We were doing so good

mysweetpeasWil&Wes wrote: But we struggled the whole weekend...I don't know what's wrong! Wesley keeps pulling away from the breast and he's been spitting up A LOT! Reflux?? How would I know? When does it typically show up? I assume it's something I ate. I started drinking coffee again (just like a half a cup a day), but maybe that's it. I also had a couple glasses of wine over the weekend, but I pumped and dumped. Grrrrrrr. Any thoughts? I need help. It was in the 100s here over the weekend and I'm so terrified that Wesley will get dehydrated. I'm not going to formula, but I don't know how to get him to go back to nursing the way he used too. Last night was a nightmare. He was off, on, off, on. And he definitely isn't having many wet diapers. His BMs are pretty small too.

I'm going to call the LC at my Peds office, but they always take so long to get back to me...

amynicole21 replied: Could be reflux (very hard to diagnose) or gas, or your let-down is too strong. One thing you might try if you don't already is block feeding. Nurse on one side only for two sessions, then switch to the next side for two sessions. This will help regulate your foremilk/hindmilk if there is an issue there, and will also help with oversupply. Do you notice that he gags when you let down? You may need to spray into a cloth diaper for a bit and re-latch him. Spitting up is very normal, but you need to worry if it looks painful for him or if it shoots out of him rather than happy dribbles.

mysweetpeasWil&Wes replied:
Thanks Amy! I don't believe my let-down is too strong, but maybe. He gags sometimes, but not very often. I always can get him to latch on fine, but then he starts moving around, like something is bothering him. He grunts and then pulls off, sometimes he kicks his legs. I wait awhile and then try getting him on again and it's like he can't find the nipple or he just refuses to get it back in his mouth. It wasn't like this at all the past couple weeks! I'm using the gas drops...Could THEY be upsetting his tummy?

The spitting up is bad...It shoots out in waves...definitely not just a dribble. Like four times in a row, so basically his whole meal and then some! Sometimes comes out of his nose too. I told the Ped about it and they said it was normal, but losing your whole meal doesn't seem normal to me.

moped replied: How many wet diapers a day?

boyohboyohboy replied: The spitting up you described kinda sounds like what I went thru with Jake. He was eating to much and of course being over stuffed, he was spitting up almost projectile style!
But I thought he was eating less then he was, it turned out, I had been pumping, I was trying to add some stock for outings in the freezer so I had increased my milk supply, and then was over stuffing him. I know you mentioned that you had pumped a while...maybe he is getting more then you think.
also that wiggling you described, jake does that when he has a bubble, and needs burped, which is no easy feat! but he does that until he does burp and then goes back to feeding, if he doesnt burp and I keep offering the breast, then he throws up.....
THis is just what happens with us.
I hope it works out ok for you.

mysweetpeasWil&Wes replied:

Thank you...you definitely have some good points!

moped replied: I cant remember but I think it should be about 8-12 wet diapers a day

coasterqueen replied:
I know it looks bad, but as a LC told me that it's less than you really think it is. It's more than likely (99%) that he's not throwing up all his meal Have you tried nursing him more upright? Are you burping him? If you are burping him is the spitup happening after that? Are you sitting him upright directly after nursing him and he's spitting up? Is he projectile spitting up, literally landing across the room?

What types of food are you eating? Are you eating processed foods, dairy/cheeses, etc? Caffeine can make some babies sick too.

Oh and you can't dehydrate a BF baby as long as he's nursing so he's fine on that too.

He could be going through a spurt as well.

holley79 replied: Annika spits up when she is overly full. She would actually eat as long as something was comign out. Wasn't good. She also getting to wiggling a bunch if she has gas or hasn't had a BM in a couple of days. I see Amy has answered and Karen is reading so I'm sure there is help on the way.

mysweetpeasWil&Wes replied:
No not projectile, but like I said, definitely more of a flow than just a dribble. And it usually happens after I burp him and then just as I'm trying to get him latched on...blahhhh. If I had a bottle under it, I swear it could fill up a couple ounces. He will spit up once, then seconds later, again. Like I said, four times in a row. So I make sure he's upright after feeding and always try to burp him. I'm eating dairy, could that be it? I also have a bit of chocolate from time to time. I didn't have coffee today, so I'm waiting to see if that's it.

coasterqueen replied:
Dairy, the milk protein that is can really mess up some baby's systems. He might have a slight, and I do mean slight allergy to the dairy you are eating. I'd try to eliminate obvious dairy (i.e. milk, cheese, butter) etc for a couple of weeks and see how that does. Caffeine, which is in chocolate can cause fussiness and gassiness as well.

With our little refluxer we stopped burping her to cut down on the number of times she would spit-up. It didn't help with her projectile vomiting, but it did with the spitting up. My LC said a baby will work it's own gas out as it's needed, that they don't have to be burped all the time.

