My reflux baby

Despite his reflux, my Bryant is a smiley baby. I have so many pictures of him smiling, unlike his koko.

He was diagnosed with reflux when he was just 6 weeks old. No tests was done. It was mainly based on my "reports and observations" that the doctor made the diagnosis. Here are the symptoms that made me quite certain that my B was suffering from reflux, even before I stepped into the doctor's clinic. Of course I had already consulted with my faithful old friend - the internet!!

- hiccups long after feeds
- constant hiccups
- milk dribbling out from mouth and spit-ups. No vomitting though
- wanting to constantly suckle but would fuss and cry at the breast as he only wanted comfort. Not milk.
- arching his back every now and then
- difficulty sleeping, only catnapping during the day. Even when carried, he still catnaps.
- occassional sudden cry, as if in pain

The doctor put him on medication, Losec Omeprazole and Motilium. I was asked to observe B and report back to the doctor regarding any change in his condition. From there, the doctor would be able to confirm his diagnosis.

After two weeks on medication, B improved. So now, he is on medication everyday, till we visit the doctor again in a month's time. In the meantime, I also bring him to the chiropractor every week, when possible. At 3.5 months, his condition seemed to have improved and I hope that he will get well completely and would not need any more medication. Dear God, please bless my B with good health and heal him of his reflux completely. Amen.

One of the most stressful moments for a mom.........

............is when her child is sick. Agree?

Well, a couple of weeks ago, my little boy was sick. Started with runny nose and cough, followed by fever. I was already planning to bring him to see the paed the next day when his fever hovered around 38.5 - 39C. However, we ended up in the A&E of the hospital that very evening because he had a febrile seizure. It was the most frightening moment of my life, watching my precious son's eyeballs rolling backwards and arms twitching. I got even more worried when his lips turned blue due to the lack of oxygen. Truthfully I don't know how long it lasted, although I'd think it was less than 5 minutes. So off we went to the hospital as soon as his seizure ended.

Joshie being examined by the doctor on duty. He was given the oxygen mask as well. His fever was 39.6C!!!!! That's not the highest temperature he's had though.

Called paed on duty to examine him. According to the paed, the possibility of another seizure within the next 24 hours is high, so he wanted Joshie to be admitted. Blood and urine test done upon admission. In the picture above, the nurse was checking his blood pressure while the cheeky was engrossed with his iPad.

Fever still spiked the next day. So doctor advised to stay another night. I requested for a baby cot. The night before, we were both sleeping on the same bed and I sprained my neck as a result of that. Unfortunately fever continued to spike, and he had to be given Voltaren for the 3rd time since admission.

On the morning of Day 3, doctor discovered white dots at his throat. Diagnosed as tonsillitis. So that's the cause of the high fever!!!! Cheeky being fed more medicine. It was scary seeing the amount of meds given to him during his hospital stay. Every 4 hourly he had to take 3-4 different types of medicine. Doctor advised to stay another 2 days. Went home to bring cheeky more toys as I didn't want him to face the iPad the whole day.

Day 4. Mummy requested for discharge. Temperature has been normal so doctor agreed =) Cheeky was delighted too. He was so so so bored of the hospital.

Took him a week plus to recover fully. No more fever since day 3 but throat was still red so I had to watch what he ate. Anyway, I am real glad this is over. I'll hafta be really careful the next time he has a fever as the possibility of another febrile seizure is there. According to paed, he will only outgrow this at the age of 6-7 years old.

Sick

Poor Joshie was sick last Saturday. He seemed a bit too quiet and even sat in his stroller without any complaints at all when we were at Marina Square. Never even asked to get out of the stroller when we passed the toy store and indoor playground. I began touching his forehead and realised that it was a little hot.

When we reached home, his temperature was already 38.5C. Inserted the suppository and he was off to dreamland really soon. The next day, he was still feverish and by Monday (3rd day), I decided to bring him to the paed since his temperature was hovering at 38C plus, even after taking paracetamol. As he was also coughing already, doctor prescribed Rhinathiol and Benbac. Also gave Zithromax (antibiotics) as standby. Zithromax to be given only if he still has fever by Tuesday. Come Tuesday, his fever was even higher and that made me really panic. I am stressed each time his temperature goes beyond 39C. So no choice, but to feed him with Zithromax.

This picture was taken on Tuesday morning, after feeding him his meds. He seemed very listless and took a long morning nap of 2.5 hours followed by another afternoon nap of nearly an hour. I think he could have slept longer but he woke up crying and when I went in to console him, he vomitted all over me. And as I was cleaning up the vomit, he ran to the bathroom and pooed! Watery poo all over the bathroom floor.

