Reflux Baby!

Just have to take a moment for some "much needed" venting! Although this Mom is so nice and friendly, I am feeling a little frustrated! I know there are limits to what you can/should say to parents re: the care of THEIR CHILD. There for a little vent may be all I can do. I have had this baby for a few months and had a previous post re: her spit up, all the time on the floors and furniture. Well...thanks to some GREAT advice I dug further into our already possible "diagnosis" of reflux and came to the conclusion, per the parents request (some things the mother asked me to do against my opinion) somethings needed to change. I changed the babies nipple flow from fast to medium, which changed her feeding time from 5 minutes to 25. One of the comments for reflux babies especially but all babies should take no less than 20 min to eat. Her spit up went from alot for hours after a bottle, to literally maybe once after the bottle. I also completely stopped putting her flat on her back, now she sits in an inclined position but for a small ammount of time each day for "floor time" rolling over and such. Long to short, I have been doing ALOT to help her and feel things are MUCH better, when I have her. I refuse to feed her EVERY 3 to 3.5 hours as the Mother suggested, I know how to read babies, and she's just not hungry every 3.5 hours, I WILL NOT stuff a bottle in her face, just because some literature tells me thats what she needs.:no: The Mother drops her off today, as she usually does, in a bit of a huff and makes the comment of "she was up twice last night, starving" I cant help but think she is making a comment directed at the fact she knows I dont feed the baby every 3 hours rather when she shows signs of hunger. OR if it does reach near 5 hours, I just make a bottle and give anyway, she usually takes it. I tried one day to do the feed every 3 hrs and she cried through the bottle and spit up ALL DAY! I think it not only triggers her reflux to feed TOO much but also just over feeds her, she gets sick and pukes. seriously just need to vent if nothing else, if I say too much to a paretn like this it just makes things too hard. I will just keep quiet and keep up with what I think is right, just frustrates me a little because we cant see eye to eye. almost feel like she wants to work against me rather than with me, and def feel like she is blaming me for the baby not sleeping through the night. she has even asked me to have her nap later in the day so she doesnt nap in the evening at home that way she will sleep through the night. YOU CANT MAKE A BABY SLEEP OR NOT SLEEP< THEY DO IT AS THEY NEED IT!!!!!!! thanks for listening!!!!!:):):) :):)

Do you do a newsletter or any other form of 'group' communication with your clients? Are there are clients with children the same age?

Cause I might attempt a passive aggressive form of 'education' about normal night waking for infants as they age and how it might NOT be for FOOD but just that they need to learn to self soothe when they wake in their normal sleep cycle just like we ALL do and we do not get up and eat ... if provide ALL your clients with this information via a newsletter and provide articles you 'came across' and wanted to share with those with children this age and so forth it does not single HER out but puts the information in her hands in a way she might 'reflect' on it and try the suggestions in the 'articles'?

I hate conflict and agree there is only so many ways you can 'advise' someone when you have to step back and accept that it is THEIR journey and they have to figure it out for themselves ... in the meantime you do what works in the program so that during the day you have a happy content and thriving baby cause that is YOUR job ~ parents job to figure out how to have that same baby at home ;)

BTW infants also wake because they are in pain and so forth ~ might not be for FOOD but because they are teething and so forth .... if she keeps assuming that ALL her crying cues are hunger she risks creating unhealthy eating habits where the child will EAT to self soothe for pain and emotional needs not being met :(

completely agree, I have also made little comments regarding the reflux issue a well, and in the info I gave her regarding misconceptions with reflux babies it suggested: alot of times parents misunderstand their childs cries of "pain" and "discomfort" due to the reflux, as hunger cries instead...choosing to feed the baby rather than console in other ways, causing the reflux to worsen and the baby is more discontent. not sure if this is what is happening at night or not, but def wonder.!!!! just because a babe cries at night doesnt mean she is hungry, but hopefully they know the ydif between pain or discomfort and hunger. :(

Exactly what Reggio said .... Reflux is acid build up from food .... So let's say the mom feeds the baby a bottle in the evening and puts her straight to bed without sitting her upright for an hour to let the bottle digest then the formula creates acid which bubbles up in the throat causing a burning sensation and baby wakes up .... So mom feeds the baby again and lays her right back down and the formula crates acid again and the baby wakes up again .... It's a vicious circle and mom doesn't realize she is creating it .... She should give the bottle an hour before bed letting her sit up for at least an hour before lying her down and if she wakes up she would be better to give her some water to combat the acid ..... Can you tell ive done this? A friend of mine had a child that the reflux was so bad it required medication