HELP!!! Will I ever wear clean clothes again?

[Pineapple Head]

Clover is a puker. Apparently because it's not after every feed and she is great at gaining weight they don't consider it a problem. I feel like I have tried everything. She also doesn't like to burp, I've tried every burping position and none seem to be the magic one and if she does burp it us followed by puke. Sometimes its watery, others it's chunky or jelly like. She seems to get excited and inhale a lot of air so i tried gas drops to see if they helped. I'm just tired of changin her a million times a day and being covered in puke all of the time. Other than the puking she is an easy baby but the puking makes it hard to get out of the house, one day I spent 2 hours trying to get her in a dry outfit I finally gave up and stayed in.

The only thing I haven't tried is drastically changing my diet. Dairy intake doesn't seem to effect the amount, should I try cutting it out any how? Anyone have any tips? i just want a dry day.

[rparker]

I'm on my second puker. I thought that I was going to dodge that bullet with this one, but the real puking just didn't set in until 3-4 weeks with her and now... watch out! They do eventually outgrow it... my 3 year old DD keeps her meals down now and she was the world's spittiest baby. My husband is a pedi and the way both he and DD1's old doctor explained it is that it's because the gastro-esophageal sphincter is more immature in some babies than others. In our case this is also aggravated by a very forceful letdown and babies who like to gulp and "overeat" (myth, you can't overfeed an EBF baby). In a baby who is happy and gaining well this really is "just a laundry problem." The medical solutions available all involve antacids and/or special formulas and often result in a baby who still spits up. 

Honestly, I'm not sure that there's any choice other than to get really zen about it. My DH swears that it would improve if I would burp her in the MIDDLE of feedings (this is the advice for bottle fed babies), but in my experience that just results in an angry baby who still spits up. 

My strategies for leaving the house: 

x. Burp her until she pukes a decent amount (because you KNOW that it will be coming up at some point). 

x. Hold her upright for 20 minutes or more after a feeding.

x. Turn her head to the side (like a passed out drunk) while changing her and be prepared to wipe puke before it can trickle down to her clothes. 

x. Bibs. It is easier to change a bib than an entire outfit. 

x. Strategically placed prefolds at all times if I don't want to change my outfit. Even this doesn't always work because she can puke with some force... but changing my shirt isn't as hard as changing hers. 

x. I try to wait 30-60 minutes after feeding her to put her in her car seat... I couldn't do this with DD1 though because she was both a puker and a 24-7 cluster feeder. 

Bibs really do catch a decent amount of spit-up and eliminate some outfit changes. And after months of it (or by your second baby with the same problem) you start to care less about cleanliness... or at least I did. If an outfit only has a little spit-up on it, I wipe it off... if it still feels reasonably dry and like it isn't going to irritate her skin I leave it on. I figure between the BIG pukes and the epic poop explosions (problem with DD2, never had this with the first) I'll be changing it sooner than later anyway. 

I know that none of this is probably what you want to hear. In our case it seems that allergies are very unlikely to be the cause because when I finally introduced the common allergenic foods to DD1 she handled them perfectly fine. 

My best advice? Hand the baby to your partner for a few hours every day and take the time to get clean, dry, and regain your sanity. If the baby can't go 90 minutes without eating an occasional bottle won't hurt once she's a few months old. (In my experience though even my every 45 minutes baby would rather hang out with daddy for an hour or two and wait for me rather than take a bottle.) I have also gotten into the habit of handing the baby to someone else if there is anyone at all available as SOON as she finishes eating and walking away to engage in a dry activity like putting away laundry. 

Oh, and burping position doesn't seem to matter/help for my kids either. So my current strategy is to put a prefold over one leg and to lay Livia across my lap and occasionally pat her back/jiggle her with my legs until she pukes or starts fussing. The fussing usually indicates that she's a) ready to eat again b) ready to not puke c) ready to be upright for the express purpose of puking. I only mention this position because it's the easiest one in which to do other things (i.e. play online, read books) and makes it a little less boring. 

For the record: I am SO jealous of mothers who can nurse their babies lying down from infancy... DD1 was several months (probably closer to 6) before she could handle this because of all the puking and it looks like DD2 is following in her footsteps. 

