Eating Hands? Time to up Med.?

Ok, I definitely think that he’s having trouble now. The last two days have gotten much worse and now he is back to his old 30 minute nap mess. He was sleeping a very short nap in the morning, but after crying for a few minutes in the afternoon, he would work through it and sleep upwards of 2 hours.

anyway, today he would cry because he was hungry but would arch and cry more when I would put him to the breast. He would finally latch on and if the milk came quickly he would eat for about 5 minutes, but after that it was horrible. It was like trying to hold a fish, he bucked around so much. Before I put him down for a nap, I tried to feed him again, and again he screamed. I rocked him to sleep and then put him to the breast and he ate for about 15 minutes in his sleep, so I know he was still hungry! In the afternoon, I finally put him in his bouncy seat and feed him by leaning over him. It killed my back, but he at least ate a little more this way. I could tell he was still hungry because he would scream when I would put him to the breast, but he would latch on right away, suck for just a second and start screaming again. IT WAS HORRIBLE!

I don’t know what’s going on. I added carrots to my diet the other day, but I just can’t believe that this is from carrots!!! Plus it seems like we’ve been building up to this for several days now.

He’s also hard to burp again, gets gut wrenching hiccups and his spit up smelled a little like acid today.

This is all so familiar to me. My daughter did so much of the same stuff at this age, and the fact that he is doing it is terrifying.

I’ve been on the Total Elimination diet since just after Christmas, so I don’t think milk and soy would still be in our systems at this point. Maybe it was the carrots, but I have such a hard time believing that. Neither my husband nor I nor our daughter (a former refluxer) had any food issues, so I have a hard time believing he would be that sensitive. Who knows though.

He did wake up this morning very congested, so maybe it’s all from a cold????

If his nose is very stuffed up from his cold that could cause both feeding and sleeping issues, but I’d defintely check his dose at http://www.marci-kids.com We didn’t use Zegerid so I’m not very familiar with the dosing for it.

Poor Ben.

Emily,

Ben got progressively worse after I posted this, and it continued until we upped his meds. He still struggles to eat, but I notice that it is worse for him in the mornings when my milk is overplentiful.

Anyway, I would look into getting his meds adjusted.

I don’t know about the Prevacid dosage. It does sound like it is enough, so maybe it is something about the 4 month age and the new finding of the hands too.

It’s ok. Yes, we are happy with the Zegerid. We used Prevacid for only about a month before the switch. It was compounded, and I never really felt it helped that much. However, I’m not totally sure we gave it enough time. It wasn’t compounded correctly and I couldn’t find anyone to do it the right way, so we switched.

Anyway, my daughter was on Prevacid as a baby, and while it did help her, I think the Zegerid does a better job controlling the pain. I have read several posts about people needed an H2 blocker at night even though their little ones are on Prevacid. We haven’t had that problem. In fact, while Ben’s naps are a never ending battle. He sleeps, most nights (knock on wood) for about 11-12 hours.

Zegerid has its cons too.. there are many kids who can’t tolerate it, and, if you use the 40 mg. packs (like we do), you have to add extra buffer. It can be really really expensive too if your insurance won’t cover it.

It’s worth a shot though.. especially if you really feel that the Prevacid isn’t working well. One more thing… are you administering it at least 30 minutes before a full meal? I know that does make a difference. That’s one plus about the Zegerid… you don’t have to time it.

Of course, right after I posted this, he woke up early this morning. Something’s going on with him lately.. not sure what.. maybe it’s time for solids.. anyway.. as far as sleeping at night goes…all I can tell you is that he is a scheduled baby. I know a lot of people don’t go for that, but I’m oriented that way myself, and it’s the only way I can keep sane around here. He eats at the same times every day, goes down for naps at the same times, and to bed at the same time. Right now he is on a rough 4 hour schedule – eating, wake time and then naptime. We start his nighttime routine at about 6:45 and I try to get him totally in bed with meds, bath, book, nursing, etc. by 8. He used to wake up between 7-8 in the morning… though lately it has gotten earlier. I’m not sure why.. maybe because it is light outside earlier???

Anyway, he started sleeping through the night at about 9 weeks when one night I heard him and went to go get him up to eat, and then he just stopped crying and went back to sleep. From that night on, when he would stir or fuss for a little, we would just wait to see if he would go back to sleep. When I say wait, it wouldn’t be more than 10 minutes or so of crying, but we would wait more if he was just squirming or making noise. Usually, he would go back to sleep. And I found too, that he woke up at almost the exact same times at night, more out of habit, I think than hunger. He woke very often at first, but would make noise and go back to sleep. Actually, once I was on TED, the noises he made at night stopped too.. as if he were more comfortable. During all of this, he was eating 5 times a day… his bedtime was still the same, but I would wake him right before we went to sleep for one last feeding. I dropped this feeding right before he turned 4 months. I started backing it up 15 minutes every couple of days and when it got too close to the other feeding to bother, I just dropped it, and low and behold, he slept through! He sleep improved even more when he found that he could suck his hands. He sleeps on his belly, and I can often hear him sucking on them during the night or during naps.

Anyway, hope this helps. We have been lucky, that’s for sure. I hope it continues for us, as he seems to be having a bit more trouble lately…