You know the cliché of the Mum who is constantly covered in
baby puke? Well hello there, I’m the cliché. I’m that Mum.
Alex has been a very pukey baby ever since he was born. I
breastfed him for the first six months, and as soon as he started to take his
first few feeds, he vomited them straight back out. Sometimes it was
projectile, sometimes more like posseting, but almost always it was so much
that it seemed like he was ejecting at least half or most of his feed.
But he was growing and putting on weight, and it never seemed
to bother him much. We’ve had him checked over by the health visitor and
several doctors, and apart from suspecting he had reflux – though thankfully
not the more painful acid reflux – they all said that some babies are more
pukey than others, and that he will eventually grow out of it when his
sphincter has matured.
Well, Alex will be one year old in a couple of weeks time,
and he is still extremely pukey – and I’m still covered in baby puke all the
time. It got a little bit better when we first introduced a bottle of formula at
around five months and when we started weaning him onto solids at six months,
but overall, he has remained a little vomit monster.
He will still puke up a big chunk of his bottle – often in
a spectacularly projectile manner – followed by little possets for around half
an hour or so after each feed. And he will frequently bring up his solids a
little, too, though this is nowhere near as violent as the milk feeds – but a
lot more horrible in terms of smell and regurgitated chunks of food (*sorry*). Nice.
Just an example of my little puke monster. That's nothing though compared to the
huge eruptions sometimes.
It’s literally quite incredible sometimes how such a small
person can be so spectacularly sick, and when it’s a really bad case, which
happens about two or three times a week, he will cover himself, myself, the
couch, the carpet, the cushions and everything else that is in his proximity,
and we all need a shower / bath and everything else needs a deep clean.
I have
become that woman who covers everything in blankets and layers of protective
cloths, just to guard the rugs and furniture etc. from the big puke.
I have to change Alex at least three to four times a day, because
he has covered himself so much, and always take several changes of outfits
wherever I go. And as for me – I have become so used to being covered in sick
all the time, that it’s only when I see my friends’ or other peoples’ shocked
expressions when they witness the vomit volcano erupting on me, that I realise
how bad it is.
The worst thing is when he pukes on me just as we are about
to leave the house, and when I have to catch a train to London or head office
for meetings, all in my nice work clothes – usually you will find me in jeans
and T-shirts, my puke absorbing attire – or worse still, when I haven’t noticed that he’s spat and only
realise once I’m on the train that my sleeve or my shoulder is covered in baby
puke. Dashing to the train station toilet to wipe myself clean has become a familiar
routine.
Sometimes I will notice a funny smell coming from somewhere,
only to realise that that funny smell is me (!!) and that I’m covered in a nice
sticky puddle of baby puke. Eurgh!
I honestly thought he would have grown out of it by now, but
that doesn’t seem to be the case. He is still happy, he is still growing,
putting on weight and meeting all his developmental milestones, as well as
still unfazed by all this, so I don’t have reason to suspect anything more
serious than that it’s just “one of those things.”
I have enquired about a milk or dairy intolerance, but the
doctor said that he would have other allergic symptoms, too, and that it was
unlikely. So I’m at a bit of a loss.
He’s
got his one year review coming up in a little while, so I will ask the HV about
it once more, but I’m almost resigned to the fact that I will just have to put
up with the BIG FAT PUKE until it goes away by itself. Let’s just hope that
this happens sooner rather than later.
Because I’m seriously running out of
clean clothes.
Awww we have times like this before but luckily my son had changed! But he has puke so much on the sofa that even when the puking is years ago our sofa still bears the stains of the puke =P
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Ah, I can imagine! I'm forever covering up or deep cleaning our upholstery and rugs and everything. I hope he'll grow out of it soon. Luckily they don't seem bothered by it, which is at least some consolation. x
DeleteOh my goodness I can relate to this so much. If my friends were reading this they would say that's B to a tee! He literally vomited everyday for the first 18 months of his life without fail. He had no intolerances or problems reflux or gaining weight if anything he was in the 95 percentile so no worries there. And near his second birthday it just got less and less. He still if he doesn't feel good gives it a good vomit fest for us unlike his sister who never pukes ever. But I was that mother covered all the time. The doctors said he was fine and it would go away and it did. Hoping that's the same for you too Good luck from one vomit covered mommy to the next. :) Thank you so much for linking up to Share With Me #sharewithme
ReplyDeleteAh, thank you Jenny. That's very encouraging to know that B grew out of it in the end. I very much hope that this will be the case for us, too. He hasn't got problems gaining weight or anything and doesn't seem to be bothered in the slightest, so I really hope that it's just something that will go with time. But until then, I'll continue to cover up my possessions and stake out the puke stains on me, haha! x
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