Hi,
I am a new member (joined this evening), my wife and I have recently been watching Baby whisperer on the UK Discovery Channel as we have been having significant problems with our little girl Alyssa who is now 5 months old.
We aren't following any of Tracy's plans specifically but have been trying to implement some of the techniques she demonstrated in the series.
Alyssa was born 3 weeks prematurely and after initial problems breastfeeding, took to it like a duck to water. Secondly, she has always had dry skin so we have been moisturising her from head to toe at least twice a day since she was born. Lastly, she has always been very reluctant indeed to sleep at night or in the day.
General issue - My wife and I are despairing about the lack of consistent advice we have received from healthcare professionals in the UK, I think this is a general complaint judging by other posts I have read through this evening. It reached a point two weeks ago where the problems had gotten so bad that we took Alyssa to accident and emergency one evening determined to make someone pay attention.
Where we are now:
The dry skin has been quoted has either eczema or cradle cap, her skin is quite dry all over but her face and head are particularly bad, the ointment we are using certainly takes the redness away for a while but Alyssa is so tormented by whatever the underlying cause is that she rubs and rubs her face and back of her head until she has broken the skin. We are presently having to keep her swaddled so that she doesn't scratch herself to bits. We have just been given an anti-histamine oral medicine after taking ourselves of to A&E for a second time. This was two days ago and there are no signs of improvement yet.
The event which caused us to go to A&E the first time around was that Alyssa all of a sudden started having great difficulties breast feeding, she started to throw her head back and scream her head off, I guess partially because of the frustration of being hungry and not being able to feed.
We had started a small amount of solid food at a lunchtime about two weeks before this. The Consultant diagnosed reflux which seemed to us to fit the symptoms although Alyssa was never being sick very frequently, a little dribble here and there but nothing dramatic at all. We were given three medications, Gaviscon to thicken the milk, another to control the production of stomach acid and a third to keep the food moving through her stomach. These seem to have made a difference, the feeding is generally now much easier although the itching from the eczema/cradle cap/whatever !! is still making this process challenging.
Lastly, Alyssa's sleep pattern is proving very very challenging indeed, it hasn't been helped by the eczema and reflux but to be quite honest, it has never been a great success since she was born.
Alyssa is very attached to her Mum as I am at work all day, I take over to the extent I can when I get home but Alyssa has so far refused a bottle so the feeding of milk is something only my wife can do. I do all the solid food feeds and administer the medicine, at the weekends.
I put Alyssa to bed each night generally between 7.30 and 8pm. We have had only one night in her little life so far that either of us have been able to put her in her cot without her crying. The way we are having to settle her is by putting the hair dryer on, the sound settles her down to sleep quite quickly.
All being well, she then doesn't wake until around 11pm to midnight at which point her Mum breastfeeds her (and gives more gaviscon and so on). She usually settles again fairly well after that but then usually wakes up every 45 minutes to 1 hour for the rest of the night. My wife settles her down after about 1am so I can sleep for work. The feeding routine is basically 4am, 8am, Noon, 4pm, 7pm and midnight. Alyssa is now having limited solid foods at 8am, noon and 7pm (ish), each of these feeds is topped up by breastfeeding.
So, in summary, we have a 5 month old with reflux, eczema which drives her to a point I can only describe as demented, and wakes as many as 10 times per night. She also rarely sleeps during the day and if she does, it is for lets say half an hour in the pram when she go's out for a walk, to the shops or to friends and family.
Sorry to start off my postings with such a long tale, I was struggling to determine where to post this so just thought I would pick one !!
Anyway, if anyone has any ideas they might wish to share, I would be delighted to share them, my wife and I really feel that we are getting nowhere fast and the professional advice we have been given in some cases is highly suspect. We are both first time parents so our experience in these matters is small (growing fast but still small !).
Many thanks for your time.
Terry