My Little Teenager

The doctor we saw last Saturday recommended we see a GI pediatrician for Addie's reflux; I called yesterday to make an appointment. As it turns out, the GI doesn't work on Ft. Bliss, but is a civilian doctor so we need a referral to see him. When the nurse practitioner (who we saw a couple weeks ago) called back to give us this update she also asked about Adeline's rash, which we went in for on Saturday. The rash has spread to her chest and back so she wanted her to come in this morning. At our last appointment the doctor said the rash was most likely from how much she was vomiting. Today, the nurse practitioner said that it's a harmless case of neonatal acne, and that she looks like a little teenager, ha. It's believed that this happens to breastfed babies as they receive the mother's hormones through the milk. She said that it may get a little worse and will probably last for about two more weeks. 

We also discussed Addie's reflux in more detail as she has lost weight since her last appointment. We have an appointment for her as soon as we get back from the holidays so they can check her weight again. She explained that the Prevacid is to help her discomfort, but will not do anything to stop the vomiting, as her esophagus is anatomically immature and that will only resolve itself with time. The main concern is that Adeline cries after her feedings. She showed us a different way to burp her to take pressure off her tummy and recommended she stay upright after each feeding for an hour now, opposed to 30 minutes. This certainly leaves for one exhausted mommy since Addie has to eat every two hours and one hour of that is spent holding her upright. We can put her in the swing or bouncy chair but she is much more fussy when we do that, and at two in the morning, I'd rather just hold her than hear her screaming. Tim has tried to relieve me in the evenings when he gets home from work so I can sleep. Unfortunately, Addie hasn't been taking the bottle this week so I have to stay up to feed her. She did eat from the bottle this morning, so hopefully she's back on track with that. She also has to sleep on an incline, but it doesn't appear to be making much of a difference. Every time I wake her up her sleeves and bed are soaked. I just wish I could snap my fingers and she'd magically be healthy--it's so hard to watch your baby in discomfort!