Hi. My name is Heather. I have three kids: Alyssa (2-23-99), Mason (8-9-01) and Zander 6-15-04). Alyssa had reflux and it was miserable. My mom was around a lot to help hold her and spent many nights at my house helping me. I breastfed her until she was 13 mos old but did some spoon feeding of very liquidy cereal at just a couple monthsto try to help things. Mason was reflux free but Zander is suffering. Poor liitle guy tries to be happy but then can't help but scream. It breaks my heart :cry:

I don't have a lot of help this go around. Dh works ft and goes to school ft so he is gone a lot. I am exhausted but coping better this go around so far. I don't want to do this but know I have no choice. Mostly I hate that my sweet baby has to suffer. Plus it is very hard to take care of my other two with patience while I am taking care of Zander. He doesn't spit up very often at all but I hear it come up in his chest and expect it will get more frequent. We started Pepcid yesterday. So far, no difference. Zander is exclusively breastfeeding and I hope to continue that.

Hope to get to know you all better. Btw, I am 29, SAHM, and from SLC, Utah.

Heather

Hello Heather and welcome :)
I have a 7 month old refluxer and know how hard it is to watch your baby suffer and then still try and give your other kids the attention they need and deserve. You're definantly not alone. It amazes me everyday when I check in here, how many new members we have and how many others are going through this rough time. Hang in there and keep us updated. Nice to meet you!

Hi Heather and welcome! Sorry to hear you are trying to survive your second refluxer. Glad you found us, I look forward to getting to know you.

Welcome Heather! I'm sorry to hear that you're going through such a hard time all alone. Is there someone around who could maybe give you a little break once in a while like you're mom did with Alyssa?

I wish there were someone to help. I have one friend who has come to hold him on days when I need to take a shower but most people I know either have young kids themselves or have no idea how hard reflux really is. Until you have done it, you don't know how all consuming it is.

Dh is great to help when he is here but I feel bad because he is trying to study for his tests and also take care of the housework, the yard, and all the other stuff I am not getting done because of the demands of my baby. He is working on his RN and has Chemistry and Biology classes he is taking. Lots of work. My mom helps on Sundays when we go there for dinner and from time to time but otherwise, I am pretty much on my own.

Thanks for the welcome. It is nice to know I have somewhere I can go where people don't think I am just being whiney! :lol:

Heather

Nope, you're not being whiney, just honest about what life with a refluxer is really like.

Where are you located? Just curious, because I know that there is some relief help available if you're here in Ontario, and I would hope that it's also available in other parts of Canada and the U.S. We have someone (a homemaker) come in for two hours every week-day morning. They can help with laundry, cleaning, food prep. and even child care while I have a shower or go out for a bit. Hopefully there is something like that available where you live. There are days that it feels like I almost wouldn't survive without this help.

Wow, Janette, I wish I had know about that a while back...not that I couldn't use the help now too. How do you go about looking into that?

I mentioned it in a post a long time ago, but I don't remember where. We have KidsLink here. They send someone in to play with the baby until age 12 months. We found out about that one too late. The Canadian Red Cross Society sends in the homemaker. We started homemaking when we were in crisis a year ago this past spring. You have to be in crisis to qualify (and prove it!)...When our refluxers are really feeling down, that's a pretty easy qualification, if you ask me!

Hopefully I'm allowed to post that info. here. Is that O.K., Roni?

I am in Salt Lake City, UT. I don't know that I have ever heard of anything like that here. But then my dh got all of 4 days off work when I had my son c-section with two other kids! And they hassled him about that. Maybe it is time to head north!
:)
Heather

Of course Janette...post whatever you think will help others.