Hi everyone,
Thanks so much for this site–it’s been SO helpful (for both information and support)!
I have a 9-mo-old (breastfed) who was diagnosed with reflux at ~1 month. She went on Zantac but eventually plateaued and we switched to Prevacid, half of a 15mg tab in the morning. Eventually that stopped working at night so in March we added another half-tab at night. That’s still what she’s on now.
When she first goes on/changes her meds, she seems to sleep great at night (we had her in that Rock n Play so she slept sitting up–the crib was NOT working, even elevated)….but eventually, her nighttimes go downhill, to the point that she wakes every 2-4 hrs crying, sometimes a little gassy or reflux-y (having reflux-y burps that are a cross between a burp and a hiccup). She is clearly exhausted and we try everything to soothe her (swaying, singing, tapping, rubbing, walking–my wrist is SO sore from holding her all the time!) but I usually end up nursing to comfort her, then I burp her and she’ll go back to sleep. (She DOES regularly fall asleep by herself without being nursed but I know this is not a good habit).
A few months ago I came across MSPI on this stite, and it sounded like my daughter! The super-loose, yellow poops (even on solid foods), congestion, nighttime waking, etc. (though i am not sure I ever saw blood in her diapers) So I cut milk/soy out of my diet, and boom, she was MUCH better!! Sleeping through the night again! yay! We even moved her back into her crib (elevated). We’ve moved ahead with MSPI-friendly solids and she loves to eat.
But: after a few weeks, she’s now back to waking up several times again at night. And, during the day, she has these extremely tense (but brief) moments where she clenches her fists, closes her eyes, and hollers. Poops seem normal now (ranging from peanut butter consistency to something more solid). Now I don’t know if it really WAS the MSPI? But it too concindental that she had such a great improvement soon after I cut out the milk/soy…
We seem to make a change, she improves, but then we slide downhill again. I FINALLY got my pediatrician to refer us to a GI specialist, who we see next week. But I wanted to see if anyone had experience with this improvement/decline pattern? Doc says based on her weight (14 lbs, 14 ounces), she is not due for a medicine increase.
thanks in advance for any advice!
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as for the mspi:night wakings are a ‘classic’ sign of mspi or any other protein that’s bothering her. take notes and try and figure out what she’s eaten and/or what YOU’ve eaten about 4 hours prior to the breastfeeding that she is affected by (in other words: work yourself backwards- it takes about 4 hours for what you’ve eaten to get into your milk and then after baby nurses it takes a bit to see the effect)
