I may be working on adding a Dr. to the beginning of my name, however; I need to remind myself that that Dr. has nothing to do with medicine. The experimental weaning from ranitidine was most likely a total failure.
I say *most likely* because, well, you never know for sure with a baby, do you? So, we stopped Wiggles medicine on a Sunday. Our theory - it was interfering with his ability to poop, and this was causing discomfort, which was disrupting his sleep. Now...upon stopping the medicine our boy started sleeping better at night(4 hour stretches y'all!) but there was still no poop. For a week. Which...as he is breastfed could be normal, but was a bit of a long time without poop for his "normal". And the trouble was, by the end of the week, he was definitely straining and then crying. And farting, and then crying. It was heartbreaking. Meanwhile, we'd had that one sudden cry in the night...but nothing more.
So...was it reflux? Gas pain? A very urgent need to poop but for whatever reason it wasn't happening? Finally, it all came to a head on the 7th morning, exactly 1 week after stopping the medicine. He woke up and just cried. It was like a flashback to his 4th week of life (just before starting the Zantac) but with much greater lung power. He was definitely unhappy, and definitely uncomfortable. :(
Meanwhile, Mr. Random had left right as he was waking up to go get some dark corn syrup. This was recommended by the pediatrician's triage line as a potential cure for the no-pooping issue. So I was supposed to wait to feed Little Wiggles until he got back - because we were going to mix the corn syrup with the breast milk I had pumped just for that purpose. I was literally 5 seconds from giving in and nursing the hysterical baby when Mr. Random got back with the syrup. So we gave him that. And his Zantac dose.
And he did poop a little later that day. And he hasn't been quite as hysterical, though he's still been more upset than normal. And cried after farting.
So...was it reflux? The need to poop? Both? Or - the wildcard, teething? Because we think he's teething. There aren't tell-tale white bumps in his gums yet, but if you feel his gums they're feeling thinner and you can kind of feel teeth. And he's definitely chomping on things with his mouth.
That's the trouble with babies. Far too many variables, and no way to control all but one. I'm just glad he seems to be doing better. And we'll definitely be keeping him on the medicine until we see the pediatrician at his 4 month visit.
It sounds like you are doing everything you can do. Don't stress about experimenting (within reason! :P), every baby is different and you have to try things out to see what works for both your baby and you.
ReplyDelete(Not to add another variable, but just to give you another possibility. One of the moms in my playgroup had a similar problem with the straining and pooping. It turned out she had a rare condition where her little girl didn't know how to relax to go. So she always screamed when she had to poop or fart. She did outgrow that though.)
Thanks for the confidence!
ReplyDeleteHe might have a bit of that problem...they tried to do a stool sample when he was 10 weeks old? somewhere around there and the PA had to put her little finger in his rectum to get the sample, and he screamed and screamed (I would too) and she commented that he has super tight rectal muscles...I'm glad to hear the little girl outgrew it! And Wiggles isn't that bad b/c he doesn't scream every time. It's relatively new actually...