[rparker]

And I apologize if that came across as cavalier or unsympathetic... I felt EXACTLY the same way with DD1 and I sometimes still have moments of intense frustration with DD2's puking. But for your own sake, it's best to just come to a place of peace with it if Clover is healthy and happy. It's a really cheesy country song, but sooner than you think "you'll miss these days."  

[Tellera]

Crashing from NP.

I just want to empathize.  I've been there.  DD has pretty severe reflux.  I was constantly covered in spit up/puke in the early months.  I will say, though, that somewhere around six months, I realized it was mid-day and I hadn't had to change my clothes more than twice.  It will get better. 

You could certainly try cutting out dairy all together, but it may take up to 2 weeks to see a difference.  My DD has issues with dairy, gluten and soy, in addition to horrible acid pain.  For us, she was in a lot of pain, a lot, and medication made her quality of life improve dramatically (and it did help with the spit up, but only nominally - the medication only helped to reduce acid, not the actual spitting up). 

Anyway, again, wanted to say 'been there' and it will slowly get better.    DD is 9 mos and rarely spits up now.  Oh, and clover would likely show improvement even faster (within 2 - 3 weeks) if it *is* due to an intolerance issue (rather than simply the immature sphinter) and you can cut out whatever it is she's intolerant to. 

[miso_soup]

I don't have much to add to rparker's really great advice, but wanted to express my sympathy! Dylan is a puker too, except for him it's not just a laundry issue - he has moderately bad reflux. He's currently on a couple of different medications to try to remedy this. They don't reduce the puking, but they DO make it less uncomfortable (they neutralize the stomach acid so that it still comes up, but doesn't hurt as much). Luckily, it doesn't seem to have affected his eating habits, and has gained really well to date - but it has made for a bit of a stressful situation in general - no-one wants to see their baby screaming during/after eating because he's in pain  . Keeping him as upright as possible after feeds does help, and I have also become very creative in the arrangement of burp rags! I too have tried eliminating dairy to see if this makes any difference but honestly, I don't think it does. And I miss cheese, argh! I'm just holding onto the mantra that "this too shall pass" - hopefully sooner rather than later!

[chely7425]

Travis has rather severe reflux... he ends up eating almost constantly because he spits up most of what he eats.  He is kind of gaining but as his reflux has gotten worse that has slowed way down... we medicating him, probably trying a new medication at his next appointment, and keeping an eye on it.  I have just resigned myself to be cover in baby spew.

[ILovePie]

Anders is a puker!  He breaks suction a lot as we're still working out tongue-tie, and I think I have a touch of OAL as well.

Right after he eats, he cries/fusses/grunts to be upright to burp.  Sometimes he just spits up with no warning or care about it.  He often wakes up at 4AM needing to be burped.  It's difficult, and we go through a few outfits a day (sometimes both of us).  I could handle the outfit changes if he wasn' waking up in pain.  *sigh*

[taralv]

I agree with what rparker had to say. Dd seems to have pretty bad reflux, and I really think the worst part is the lack of sleep since she is not ready to nurse laying down. Ds, my second child, had awful reflux, and I eliminated everything potentially allergenic from my diet. It changed nothing. In fact, I think that the extended time being dairy free actually caused major dental issues for me, but did not help ds. He is 6 years old now, and he has some dietary sensitivities, but dairy is not one of them. I guess I am saying that this is just something I have accepted. Sometimes I do not even realize that there is dried vomit on my shirt until I either see it in a picture or my 9 year old daughter points it out to me. Kind of sad. But this time passes quickly, and most babies out grow this issue. Their digestive systems mature, and they slowly stop spitting up as much. Obviously, it can be discussed with your baby's ped, and he/she can direct you. Hang in there!

Tara

[Pineapple Head]

Thank you ladies. Rparker, thank you for all your tips, we were doing everything except the first point. Some days we have more some days less and I have come to accept that I will not be wearing a little black dress for any holiday party!

[peainthepod]

Hi there! Matilda is a puker too. She's gaining steadily and it doesn't happen more than once every couple of days so no one is worried about it. Mostly it's just spitup but sometimes she's a little vomit volcano and it happens without any warning at all. She's capable of completely drenching my shirt and the top of my pants, no joke. Soaked completely through. So gross. I've given up on not smelling like cheese for awhile.

Also, we do laundry so often that I think I only wear maybe 20% of my clothes. Time to declutter the wardrobe, I guess.