I'm a first-time mom and I found out my DD has horrible reflux. I have had nothing but a hard time trying to breastfeed her since she was born. She even lost a lot of weight and had to be put on formula. She was gaining good, but still vomiting a lot and then would have such bad episodes that she wouldn't nurse or take a bottle, lose weight, then eat okay again.
It was only after she was put onto medication for the reflux that she started latching more than a few minutes at a time--this is ranitadine 5mg=1ml. The dosage of 1ml was increased to 1.25 recently. While we saw a difference at first, it just goes back to her vomiting like crazy. We even noted she has an issue with soy (WIC thought it was a milk allergy but it was the soy). She had a speckled-like rash all over her body from when she had it. She also gets it if I have more than a glass of soy and breastfeed her (very small amounts seem to be tolerated better). Right now she is on Elecare which is hypoallergenic, but still contains soy oil). My supply was going up and I thought I was doing good because she was latching for a good 5 minutes, then 10, then 20, and so on. My breasts felt really soft after she would eat and I was gradually able to decrease the amount of formula she was having during the day.
Then she started the vomiting fits all over again and getting frantic even with a bottle--worse than what I would consider to be normal. My supply dropped again and I don't think she was fully able to empty my breast because before the vomiting increased again, she was falling asleep, then would wake up 20 minutes later, go back on, suck a few times, and fall asleep again. This repeated for about 2 days before the vomiting was really bad. (i've maintained a pretty consistent diet)
My doctor says some babies just vomit a lot, but hers can be really forceful and at times she is in a lot of pain. I'm definitely worried about doing more harm than good with the medication, but it does seem to ease things up when the medication was increased, but now we're back to square one again. Pyloric stenosis does run on my fiance's side of the family, his mother had it, his brother, his sister, but him and his other brother were the only ones who did not get it. Since her weight is ahead of the game right now 44th percentile, they don't want to look unto it until they notice a significant and consistent weight-loss. I do understand the whole not fixing what isn't broken idea.
Sometimes I just feel like I'm going crazy and this is all normal, but it doesn't feel right. I just feel like something is wrong and it is so frustrating to not know what it is or how to help her. I actually thought her excessive vomiting was normal at first until the doctor said it wasn't with the amount of crying she does. I keep following the advice from the lactation specialist, but now I am wondering if I should just pump rather than worrying about her latching for right now? I am hoping we will find something that works for her tummy so she is not throwing up so much. She spits up too after each interval of feeding, but will outright vomit (it's forceful and comes out her nose) even up to an hour after a feeding. Usually the spit-up and vomit has a mucousy texture and is thick and white, although at times it looks a bit off-white maybe yellow-ish (not so much that you would notice it right away).
She handles the breast milk a bit better, but I am not making enough. I started supplements of fenugreek and alfalfa. I also bought milk thistle because I heard it also has lactation properties, because I cannot find blessed thistle in any of my local stores. I am just unsure of how much alfalfa and milk thistle to take so I am just taking the regular dosage listed on the bottle. The lactation consultant said she wasn't sure about the dosages for those and is use to just using fenugreek or prescription medication. Today I started noticing a big improvement!
Does it sound like I am on the right path? This has just been so overwhelming and frustrating to deal with. I hope things get better once we take care of her tummy troubles. I certainly wasn't expecting things to be easy, but this has been so hard and I've even cried over spilled breast milk. I knocked over the freshly pumped bottles a few times due to exhaustion. I am definitely looking for any advice and support at this point.