Baby Reflux Sucks

Jaxon, our sweet, chunky angel was puking ALL THE EFFING TIME. 

Puking after feedings. Puking during feedings. Puking two hours after feedings. Puking back to back. Puking in his sleep. Puking during diaper changes. Puking during clothe changes. You get it, he was puking. And let me just say it wasn't "spit up" because although he did that too, the vomit looked different and there was more of it. 

Aaaanyway, he was constantly going through clothes and sheets. His. Ours. And Bella's. Thank the Lord our couch is leather or we'd be getting a new one.

He was on two different medications. Which didn't help. We tried formula to see if he was allergic to my milk.Still no help. I had to mess with my diet. Thankfully, no help. 

Then sometimes he would projectile vomit and the doctor thought it was pyloric stenosis. Thank goodness it wasn't but they didn't know what was wrong so we went to a specialist.

The specialist said, "He's fine. He's gaining weight and developing on track. He'll grow out of it."

"FINE AND GROW OUT OF IT?!"

Yes, it was good news. Nothing was wrong with Jax. 

But at the same time, NOTHING WAS WRONG WITH JAX. 

If nothing was wrong, why are we using hand towels instead of the cute burp cloths from my registry?! Why is he wearing bibs 24/7? Why is my Boppy in the washer for the third time this week? Why was I buying new clothes because I was tired of doing laundry?

I felt defeated because no one could explain this frustrating issue.

A part of me felt that maybe he was over eating. But I didn't want to just stop feeding him and end up starving my newborn. 

I was lost.

By then, I had to start pumping for a return to work stash. It was then that I realized why he was so gassy and throwing up all the time!

My let down was crazy forceful! 

The greedy hungry kid was just trying to keep up. This also explained why he did so well with a bottle. I also realized that he just liked to nurse. It soothed him. So he actually was over eating.

After weeks and weeks of trial and error, I figured it out. I had hungry baby who also found comfort in the boob, which caused him to over eat. The same boob that over flowed causing him to try to keep up resulting in him vomiting.

Finally putting the pieces together, I've come up with a system. I only feed him one side per feeding and I have to stop him during feedings. If he vomits, not spits up, we're done feeding until the next one. 

It's been working. I asked Devon just to make sure it wasn't just me getting used to vomit. He confirmed I wasn't tripping.

Although my laundry load is still sinful and we're all on high alert after he eats, I can say it's improved. He vomits less vomit and does it less often.** I think he's finally starting to outgrow this hot mess. 

Does anyone have tips or know of anything else that might help? If so, let me know. 

SOS. 

**Weird how vomit is both a noun and a verb in this sentence.