A Bad Case of Reflux.... x 2 and a plea

Over the past week, it has been painfully clear to Edward and I that Evelyn and Colin have some serious tummy issues. Truthfully, this evolved over the past month, but matters came to a head about a week ago, and have only become worse. The issue? Reflux.

Now, we've heard a hundred times that all babies spit up. In fact, you'll see references to "happy spitters" in a lot of the literature on reflux; a term used to describe babies who dribble and wet burp with reckless abandon and without ill effect. On the contrary, we have very, very unhappy spitters. We get drenched on regular occasions, deal with screaming babies from about 3-10pm daily, and often have to hold on to our little rodeo champs with a vice-like grip as they contort, writhe, cry and buck while trying to feed them. In short, we are all miserable - except for Keith, who although he has some issues of his own, is generally contented. Not counting yesterday, of course, when he was a screaming banshee. We had to call in the cavalry (Opa and Nana, and Jane our neighbour) because we only have so many hands to deal with the onslaught we faced last night. But, I digress.

We raised this issue with our pediatrician about 3 weeks ago, and he gave us the standard line: as long as they are gaining weight, they will not to anything about the reflux. Right. Lucky for him, he doesn't have to live through our 7 hour shrieking marathon - times two. Both Edward and I conceded that it was getting worse. So yesterday, after discussing the situation with our doula, I decided to call our pediatrician to see what else we could try. He's on holidays, but we managed to get an appointment with the doctor on call who happens to be a gastroenterologist. Off we trundled, Evelyn and Colin in tow.

After weighing and examining them ( Little Miss is 9lb 7 oz, and Mister C is 11lb 2 oz, by the way!), he concluded that their poor tummies are full of gas. This, in turn, is causing pressure that manifests itself as reflux. This makes sense to me, based on what I've observed. He didn't prescribe any medication. Rather, he gave us 6 steps to follow over the next few weeks (sigh...) to see if there is any improvement. He wants to increase the motility of their guts, so we've switched formulas and have started them on 3 teaspoons of oat cereal per day. "The name of the game", I informed Edward after the appointment, "is poo". We are also giving them a few sips of water during their day feeds. Last night found me in the bath, with babies being rotated in with me in the hopes that the warm water would help soothe their tummies. On one hand, I was kinda selfishly hoping for more of a quick fix: stop the acid reflux. On the other hand, I agree with the idea of treating the issue (gas) as opposed to the symptom (reflux). We'll see how I feel about waiting for an improvement today midway through the epic screaming session.

Anyways, we are managing. But if there are a few people out there who have nerves of steel and some spare time in the later part of the day, we'd love some help. It would even the baby : adult ratio, and would go a long way to preserving what shred of sanity we have left. And hey, if the babes aren't screaming their lungs out, there is still the 9pm feed to be done. If you'd like to challenge your ability to remain calm and composed under what amounts to auditory torture, drop me a line at diagriene @ hotmail.com (no space on either side of the "@").

Doesn't that sound appealing??!!