Bringing your newborn home from hospital is an amazing moment for any parent-those first few days of getting to know your little one and oohing and ahhing over this wonderful little baby that you have created;but it can also be daunting and overwhelming especially for a first time mummy. Getting used to their little ways and figuring out what their needs are just by the sounds of their cry can take a while. Add colic and Reflux into the mix and it gets a lot more daunting. My little girl was a great sleeper and feeder from the moment she was born-I remember in the hospital ward all the babies screaming and I would just glance at her settled in her cot and think how lucky I was!. Don't get me wrong she is still a good little baby and is an absolute delight-she rarely cries, even now, unless she is in pain-but when she does cry for that reason its very upsetting to see.
After a few weeks at home, we noticed that after nearly every single feed she would bring milk back up-on many occasions she would projectile vomit and it would shoot across the room The look on her face told you it was coming-it was horrible to see: her wee face would contort in pain and a look of sheer panic would overcome her. Imagine seeing that look on your 4 week old baby. Horrible. The projectile vomiting combined with her painful cries after feeds told me something was wrong-the health visitors at first kept saying it was normal and lots of babies 'possett'. This was not posseting and combined with the CONSTANT hiccups I knew she needed something to alleviate the distress so I went to the GP.
Having a baby with Reflux is not just upsetting to see but it also hinders time with your baby. Our days were spent trying to prevent her from being sick. After every feed we would hold her upright for well over an hour to try and prevent her from bringing milk up (it didn't always work) and by the time you feel you can set her down she was either sick then or it was nearly time for another feed.Leaving the house during those early weeks was almost impossible as everything had o revolve around feeding times and incorporating enough time to keep her upright after feeds so the window of time was drastically reduced when we could do or go anywhere. Even going for a walk felt like a military operation-timing was everything!. The amount of sheets for the moses basket that we went through!. We couldn't lay her flat on her back as she would be sick-This upset me as I felt she was missing out on 'playtime' and stimulation time lying on her playmat as she was always stuck in my arms. But really the worst bit of course was seeing her in distress and worrying why she was so forcefully being sick. As a first time mummy you just don't know and people telling you 'it's normal all babies are sick' really doesn't help nor does people giving you their uninvited advice. The truth is all babies are different so what worked for Mrs Jones baby down the road might not work for me.
We adapted all methods of prevention we could to help the Colic and Reflux-winding her regularly,Infacol and Gripe to settle the trapped wind, Dr Browns bottles.trying to feed little and often in the hope that the smaller quantity would stay down. We kept her upright during feeds and well after-even up to an hour and a half after as sometimes she would even vomit up to two hours after a feed just when you thought she had settled. We elevated the head of the moses basket (under the wooden frame not the mattress) and even bought a foam wedge (the wedgehog) to place on her playmat so she could play but not have to lie flat. These went some way to improve her symptoms but following two really bad days were she projectile vomited all her feeds we knew that medication was a likely solution. Then we were prescribed Carobel-a thickener for her milk-this works by thickening the milk to a consistency that allows it to stay down. This worked well but didn't stop the vomiting altogether and when she was sick it was thick and sticky consistency. So back to the Gp we went and were perscribed Ranitidine (or Zantac) which basically works by reducing the amount of acid the stomach produces. The thickener and Ranitidine combined do really seem to have worked well-she still brings up some milk but less regularly and we now are able to venture out of the house-maybe combined with the fact that I have become more relaxed about it all. I know she may and probably will still be sick but it doesn't panic me anymore-I just always make sure we have plenty of bibs and babygros with us!. By far the best thing though is watching her play on her playmat full of smiles and giggles. We have such a beautiful content and settled little baby.
So my advice is do whatever you think is best-if that's trial and error so be it, listen to your own instincts-if you feel something isn't working then try something else.Don't be swayed by other people and certaintly don't let people make you feel like you are just panicking because 'its your first baby'.
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