Hey sweetie your LO has reflux doesn't she? Look I think you know my LO still has reflux at 18 months, so my experience has also been a bit on the interesting side (but trust me it's worth it for all the good bits - thankfully xx)...I continued to breastfeed during the night until our LO was about 12 months old. TBH I don't think he needed it from a nutrition point of view after probably about 8 months (he constantly vomited until 6 months) but the milk calmed him down and soothed his throat when the reflux was bad (usually) which normally allowed me to get him back to sleep....the only real problem with that was he is also incredibly windy and if I don't get it out he would wake every 10-20 minutes or the little eyes would pop open the SECOND he was horizontal...very frustrating when we didn't know what was going on!!!
Sweetie you are absolutely NOT driving anyone nuts by seeking help and advice, that is what we are all here for....HUGS too
I don't think you need to be depressed to seek help from your post-natal lady, but I suspect she will refer you to nutritionists or lactation consultants regarding trying some eliminations from your diet (if you haven't already attempted this). The point is YOU ARE EXHAUSTED and need some more help, and it's a strong person who reaches out for that help.....
We found with our reflux bub sometimes holding him tummy lying across our arm helped ease his reflux (head slightly uphill) and tummy pain. Nappy free time in the evening was essential in the early days (as soon as he liked having his bum out) and deep floaty baths with one of us in the bath often were soothing as well. We also found that although he burped easily there was always ALWAYS more trapped down there, and it took a LOT of time to get it out! I am still having to burp DS now (think I'm getting RSI from all the back rubs I give him)...if I put DS down and his eyes immediately popped open, it was wind. If he sort of passed out (eyes rolling into the back of his head) in my arms, same thing, wind which had to be moved somehow!!! I could never understand how mums used the boob to put their bubs to sleep 'cause the minute mine came off it was scream fest - ***!! reflux/wind!!
Our only help really has been medication, DS is on a PPI (which has just been increased post his pH probe and scope) called Zoton...it means the difference between me putting him to sleep in my arms or with a dummy EVERY night and day, to self settling most times. It means that when he wakes in the night with pain I can actually settle him back down, where as without the med he can scream and scream and I can't help him. We only got proper help for our LO at 12 months...I regret that I didn't seek help sooner, I regret that my LO had to go through that and I thought I should be able to handle it and my advice to you is don't do what we did. Get as much help and as much support as you can. Medicate if your doctors feel it's appropriate and go back if it doesn't work. Use whatever you can to help your LO at this stage (props, paci/dummy, yourself) and worry about all the sleep training etc once that nasty pain is under control xx
Big big hugs to you, you sound exhausted and we are here for you when ever you need us
xxLizzie
