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DISCLAIMER: The following is an account of a
mother's
personal experience with this product. It is not intended to be a
recommendation or an endorsement. No guarantees are made that you will
have the same experience or results with this product. Please read the
"Product Disclaimer" section of the
Terms of Use for more
information.
** Click here to read a review
of Tracy and Mike Davenport's first book, "Making Life Better for an
Baby
with Acid Reflux" **
From the Author:
Acid reflux can be a serious condition which can be
devastating for children, parents, and families. This
manual is a complete resource for improving the quality of life
when your child has reflux.
Regardless of the level of severity or length of illness,
there are numerous helpful steps you can take, and information
you need to know, contained in the book.
When approached by the authors of “Making Life Better For a Baby With
Acid Reflux” to write a review for their newest edition, I was more than
happy to oblige.
The second revision of their book is now titled, “Making Life Better for a
Child With Acid Reflux”. Because some infants do not outgrow their
reflux, including their own son, Benjamin, the authors decided to broaden
the scope of the book to include children with reflux as well.
When I first received my copy of the new revision, the first thing I noticed
was how thick the new book is! It was obvious before I even opened the cover
that a great deal of information had been added. The first edition had 142
pages, while the newest version has 244.
I was concerned that much of the first book would be abandoned or completely
rewritten, but was pleasantly surprised to find that the new information
only adds to what the authors, Tracy and Mike Davenport, had previously
written. All of the original information is still intact, including the
valuable tools and charts.
While the first edition combined factual information with their personal
experience, I was glad to see this newest edition focus even more on the
technical aspects of dealing with reflux. This is accomplished through
chapters on the latest reflux treatments as well as articles written by
professionals who deal with infant reflux on a regular basis.
As I mentioned, most of the crux of the book has stayed the same. Some of my
favorite chapters are Part 2, Chapter 3: “Working with the Medical
Profession”. This chapter gives fantastic suggestions on making sure your
medical team is working for you. Tool #2 helps the reader assess their
current team to determine how well things are going. Tool #3 is especially
crucial for those parents still trying to get a diagnosis for their child’s
discomfort. It includes a chart to help track your infant’s signs and
behaviors.
Chapter 4 of Part 2, “Understand How Hard This Might Be” is a must-read
chapter for all parents of infants with reflux. Not only does this chapter
provide insight into the negative affects infant reflux can have on a parent
and a family, it provides tips on how to deal with those issues if and when
they arise.
Another good tool can be found in Chapter 5 of Part 2: “The Child Isn’t Bad
– The Pain Is!”. Tool #5, “Are You Blaming the Child?”, helps the parent
learn how to reword their thoughts and comments to blame the reflux and not
the child.
Chapter 6 of Part 2, “Taking Care of Yourself”, reminds the reader that they
must take care of themselves in order to give the best care to their child.
This chapter provides the reader with ways of making sure they remain
healthy in mind and body.
The articles written by professionals are an extremely welcome addition to
this newest revision. I was pleased to see Dr. Richard Wirtz openly discuss
“The Darkest Hour” in his article “Caring for the Chronically Ill” in Part
3. I know that many parents have had negative thoughts about their child
from the lack of sleep and stress caused by infant reflux. This article lets
parents know that this is typical for parents who are caring for an infant
or child with any chronic illness. This chapter guides the reader on ways to
minimize the affects infant reflux has on our lives so that we can hopefully
avoid getting to that “Darkest Hour”.
Most interesting and informative to me were the articles on reflux,
nutrition and allergies. I have found myself dealing with some of these
issues recently even though my children have outgrown their reflux as best
we can tell. I can relate to becoming a short order cook as discussed in an
article titled, “Nutrition for the Child with Acid Reflux”, written by
Michele Innes. I am also rethinking my youngest son’s allergic reaction to
some foods after reading a list of symptoms of food allergies given by Susan
Bauer in her article titled, “Food Allergy and Reflux”. It never occurred to
me that his food allergies could be tied to his having had reflux.
Especially since we are not entirely sure he is over his reflux since he
still wakes up some nights crying out.
An article that readers new to infant reflux will find most helpful can be
found in Chapter 13 of Part 3: “The Use of Medications in Acid Reflux
Disease”, written by Dr. Jeff Phillips and Stacy Turpin. (Dr. Phillips
helped develop the drug Zegerid, which is now being used to treat infant
reflux. Although this article was not written from a completely unbiased
perspective, Dr. Phillips does a good job covering all of the medicines
available.)
Although technical at times, this article does a wonderful job of updating
the reader on the current medications being used to treat infant reflux and
explaining how they work.
If parents could read this one chapter and educate themselves on the
medicinal options for treating reflux, they would be so much more empowered
when working with their doctors to manage their infant’s reflux. The
decision making process between doctor and parent would be much more
productive.
Tracy and Mike Davenport have done a wonderful job expanding on their first
addition by adding recent updates on reflux management as well as
informative articles by medical professionals. “Making Life Better for a
Child with Acid Reflux” is certainly a must-read for parents who are trying
to get a diagnosis for their infant’s discomfort as well as parents of
children who are still suffering from the effects of reflux.
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January 21, 2012.
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