Sleep? What Sleep??

I miss sleep.

Over the last week or so, my thoughts are consumed with how I can get more sleep. LOL. Having a newborn is very sleep-depriving. Having a newborn with bad reflux? That is just plain exhausting.

Kaitlyn was switched from the Similac Sensitive for Spit-up to the Similac Expert Care Alimentum 8 days ago. She had started to have diarhea when she came home from the NICU, and it just progressed to something awful. Her Doctor said that diarhea is more concerning than the vomiting/spit-up. So that is why we switched her. And it worked!! She is back to normal and seems much better in that regard. The problem is that her formula is no longer thickening in her tummy and comes right back up. It is sometimes almost comical how much puking I deal with everyday. She goes through several outfits, blankets, burp pads daily. I am not being overly dramatic here either. She can shoot that stuff a few feet sometimes. I know she is miserable and I am too. But as far as her health is concerned we needed to get the diarhea under control asap. We take every precaution we can to help her keep it down, such as not laying her flat ever (except diaper changes), we hold her completely upright for at least 15 min if not 30 after each feeding, and she spends alot of time.....

Here during the day,

Here at night, (it's a travel/portable swing in our bedroom)

And now here.

I used a wedge to create a elevated bed for her in the crib, but it was becoming increasingly obvious that it was just not enough. After the last 2 nights of only getting 15-30 min stretches of sleep all night, I decided to do some re-arranging. I am borrowing my sister's Bouncer Seat since the one we were given was not as supportive for such a tiny newborn. So I put that in her crib today and it will stay there.

And here is where she spends her time in our living room when she is not in the swing. Finally at 7 1/2 weeks old with just a little extra blankets for support, she can use this bouncer seat. So it will stay in our living room. She sleeps well in the bouncer seat during the day, so we'll see if I can get her to sleep better tonight now that the same one is in our room. I sure hope so. I am exhausted!

Notice her bouncer seats are covered with blankets. That is so as she pukes/spits up all day, it won't get on the bouncer seat, and I can just replace the blanket with a clean one. It takes alot of blankets to keep things going around here. I don't have one in her big swing right now, but we cover the front of her with burp pads and it seems to work. Her travel swing is actually toast...I ordered a new one and it is arriving this friday. So it is not covered in blankets either, but usually is. I have used that travel swing with Jordan and Josh, and my sister borrowed it for her 2 kids so it has seen better days. It was used and abused and did it's duty. But I need something portable that I can fold up and take with me if I ever want to hang out somewhere over a naptime. This is the reality of having bad reflux kids. You can't lay them down flat or they gag and choke, so you have to have a plan in place for when you aren't home. I used the travel swing with Jordan and Josh and it was a lifesaver. Oh the things I go through to do 'normal' things. LOL!!

So anyway, to make a long story short, I am being ruled by puke right now and I hope we can find a better balance when we go back for her 2 month appt on the 24th of January. Her Dr said as soon as we got the diarhea under control we would work on the vomiting. She is already on Zantac for reflux, so I am not sure what the next step will be. It's been really sad to see her going through it. It comes out her nose all the time... she has to be miserable. So once again, we wait and see what we can do next.