It looks like Carter has gastroesophageal reflux (GER), which is essentially infant acid reflux. He has been spitting up / throwing up a lot the last few days both during and after his feedings. Sometimes it seems to be the majority of the feeding. He'll soak my shirt, his outfit, and the pillow I'm using to hold him up. And he'll do this three times in one feeding. It's not this bad every time, but he's spitting up more than is normal at every feeding. This has been making him a lot fussier. And hungry more often since he's not keeping as much down. A few times Carter has thrown up so forcefully that it's come out his nose. Poor guy!
Because of all of this, I took him to the pediatrician's office yesterday to try to figure out what was up. The doctor was a little concerned that he might have pyloric stenosis so we went down to Children's Hospital this morning to do an ultrasound on his tummy to rule this out. Pyloric stenosis affects the pylorus, which is the opening at the lower end of the stomach that connects the stomach and small intestine. The muscles of the pylorus become abnormally large and this prevents food from entering the small intestine. It is corrected by surgery. Luckily we were able to rule this out and determine Carter "only" has GER. There's nothing we can do to fix it, but we can try to make it more manageable by keeping him upright more often.
Carter had his weight and length measured at the pediatrician's office. His weight was up to 8 lb, 6 oz (he gained 1 lb exactly in 9 days) and he measured 20 1/8 inches (that's 5/8 inches longer in 9 days). So it seems like he's still getting enough food!
1 comment:
One thing local doctors almost never suggest is the mother going dairy free for a couple of weeks. It's no fun for the mom, but worked for Mrs. Dude and two of her friends. I hope he is feeling better soon and that you can do less laundry.
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