know the little beginning signs to look for.  I deluded myself for a week hoping it was just gas, but little man pukes all the time, even out his nose and sometimes projectile.  He had starting looking a bit uncomfortable and started struggling with his feeds.  After a week I caved and realised that it most probably was reflux and off we went to see Dr Liang (a reflux and allergy specialist who is supposed to be the best in the country - we personally agree). 

I was still hoping maybe it wouldn't be as severe as the others, but apparently it's worse, Dr Liang said that the little opening that hasn't grown is very wide, almost non existent in fact, and the acid is almost free flowing back up his throat.  Not the news I was hoping for:(  

So little Cooper is now on Losec capsules for reflux.  We asked whether seeing as we had got on to it early if we would avoid the refusal to feed issues we had with the other two.  Unfortunately, the answer was a big fat 'no', the Doc said he would probably refuse to feed too, the Losec just reduces the acidity and avoids all the other complications of reflux like too much acid getting into the lungs etc.

So at about six weeks when his little throat is burnt enough from the acid, he too is most likely going to stop feeding and the screaming will begin.  He will stop sleeping and the Happy Hamons will not be so happy for about a year.  

Karl and I are too funny, we are still hopeful, we are now saying perhaps he will be a little toughy and just deal with the pain and still feed and not be too affected by it:)  So I will wait with abated breath to see what happens.

He also has colic so he has some Merbentyl for that which seems to be helping a bit.

We are sleeping him back in the cot which we've raised the head of to help keep everything down.  I was a little sad about that, I love sleeping with my little bubba and miss him already.  But it's better for his little throat if he sleeps raised.