Naptime Blog

My twins are now 9 months old.  They have had completely different personalities since birth.  As they get older it is more and more apparent that they are completely separate individuals with different attitudes, expressions, tempers and traits.  But Louis, the older twin by two minutes, would cry bloody murder at least two or three times a week, usually in the evening. 

I had read about colic, but that was such a broad term and he really is (and always has been) such a happy baby!  Plus, I don’t think there is much to do about colic except wait it out, and this baby seemed to be in such pain!  And the spitting up was unbelievable!  I had two babies the same age, and although it is wrong to compare them with milestones, and such, Anthony would spit up once after his bottle and he’d be fine.  Louis would spit up, and spit up, and spit up…  all over his clothes, all over my clothes, all over my shoes… it wouldn’t end, and it would be accompanied by that screaming!

I brought Louis to the pediatrician when he was about three months old in the hopes she could do something.  I was expecting to hear that it was colic and it would get better in a few months.  I explained his symptoms, and was shocked when he was diagnosed with Acid Reflux!

Of course the guilt then sunk in, for I have very bad acid reflux myself, and I knew he inherited from me.  I know the pain of it all too well, and felt even more terrible that I didn’t recognize this myself!  My poor little boy must have been in so much pain!

The doctor prescribed baby Zantac and had us change his formula from Similac Advance to Enfamil Gentlease.  Within a few days, Louis was a different kid!  He was not screaming anymore, he didn’t constantly need to be held, and he seemed so much more relaxed!  But the spitting up continued.

A family goes through so much formula on a daily basis, imagine how much formula you go through with twins!  Our monthly budget was being eaten away by formula, and it was extremely difficult month after month.  I had been posting on a twins message board since I found out I was expecting them, and had been hearing the other moms rant about store brand formulas.  Quite a few moms frequently discussed the Walmart brand, and how their children were thriving on it.  I thought it couldn’t hurt to give it a shot.  If nothing else, I’d go back to the Enfamil.  Plus, it just might save us a few bucks each month.

Within two days I was SHOCKED to see that Louis’ spitting up was significantly less on the Parent’s Choice Gentle Formula!  As a matter of fact, after a week he was spitting up as much or less than Anthony!  He wasn’t in pain, he wasn’t spitting, and we were saving over $75 a month!

Both my boys are on Parent’s Choice now, and I plan to start our new baby (expected in September) on it from the very beginning.  Louis is still on the Zantac, although he is now almost ten months old, and the pediatrician says that babies usually outgrow the Acid Reflux by a year old.  I hope he is one of the kids that outgrow it by a year, because I know how horrible it is to live with daily.  Thanks to baby Zantac and Parent’s Choice, I am a happy mommy (and a lucky one, both boys have been sleeping through the night since they were three months old!) with two happy babies.

Jennifer
Mom to Juliana (7), Louis (9m) and Anthony (9m)
Expecting #4 in September!
www.nevaland.com