Snip, Snip

The past few weeks have really been a struggle for us here in the Young household.  Baby J seemed to have two modes, lightly sleeping and screaming.  There was really nothing in between.  Occasionally he would just hang out and stare at the wall, but not very often.  He also was breastfeeding every one to two hours.  I was up at least three times a night feeding him.  This was getting exhausting.  It was apparent he was not a happy baby.  The evenings were the worse.  He would start screaming bloody murder and nothing seemed to calm him down. If I tried to hold him he would scream even harder.  Now keep in mind this was not a colicky scream this was a some thing is hurting me cry, but I didn't know what.  I would sit in the chair trying to comfort him with tears streaming down my face because my own child didn't want to be with me and I couldn't make him feel better.  It was such an awful feeling.  I truly felt he did not like me. 

In addition to all of that, he decided he didn't want to go to sleep at night either.  I would start putting him to bed at 8pm and he wouldn't fall asleep until well after midnight after I would put him in his bouncy chair in the living room and sleep on the couch.  There were a few nights I had to change his diaper and he would just scream and kick, making it nearly impossible to get him re-dressed.  I was so frustrated I remember telling him I was done and didn't like him at that time, then he peed on me.  Awful, I know, but I was functioning on no sleep, frustrated as all get out and angry that my kid was so ungrateful for all I was trying to do for him.  Of course I didn't mean the things I said and I did still like him.

On Thursday I went to my Mommy and Me group.  It is a support group of new moms offered through Kaiser.  Let me tell you, that group of ladies has been a lifesaver.  Every week I go with a hundred questions and this week was no exception.  I was explaining what was going on and getting some advice.  After awhile I asked if I could weigh Baby J since it had been three weeks since his last weight check and I was curious to see how many pounds he had gained.  I weighed him and was shocked to discover he had only gained 10 ounces in three weeks.  He should have gained at least double that.  Kristen, the Mommy and Me coordinator, asked to see his tongue after seeing his lack of weight gain.  She determined in a matter of seconds that Baby J was tongue tied.

Under the tongue we all have a whitish vertical strip of tissue called the frenulum, which attaches to the floor of our mouth at one end to the tongue at the other.  When the frenulum is tight, it can prevent the baby from getting his tongue well forward to cup under the breast and extract milk.  Oh my gosh.  No wonder my baby was screaming all the time.  He wasn't getting enough to eat.  It was all beginning to make sense.  When I would let him feed for 40 minutes I just assumed he was filling up with milk and could not understand why he would be hungry thirty minutes later.  Now I knew.

The next day I took him to his pediatrician.  The doctor gave us a prescription for Zantac to help with his acid reflux and continuous spit up.  He also sent us with a referral to the head and neck specialist to see about having his frenulum snipped.

Later in the afternoon we met with the specialist, Dr. Doctor (no joking that was his name).  He decided it would be a good idea to snip it.  It is an extremely simple procedure that takes less than a second and rarely causes the baby pain.  There is only a drop or two of blood and immediately after the snip I began breastfeeding him and he fell right to sleep.  The worse part was having to hold him down and hearing him scream because of that.

I noticed a difference right away.  His latch was 100 times better and he stopped crying all the time.  He also began feeding every 3-4 hours.  After Jim gave him his bottle last night and laid him in his crib he went to sleep with no crying.  In the morning I gave him a bottle and then we snuggled in bed, something I hadn't been able to do since his first week home.  It was wonderful.  He has been calm and content all day.  He even smiled for the next door neighbor.  I can't tell you how great it is to finally have a happy baby.  I hope it lasts and this isn't just a one day fluke but I don't think it is. 

I guess my baby is just like me, give him food and he's a happy boy!