I’m Worn Out!

[Anonymous]

How can it be 20 months into this reflux rollercoaster and I’m still losing my mind? We had about almost three months straight of “good” sleeping and eating…..and then Bam! We are back to not eating – just surviving on air (is how it seems) and waking at least twice throughout the middle of the night SCREAMING!

Yes, I know it’s probably two year molars, but I’m going to lose the “little” bit of my mind that is still there! To add to this mix of fun, my MIL keeps making me feel so bad about Andrew still on the bottle and drinking Alimentum! Well, here’s the deal

– Andrew CANNOT handle milk (constipated beyond belief and no sleeping) We’ve tried Rice milk – he likes it but won’t drink it regularly.

– Andrew only eats certain foods and is SOOOOO picky! I absolutely hate mealtimes.

-DH and I are afraid to take away his bottle since it’s the ONLY thing that relaxes him enough to fall asleep for the short amount of time he is sleeping!

As I write this, I’m not sure even what I”m trying to say other than to ask for some reassurance that this is normal? It’s so hard not to use your older child as a point of reference, but to “compare” the two boys is like night and day….which makes me wonder…what am I doing wrong with Andrew? What am I missing? Everyone has advice (people who don’t have a clue what this is really like) – try soy, try goats milk, try toddler formulas, etc……..but DH are so afraid to “change” anything for fear of less sleep and more misery.

But, I was wondering, has anyone successfully put their toddler on a Carnation Good Start toddler formula with success after their child has been on Alimentum? Maybe the milk protein is broken down more? I don’t know……my head is spinning.

The way he screams when he wakes up at night is so loud and piercing……..is it teeth? Or is it reflux again? Should I put him back on Prevacid? We were just talking (last month) how much nicer he was waking up (no screaming) and how he was eating etc….and now this – again. So, do gerdlings only get two/three months of relief at a time and then sheer torture for another two/three months?

I’m sorry to ramble….wallow in self pity….whatever you want to call it, but I’m so tired and worried. Any advice???????

As always, thanks for listening to me.

Andrea

Matthew 4 years old – no reflux

Andrew 10/18/04 – silent reflux and MSPI?

– W

[Anonymous]

Sorry to hear that Andrew isn’t doing to well. How long has this been going on now? Maybe it’s really just the teething aggrevating his reflux and once the teeth break through he’ll be back to sleeping and eating again. If not you could always try and give him the Prevacid again and see if he is improving.

Owen is on Alimentum as well, when we visited the inlaws I bought a couple of cans Peptamen jr. vanilla toddler formula and he really liked it. It’s almost the same as Pediasure but the proteins are like in Alimentum. Maybe you could see if he will drink that and does fine on it. I ordered some more and I’m still waiting for our case to arrive but I am trying to switch him compeltely to it.

Hang in there and I hope you can figure out what is causing Andrew so much misery.

[Anonymous]

Hi Andrea, I am so sorry you are still having issues but I can so relate. My son Seth is still on Alimentum at 18 months (in a bottle- this is the only thing he will NOT take from a cup). I told myself that I would trial milk at this point but I am already second guessing my decision (see my post “milk questions”) for fear that I will mess something up. I don’t think anyone truly understands our apprehension unless they have been there.

I did want to let you know though that I did do a mini trial with the GoodStart 2 formula a while back. I was sort of testing the waters so to speak before a real milk trial. I ended up stopping though because Seth got a sinus infection about the same time so I figured it was not the best time to try new things. He did ok with what he did get though. If I remember correctly, he was a little more gassy or something but nothing like the reactions he had to milk based formulas we tried when he was an infant. So, it may be worth a try.

Good luck and keep us posted! I know how scary it can be!

[Anonymous]

I’m so sorry to read your post, Andrea. I certainly understand how you feel. We are in the same boat, but at 13 months, so I can imagine how tired and frustrated you are. Having a child with reflux is nothing like having a child with reflux, especially if the problem is severe. I just saw my mil this weekend, and she was telling me that she ran into a friend of mine, and my friend told her that Hailey must eat well because she looks good, and that her baby had terrible reflux and didn’t need any meds. Then I had to spend the next 30 minutes explaining to my mil how my friend’s son had very mild reflux and was a happy spitter, which is why he didn’t need any meds. I tried to explain the difference between reflux and GERD and she didn’t get it. I also just got an email from a distant friend today, and when I explained to her what’s been going on with Hailey, she thought that I must be exaggerating. Anyhow, my point is that until you live it, you really can’t understand it.

As for what you’re doing wrong, the answer is nothing. Reflux is certainly not normal, in my opinion, despite what doctor’s will tell you. Unfortunately, I think that a lot of finding answers lies in testing, and trial and error- different bottles, different formulas, different foods, different meds. It scares me too, but I know at some point in the VERY near future, we are going to have to cut back the bottle drastically and hope/pray for the best.

We have been using Goodstart, and it has never done anything positive for Hailey’s reflux. I think the comfort proteins only really help with gas, and not with intolerances or allergies to milk protein.

I agree about the prevacid, and would maybe give him a try back on and see if it makes a difference. The night “screeching” sounds all too familiar. Have you considered allergies or intolerances? What kinds of testing has he had done.

Good luck to you in finding answers. I hope that things improve for you soon.

[Anonymous]

My son is 15 months old and was on Neocate until he was 12 months old. We switched him slowly to Goodstart with no DHA/ARA. He has done great with it. I have no plans on changing it any time soon. Our doctor thinks its better than him not getting any nutrients to eat. He doesn’t walk yet either so he has to have a bottle because he can’t walk around with a cup. I would stick with what ever works for you. You are the one who needs sleep. Its easy for others that don’t live in our world to say we are doing wrong. Well when they have to get up every night mulitiple times for almost 2 years maybe they will change their minds. Don’t worry about it.

[Anonymous]

My Emma is almost 16 months and she is still on Alimentum. She failed a hidden diary trial at 13 months; I could not imagine how bad it would have been if I would have given her straight milk, it was already bad enough. Emma also lives on Alimentum. She has the skills to eat but she is very very picky and has a huge texture issue. She absolutely refuses all fruits and vegetables. They say it takes 10 times of introducing something to a child for them to take it, for Emma it has got to be more like 20 or 30 times b/c the 10 happened months ago. I have been trying to cut down on the formula and it is going very slowly. She is teething so that doesn’t make it any better. I completely understand where you are coming from. She was sleeping through the night until a couple of night ago, now she cries in her sleep and I know it is b/c her mouth hurts. Have you thought about putting him back on Prevacid?? I think it would be worth a shot, especially while he is teething since it seems to makes things worse. You all need sleep and it might be all he needs. Hang in there!!!!

[Anonymous]

Hi Andrea ~ Sorry to hear Andy is having trouble. Hailey continues to go through periods where she’ll eat hardly anything. In fact, during “good” eating periods she really only eats one full meal a day. During the times she won’t eat meals, I let her graze throughout the day to get food in her. I don’t blame you for keeping Andy on the bottle. You have to do what works for your family and if keeping him on it means it makes things a little easier for now so be it.

Personally, I would just stick with the Alimentum a few more months until you can do a milk trial again. You’d be surprised how fast he might grow out of his intolerance.

As far as the screaming you describe, yes it could be reflux related but night terrors also came to mind when you were describing his behavior. We also went through a period of about 1-2 months where Hailey would wake up screaming. Sometimes I would go in her room and she would be screaming or moaning in her sleep which I always thought was odd. Her Ped was the one that suggested it to me because the first thing that also came to my mind was reflux. The nightwaking passed and she’s sleeping all night every night again.

Hang in there and I hope things improve soon.

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