Four Months

This week marked two important milestones. Maddy turned four months old and I went back to work partime. For fear of this post being too long, I will share about Maddy first. She's more fun than work anyway.

Wow four whole months. She has changed dramatically. She grew from a constant crying, screaming blob into a smiling, talking/cooing, little person. She has matured so much. She has found other ways to communicate and soothe herself. She sucks on her fingers like nobody's business and will take a pacifier now. She talks to herself when she's tired instead of screaming. She falls asleep for her naps in her crib after being put down relaxed but awake. Sometimes I need to go back in and soothe her with a paci or a pat, but I never pick her up anymore. Most days I only need to go in once or twice if at all. She still only sleeps 45 minutes to an hour, but I hope those times will stretch into longer periods.

What is still tricky about Maddy? Her reflux issues continue to keep us on our toes. About a week after we first upped her Zantac dose, I noticed it becoming less effective than it had been initially. It was very slowly becoming a problem again for her and us because she won't sleep as long as she should at night without the reflux pain waking her. This Monday I asked the doctor about switching to Prevacid. I know may people online who have had great success with this type (Proton Pump Inhibitor) of medicine. He told me that Prevacid was not approved for children under one. This surprised me as many babies online are on this. He suggested we try Prilosec instead. It is the same class of medicine as Prevacid. I happily picked up the Rx on Tuesday night and was happy to bring some strong relief to my daughter. The pharmacy had mixed it into a liquid compound that we could give through a syringe.

Tuesday night she promptly spit it out. Wednesday morning, she spit it out. Wednesday night she spit it out. Thursday morning she spit it out. . . Do you see where I'm going with this?

We have tried every trick in the book: shooting it down the back of her throat, shooting it into the side of her cheek, keeping her mouth closed to try to make her swallow, blowing in her face to try to make her swallow. This morning right after she woke up I mixed it in a half ounce of breastmilk and gave it to her in a bottle. She drank half of it right away because she was so hungry, but then she made a sour face and pushed the bottle away. I fought hard to get most of it in. Today I wondered just how bad this could taste so I stuck my finger in the medicine and tried some. OMG!!! I almost gagged. Really I almost did and that was just with a finger coating. I can't imagine a whole ml. The rancid taste was followed by a bitter finish. No wonder she won't take this! I wouldn't either.

I read online that when you add flavoring to the compound, it reduces it's shelf life, which now is only 30 days in the refrigerator. At this point I don't care if I have to get a new Rx everyday, just make it palatable. In the meantime, her reflux is back because she hasn't had any meds in her for three days! I'm so frustrated. I know in the long run this medicine will be better for her if we could just get her to take it. I'm ready to go back to Zantac.

Maddy's four month check up is today. I'm going to talk to the doctor about this. I will add it to my long list of questions. . .

Has anyone out there had their child on Prilosec? Does anyone know anyone who's child was on Prilosec? Is there any other forms besides a compound? Any dissolvable flavored packets like Prevacid? How the hell can I get her to take this medicine??? Help!

In other baby news, my daughter is a cross between Houdini and an Olympic gymnast. She finds new and interesting ways to perform tricks in her sleep. Her most recent includes rolling over in her swaddle and ending up on her stomach in the middle of the night. I didn't like waking up and finding her sleeping on her stomach so we bought some of those bumper wedges. These worked great until we decided to put her crib mattress on an incline due to her reflux. Now she scootches down past the bumpers and rolls over. This morning she was once again on her stomach. I've decided to Velcro her swaddle to the wedges so as she scoots she takes the wedge with her. She got both arms out of her swaddle this morning and woke herself up with her flailing appendages. There's never a dull moment with this one!

Stay tuned for my working mom adventures. . . (I'm sure you're on the edge of your seat.)