Derek Update

For those of you who are wondering still what's going on with Derek, here is a post I wrote for our small group about his last week!

On Sunday I really noticed a huge change in his demeanor. He has up until then been a relatively happy baby. Never any huge screaming/crying jags lasting a long time or trouble eating or anything. On Sunday, after a long battle with my breastmilk, I finally gave up trying. I wasn't producing enough for him to nurse and pumping for anywhere from 30-45 minutes to produce only an ounce of milk was getting long and exhausting. When I stopped giving him breastmilk I thought the transition would be smooth since he had already been getting a fair amount of formula to supplement what I couldn't produce. But he started screaming that day and literally did not stop for four days!! The only time he wasn't crying was when he was sleeping, and he wasn't sleeping very well, so then he would cry because he was tired. He would literally cry himself to sleep because he would wear himself out screaming. I tried everything I could think of, but it didn't seem to matter when I fed him, what position I held him in, whether he had a clean diaper or not... nothing changed his screaming. (you all heard him screaming last night! I had four days of that!) Finally, I was ready to pull my hair out yesterday, so I called the doctor. They wanted me to bring him in at 5:30, so off we went. We came out of the doctor's office with a diagnosis of Acid Reflux coupled with an allergy to cow's milk protein. We were sent home with a hypoallergenic, lactose free formula and infant Zantac. After you all left and Nathan got home we dosed him with Zantac and the result was almost instantaneous. He quieted down, snuggled in and ate more than he'd eaten all day! He was great overnight, and this morning we had our first quiet, happy morning in four days! We have a follow up appointment with the doctor this afternoon, so we are hoping to get the thumbs up that this is working and that his problem is manageable!

Update: Our follow up appointment went very well. The doctor was convinced I'd brought in a different baby!! We are not sure what prompted the sudden onset of the acid reflux. Though I had suspected for a while that he was dealing with a mild case of it, We are not sure why it flared up to such a severe case. I guess it doesn't matter because Derek is doing really well! I have my happy baby back which is a relief and a big answer to prayer!! Next month we will begin experimenting with different formulas to see if he can go off the nasty hypoallergenic one!