Thursday, April 5, 2012

Of Reflux and Its Treatment

Breaking up the Parenting Mindset posts for a quick update.

So, it's been a rough ... month... over here.  JJ's reflux kicked into high gear, he was again insisting on being held for the duration of all naps if I wanted him to stay down longer than twenty minutes, and he was suddenly waking every 2 hours all night long to take a full feed and go back to bed.  He didn't wake that often when he WAS a newborn!  I finally said ENOUGH, found a new doctor (the third), got her approved by our insurance, and took the kid in on Monday.  Five minutes of conversation and she shook her head and said "Colic???  No, you're absolutely right, he has reflux."  Baby boy is now on Zantac.  After the first dose, he took a two hour nap alone in his crib.  He only woke to feed once that night.  The next night he slept 10.5 hours straight.  As I am typing this, he is sleeping calmly three feet away.  A week ago the sound of the keyboard would have woken him instantly.

My precious baby suffered with near constant pain for three months, because I believed the doctor who said "It's just colic, he's fine, he'll grow out of it."  And then I believed my mother in law when she said "Any doctor you go to will tell you the same thing."  Especially after another family doctor and the doctor at the ER both did exactly that.  Three months.  Because I didn't trust my instincts and my research and make enough noise until his night sleep became as disrupted as his naps.

That's not on the doctors, folks.  That one's on me. I don't even want to think about the damage that might have occurred had the problem been something more serious.

New Mommy Lesson: If you KNOW down to the bottom of your soul that there is something wrong with your child, stick to your damn guns and keep at the doctors until someone gives you a real answer.  You don't have to be rude or obnoxious or in people's faces, just persistent.

I seem to remember a passage about a woman who came to visit a king every day, pleading her case, until he got so tired of hearing her that he fixed her problem just so that she would go away.

Persistence has its uses.

1 comment:

  1. Just came to this conclusion myself, about trusting my mommy insticts. Glad you finally got the confirmation and the help you needed.

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