Speaking of non-sleepers, please say a prayer the next day or two if you wouldn't mind that something works for my girls. I'm not really in the market for pixie dust for myself, because I know it will pass one way or another - and I haven't slept much since the 9th grade
.
The pediatrician is really leaning towards milk protein allergy though, and I REALLY don't want to deal with that. It's nothing to do with lactose, in that a gentle formula or soy formula would work. Instead, it would require an elemental/hypoallergenic formula like Nutramigen. This would be at least 2 times more expensive per can, with no bulk sizes or generics.
Of course I would do it in a heartbeat if it would make them in less pain, but I'm hoping it just isn't necessary! We have tried just about everything, day and night, but they get horrific belly pain, poop issues (can I talk about that here?
), etc with almost every feed -- and it's magnified at night during the colicky "witching hours". They get about 4-8 hours of truly restful sleep in a 24 hour period, which isn't good for their development I know! Furthermore, it's just heart-breaking. That part I don't like at all!
For the past 3 weeks or so, we have been trying various routines without success -- different bottles, nipples, formula, sleeping arrangements/locations, medications, etc.
Last night I pulled out all the stops -- special bottle+nipple combination, baths, warm compresses, loose swaddling (for security but not restriction), white noise, massage, timing their feed early to avoid belly pain right at "bedtime" but then supplementing with pedialyte and meds to avoid an empty belly, etc. (And by myself no less
) During the "rough hours", things were better than normal at least. They had fitful wake-doze cycles and no sleep, but less screaming.
This could be because we were outside all day, or maybe something helped soothe the colic - and that that's all it is. I'm obviously praying for the latter. It's a heck of a cumbersome routine to try and keep up, but it's better than the alternatives (both poor diagnosis and/or hurting baby girls!). Of course, I still can't ignore the other feeds with the same result.
Anyway, they go to the pediatrician tomorrow for their 2-month well-child check. We'll chat about this I'm sure, and I was just hoping (praying!) that I would have "figured out something else" by then. I'm running out of time!