PrairieMom replied: I didn't read what everyone else wrote yet but here are my thoughts.
For reflux I would watch for coughing while eating, a lot of spitting up, crying when you lay him flat on his back, and Raspy or coarse counding breathing. (Like he has mucus in his lungs) You may want to have him checked out by your ped just in case, for your own piece of mind too.

Okay, now, ALexis has been doing the same thing as Wes. She pulls off the breast all the time, and thrashes her head around. She spits up a lot and is super crabby.
At first my letdown was to much for her and she would choke and gag and cough, but things have improved there a little. I have quit eating dairy and that really seems to help with her fussiness. She used to scream from about 5PM until 11PM or so, but now she is a lot calmer.

I'm no expert, but that is what seems to be working for us.

amynicole21 replied: It sounds like what Nora used to do. I found that giving her a little Maalox or Mylanta before eating helped. I attributed her behavior to reflux, and the ped went along with it but we never had any tests done or anything. Also, keep him upright after eating - a bouncy seat worked wonders for us. Hang in there - it doesn't last forever

mysweetpeasWil&Wes replied: Thanks everyone! Tara, I'm sorry it's not going so well for you either. Wesley isn't a screamer, thank god, but it's frustrating to see him off and on the breast. And he definitely seems uncomfortable with the gas thing! I'll try getting off dairy like you reccomend. Thanks Karen and Amy too and everyone else...you all have great insight! The bouncy seat is a life saver right now!

I made an appt this afternoon to have his belly button checked out and to meet with the LC, so I will let you know how it goes!

PrairieMom replied:
Good luck on the no dairy thing. I am having a way harder time with that than the low sodium thing. I just want a bowl of cereal!

coasterqueen replied:
You could have it with soy milk or goats milk

PrairieMom replied:
At this point I may actually be desperate enough to try that. Does soy milk taste like cow milk? or have the same consistancy and texture?

Hillbilly Housewife replied: I like soy milk...but it has to be the vanillaa or the chocolate flavours. The original flavour makes me want to gag. It's thicker... more like a Slim-Fast type of drink.

coasterqueen replied:
No, I think soy milk is nasty, although I hear the vanilla kind tastes pretty good. Actually goats milk tastes pretty much like cows milk with just a tiny twang at the end. But I'm the pickiest eater on the planet and I can stand it.

kit_kats_mom replied: I used the lactaid milk.

Sounds like the gurus have answered most of your questions but I wanted to add one thing. Our ped diagnosed Lauren with refulx by her breath. It was very sour smelling throughout the day. I'd occasionally lean in for a kiss and get wholloped with the foul breath. He said that was a good sign that she had refulx and he prescribed tiny little zantac pills that I disolved in water. Helped her a lot.

Maddie&EthansMom replied: Ethan did the same thing...sounds like classic reflux to me. I hope you get some answers from the ped.

coasterqueen replied:
Actually lactaid milk won't help with 'hidden' dairy allergies, just on the surface kind. So Tara, if that's the case go ahead and use lactaid. If it's a hidden dairy allergy Lactaid still has the milk protein in it.

PrairieMom replied: how do you know if it is an allergy or just a sensitivity? All I know is she was a crab, then I stoped drinking milk, eating cereal, and no more yogurt. I still have a little cheese sometimes, like on my tacos the other day.
Now she is a little better. Still really gassy, but she doesn't ball up and scream anymore, and doesn't scream all evening like she was doing.

mysweetpeasWil&Wes replied: Okay, I went and saw the LC yesterday and here's the update. I love soy milk BTW and always have it in the house (had to throw that in there before I forget).

Let me see if I can explain this correctly...At first she thought the reason Wesley may be pulling off the breast is because I'm not producing enough, since babies will get upset if there isn't much in there, but I told her how much I get out when I pump (4 oz) and she thought that was great! We also weighed him and he's now 9lbs 15 oz (2 lb gain in only three weeks!). So then she said that it's probably a cue that he is just done with the one breast, since babies can really "empty" (I know that's not the correct term) a breast sometimes in 3-5 min. She recommended I switch to the other breast when he acts this way. Which is what I was doing, but I always thought that was wrong since he wasn't "finishing" one side. But she told me that there will always be milk (at least an oz) and that the baby gets 80% by the let-down alone, which is awesome, because I always have a let-down (typically one per breast). So I shouldn't worry about keeping him on one side until I feel "empty".

I'm totally not making sense here ...sorry...Long story short: She said I'm doing GREAT! And to not worry about pumping, I have plenty of milk. To help with the pulling off, she said to do smaller more frequent feedings, since maybe the fussiness is merely Wesley saying he's done! Go figure! I always tried to keep him on there for 15-20 min per breast! Poor guy! She didn't seem concerned about any allergies either since the spitting up isn't that frequent, but she did recommend to cut back on dairy (not completely, but just less).

Last night he ate like a champ! And that was because I just switched when he started pulling off. I like shorter feedings too, makes for more time with Wil!

Thanks for everyone's help!

PrairieMom replied: Wow. Thanks for sharing! I had been just doing one side at a time, but I will try switching and see if that helps Miss Alexis too.