Poor Baby

I took Ella to the doctor today. I've been doing a lot of thinking about her spitting up issue and decided it sounded a lot like GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease) and the doctor thinks it is too. She basically has acid reflux and it's causing her to spit up a lot of her feeding. We're going to try to see if medicine works, she's taking two different medicines, one smells like peppermint (for a baby? Yuck!) and the other orange popsicle (yummy). Hopefully this will control the acid in her stomach and stop her volcanic spit ups. I guess it's not all that uncommon, and usually goes away by age 1 and is very rare in children over 2. Poor thing has probably had this the whole time and doesn't know any different. She doesn't fuss or seem bothered by it and actually smiles and laughs after so who knows. If GERD is left untreated it can affect the respiratory system, and that's not a risk I'm willing to take, especially with our family history. So, as much as it sucks, medicine it is for now. Good news from the doctors visit...Ella is now 11 pounds, 4 ounces which means that all the spit up isn't affecting her growth (a major concern with GERD babies often meaning surgery). The doctor gave me a strict feeding regimen: feed her sitting up when possible, in a quiet room while listening to classical music, then lean back and lay her over my shoulder for 30 minutes but don't pat her back....I'm so used to multitasking, we'll have to see how I do with this new routine. I've already fallen asleep twice today! Maybe I need the rest. 5 more days until the Canadians are in the house! I can't wait!