Baby's entirely changed after trip to Hong Kong... :(

[bunbunng]

Me, my husband and my 7 month old daughter just had a trip back to Hong Kong and came back last Sunday. She has GERD (acid reflux) since 2 months old but since she is taking a new med (Prevacid), she's doing better and not vomitting that much. But ever since last sunday night we arrived back in Canada, she could no longer sleep well. She's a GREAT sleeper since 1.5 month, But this week is a nightmare for us. She usually sleeps only for 4 hours, then ended up crying out loud, whenever we put her back in bed after comforting, she'd get up crying every 20 -30 mins. We brought her to pediatrician on Thursday and she said my daughter had a sore throat, but there was no virus that she may catch on plane or in Hong Kong. She is totally refusing to eat formula/solid and water as well, what caused her to cry? Cold? Reflux? Jetlag? She's very tired i can tell, and her weight just dropped....Heardbreaking and worried to death. She is a happy and good baby who doesn't cry for no reason, and now she's tired all day long, but couldn't nap for long either, showing signs of separation anxiety, probaby it's coz of the cold or something else, I don't know. It's a long weekend here, so what should I do in the meantime? Just wanna know what was the sudden change???

 

[rani]

Do you think she could be teething? My son started teething at 7 months and he was cranky, had diarrhea, vomited (number of times) and stopped eating for 4-5 days until his teeth cut thru.

 

[bunbunng]

I have suspected that she is teething as well. But would that make her cry it out loud during sleep? She's my first, that's why I have no idea. I believe she has a bit of oral/food aversion, since she's willing to take limited amount of water (only 2 oz) and no milk at all, I wonder if the aversion is caused by the reflux. But still, I'd like to know what caused her big change right after the trip.....Thanks Rani.

 

[mintycat]

It could be she is still adjusting to the change after traveling. Maybe she is still suffering from jet lag. I know my LO took at least a week to adjust to the time change and environment last summer when we visited Toronto. She didn't eat much for the first few days either. When we moved house this past Feb, she also took 2 weeks to adjust and couldn't sleep well. She used to sleep through the night but suddenly she would wake up screaming and crying several times in a night and refused to go back to sleep unless we rocked her. Any change could throw a baby's schedule off. Hope your daughter gets back to her old self soon.

 

[bunbunng]

that's what i think too......time difference, but still, it's worrying to see her only drink like 2or3 oz milk and nothing else......today is my 8th day upon arrival, hope she'll do better.....

 

[Poppy]

It sounds to me like you have a bit of a cicle going on - babies need food to keep them going through the night, and because your Lo is not eating this is making the situation worse.

I know it is difficult but try not to act anxious around her. I know from experience that whenever my LO picked I was anxious the problem would just get worse. When ever I have had problems with my daughters food etc I have reminded myself that babies will not (can not) starve themselves and they can very suprisingly live on very little and if she refuses to eat I have shrugged my shoulders and said ok, nevermind that is fine (not making an issue out of it).

Make sure you eat pleanty in front of your daughter to lead by example and I am sure she will soon remember that she is hungry too. The important thing is to make sure the problem does not escalate from here, it seems to be very easy to end up with a fussy eater, through our (very understandable) anxiousness around our children!

I think maybe when she starts to eat some more again her sleeping will get better - try to be consistent in your approach

Good luck, I hope things are getting better for you

 

[bunbunng]

Thanks for your advice. What I noticed these two days is my daughter would stop accurately in the middle of her feed. She was usually on a 7 oz feeding, and now, no matter what I do, she'd stop and refuse the remaining 3 or 4 oz. I know baby can't starve themselves, but it's just frustrating. I've been "sneaking in" to feed her while she's sleeping, sometimes it works, sometimes when she realizes her sleep is being interrupted, she'd get really fussy.

My daugter is a great sleeper as I mentioned, other than her disturbed sleep, she's also being very cranky nowadays. I ain't sure if it's her jetlag, or even more important, she still can't get used to the quite life me and her having in Canada instead of the "happy days" that she had in Hong Kong while seeing lots of friends and relatives everyday. So I wonder she is still trying to adjust after such a big trip, does it make sense? But it's been about week and a half now.....

If anyone can get me some hints on "luring" babies to eat more, that'd help me out of the biggest misery of my life. She doesn't eat solids (won't even open her mouth), no matter what I offer to her, I've tried almost everything in an extremely patient manner. Plus she's diminishing her milk intake, that worries me alot, I need help !!