Pediatric Gastroentologist

Let's add another specialist to our list for this year.

After an OB-GYN Specialist, a Pediatric Orthopedic Surgeon, and an Ear, Nose, and Throat Specialist, we're adding a Pediatric Gastroentologist Thursday morning.

This is just the first visit, but we imagine Adam will need to have an upper GI shortly after. The internet has at least given us some hints at what to expect, and our best lead now is Gastroesophageal Reflux (GER), as Adam has most of the symptoms (luckily, not all):

Clues that your baby suffers from GER enough to need treatment are:


* Frequent spitting up or vomiting (not all babies with GER spit up) (CHECK)
* Baby isn't outgrowing the "colic" and/or spitting up (CHECK)
* Frequent blasts of crying that are painful cries, not just baby cries (NOT AS MUCH ANYMORE)
* Your gut feeling tells you that your baby "hurts somewhere" (NOT AS MUCH ANYMORE)
* Bursts of nightwaking "as if in pain" (I was thinking that might be bad dreams)
* Colicky, abdominal pain after eating, even as long as one hour afterwards  (NOT USUALLY)
* Poor sleep habits, restless (CHECK)
* Withing as if in pain: drawing up legs, arching back (CHECK)
* Erratic feeding patterns. Refuses to feed or wants to breast or bottlefeed all the time. (CHECK)
* Frequent "wet burps" or "wet hiccups" (CHECK)
* Throaty noises: swallowing noises, choking, gagging (CHECK)
* Frequent, unexplained colds, wheezing, and chest infections (CHECK)
* Stop-breathing episodes (CHECK - although they aren't as bad as I've heard they could be)
* Excessive drooling (CHECK)
* Spits up like a "volcano" (CHECK)
Needless to say, while Adam is doing better, he is still not doing as well as he should while on Nexium and Hypoallergenic formula. He is losing his appetite, spits up constantly, and throws up when he's on his stomach, which I'm afraid will delay his development if it goes on for much longer. While he has great head control, strong arms, srong legs, and abs of steel, he has quit rolling over from his stomach to his back. I can't leave him on his stomach long enough to get him to learn, because he'll throw up.

So you can imagine the amount of laundry being done at our house - especially when you place Adam on his back to play on the little farm animal play yard, turn your back for 10 seconds, and turn around to a baby who's flipped onto his stomach, thrown up, and now smilling at you, waiting for you to flip him back over (he can, and I've seen him do it before, but I think he's uncomfortable in that position). But he can't resist going to his stomach in the first place because he's desperate to crawl already.

Luckily, if he does have this, it apparently isn't so bad that it's causing him excessive pain or issues with growth (obviously). Unfortunately, if he does have this, I'm not sure that this is much more we can do to help him that we aren't doing already.

Today I'm taking him back to the chiropractor. I don't know what, if anything, they could do to help, but they helped us before when I didn't expect it, so I'm willing to give it a try now too.