He wasn't in a very good mood throughout his sickness. Cried off and on and rubbed his tummy. After googling the side effects of the antibiotics, I discovered that one of the side effects is diarrhoea and abdominal pain.

Joshie sleeping with his Burger King party hat. He got upset when I removed it so I just let it be =) He really slept a lot.

And he had no appetite. Even breads and cakes he pushed away. Only wanted cheerios. Checked with the doctor and he said it's fine to give him cheerios.

His temperature finally went back to normal on Wednesday. But by then, I was infected and down with fever, runny nose and cough =( Guess I have to do something to boost my immune system!

My Mother's Day

Guess how Joshie wished me? By pooing on his pillow!!!!!!!!!!! And it was watery poo. Of course it seeped into the pillow, so I had to wash both the pillow and the pillowcase. But I didn't scold him. I knew he couldn't control himself coz he wasn't feeling well. It was partly my fault coz I left the pillow on the floor while I was looking for a clean diaper.

I spent my morning changing his bedsheets and washing vomit stains. Joshie had vomitted quite a bit of milk the night before. He was down with fever since Thursday and developed a cough on Saturday. We were quite worried when he was still feverish on Sunday (day 4) so we brought him to see the doctor. Doctor said it's viral infection and prescribed him some antibiotics. Also checked him for HFMD. Luckily no blisters and ulcers! After seeing the doctor, we had dinner at Nogawa, Concorde Hotel. The food there was pretty good but I wouldn't go back again as I felt it was too expensive.

Ok, so what did I get for Mom's day? Hubby bought me a Mother's Day gift set from Crabtree & Evelyn (picture below).I normally wouldn't buy their products as I feel they are a too pricey. How did Joshie contribute? By telling the salesgirl "more, more"............he was asking for more samples for Mummy! Haha.....they managed to get 4 bottles of sample body wash and moisturisers for me! And hubby also bought me my favourite chamomile tea and a tin of strawberry cream cookies. The cookies were so delicious that I finished them all by myself in 3 days! Gosh, such gluttony!

Oh, and hubby taught Joshie to say "Happy Mother's Day".....=) (beaming from ear to ear)! He couldn't pronounce "mother's" clearly but it was like sweet music to my ear! He also wished his 2 grandmothers and I bet they were both floating on cloud nine too!

First, it was Joshua's daddy.....

...................and now followed by Joshua's mummy. I really pray and hope that Joshua is spared. Have been diligently feeding him Vitamin C and spraying the house with disinfectant. Today, I had to rush to the toilet more than 10 times, even though I took diarrhoea medicine. Felt so so weak, even weaker after my 2 hours plus labour with Joshie. Gosh! At least after I gave birth to him, I only felt pain down-under. But now, I am so weak till I am dragging my feet just walking from the living room to the bedroom. Thank God the hubs is at home to tend to Joshie's needs. Ok, what hit us? Tummy flu.............as diagnosed by the GP this afternoon! Gave me antibiotics, diarrhoea medicine and some satchets meant for detoxification.

I'll leave you with a picture of my cheeky son at his table. We bought the table from IKEA after moving into our new place and the little boy really loves sitting at the table. Sometimes he would bring his bowl of biscuits/fruits to the table and sit there and munch.

My sick boy

On Monday, he woke up from his afternoon nap with a fever. Temperature was hovering at 38C plus for the rest of the evening. I checked his medicine box and realized that his suppository wasn't there. Must have left it in KL during our recent CNY trip. No choice but to force him to take the medicine in liquid form. Of course he protested and spat out quite a lot. That was at 5pm. Called my dear friend, Elke to ask if she has suppository but she doesn't. She advised me to mix it into his milk. Since there's no other way, I followed her advice and mixed it into his bedtime milk which he had at 8ish pm.

The next day, his temperature was between 38-39C even though I diligently fed him water and medicine. Sponged him too but he wailed his lungs out. Decided to bring him to see his paed. He had no runny nose, but his throat was a tad red. Anyway, the doctor wanted to test for influenza. "To be on the safe side, although I don't think it's influenza." he said. Thank God the test was negative. Doctor then advised me to observe him for the next 3 days. He said it could be just a bad viral infection but told me that it could possibly be false measles (Roseola) or urinary tract infection.


Long story cut short, his temperature did not go down. On Tuesday night, he hardly slept. Kept on waking up every hour, from 10ish pm till 5ish am. He cried as though he was in pain. I was kinda scared seeing him like that. He has never been like that before, even when he had acute gastroentritis seven months ago. Moreover, hubby was away on business. Decided to bring him to KK Hospital. So I packed some clothes, his diaper, milk and called a cab.


