Reflux Frustrations

Poor baby Graham! He just keeps battling with his Gastric Reflux. Almost three weeks ago he went to see a pediatric Gastrointerologist (we actually saw the Nurse Practitioner) and they increased his dosage of Prilosec. About a week later, Tim and I agreed it wasn't helping so we called back and they put us on a new formula- this is his fourth formula after we nixed the breast milk... Alimentum by Similac- the premixed kind. $9 a bottle and he would go through a bottle a day. Totally worth it if it helped him eat and grow strong and be happy BUT- after trying it for a few days he got worse!! My poor baby started screaming after less than half an ounce and sometimes we couldn't even get him to drink any more than that. So, Tim and I made an executive decision and took him off the newest formula (which the nurse practitioner said all GER babies did really well on- really?) So Tim called the office on Tuesday and requested an appointment with the actual doctor this time. He described Graham's feedings and how he literally screams through them, and their response was "it's his reflux acting up." REALLY?!?! I pay you lots of money for you to tell me that?!? I didn't go to med school, and even I knew that!!!!

The last straw was Tuesday evening while Tim fed him his 5:00 bottle- he screamed and cried and got sweaty and screamed and cried... you get the idea. His eyes were full of such pain and he looked so sad and scared, it broke my heart. This has been such a long, sad experience with his reflux, but that moment was by far the most painful for me. It is such torture watching your baby suffer so much, and there is nothing you can do about it!!! We have heard from so many people "it gets better around 4 months" and while we appreciate such supportive advice... it's hard to think that far ahead when I'm not sure how much he'll eat at his next bottle.

We have an appointment with another pediatric GI on Friday, here's to hoping he'll have a better answer than what we've gotten so far. And even though Kennedy was diagnosed with GER, hers doesn't seem to be nearly as bad (knock on wood!!)