7am awake, eating, diaper change
745-815 happy time singing wheels on the bus or other transportation-themed songs
815-10 screaming, screaming, some eating, marching up and down the stairs, blaring white noise
10-1030 catnap
1030-11 eat
11-1130 potential happy time
1130-1pm screaming, screaming, screaming, me eating lunch with one hand, marching up and down the stairs, blaring white noise, some fretful nursing
at this point he either sleeps for a half hour or 2 hours. If it's a half hour, he screams the other 90 minutes
3-330 potential happy time with more singing, possibly kisses
330-5 screaming. see above
5-530 catnap
530-615 eat, diaper change
615-7 screaming his face off even harder than all the other time spent screaming
7-830 start bedtime: cereal, nursing, bath, marching up and down the stairs, blaring static, screaming, repeat the marching
830-11 sleep
11-1130 formula bottle
then he is awake every 90 minutes to 2 hours, nursing and screaming with marching and static.
You might notice there isn't a lot of sleeping going on. Most days, I feel so tired it's dangerous for me to operate a vehicle. Every spare ounce of energy I have is spent trying to coax Miles to sleep. In fact, there is a lot of arguing, wrestling, wrangling, epic battles. We have done and tried everything. Reflux medicine. Swings, bouncy chairs, co-sleeping, crib sleeping. Sleeping in shifts. The day we added the formula was an emotionally disastrous day for me, but we did it and he still doesn't sleep. Same with the cereal.
Today Miles is 106 days old. While other folks with kids his age are enjoying roll-overs and solo sitting up, I am struggling to manage a life that is really pretty difficult with this baby. We see lactation consultants and pediatricians. A sleep specialist won't see us until he is 6 months old. I talk to a post-partum counselor. I ask the midwives for advice.
I know it will pass. But right now? With a baby who is in such obvious, constant distress? Motherhood seems a far shot from the enjoyable experience I longed for.
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4 comments:
Oh, Katy. My heart aches for you. Can we bring you cupcakes from Dozen?
I know you've got Miles on the boob, but Alimentum was the best thing we ever did for Alice. On top of reflux, she had soy/dairy sensitivity, which made breastfeeding nearly impossible and darn unpleasant. Putting her on that formula--in combination with the Zantac-- changed our entire family dynamic. It took me a long time to want to give up the boob. But if I had known then what I know now, I swear I would have had her on Alimentum since the day she was born.
But if that's not for you, you might also want to try mixing rice cereal with his milk. Helps reflux babies keep the food down. You'll need a wider nipple though (probably intermediate or maybe even advanced).
You know, I've been hoping for a formula suggestion. When we talked to the breastfeeding center and his pediatrician, they both had no advice to give in this arena. We're just giving him the free crap that Enfamil sent in the mail. I will go buy a jar of that today! Our current plan of attack is breastmilk most of the time and formula at night plus 2t of rice cereal stretched out across the day.
We are seeing a new pediatrician on Monday just to see if we can get a different perspective. I would hate to think there was something simple we could do with his diet to make him feel better and finally start putting on weight!!!
Alimentum has worked for many babies. James had to drink that formula also 17 years ago. It was the only thing he could tolerate. And after 10 months of it he started to drink other cheaper stuff and then whole milk. It worked for him:+)
Definitely try Alimentum then. We gave it to Alice from the time she was 2 1/2 months until about 10 months. Then she was much more comfortable and we switched her to regular formula, then cow's milk at about 11 months. My pediatrician BEGGED me to get her off of the boob but I was stubborn at first.
If you're trying Miles on formula, try the hypoallergenic (no dairy or soy) formula. Similac's brand is Alimentum (purple label, you can find it at the drug store). I think Enfamil's is Nutramigen, but you might have to special-order that, and I've heard that babies hate the taste.
But Alice liked the Alimentum and I've heard other moms call it liquid gold. We used to mix it with copious amounts of rice cereal at first!
Good luck, and let me know how it goes. If you need any other feeding advice, tricks, etc., just email me!
Have fun trick or treating tonight.
Which pediatrican are you going to? We're at GIL (above Trader Joe's) and we've been very happy w/ them thus far.
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