We arrived before 6am. Saw the doctor half an hour later. This time, doctor said he has ulcer in his throat and she checked his hands and feet for blisters to rule out hand-foot and mouth disease (HFMD). She then proceeded to have his urine examined. Since he can't pee when asked to, the nurse had to attach a urine bag. I was told to check the bag every 10 minutes for urine. The time then was 6:40am. He dozed off in my arms aroung 7:10am for about half an hour. After his nap, he was up and about, roaming his "new territory". Except for the occassional crankiness, he seemed active as compared to the other kids there. Walked to the toilets, down to the pharmacy and we also went up to the hospital mall to get a bottle of water. He even went and knock on the doctor's room and ran away. Now, who taught him that?

A picture of cheeky, dozing off in mummy's arms.


Well, he finally peed at about 8:40am, that's like 2 hours later, even though I kept on feeding him water. Doctor then confirmed that there's no UTI and asked me to monitor for HFMD.

He got better after our hospital trip! Temperatured dropped to near normal and he was not feverish anymore the next day. He wasn't eating much from Monday evening till Thursday but today, his appetite is returning. He ate half a bowl of porridge for dinner; his usual is 1 full rice-bowl! But he is still extremely clingy and manja to me. Why ar? Still not well or he loved the extra attention that mummy showered on him when he was sick?

He is getting better

After having bad diarrhoea for 3 days and vomitting 4 times, my baby is finally better. He was much better on Sunday and managed to drink 15oz of milk and gulp down nearly 10 tablespoons of food the whole day. His appetite was much better but I didn't dare feed him too much too.

Here's a picture of him taken during lunch today at Shimbashi Soba @ Paragon. He has lost quite a lot of weight (he seems lighter and pants also looser).


And here, he's posing like a samseng. One leg on the chair and biting on a chopstick.



Due to his diarrhoea, he had very very bad diaper rash. So we made sure he was diaperless for an hour in between his naps. As a result, hubby and I had to clean watery poo many, many times =)

My baby is sick

Joshie has been having diarrhoea since Wednesday. Brought him to a paed, who diagnosed him as having stomach flu. He was given medicine for his diarrhoea but he really hated it. Was a torture feeding him the 3.5ml and hubby and I had to pin him down in order to get the medicine down his throat.

Just when I thought he was getting better (no more diarrhoea on Thursday morning), he started vomitting after he woke up from his afternoon nap at 3pm. I think he threw up 1/3 of his lunch in his cot. I still observed him first and thought he didn't need to see a doctor yet. But after he threw up practically all 8oz of his 4pm milk, I knew he needed a doctor. So we rushed like mad to KinderClinic at Paragon cause they don't accept patients after 4:30pm. It was already 4:23pm by the time I buckled Joshie in his car seat. While driving, I called KinderClinic and told the nurse that we really need to see the doctor although we can only arrive about 4:45pm. Also called hubby who said he will meet us at the clinic.

Well, doctor said he had acute gastroentritis. So to prevent him from throwing up, they inserted a supporsitory ( don't know if I got the spelling right) at 5pm and we were supposed to insert again at 1am and 9am the following day. Doctor warned us that if he still continues throwing up, we'd have to bring him to the hospital. So anyway, being optimistic parents, we thought he wouldn't throw up already. Well, he threw up his dinner at 7pm and we were still calm, thinking that the medicine wouldn't take effect so fast. He still had a good appetite and whinned when I stopped feeding him. But I was just following doctor's advice to reduce his food portion by half. So at 8pm, I only gave him 4.5oz of milk which he drank as though he was famished. And right after I pulled the empty bottle away, he threw up all of his milk! I just stared at all the liquid gushing out of his mouth and then called for hubby. Hubby walked in and said "let's just go to Mt Elizabeth or Gleneagles".

To cut the long story short, we packed our necessities and walked into the lift. Then hubby asked if we are overreacting and we should just wait and see. After all, I don't think the A&E department will call a paed since Joshie still looks fine. Most probably, he will be seen by a normal GP. So we went back into our apartment again and put him to sleep. It was about 8:45pm then. He didn't even wake up when I inserted the 1am supp into his butt. He slept through the night till about 6am this morning. I think he woke up because he was hungry. But I only fed him water, which he drank greedily. Then he went back to sleep again till about 7:30am.

So far, he looks allright. Maybe a little lethargic coz he has not been eating well. He gave us a scare when he went all limp on his highchair this morning after breakfast. But he was just sleepy and was dozing off on his chair. Thank God he is almost well now. He even gave us his usual cheeky look before his bath today and played with his saliva too. And no more vomitting today! =)