Tuesday, May 4, 2010

GERD, Sleeping & and a Nanny

Over the last 3 weeks we've had several horrible nights where Liam was up every hour fussing or he'd just be up from like midnight on. He refused to eat more than an ounce at a time, which was probably contributing to him waking so often, but he also just seemed generally uncomfortable and sometimes would even cry while he ate (poor little guy!). So, we suspected that Liam also had GERD and we started him on Zantac. After a week on Zan.tac things hadn't improved, so the pedi added Prev.acid. Literally within a day of being on Prev.acid we already saw an improvement--Liam ate more, didn't fuss while he was eating, and slept for longer periods of time.

Both boys usually still eat every 2-3 hours, so we aren't getting huge blocks of sleep at night. However, on occassion they sleep a little longer (i.e., 4 hours) between feedings. We usually try to have the boys in their cribs for the night between 7-8pm, which is when the boys seem to naturally want to go down, and this is when they have their best sleep.

Silas is very good at falling back to sleep after his night feedings and doesn't require too much rocking. Liam on the other hand needs a lot of rocking and cuddling before he'll fall back to sleep. Sometimes when I put him in the crib he immediately wakes up and I have to start all over. We read Weissbluth's sleep book and plan to start implementing his strategies. I hate the thought of letting the boys cry (and no I don't mean cry it out), but understand the need for them to learn self-soothing techniques.

I am on maternity leave through the end of the summer, but plan to go back to teaching in the fall. My mom is going to watch the boys two days each week and we are looking for child care for the other three days. Because of our need for part-time we decided to look at in-home day cares rather than facilities, which charge extra for part-time. Plus, I don't want to have to pay for the summers when I'm off. We visited two in-home day cares and didn't care for either of them. Both were way too dirty for my tastes (e.g., stains on carpet, smell of cat urine) and one of the gals actually said "I don't know how you manage twin infants"--hmm????!! What the hell?! She was hoping to care for our two, a 12wk old girl, and her two boys, ages 2 and 5. Needless to say both we immediately crossed her off our list.

After striking out twice with in-home day care providers we decided to take our friends' advice and post an ad at the local university of a part-time nanny. We already have 6 applicants after a day of having it posted and three of them sound like very good candidates. On a whim I messaged a former student of mine, S, to ask her if she knew of anyone who might be interested in the position. S messaged me back saying that she is transferring to the local U and would love the job. S is absolutely AMAZING and has tons of experience caring for babies/kids. She's babysat for a handful of my close friends, including K, and they all rave about her. Also, S nannied for a woman who lost her husband when she was expecting twins (horribly sad I know), so she even has experience with twin infants. J works with S's mom too, so we know her family. S came over today to meet the boys and Silas couldn't take his eyes off her--he smiled and cooed to her the whole time she was here. S is still registering for her classes and plans to try to work it so she can cover all three days. Needless to say I feel as though I won the lottery!!

(I tried to upload some photos of the boys and the boys and K, but it keeps saying there's a problem. Grr! I'll try tomorrow.)

10 comments:

Saffy said...

I can't believe the boys are over 3 months old. It still seems like yesterday that you were reporting back on the earliest of scans, etc. Crikey!

Poor little fellas both having GERD. Is it doing your head in? I thought I was losing it at one point;)That is great that L is responding so well to the meds so quickly too. He must've been really sore.

Do the boys tend to sleep in the same blocks of time?

That's fantastic news about S. It sounds like it was meant to be. It must make the though of going back to work seem better knowing that you have someone you trust (without the smell of cat pee - ewwww!!!) at the helm.

Thanks for the update - wishing the boys pain free, puke free days and big sleeps!

Anonymous said...

I'm so happy that you found S, and hope that her schedule will work and she can watch the boys!

Just wanted to pop in and say that I love reading your blog, and have read it for quite some time (I'm a lurker from the preeclampsia foundation forums)

I lost my little girl at 25weeks due to PE & severe IUGR. My husband and I are currently expecting a little boy very soon (I am 31 wks, 3 days pregnant) and hoping PE stays away.

- Rosalinda

AnGèLe said...

My second daughter had severe GERD and was on meds as well.. the best combination for her was Zantac and Soy formula. Then once she was old enough to switch to milk, it was goats milk. It is so hard to watch your baby in pain from the simplest act.. eating. I am so happy you found a good combination of meds that work for him!!
Cant wait for those pics!
Love to all of you!
xoxo

Anonymous said...

So good to hear from you. I am so sorry about the GERD...we have an appt with a specialist tomorrow for Spice for his reflux - he really seems miserable 80% of the time. I am constantly second guessing myself...and I hope they do not subject him to any unnecessary painful tests...

S sounds amazing - I hope it works out. One of the nannies I interviewed actually said that she "did not know how I did it" and she "did not know what she would do"...

Kelly said...

That would be awesome if "S" could nanny for you! Sounds like a dream come true. Can't believe the boys are 3 months already! Doesn't seem possible. Glad the Prevacid is helping and they are sleeping better for you. They are both so precious. :)

Lost in Space said...

Glad the meds are giving some relief so all of you can get some needed rest!

Great news on the nanny situation. You really can't beat that. (-;

Looking forward to the pictures...

Meshelle and Ken said...

I love your blog!! Have been following it for some time and I look forward to new posts. I hope everything works out with S. I am a nanny (and new mom) and I absolutely love it, I hope everything works out with her. You seem like an awesome family to work for.

Jayme said...

How awesome about the nanny! That is totally meant to be :)

Suzanne said...

If you haven't read Ask Moxie about sleep stuff, take a hop over there. She's got a lot of good posts about sleep and self-soothing. One thing she says, which totally makes sense is that some kids are just sort of naturally good self soothers and some aren't. For some babies crying or fussing a little calms them down and for some it ramps up. I still refer to Weissbluth's book but not everything will work for every baby, or as I found, at every stage. Also check out Moxie's stuff on sleep regression because it seems that just when you will have some of the sleep things figured out, something will change.

When my daughter was 4 months old my mom came to visit and insisted that I not get up with the baby and that she would take the night time duty for a couple of nights. Two nights of uninterrupted sleep was HUGE. If you can have someone come and take one night and give you guys a full night of sleep it will make a big difference.

Maureen said...

I hope the GERD issues are controlled and continue to be at this point.

The book that I really liked as far as sleep was/is concerned is "The No Cry Sleep Solution" by Elizabeth Pantley (I think that is how you spell her last name). I'm not really a huge proponent of "self soothing" at young ages. I never let either of mine cry to learn it, yet both could "self soothe" in some situations before a year (although still like cuddles as well). We all have to make the best decision for our family, but the more I read about other cultures and "self soothing", the more I just didn't feel comfortable with the current American culture on the subject.