8lbs 10ozs

Marley gave us a little scare yesterday. Enough for us to take him into the doctor's office.

Let me go back to a couple weeks ago, at his last doctor's visit. I was convinced that Marley had gastroesophageal reflux. He was spitting up a lot (especially when I laid him down on his back), arching his neck and back after and during eating, and nursing for long periods of time - all signs of reflux. The doctor prescribed Zantac, but Marley's symptoms seemed to improve so I never picked up the prescription. Plus, he was still eating and gaining weight, and he wasn't especially fussy.

Yesterday morning, however, was a different story. He woke up to eat around 4am and I laid him back down around 5. Less than an hour later, he was awake and crying. He wouldn't stop and none of our normal methods of soothing him were working. He especially didn't want anything to do with his pacifier, which was very unusual.

I called the doctor and got an appointment for 9:30. I have a cold and was worried that I had passed something along to Mars. But, the doctor found no signs of infection and Marley's lungs sounded clear (big relief!). So, it looked like the most likely culprit was reflux.

I wish I would have trusted my instincts the first time around. I feel awful that the reflux had to get so bad before we treated it. The poor baby was exhausted when we got back from the doctor's office. He'd been crying all morning and hadn't eaten since 4am. We finally got him to eat around noon (while he was still sleeping).

Now, Mars takes Zantac twice a day. It seems to be helping - at least he hasn't had any more scary crying episodes. It sounds like reflux is pretty common in babies and that most will grow out of it within the first few months. I sure hope so!