Once again, hindsight is 20/20.

A bit of an update on our "colicky" boy.

After eliminating dairy foods from my diet, there was an immediate improvement in his mood and temperament. The evenings were much, much better, he was less gassy and in a better mood overall. But, I'd have to cap the improvement at about 50%. What became increasingly clear is that something else was making him fussy at the breast.

Now, keep in mind, we'd been fighting (or so I thought) a bottle preference for 7 weeks, ever since he was discharged from the hospital after our bout with RSV. While in hospital, he received many bottles of pumped milk as he was too weak to nurse.

Beckett has never been a great eater. While Maren nurses with gusto, Beckett has always been a "just enough" kind of guy. But, something was changing over the past 2 weeks that was making me concerned. Colic aside, he was often fussy after eating, would latch on/off (again, thought this was bottle preference), preferred to be upright, and this week began losing weight. I started weighing him when I sensed his intake dropping off ( I was becoming engorged on his side, so he was definitely eating less), and sure enough, he was dropping 20 grams a day.

Needless to say, I was getting concerned. I'd been questioning the possibility of "silent reflux" for awhile, but really didn't want it to be true. But, after a nice consult with the Ped in my GP's office, she agreed that his symptoms warranted a trial of Zantac. As an naturopath, the idea of putting my 3 month old on an acid suppressing drug was very uncomfortable. What about iron, calcium and b12 absorption? How would it alter his gut flora? But, my baby was losing weight and was uncomfortable and that needed to be addressed.

He's only had 3 doses, and he's a changed baby. Colour me shocked. He's eating with gusto, and is nursing twice as often as he ever has. He drained his side tonight and took an additional 3 ounces from a bottle. It almost brought tears to my eyes to see him eat like that. Actually, it did. Twice. And, he was such a calm, happy baby today. Oh, and he put on 40 grams overnight. :)

And, now I have to reconcile the guilt of not having him seen and treated sooner. But, since his reflux was "silent" (he rarely spits up) it wasn't on my radar.

So, the colic (which was probably reflux) is on the way out, hopefully. I'll continue to avoid dairy for now, as it was obviously not agreeing with his sensitive gut, and will continue with probiotics as well. And, we'll obviously continue with the Zantac for now, and hope that he won't need it for long.