Following my previous post about my dd not being able to sleep in the day and rage crying pretty much the whole day through I have finally sussed the problem!
It has taken 3weeks since starting the EASY plan to get it really sussed and 'sorted' (although, as we know, it nothing ever really gets sorted -it is managed until the next problem arises!).
Izzy had been sleeping 45mins in a whole day if we were lucky. She cried continuously throughout the day and would crash out, exhausted, only to wake 10mins later and begin again. Feeding was also difficult and she would spit up so much milk I would go through a new bib every feed - she once vomitted right down to her toes! We would have to change outfitrs frequently too. Being a new mum I expected her to spit up - after all that is what the books said.
It took a long time trawling through the internet and, ultimately, Tracey's section in her baby whispering book on reflux to finally pinpoint the problem. Suddenly it all made sense - right back to the start. When I brought Izzy home she was feeding every half hour pretty much in the day and every hour to 2 in the night. Once again, I assumed this was normal - people had said to breast feed on demand and that I would not get much sleep. The feeding habit held the reflux at bay but gave Izzy constant wind and we would be up between feeds winding almost until the next one at night!
She did ALL the symptoms - the arching back during and after feeds - head banging against mine ( I shudder when I look back as I presumed it to be wind and did hefty pats on the back which of course would make the reflux worse!), vomitting very regularly ( about 1/3 of her meals min), crying when laid flat - although, bizzarely, this was always and still is her least worse symptom.
I took Tracey's advice and raised everything and then the real break through came. A friend from antenatal had videoed an episode of Tracey on Sky showing a reflux baby. It was like seeing Izzy on tele! The baby did exactly the same things. I watched it and copied what Tracey did and it really worked instantly!
I now do these things ( Some are unique to Izzy as, after all, she is different from all other babies and has her own lkikes/dislikes).
1) I hold her upright on my shoulder and do the 'reflux cuddle' as I call it - pat and ssh when she arches back ( having a reflux attack) and rub in circle afterwards- this can be repeated up to 8 times if she has a bad attack until she is completely calm).
2) Make sure she stays upright for at least 20mins after a feed - the only exception being the dream feed which she seems to be alright after).
3) Help her to sleep in the afternoons when she is more likely to be overtired and finds it difficult to sleep by doing the same cuddle. It really works when she is very tired!
It is a massive improvement - life is not perfect - she has just woken herself from a nap of only 20mins due to a big pump ( we have this often!)and we still get the cries but nothing like before and we now know how to calm her.
I did march into the docs asking what they knew about reflux and then listed everthing to get her diagnosed - think the doc had no alternative! Tried gaviscon but soon gave it up as I hate giving medication to someone so young, it did not stop the pain (only the vomit - was still coming up her throat though as had a couple of very congealed vomits come out!) and made her constipated which was worse pain in some ways than the bloody reflux!
She does suffer with her tummy but I know that time is a major factor and the control I have been given knowing what is upsetting Izzy andbeing able to deal with it has enabled me to stay really calm ALWAYS when she cries now - no matter how long it goes on for!
The last, and most brilliant thing is that I seem to be setting up some sort of reflux club in my area! It started at the antenatal reunion (which I was not going to attend because of Izzy's constant rage cries). I spok about her reflux anbd a lady came up to me at the end saying she had the same probs with her son. Now a colleague from my husbands work place is coming over tolearn the technique as her husband relaid the info James had been talking about at work (he was as chuffed as me to discover what the prob was and told everyone he knew!). think i am on my way to spreading a bit of the vital work tracey did for us mums and babies.
Izzy has a massive smile on her face as she did a big poo during her feed (had not done one since 2 days ago and is usaly very regular. hgipefully no more painful farts to wake her today now!
