Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Damn.

Well. That soy formula did nothing except make my cute little baby have gas that was SO awful I was wondering if it was the dogs or her (I have boxers. If you know anything about dogs and gas - they have THE WORST GAS EVER). And the poop. God bless America was the poop disgusting. And she was still crying inconsolably and waking up at least every hour.

So I called in the troops. Aaron and I haven't slept more than 60 minutes in a row for 3 weeks, and were very close to losing it (like we weren't close already). I had a friend that was going to come and watch Maggie for a whole night last night, and I had calls into the doctor. But, my doctor had said that if on Monday, we hadn't seen a definite change, that I could come in and pick up the next level of formula. Other girlfriends of mine, whose kids had reflux, suggested Alimentum - which is a super fancy formula that has the protein already broken down. I thought that wasn't what the doc was giving me, and I actually wasn't aware you could just go out and buy this fancy stuff at the store, so I waited until I got to the doctor's office on Monday.

The stuff I was picking up was the Alimentum - so I was happy it was that - because every single person that has a crazy fussy baby said that within 24 hours, the Alimentum helped. I was hopeful - but not TOO hopeful - as the soy formula did nothing. And also - the friends that the Alimentum made a difference for, their babies had reflux, so they combined it with medicine. I wasn't doing that - but my doc was also pretty sure it wasn't reflux. Well, by the end of the day, she was less fussy. That night, she slept from 9 PM to 1 AM. At 1, she took her bottle, burped, had a diaper change and was back in bed, sound asleep, by 1:23 (not like I was counting or anything). Normally? It would take us a minimum of 60 minutes to get the bottle in her, and she would be screaming the whole time. Then add another 40 minutes to get her to settle down. She slept again until 5 AM. Then got up, ate, and slept until 9 AM.

I cannot tell you how awesome this was.

But did we sleep? Nope. It was the 4th. One month since our world was flipped upside down... and sleep wasn't really possible for either of us.

So we still took our friend up on the offer of the overnight help, and both of us slept 8 hours last night. I tried to go to bed at 7, but turns out that when your aren't worrying about calming a crying baby, your mind will turn to a bit of a dark place... but I did finally fall asleep. And it was a good sleep. Not enough to fully recharge (I think I would need days of sleep for that) but enough to pull us away from the brink of insanity. And now? I have a little sweet newborn baby who cries for a diaper change, or a bottle - but these are things I can fix. Aaron was holding her tonight, and her eyes were closed and she was peaceful - we both look at each other and smiled. The rational part of my mind knew that we'd either figure her out or she'd grow out of it - but I was worried it would take months. I'm not trying to jinx myself - but I feel like we made some progress!

17 comments:

Megan said...

My fingers are crossed...but God bless a night of sleep. Has she gotten to be a better burper? Weston Would.Not.Burp. until the home health lady taught us to lay him horizontally and burp first to group the bubbles together, and then to lift him vertically to let them out. I know you don't need any advice- you are doing your best and it sounds like you and your family are working great together. I'll pray that this Alimentum thing keeps working... :-)

K @ ourboxofrain said...

I'm so glad the Alimentum worked and hope it continues to help. Hooray for progress!! And hooray for getting some sleep.

I'm sorry that the calm let your mind go to a dark place. I'm guessing that isn't going to end any time soon, but I hope that getting some sleep on an ongoing basis (which my fingers are crossed for for you guys) will let you do more processing and healing in the waking hours and less in the hours when sleep would be preferable.

Always thinking of you.

Sara said...

that's awesome! Poor bug - she's more comfortable too. Hang in there...

MissNoAngel (find me on Twitter) said...

That Alimentum is GOOD stuff...even for babies that aren't having feeing issues it is the best formula you can give your child. SO glad it's helping!!

Ruby Girl said...

So glad to hear you had a good night sleep and the little one is settled more on the new formula. Made me smile to read it.

Just me said...

I'm glad you found a solution for Maggie. And I SO get the boxer gas thing. :)

~Shari said...

Oh good. I am glad to hear that she has calmed down a tiny bit!

*hugs*

Esther and Brian said...

Allimentum is the other version of the one that we used, Enfamil's Gentleease. It really did make a difference for the boys. We also did Prevacid, though, to help and it helped tremendously. I did not notice any side effects with the drug, either. Just calmer and better sleeping boys.

Hope this will be it for you!!!

knittingknirvana said...

I am so, so, so glad that the Alimentum has provided relief for your sweet baby. And, of course, relief for her parents. :) Yea to sleep!!! :)

Nonnie said...

When my babies were newborns, they had tummy issues, and we were told that if I didn't breastfeed then I'd need to use Alimentum. They told us that if they were sensitive to milk proteins in the milk based formulas then 95% of babies have the same sensitivities to soy proteins. We didn't end up using formula, but it sounds like Alimentum would have done the trick if we had needed it.

Meg said...

Oh can I help you here. My son is on Alimentum and has been for most his entire first year and he is 13 months old now and still on it. He has major food sensitivities. I caution you to be aware of food issues when starting solids also. Many things cause major gas in food sensitive babies, if you want more detailed info please email me at megzmipod@gmail.com. Also I wanted to tell you about a site we get our formula from, it is www.mzmed.com and it always has alimentum at a 35-40% discount off of store prices. They ship same day and it always arrives within 3 days. You have to buy in bigger bulk like 6 or 12 cans (we always buy 12 because it is a bigger discount). Instead of paying $30 a can we pay $18, they also ship free.

Another thing that helped a bunch is making the formula in a batch. We use a container and heat enough water for the days number of bottles, mix the formula in the container and add gas drops (a dropper or two full) to the mix (takes out all the bubbles), then poor into the days worth of bottles and put in the fridge. By doing this you don't get all the extra air bubbles by shaking the bottle before feeding.

Also alimentum is very thin and if she is puking a bunch, you can add a little bit of rice ceral to the mixture and it holds down better.

Another issue we had with our food sensitive babe was constipation, however he could not handle the normal remedies for it, fruits and such, so we were told about brown sugar, it is an amazing constipation helper and he was able to handle it fine even at two months old, we just put it into his bottle mixture. The sugar pulls more liquid into the intestines and moves things along.

Ok sorry this turned into a book but I could not sit back and not share all the tricks we have learned. Good luck.

Jen said...

The Alimentum is pricey but if it works, then it is well worth it!

emily said...

HOORAY for some sleep! And I know about watching the clock, I still do it and Ben is almost 12 weeks. After all this time I don't have any short term memory left. I feel like Nemo's friend Dory. :P

MyLifeMyWorld said...

That is very good news. Sounds like the new formula might have been the trick. I hope everything continues to work out well.

Carrie27 said...

We didn't have all that was on your plate, but at 1 month of age with the twins we took up a friend's offer who begged to keep them and my toddler over night. I felt horrible doing this, as they were only a month old, but I did and it was so needed. My husband and I were also on the verge of losing it, we had both had no sleep and were at each other's throats for no reason. We reconnected and felt fresh and were able to handle a few months of no sleep.

So glad you have hopefully found a solution to the fussiness. All three of mine have had and two still have reflux. For each, it was and is different.

Anonymous said...

Hello I'd love to thank you for such a terrific made site!
Just thought this would be a nice way to introduce myself!

Sincerely,
Monte Phil
if you're ever bored check out my site!
[url=http://www.partyopedia.com/articles/butterfly-party-supplies.html]butterfly Party Supplies[/url].

Anonymous said...

You should read this:

http://www.babymilkaction.org/resources/yqsanswered/yqacode.html#13aug01