all a haze

Poor wee Archer spends most of his time pulling this sort of a face. The last 3 weeks are a fuzz of sleeplessness, tears, frustration, tantrums and all and all unhappiness. Finley's birthday party was very nearly cancelled and my 26th birthday passed and I barely batted an eyelid. Archer was getting more and more difficult every day. To start with I thought he was just a windy kid. Then I thought it was colic. I resolved myself to the fact that he was just an unhappy baby and quietly struggled along with it. I started to wonder if it was in my head a little bit, and almost started to resent him for his seemingly unhappiness as I haven't had much time for Finley and Luke, or for myself. Archer struggled to sleep during the day, spent 80% of his awake time in tears, screamed blue murder whenever I put him down on his back, wriggled and arched his back during feeds and frequently choked, gagged and wheezed. I texted my midwife who suggested one sided feeding and more frequent feeds, as she wondered if he was just overdoing it, which didn't seem to help. But relief came when she came for her 4 week visit and told me I should ring the doctor as she believed that wee Archer had a pretty bad case of Reflux.

It really makes you appreciate what it is to have a healthy baby (like Finley was), as if Archer had been my 1st I realy don't think I would've even considered having any more! As much as I love the little guy it has been a struggle and I haven't enjoyed the last 3 weeks one bit.

So now I am on a dairy-free diet to try and eliminate a dairy allergy and I have to give Archer 10mg of Omeprazole (or Losec) a day. Today is day 3 on the diet/medication and we slowly seem to be seeing some results. I finally feel like we are starting to bond and I am getting to know a happier little boy. We are constantly watching for him to flash those first smiles... I am so sure that now he feels a bit better in himself that they aren't too far away!