Saturday 9 August 2014

life lately - sick, sick and much more sick

Hugo managed to wriggle and bang his head on Monday, I won't go in to the full story, but it's safe to say I felt like the worst mother ever. Later in the day he was violently sick so I was worried about them being linked. We decided better safe than sorry and took him to A & E. Four nurses (to find his heart rate), one consultant (to say he's fine) and five hours later we were home.

The next morning the sickness continued and by sickness I mean like nothing I've seen or smelt before. Projectile vomiting, splurtung and choking. Still concerned, I rang the 111 line who promptly sent an ambulance, so Hugo and I were whisked off to hospital again! A quick check up and we were soon sent on our not-so-merry way.

The next day I booked in to see the doctor. Although we were sure it wasn't anything to do with the bump, we were worried about the amount Hugo was being sick, now for the third day. We were told it must be a bug and to come back in five days if it persisted.

A couple of days later it was still bad and I really didn't feel like I could wait until after the weekend to start thinking of solutions. It was very difficult seeing Hugo so poorly, pale, lethargic and out of sorts. Mum came up so that we had an extra pair of hands and between us we started thinking about what could be causing the sickness. We were sure it wasn't a bug, because he wasn't at all hot with a fever, he wasn't ill overnight and he was only ever sick immediately after a feed, as if an intolerance. 

We all felt like Hugo's tolerance to milk had weakened over time. He's always been a sicky baby, more so then others, but I've had very little to compare him to. Likewise, his poos have always been quite dark and liquidy, but again I wasn't sure what was normal. Putting everything together, we think he was struggling to keep the milk down during the day when he's very active, but was able to during the night when he was very calm.

We switched his formula to an anti-reflux milk of the same brand and it worked instantly. He's not had the sickness since, apart from the odd bit of spit-up. We saw an instant relief in Hugo, he was much happier taking his bottle and his poos started forming more like I'd been told baby's should (pastier, like thick korma). We checked it with the doctor who agreed it was likely to be reflux and said to continue on the milk. She also prescribed gaviscon, however we haven't used it yet as it can't be used with the new formula and I'm reluctant to keep switching. 

We're currently on week two of the formula. Today he suffered with severe constipation, but from what I've read his stomach should get used it to over the next week. In the meantime I'm going to keep offering water when I can and make sure he isn't going too long between poos. 

Seeing your child properly poorly is horrid. You'd choose yourself to be ill over them any day. I didn't care at all about the vast amounts of milk on me, the sofa, the floor and clothes, I just wanted my bright and perky Hugo back. Here's hoping his stomach settles.

This was all happening while the situation in Gaza has been dire. It puts everything into perspective and makes you realise just how minor a reaction to milk is. How lucky we are with our first world problems.















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