Hello, All.
Although I've been a little slow getting to posts this holiday week, I
agree with those who suggest that it can't be good for baby to be constantly
exposed to something that makes him spit up large amounts and frequently, even
if the baby is smiling and happy. Both of my children were allergic to
dairy. However, because I did not consume any dairy during my second pregnancy
(did not wish to predispose the baby, and this was 22 years ago, when we knew
a lot less about allergies in breastfed babies), my second child started out
with trickles of milk with burps and was a happy baby. She continued to be
happy over the next three months, as her spit-ups became gradually more
frequent and much larger. Because she was not the "screaming ball of misery" that
my first child was, I did not think she was allergic, and it took me three
months to figure out that she was.
I agree that there is danger to the baby in allowing such a situation to
continue just because baby is happy--the risk of anemia is real, and it
can't be good to be constantly irritating the digestive tract with milk coming
back up so frequently.
But what I'd really like to address, for all of you who have never
experienced this, is the idea that if that baby is happy, this is "just a laundry
problem." For me, it was "just a laundry problem" in the early few weeks,
when the spit ups were mainly just with a burp or two after a feeding and not
too copious. But by the time we finally figured out what was going on, we had
for the two previous months been plagued by her spitting up every 15-20
minutes when she was awake (and sometimes in her sleep). When these spit-ups hit
the floor, they often produced a splat easily 10-12 inches around, not
counting the droplets that bounced even farther. And when they hit me instead of
the floor, I was REALLY wet. Because I couldn't change my clothes every 20
minutes, even though I wiped up the milk, my clothes remained wet, so I was
wet and cold, which was especially miserable in the winter or in summer air
conditioning. And because the milk stayed on my clothes all day, it developed a
very sour odor. So I was both miserably wet and cold, and embarrassed to be
near anyone because I smelled like sour milk. And when out in public, I
could not leave a giant wet spot on the floor of stores or other people's homes.
Most people assume floors are dry and do not constantly watch their feet
while walking, so to leave such a large wet spot on the floor was dangerous and
irresponsible (I had a friend who worked in a nursing home and slipped in
some spittle on the floor, broke her ankle and suffered years of pain because
it did not heal properly), not to mention folks who weren't particularly happy
about spots on their carpets. So I had to wipe up the floors, which was
also humiliating. And, of course, I did not want to wipe my baby's face the
next time she spit up with the same cloth I had just used to wipe up the floor
of the grocery store, so I had to try to carry enough cloths to cover numerous
puddles.
Please, this is not just a laundry problem. It leaves moms miserable,
embarrassed and exasperated. To label it merely a laundry problem is to
belittle the emotions of the mother who must deal with the situation.
Dee
Dee Kassing, BS, MLS, IBCLC, RLC
Collinsville, Illinois, in central USA
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