Update on Bella's Reflux

So, last time I wrote about this, we had just started Bella on Similac Alimentum. It actually made quite a difference from the Enfamil Gentlease that we had previously had her on, but she STILL was in pain. She started sleeping better throughout the night on the Alimentum, but when she was awake, she was still crying. After about two weeks of trying that formula (along with being on Zantac), the doctor put her on Prevacid (might I add that WITH INSURANCE, it costs $85 for 30 pills! If we were unfortunate and had no insurance, we'd be paying $200 for 30 pills! I almost choked when I heard the price!!) Anyway, he told us to keep using the Zantac along with the Prevacid for 4-5 days, as it could take that long for the Prevacid to really kick in. It was on day 4 that she had an AMAZING day! She was so content and actually smiled to me a couple of times. She was awake and not crying. When I washed her hair, she didn't cry; when I changed her diaper, she didn't cry; when I put her in her carseat, she didn't cry.....all things that she absolutely screams at every time. I don't know if it had anything to do with it, but I think that she's normally in pain all the time that she gets agitated easily. I thought that this was the beginning to a happy baby who was no longer hurting. I was wrong. She seemed to get progressively worse over the next week. I was sad. I felt like crying. My poor baby was still hurting.

I called the doctor on Monday, March 12th. She was put back on Zantac, and also was to stay on the Prevacid. They also changed her formula again. She is now on a formula called EleCare (which is known as an elemental formula). This formula has no proteins in it (whereas regular formula has whole proteins, and the Alimentum we previously had her on had broken down proteins). EleCare is made of free Amino Acids, which are the building blocks of proteins. This is such a specialized formula, that it has to be special ordered through the pharmacy, or purchased directly from the manufacturer. And of course, the price is astronomical! It's so much that we can try to get the insurance to cover it! Notice, I say try. I have hear that it can be quite a fight. We'll see how that goes....

Over this last week, she has gotten progressively better!! She is to the point now that she, for the most part, only has the reflux when it's about time to eat. She doesn't cry now after she eats! Yesterday, she laughed for the first time! It caught me off guard, as she has only smiled a few times, being that she was almost always crying when she was awake. What an amazing feeling, to finally find something that is making my baby feel better. It is so heartbreaking to see her crying in pain.

For anyone out there that has a baby that has reflux, I found a website that has a lot of good information about it. www.refluxrebels.com