Love/Hate Relationship with Doctors

Well, it's been a little more stressful at our house than normal because Sam has been sick the last few days, which just means 2 needy kids. But other than that, and Joshua's appointment, nothing new in our lives. Joshua had his 2 month checkup on Monday and weighs 12 lbs. 1 oz., exactly 1 lb. heavier than Sam at his age, and is 24 inches long, 2 inches longer than Sam was. He is thriving and doing extremely well, except his doctor did say he's a sensetive baby. He said that you can just tell sometimes...with Joshua's sensetive skin (which we are now thinking breaks out when I eat strawberries) and his tummy issues. He said I need to be careful down the road when I start to intruduce solids because he could develop food allergies.

And then we have the issue of his reflux. I'm 100% sure that's what the problem is now. It's literally getting worse every single day, and where he wasn't really spitting up or anything before, he is now. He threw up all over me in the middle of the night while he was sleeping on my chest and it reeked like stomache acid. Poor thing. I feel so bad for him because he wants to eat so bad and as soon as he starts, he has to pull off because it's coming back up. He is miserable, I can tell. And the thing that makes me mad is that his dr. seems to make his problem seem less than what it really is. He isn't with him all day and night, seeing the way he is and how bad it is.

I didn't want to let it go on any longer on Monday, so I was hoping that the dr. would prescribe some Zantac for him, because as his mother, using my motherly instincts (which I think are more acurrate than a dr. at times), I felt strongly that that's what he needs. But of course, the dr. didn't want to do that. He wanted me to try disolving rice cereal in liquid and giving that to him after he eats every time. Now, I appreciate the fact that he wanted to try less "harsh" measures before he just prescribed the "drugs," but I researched all this stuff before the appointment, and each point I brought up to him he tried denying or ignored. I know my baby and how he eats, and I knew the whole rice cereal thing wouldn't work.

First of all, Josh only eats for about 2-5 minutes each time, making it so that he eats every 45 mins to an hour, which would mean I would constantly have to be pumping and then topping him off with the rice cereal ALL day. He doesn't have normal set feedings like most babies. Also, he is a breatfed baby, therefor, trying to get him the rice cereal in the first place is a challenge. He wont take a bottle - I tried for like 15 minutes, 4 times a day, for two days, and he asolutely refuses.

Then if I try giving it to him on a spoon or in a suringe, he just spits it back out because (1) he's already eaten and could barely keep it down, so he doesn't want anymore, and (2) it's too thick for him. I can see how this method might work for a baby that's solely bottle fed because you can just mix the cereal in with the bottle. But it's pretty much impossible for Josh.

Also, from researching online, that method hasn't even proven to be ffective, and most of the time worsens it for babies, because they spit up anyway, and the thicker it is when it's coming back up, the worse pain they're in. You also have the risk of the rice cereal replacing some of the calories in the milk they need.

But of course, he is the dr. and I'm just the "concerned mom," so my points and concerns didn't matter. He told me to try it for a week and then call him if it isn't working and we'd go from there. Well, I left that office very aggitated because I want my baby to have relief and I knew what the outcome would be already. And I was right. He is still getting worse and throwing up worse, so as of last night, I stopped even battling with the rice cereal thing all together. So tomorrow (4 days is good enough to wait, right?) I am calling the dr. and hoppefully he will be willing to just call in the prescription for me. We'll see.

And I'm not even one for medicines in babies. Sam actually got prescribed the same thing when he was a baby (along with Reglan, which is horrible....don't even get me started of everything I have learned about that...) but, as his mother, I felt bad about it then - that he didn't really need it. So I trusted my instincts and didn't give it to him. I didn't want to pump him full of medication he didn't even necessarilly need. And I was right...he hadn't even really had a problem. I'm glad I listened to my gut then, especially because his dr. prescribed him the Reglan along with the Zantac. The funny thing is, I remember Sam's dr. at that time was so mad at me and treated me like crap when I brought these concerns up, and flat out told me that if I don't give it to him, he will suffer long-term side effects. Ha! The other way around! Especially because Sam's reflux problem wasn't even a real problem...they even said it was very minor! Seriously, why should it be so difficult to find a pediatrician who actually cares what the mother thinks??

Anyway, my point is, I feel differently this time because I know that Josh actually needs it! And I strongly feel that it will help him and do him some good. Especially because it's only getting worse. So we'll see what he says when I call him...

Another thing that upset me about the dr. appointment (and the reason I have finally taken the push to get another pediatrician) is how he made me feel about the way I want to immunize. I have been doing research, and of all the research I have done, the thing that seems to fit and feel the most right, is to do an Alternate Vaccine Schedule, created by Dr. Bob Sears. Dr. Sears has been researching Vaccines for 15 years, he presents the research and lets parents decide what they feel is best. He provides information on each vaccine, when the child should really need to get it (due to what diseases are the most high-risk at certain ages), and what chemicles are in each one. It scares me to be pumping in, sometimes, 6 different strains at a time, especially with the high aluminum levels. Anyway, so he created a different schedule which allows for the child to get all the required immunizations,but they are spread out more, only getting about 2 at a time, at the times they should be getting them. If anyone is interested in info about it, you can read this article I read on the La Leche League website, which is what introduced me to this concept in the first case. Lots of good info!

Anyway, I feel very strongly about it, and it's the way I want to vaccinate my kids, but when it came time for Josh's imunizations at his appointment, and I brought it up, the dr. interrupted me, immediately silencing me, saying "We don't do that here." He then went on to say (in a round about way) that he thinks Dr. Sears is a quack. He is not willing to split up the vaccines at all and when I asked him how other people did it (because I know people that do that), he said they go somewhere else. So that's what I'm doing. It was either going to be all or nothing with him, and how can I have a dr. for my kids that thinks the way I want to go about their health is ridiculous?

So anyway, I found another dr. that breaks them up and actually does that alternate schedule all the time, and when other people recommended her to me, they all said she was excellent. So I made an appt. with her and Josh in 3 weeks for his immunizations and we will no longer be going to our current dr. We'll see how it goes. I hope she works out!!