Acid Reflux Sux

Around the time that Mason was 3 weeks old, I noticed he was becoming MUCH more fussy than he had been since he was born. The kid would cry (ear piercing cries) almost all day long. He was irritable when I would feed him and he would arch his back as if he was in pain. He was spitting up quite a bit and was always congested. He wanted to be held all of the time. His sleeping habits were extremely poor too. He was up almost every 2 1/2 to 3 hours at night. I felt bad for him, but he was making me crazy. Something had to be wrong. This couldn't be his 'normal,' could it? He was the complete opposite of how Leah was when she was a baby.

We decided it was time to call the doctor. We had tried a few things at home (i.e. using gripe water, putting a humidifier in his room, changing formula, etc.) but nothing was really working. I brought him into the doctor last week and explained to her what was going on. After listening to what I had to say and examining Mason she could tell he had a pretty bad case of acid reflux and heart burn. He most likely was crying and not sleeping well because he was in pain. She prescribed him 'Zantac' and recommended having him sleep in his car seat (so he would be elevated). I was so relieved to learn there was something we could do to help him! The doctor said she wanted to see him back in a week to see how he was doing. If there was no improvement, she would look into changing his prescription to 'Prevacid' which is a bit stronger.

We went and picked up his prescription and I gave it to him right away. After the first couple of days, I didn't really notice much of a difference and I was pretty disappointed. However by day 4, Mason was a brand NEW baby. The medicine was starting to work. He was content and was no longer crying. Of course, he would still cry on occasion, but it was NOTHING like it was before. Mason's sleep also improved drastically. He started giving me 6 - 7 1/2 hour stretches at night. (He's getting better every night). He'll take a bottle and go right back to bed until 7:30 am or so. This momma certainly appreciates not being woken up every 2 1/2 hours like before. Now if I can get him to sleep all the way through the night by the time I go back to work (in 3 weeks - yikes), I will be extremely happy!

We went back to the doctor for a follow-up appointment earlier this week. He is doing better (but still has his moments) so the doctor recommended increasing his dosage (slightly) of the medicine. I swear, Mason is just such a little angel now and much happier. I am so glad we took him into the doctor and got this figured out. It was stressing me out and I can't imagine how poor Mason was feeling.