What are the must-have books?
Of course, the business person in me wants to tell everyone to run right out and purchase a copy of our just released book, Making Life Better for a Child with Acid Reflux. However, the parent in me wants to tell everyone that while they are going through this acid reflux mess, they may need to keep THEIR favorite read close by, and escape to it for as many short breaks as they can--I personally keep the Title Nine clothes catalog and Thomas Moore’s Care of the Soul close at hand at all times. If things are truly at their worst, I know you may be barely hanging on by what seems to be a very thin thread, and educating yourself about acid reflux may seem like something you just cannot take on. That’s O.K. Sometimes, the best way you can care for your child is to first care for yourself, so you might want to take a break with YOUR must-have books.
Do you have any recommendations for products?
This would be a great place to mention the various products out there, like backpacks, sleep-positioners, and bottles that reduce the amount of air swallowed. But I think the products you need are really situational. In other words, I think what may help your situation is based on three things: the illness, what works, and your resources.
First, the illness. A lot of what you will need will depend on the severity and type of reflux. Our son’s reflux really seems to be dependent on what he eats (his is allergic reflux). So it is really important that we have special food for him. In other cases, there may be a physical problem (like with the lower esophageal sphincter), and the baby may benefit from being carried up-right in a backpack as much as possible, so what he eats may not make too much of a difference.
Next, I think you need to pay attention to what works. For us, it really helped our son to put bricks under the upper end of his crib, so that he sleeps on an incline. What works for your baby or child may require some experimentation.
And finally, I think you need to consider your resources. Our family is rich in many ways, but at this point, available cash is not one of them. So for us, we HAD to use the bricks, instead of a more elaborate sleep positioner. What we really needed was to save our money for a babysitter to hold and comfort Ben when he was just plain miserable, and we were at the end of ropes. You may have a grandmother or aunt next door, so holding the baby may be an area where you are completely covered, which will then give you extra resources to spend in other areas.
