Author Topic: LEARN FROM MY EXPERIENCE!  (Read 1760 times)

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Offline sadnewmom feeling better

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LEARN FROM MY EXPERIENCE!
« on: February 07, 2006, 15:11:04 pm »
I posted this a few days ago in the colic board and I'm copying and pasting it here in case my story helps someone else.
My baby was born 8 weeks ago.  The nurses all called him "the calm one". Starting one day after delivery, he began crying and didn't stop for 6 weeks.  He slept in 20 minute increments and, literally, whenever his eyes were open he was crying.  24 hours a day, I attempted to calm him.  Holding, car rides, massage, swing, carrier, pacifier, nothing worked.  First, they told me I wasn't producing enough milk, so we supplemented formula.  He screamed as much at the bottle as he did at the breast.  Then they said reflux, since he was vomiting.  Zantac seemed to help him sleep in longer increments, but did nothing for the screaming.  My mother in law said that my husband as a baby, had been allergic to cows milk and she had switched him to goats milk with success. I asked my pediatrician, and they said I could cut back on dairy but not to eliminate it.  Then they said colic, that he just had to grow out of it.  As the weeks went buy, I became more and more depressed.  My husband became so depressed, he stayed in his room never speaking to me or looking at the baby.  I felt like my dreams had been crushed and my life destroyed.  Determined not let him "cry it out" I held him day and night, although he just screamed in my arms.  Finally, at 6 weeks, I hit a breaking point.  I eliminated all dairy from my diet and switched to a hypoallergenic formula for the supplement (I won't say which one, so you won't think I work for the company).  24 hours later, for the very first time, my son opened his eyes and calmly looked at me.  Within 48 hours, THE COLIC HAD ENDED!!!  He is still a fussy little guy in the evening, mostly due to no routine, but he is a new baby!  Laughs , smiles, looks at his toys.  Last night, he slept for 9 hours straight.  I'm not even sure that is normal.  My husband and I are still piecing our marriage back together and recovering mentally from the ordeal, but after 2 weeks I'm so happy it is finally over.  If you haven't investigated allergies, particularly cows milk, do it TODAY.  Oh and more good news...special formulas are a state mandated health benefit in NJ, where I live.  So the insurance company has to cover the cost!

Offline Kayna

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Re: LEARN FROM MY EXPERIENCE!
« Reply #1 on: February 07, 2006, 15:22:34 pm »
Oh Sadnewmom, I'm so glad you figured things out. Good for you for being persistant and holding your poor little guy while he cried for all those weeks. :'( I really wish the Doctors would be more knowledgable about MSPI. >:(
Kayna
Eric DH Married 5/1/99
Daikon Neil 8/14/01
Avery Rose 6/13/05


Offline chell

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Re: LEARN FROM MY EXPERIENCE!
« Reply #2 on: February 07, 2006, 15:40:47 pm »
So glad that you worked it out and were courageous enough to try out your own plan and you were brilliant to not let him cio. :)
An obedient soldier fights a fools war

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Offline Amsmom

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Re: LEARN FROM MY EXPERIENCE!
« Reply #3 on: February 07, 2006, 20:14:56 pm »
I so desperately know what you went through. And Im so glad to hear that you are putting things back in place and have the baby you so deserve! I know firsthand how trying this can be. I went through the same thing for 8 MONTHS! By myself. My husband checked out. We went through every formula, every bottle and every nipple and NOTHING worked. She was diagnosed with reflux 21 days after birth and didnt stop crying for 8 months in the day. She did sleep through the night at 6 weeks thankfully. I remember when she was 3 months old calling dh at work hysterical saying this was soppossed to be over now!!!!! And it just continued on for months until she outgrow her reglan and zantac and was mobile. Now in retrospect I wonder if anything such as the nuetramagen which we finally setttled on or any of the other formulas were soy or goat. I have no idea. She is four now and started getting bad stomacheaches. We just got her tested for food allergies and she showed up negative. Butting Im thinking it could be the same intolorance she had as a baby. Anyway, Im so happy that you figured it out early!!

Good luck.
Mommy to Sweet Amber

Offline preston,parker&peytonsmum

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Re: LEARN FROM MY EXPERIENCE!
« Reply #4 on: February 09, 2006, 02:48:30 am »
Big HUGS honey!!!!!!!!!!!!  I'm so sorry that things were so rough!!!  Hang in there and be proud of yourself for figuring out what was wrong!  I hope you are able to now enjoy your sweet little one!!!!
Kelly
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my 3 darlings-
Peyton (7-20-01), Parker (7-18-03) and Preston (3-22-06)

Offline M&M's Ima

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Re: LEARN FROM MY EXPERIENCE!
« Reply #5 on: February 13, 2006, 17:32:08 pm »
wow. good for you figuring that out on your own! lucky little guy to have such a strong and devoted mama.
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Offline runningmom

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Re: LEARN FROM MY EXPERIENCE!
« Reply #6 on: February 26, 2006, 02:03:37 am »
I am so sorry to hear about your son and his allergies.  I too went through this same experience.  You are not alone!  After my daughter was born, she was very fussy, often pulled her legs up and made a gagging motion with her mouth and neck.  Almost a wrenching motion like she was trying to throw up, but couldn't.  I decribed it many times to my ped. and she finally suggested I cut out all dairy, salad, pizza and pasta sauces out of my diet if I would like to continue nursing.  Then on top of that all peanut products b/c of my nephews allergy to peanuts.  I thought yeah right, how is this going to work when I love pizza and salad!  But for my daughter and the long nights we were having, I gave it the old college try and to our surprise she instantly stopped the gagging motions and the leg pulling up to her chest began to subside as well.  By the suggestion of my ped. I began using gripewater to help settle her stomach asa well and that worked wonderfully!  But then, after she was admitted to the hospital for an infection, my ped. noticed her making one of her gagging faces I had been describing for two months and said to my husband and I that she thought our daughter may have refulx.  She prescribed Zantac and things looked up even more than before.  By this point I was so unhappy and stressed that I was only eating plan chicken and brown rice breakfast, lunch and dinner, my milk decreased tremendously, so I began to use formula.  First soy formula.  That made her scream like mad.  I then tried allementum.  That gave her the runs and still made her scream like mad.  Then it was nutramigen.   My husband and I held our breath as we fed it to her.  To our surprise, she was the calmest we had ever seen.  No gagging, pulling the legs to her chest, wreching of the neck....nothing.  We were on cloud nine.  Although we had the reflux and projectile vomitting, we were ok with that b/c she was smiling and happy.  After all this, we remembered this was the formula my nephew had to use and then my mom said my sister was on it as a baby as well.  Also, my mother in law forgot to mention my husbands intollerance to milk products as well.  After letting my ped. know this formula worked she advised us the only difference b/w the two formulas, (allimentum and nutramigen) are the sugars and oils used in them.  So her stomach must be so sensitive stomach to not be able to handle allimentum. 
So now we learned our lesson, that a history of milk allergies should be mentioned up front by both sides of the families when you say "I do."  :)
I hope you find this message enlighting and know that you are not alone in this area.  I too was there once and remember those rotten days.  I hope others read this post and learn from all of our experiences.  Be persistant when you think something is wrong with your baby, because no one knows your baby better than you.  :) 
Thanks for posting it.  You don't know how many moms you will be helping in the future. 

Nicolle