Tuesday, August 19, 2014

So Over This Spit Up Already

My babies turn 8 months old in just 4 more days.  Gasp!  How is that possible?  I had hoped that all the spitting up would be phasing its way out by now, but alas, the spit up is still a major part of our lives.  I am over it already.

The Ranitidine that Rylee has been taking has done nothing to reduce the spit up.  Not.  Even.  A.  Little.  Bit.  We tried the Prevacid, which had the $72 co-pay and that didn't make a difference either.  We tried switching to the expensive $30/can Alimentum.  That didn't change anything but the consistency, or content, of the spit up.  We tried using half Neosure and half Alimentum and we have actually stuck with that.  It doesn't reduce the spit up, but it makes it not so....chunky.  ahem  It's more watery and a little less gross. We tried using soy formula for a week.  That didn't work either and she really didn't like it.  We tried rice cereal in her bottle.  We tried spoon feeding her rice cereal in an attempt to help the formula stick.  Nothing has worked.

I give the babies oatmeal with a fruit every morning now.  I was giving a veggie in the afternoon, and started giving meats as well, but that hasn't gone over very well.  That just turns into a major spit up fest even more than the usual, so I backed off the meats (we only tried turkey and beef).  So then it was just veggies, but that still was a spit up marathon so I backed off that too for a few days.  Now the past 3 days, I have given them either carrots or peas.  Spit up.  Spit up.  Spit up.

In addition to that, Rylee has been throwing a BIG fit about part way through each "meal."  Like face turning red, not happy kind of fits.  I can't figure out why.  Is she mad about being in the high chair?  Is she just tired?  Is she getting a tummy ache from the food?  I don't know what it is!  I know it's not because she doesn't like the taste.  That's not it because she will stop her fit long enough to take a bite.  She opens her mouth wide for another bite.  It hasn't always been like this.  It's just been maybe in the past week or two that she's been throwing the fits.

The thing is, it's not like they are even getting a lot of solids either because they are SHARING!

Ayden spits up too, and it does seem like a lot, but it is not NEAR what Rylee spits up.  Between the two babies, we have so much spit up happening around here.  Seriously.  I have to do about 2 loads of laundry every day just to keep up with the bibs, burp rags, and blankets that we go through.  Our pediatrician thought that Ayden was spitting up because he was probably taking in a little too much food based on his weight gain.  The thing is though, that I don't think he is over eating at all.  We only give him about 4-5 ounces each bottle, totalling about 24 ounces/day.  And like I said, he's not getting that much in solids.  He gets about 2 tbsp of oatmeal every morning and half a baby jar of fruit and then MAYBE a half a jar of veggie in the afternoon with a little rice cereal mixed in.  It seems like every other baby I know about their age is drinking more like 30 oz/day and eating a ton more in solids!

I don't know what to do about the solids.  I can't give them anymore without having to deal with even more spit up and upset tummies.  They aren't able to pick things up with their fingers yet, so I can't give them little finger foods, or I'd try that.

We do have a referral to a GI specialist for Rylee coming up, but not until September 2nd.  It's mostly to rule out there being anything seriously wrong for her digestively.  I do hope they don't find a problem and it is truly just a normal reflux issue.  However, I am ready for the reflux to phase itself out.

They are both getting more mobile and starting to crawl some.  It's a challenge to keep them on the large blanket I have in the living room.  I love this stage and am excited for them to learn knew things and move around more (I'm sure I'll eat those words one of these days!  haha), but I'm not ready for them to move all over the house if I have to chase after them cleaning spit up out of the carpet every two minutes.  I'm not talking about small amounts of spit up that dribble out.  I'm talking about large pools of it all over the floor.

Let me say though, that while I dislike all the spit up, I do love my babies and wouldn't change them for the world.  They are beyond adorable (mother's biased opinion :) and so much fun.  I'm just ready to move past this spit up stage.   

7 comments:

  1. No, spit up is not a favorite parent moment!!! My heart goes out to you but Sept. 2nd is not far away so hang in there! Best wishes and sending lots of love, hugs and prayers for NO MORE SPIT UP!!!
    Aunt D

    ReplyDelete
  2. spit up is gross, there's no way around it - I actually think it's grosser than poop! I hope they grow out of it soon because 2 loads of laundry every day is crazy!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. The spit up sounds miserable for all of you. What popped into my mind was maybe it's a corn sensitivity, which is in all formula (except liquid Alimentum, I think)? I've had several friends with kids who had this issue for years, and stopping the corn made a world of a difference almost immediately. Has you ped done allergy testing? That would be a good place to start. Would/does your insurance cover formula in the case of medical necessity (allergies would be medical necessity)? Also, your pediatrician might be able to bump up the GI appointment if they call and ask for you. Or you can (which will suck) call the GI frequently for cancellations/wait list. Is she growing even though she has all of the spit up? She is hitting milestones if she's about to crawl (it is a whole new world when they are on the move!), so that is great.

    I hate that she is having so much trouble with eating. It is so stressful, and it isn't a stress you can avoid because they have to eat!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh reflux...how much do you suck? I got so sick of the spit up too. My son's slowed down at about 9 months, but he is still on meds at 5 years old...he takes prevacid $$$ :-P

    ReplyDelete
  5. I so feel your pain and I am here to tell you there is light at the end of the tunnel. I can't believe how long the reflux has lasted. For months I couldn't understand how Riley was gaining weight since she didn't seem to keep anything down. First of all, my pediatrician told me the Ranitidine would not stop the spit up - it's only to help the pain. She also said it would get worse as they started to move around and then finally get better. And it does get better. Between about 9-10 months we noticed Riley was actually starting to have some low spit up days every once in a while. Just here and there.Then we started having more and more good days. Now at 11 months we have way more good days than bad. Mostly good days in fact. I am not constantly following her around cleaning up a trail of puke. I realized I haven't had to wash the blankets in their play area in weeks. I only have to wash a load of burp cloths every other day. She isn't completely over it, she still has her moments, but it is sooooo much more manageable now. I never thought this day would come. So hang in there. You'll get there.
    As for the trouble eating, we were having these issues, as well. One day, one would just have a fit and not want to eat. Bottles, too. Turns out it was teething. During bad teething days/weeks, they would hardly eat anything because it hurt. We tried orajel on the gums to numb it and that helped. Or giving them teething toys between bites of food to keep them calm. This one comes and goes since they still have plenty of teeth growing in.
    Feel free to email me if you want to talk about it. overworkedovaries@gmail.com I know how incredibly frustrating it is.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh spit up is the WORST. And now that the babies eat solids? It's chunky. Gross. Thank goodness Izzy spits up far less than she did- I hope that it gets better for you soon!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. My daughter has reflux and is on Prilosec. She spit up more than any baby I've ever met. Started day one in the hospital. I was convinced it was something in my diet and tried cutting out dairy and gluten, then tried cutting out onions, peppers, etc. Nothing made a noticeable difference. The doctor thought she was just born with an immature "valve" and she'd outgrow it. Surprisingly (to me), she seems to be outgrowing it already at six months. She's still spitting up more than most babies, but nothing like before (I felt like I couldn't bring her anywhere!).
    Just wanted to say Rylee might be similar & just needs to outgrow it. I noticed an improvement before the 1 year mark that my doctor suggested, so there is hope!
    Ugh, spit up.

    ReplyDelete