Hi! My son, Nicholas, is 4 weeks old today. For the past week or so he has been spittting up several times after almost all feedings - even hours after he's eaten. He cries constantly when he is not held (and is beginning to cry even while being held). He has not been able to lie down - stomach or back since he was 2 weeks old. Since then he's pretty much been held non-stop. We went to the pediatrician yesterday and he diagnosed him the GER. He started him on Zantac and Reglan. I was hesitant to start the Reglan after reading the possible side effects, however the doctor encouraged me to try it for a few days to see if it will help. So, he had his first dose today. He seems worse today than he has been. Each day is getting progressively worse. The doctor said that we could add Mylanta if needed. We tried that tonight and are waiting to see if that helps or makes things worse.
I have already gotten a lot of advice just be reading through the posts here and am looking forward to getting to know others on the board!
Thanks,
Kelly

Hi Kelly and welcome!

I'm so sorry to hear that Nicholas has been so sick. Unfortunately, finding out what meds. (and other treatments) work is totally trial and error. I hope that Nicholas' meds. work soon!

Please keep us posted!

Hi there and Welcome!
I agree with Janette, it's going to take a while to figure out exactly what your son needs to make him feel better. These boards are a great place to start for advice and support...looking forward to getting to know you! :D

Hi and welcome!
I wish you the best of luck! One thing that I can recommend to you to help with the not being able to lay down, is a Tucker Sling. Basically it is a harness that you can put your baby into that attaches to the top of the matress like a pillow case. Then you can elevate the mattress at the top and not worry about your little one sliding to the bottom. Ben has had his since he was about 12 weeks, and it helps him to not choke as much in the night and sleep better. They have a website, I can't tell you the exact address, but you should be able to find it with a search engine. Hope the meds help, hang in there. Is this your first baby?
Michelle

This is my first baby, so everything is completely new to me. Nicky seems to be feeling better today - I think it's due to the Mylanta. He has spit up every dose of Zantac that he's gotten within a few minutes of receiving it so I don't think he's gotten much benefit from it. And the Reglan doesn't really help with the pain. I'd really like to discontinue the Reglan but the dr. seems to think he needs it.
I asked the dr. about wedge pillow. He said we\could try it but didn't really seem too excited. I've heard about the tucker sling, but heard it's expensive. I will look into it, though.
Thank you for your welcomes and encouragement. It is nice to know I'm not crazy, but that this is a real problem!

You're definitely NOT crazy, Kelly, just a lovingly concerned mom!

Someone (I think it might have been Roni) posted the website for the tucker sling a while back. I'll see if I can find it. If not, hopefully someone else knows the website and can post it again.

On Sat., May 22, Roni posted the following under Questions--Sleeping Arrangements.

"We never used a wedge with Shae...we used pillows under her mattress and towels around her to keep her from moving. Place a number of pillows under the mattress to prop it up as much as you can. I always used two pillows and doubled them up by folding them in half. Then use towels rolled up to hold him in place. Take three very thick and large bath towels and roll them up nice and tight. Put one on each side of where the baby will lay leaving just enough room for the baby to fit in between nice and snug. Then put the rolled up towel underneath, across the other way to hold up his bum. You now have a U shape made with towels. Take a crib sheet and place it nice and snug over the towels and tuck it under either side of the crib to hold the towels in place. You've made a nice little nest for baby and they can't go anywhere. Shae slept like this until she was over a year, it was around that time that she started sleeping with us...but that's another story."

Hope this helps!

Hey there,
You may have already found it but here's the site for the tucker sling https://shops.ebaseweb.com/merchant/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=00007&Category_Code=TSSL (they certainly are pricey! :? ) You may want to try out the system Roni used first. Or maybe, you could try other things like allowing your son to sleep/rest in a swing? My son's been sleeping in his swing now since he was just a few weeks old (he's 6 months now). For him, sleeping this way seems to bring him the relief he needs to get some good, solid sleep (and Mommy and Daddy too! :) ) Good luck!

Thanks for all the advice. We propped the head of his mattress up and used towels to hold him in place. This helped a little, although we still have a ways to go. I think the longest he stayed asleep was 10 minutes in the crib. Then when he wakes up he screams until I feed him. That seems to be the only thing that will calm him down. He has been eating about every 45 minutes today and I'm not sure I can keep up with him. I've read some posts on here about babies not wanting to eat at all because of the pain. So, I am thankful that he is at least still eating.
At this point, he does not like his swing. He likes his bouncy seat when he's awake but he will not sleep in it. The only way he'll fall asleep and stay asleep is propped up in our arms.
I am going to call the dr. back tomorrow and let him know that the meds have not seemed to help much and ask if there's anything else we can try.
Thanks again for all the suggestions!

My heart goes out to you, Kelly! I know how hard it is to go without sleep for extended periods of time when your child is so sick and not sleeping well. Please let us know how things go with the doctor tomorrow. Hopefully he/she will have you try a different med.

Well, I talked to the dr. today. He seemed hopeful that these current meds were helping and did not want to change meds yet. Nicky has been spitting up less, but still won't let us lay him down for more than a few minutes. They suggested just rotating him from crib to bouncy seat to swing...We'll see if that works. I was a little disappointed that they did not want to try something else, but maybe they're right and it is just going to be slow progress. We'll see.

Hi Kelly and welcome! Just a thought, whenever our propping method that Janette posted (thanks Janette for looking that up and reposting it) didn't work anymore we propped it higher until she was almost sitting up in the crib...the higher we propped her the better she slept.

I hope you are getting a little sleep at least.