My friend Jess and I joke that her baby has babyrexia and my baby has babylemia. You see, Payton was almost 10 pounds when she was born. She is now almost a year and she weighs in somewhere between 15 and 16 pounds. Gwen, on the other hand, was 6 pounds when she was born. She is now 8 months and about 20.5 pounds. Oh, and she eats until she spits up.
I knew when she started taking Zantac that it wouldn't prevent spitting up. It decreased the stomach acid, but the doctor informed me that we would still have the laundry issues. Thankfully, however, once she started the medicine, she stopped eating so much. She had been eating to quell the pain from the stomach acid, so without the pain she didn't feel the need to eat as often. That lasted all of a month or so, until she realized that, 1.) She really likes to eat, and 2.) She was disgruntled because we were packing, selling our house, and moving, and she needed a coping mechanism for all of the change.
When Gwen was born she was tiny. She was only 6 pounds, approximately the 5th percentile for weight. When she was 1 month old she was only 7 pounds. Then the reflux started and by the time she was 2 months she was 10 pounds. When she was 4 months she was 15.5 pounds (from 2 months of constant eating). This may not sound very big for a 4 month old, but she was super short, so she looked like a little sumo wrestler. Shortly after that, we started the Zantac, and over the next 2 months she only gained 1.5 pounds, was not eating as often, and gained some height. She was starting to slim out, and was becoming more active.
Over the last 6-7 weeks, since we have moved from Columbus, Gwen has turned back into a cream puff. She gained over 3 pounds, and I don't think she gained any inches. I'm not really surprised that she gained weight so quickly. She is eating every 1-2 hours day and night (yes, night too). I try to not feed her during the night, but I have gotten so tired that I don't have the energy to fight her. The first few times she wakes up I am still awake (she usually wakes up about 3 times during the 2 hours between when I put her to bed and when I go to bed) and I try to soothe her back to sleep without the aid of milk. After that, however, I give up and do anything it takes to get her to go back to sleep quickly so I can go back to sleep quickly.
Her babylemia is so bad that she would be perfectly content being latched on to my chest 24 hours a day, alternating eating and spitting up. You think I'm exaggerating. I'm not. I have had a few instances where I have used breast milk as kryptonite in order to get some peace. One such time, I was making a phone call to an old friend. Gwen did need to eat, but she is usually able to finish eating in about 5 minutes. She stayed latched on for 45 minutes. I didn't think this was a problem (you know, whatever makes her happy!) until she spit up while she was still latched on. I had warm, curdled milk running down my abdomen. She spent the rest of the day spitting up since her belly was so full. Even though she was full, if I would have offered to let her nurse again I can tell you without a doubt that she would have accepted.
One of the funniest things to witness when it comes to Gwen is her post-bath bedtime routine (it makes me laugh so hard that if I were not exposed during this process to feed her I would video tape her). She is generally happy in the bath. But the bath is a wonderful place in which rubber duckies float and the edge of the tub is the perfect height for standing. When we take her out of the bath she is upset about 2 things: she is no longer in the bath and she is not eating. Less than 3 minutes elapse between exiting the tub and her bedtime meal, but those three minutes are filled with angry yelling and crying from Gwen. In order to expedite the process, Keith will dry her off and put her diaper on while I get ready in the glider. I'll put a pillow on my lap to bring her up to the correct height and will pull my shirt up so she can begin eating immediately. Gwen also wants to be sure that she begins eating immediately, so much so that Keith will turn her horizontal when she is still halfway across the room and she will open her mouth when she is still 3-4 feet away - Gwen doesn't want to waste valuable time having to open her mouth to eat after she is on my lap. She is always prepared. She is like a milk seeking missile, locked, loaded, and coming in for landing on my breast.
I was worried that Gwen might already have overridden her full signal, but that appears to be intact. She will drink breastmilk all the livelong day, but if you try to give her one too many bites of solid food you end up with a screaming baby on your hands.
I knew when she started taking Zantac that it wouldn't prevent spitting up. It decreased the stomach acid, but the doctor informed me that we would still have the laundry issues. Thankfully, however, once she started the medicine, she stopped eating so much. She had been eating to quell the pain from the stomach acid, so without the pain she didn't feel the need to eat as often. That lasted all of a month or so, until she realized that, 1.) She really likes to eat, and 2.) She was disgruntled because we were packing, selling our house, and moving, and she needed a coping mechanism for all of the change.
When Gwen was born she was tiny. She was only 6 pounds, approximately the 5th percentile for weight. When she was 1 month old she was only 7 pounds. Then the reflux started and by the time she was 2 months she was 10 pounds. When she was 4 months she was 15.5 pounds (from 2 months of constant eating). This may not sound very big for a 4 month old, but she was super short, so she looked like a little sumo wrestler. Shortly after that, we started the Zantac, and over the next 2 months she only gained 1.5 pounds, was not eating as often, and gained some height. She was starting to slim out, and was becoming more active.
Over the last 6-7 weeks, since we have moved from Columbus, Gwen has turned back into a cream puff. She gained over 3 pounds, and I don't think she gained any inches. I'm not really surprised that she gained weight so quickly. She is eating every 1-2 hours day and night (yes, night too). I try to not feed her during the night, but I have gotten so tired that I don't have the energy to fight her. The first few times she wakes up I am still awake (she usually wakes up about 3 times during the 2 hours between when I put her to bed and when I go to bed) and I try to soothe her back to sleep without the aid of milk. After that, however, I give up and do anything it takes to get her to go back to sleep quickly so I can go back to sleep quickly.
Her babylemia is so bad that she would be perfectly content being latched on to my chest 24 hours a day, alternating eating and spitting up. You think I'm exaggerating. I'm not. I have had a few instances where I have used breast milk as kryptonite in order to get some peace. One such time, I was making a phone call to an old friend. Gwen did need to eat, but she is usually able to finish eating in about 5 minutes. She stayed latched on for 45 minutes. I didn't think this was a problem (you know, whatever makes her happy!) until she spit up while she was still latched on. I had warm, curdled milk running down my abdomen. She spent the rest of the day spitting up since her belly was so full. Even though she was full, if I would have offered to let her nurse again I can tell you without a doubt that she would have accepted.
One of the funniest things to witness when it comes to Gwen is her post-bath bedtime routine (it makes me laugh so hard that if I were not exposed during this process to feed her I would video tape her). She is generally happy in the bath. But the bath is a wonderful place in which rubber duckies float and the edge of the tub is the perfect height for standing. When we take her out of the bath she is upset about 2 things: she is no longer in the bath and she is not eating. Less than 3 minutes elapse between exiting the tub and her bedtime meal, but those three minutes are filled with angry yelling and crying from Gwen. In order to expedite the process, Keith will dry her off and put her diaper on while I get ready in the glider. I'll put a pillow on my lap to bring her up to the correct height and will pull my shirt up so she can begin eating immediately. Gwen also wants to be sure that she begins eating immediately, so much so that Keith will turn her horizontal when she is still halfway across the room and she will open her mouth when she is still 3-4 feet away - Gwen doesn't want to waste valuable time having to open her mouth to eat after she is on my lap. She is always prepared. She is like a milk seeking missile, locked, loaded, and coming in for landing on my breast.
I was worried that Gwen might already have overridden her full signal, but that appears to be intact. She will drink breastmilk all the livelong day, but if you try to give her one too many bites of solid food you end up with a screaming baby on your hands.
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