She's Growing and Healthy Comment

I really hate that comment...I've been getting it from baby's pediatrician and her GI specialist.  My 3.5 month daughter was diagnosed with acid reflux when she was 1 month old.  I always knew something was wrong when it came to feeding her.  She would cry - scream actually, arch her back, basically it looked like she was throwing a tantrum at every feeding.  Her vomiting was almost after every feeding and would come through her nose too.  At first I thought it was the bottles and nipples that she did not like...so I bought almost every bottle, nipple out there.  We finally settled on Dr. Browns but switched the nipples to the Mam ones...

I finally took her into the pediatrician when she was 1 month old and was put on 7.5 mg of Prevacid and Similac Alimentum.  It seemed to work a little for a few weeks, but she started to squirm again and arch her back.  At her 2 month checkup, her pediatrician increased her Prevacid dosage to 15 mg - 1/2 in the morning and 1/2 in the evening.  We had a swallow study done at 6 weeks, and everything came back normal so her pediatrician informed us to continue on the same regimen since it looked like it was working.  Another reason for the swallow study was that I always felt my daughter had a difficult time sucking - latching onto the nipple.  Feeding took forever and on top of that she kept falling asleep.  But the swallow study showed she was swallowing a good amount - but then she went 7 hours with out eating.  After the 5 minute test, my husband and I tried feeding her and she only ate 1 oz.  Her pedi recommended us to get a faster flow nipple - which we did and it seemed to work for a while.

For 3 weeks she ate pretty decent...ate every 3 hours - 7 feedings in a 24 hour period.  She was averaging about 21 oz a day.  But during that time, she'll have these screaming episodes when it came to feeding time.  She would be all smiles before I put her on my lap, but once she is on my lap she would cry.  At first I thought it was because she was hungry...she'll take one nibble and start crying.  She'll try to suck or latch on and then would cry.  We would continue the feed that way for next 3-4 days and then she'll be back to her normal self for the next few days.  My gut always said that maybe she was starting to have food adversion.  At the same time I wasn't sure if her dosage was right (plus I started noticing signs of silent reflux...she would burp and kept swallowing her vomit.  She would do this often) so I called her pedi who wouldn't change it and so she gave us a referral to a GI specialist.

We were lucky to get in within a few days.  He listened to us, but he told us to decrease her Prevacid back to 7.5 mg and take her off the Alimentum and put her on regular formula (Good Start).  He said the dosage is too high and that she did not show any signs of being allergic to milk protein.  He mentioned that there could be a paradoxial effect when the dosage is too high.  I asked about her silent reflux and he mentioned that it's acceptable and that she is growing and looks healthy.  I asked about food adversion and he brushed the idea off saying that it normally happens in babies when they start eating solids or have been on NG tubes.  He couldn't explain to me why she would have these crying episodes when it came to feeding time.