What's Going On?

It's been several days since my last post (again). I'm so sorry! Honestly, we had an "incident" with Chase here at home last Monday (10 days ago) that I'm not going to discuss on the blog. Chase is perfectly fine, so don't worry! But there's been some stuff going on that's related to Monday's incident so I haven't been able to discuss it freely out here since I'm choosing not to share the details behind what happened. But I got to thinking today that there's no reason I can't share stuff with Chase that appears to be unrelated to the incident from last week.

So over the weekend and into the start of this week, Chase was not acting like himself at all. Of course hubs and I assumed it could be related to last week's incident, but we're pretty sure it's not. So Chase was acting very fussy, wasn't sleeping at all during the day, wouldn't eat from a bottle very well and was just a moody version of his normal self. This was obviously so unlike him so when he was still acting this way on Monday, hubs and I decided to take him to the pediatrician for a quick look.

I explained the behavior changes we had been seeing with Chase to the doctor and she said it sounded like he's having bouts of reflux! Wow! Hubs and I hadn't expected that! Basically she was thinking that he was extremely uncomfortable with his feeds due to the excessive irritation and pain in his throat from the reflux. It made sense. He would always turn his head all the way to the left when taking a bottle, and even then, he would still get upset (in pain?) and somewhat choke on it.

So what was her suggested plan of action??

GO BACK ON THICKENED FEEDS.

Yes. I couldn't believe she said it. Back to thickened feeds. Back to pumping all the time. Back to NO nursing my baby boy.

She also suggested we restart the Reglan. We were told by MUSC to discontinue Reglan after Chase had been on thin liquids for 2 weeks. We had phased it out completely about a week ago.

Oh, and she also said we should increase his Zantac to 3x per day instead of 2x per day like we had been doing. I asked her if the dose should remain the same or not. Basically, we were told 0.3 mL of Zantac 2x/day when we were discharged from MUSC when Chase was about 9 lbs. Now he's 13 lbs. It made sense to me that the dosage should increase accordingly. She did some quick math and determined I was correct -- his dosage should be 0.9 mL 3x/day! What a huge increase! I'm glad I asked!

Anyway, hubs and I discussed all of this and, as usual, we decided to make our own decisions regarding Chase's care. It made sense to up his Zantac, but we weren't sure 0.9 mL was right, especially since the prescription was written by a doctor at MUSC and not his pediatrician. We wanted to go over all of the pediatrician's recommendations with the MUSC doctor who cared for Chase (I've left messages and still haven't had a call back! Ugh!). So in the meantime, we decided to go to 0.6 mL of Zantac 3x/day. We also weren't too keen on restarting the Reglan, and thought it would be best to change the Zantac dose, wait a few days to see how he responds, then start the Reglan again later if it seems he needs it.

And the thickened feeds?

No thank you.

Basically, when I nurse Chase, he does just fine! He eats well and doesn't have any major problems with fussiness or reflux. It's only when I give him a bottle. Well, actually, when I give him a bottle of breastmilk, he takes it fine, too! Hubs and I continued our discussion until we got to this point: It's only when we give him a bottle of (the NASTY) Alimentum hypoallergenic formula that Chase shows signs of fussiness, pain, reflux, irritation, etc.

What?!

Is it truly as simple as ditching the nasty formula?

I'm hoping so. But in the meantime, we're going to keep the 0.6 mL Zantac dosage 3x/day and keep him off the Alimentum formula. I'd be more likely to give him regular formula and see if it causes blood in his stool (milk allergy not confirmed in my opinion) than make him suffer with that nasty stuff. Anyway, by Monday evening, Chase had returned to his normal "happy baby" self that we know and love! So we'll see what the MUSC doc says if/when she returns my call, but for now, I think we're doing what's best for Chase and that's really all that matters to me!

On a LO-related note... We officially registered her for 5-day preschool starting this Fall! It's only from 8:30 AM until 12:00 PM but for FIVE DAYS a week! Obviously I'm excited that the house will be a bit quieter during those hours and I'll have more one-on-one time with Chase, but I'm so completely excited for LO to start "school!" I've loved staying home with her but I've always hated that she hasn't had any opportunities to socialize with other little kiddos, make friends and learn new skills. We had thought about the 3-day program, but I like the consistency and routine of her going Monday through Friday. I can't wait!! She's going to LOVE it!!!