Research

I have recently had a career change to research. Who knew that I would be doing research one day. I always thought of this career as exciting. To discover new things and be able to apply them and hope that they work was always fascinating to me. However, the one drawback is the social interaction that is minimal during the research I am doing. The research position that I have taken works in mostly a solitary environment. That means, for the most part, that I am alone in my research. The trials and errors only effect me and those in the study. I have some other colleagues in the department, but they come and go. They play a part now and again, but mostly it is just me and the subject of the study. I make the decisions and am the one who collects and analyzes the data. I can take the advice they give me and apply it, but ultimately I decide if it works or doesn't.

Now for those of you who have never worked in research, as I hadn't until now. The work you do often has you up at strange hours. Most of the time you can work during the day, but sometimes you have to be up and going in the middle of the night or early morning hours, often several hours before the sun rises. The research is often a little scary and I get anxious that I will harm the subject, but I keep plugging along and putting in the time and the effort to "get it right". However, "getting it right" is not always in the cards. You think that you have a breakthrough and then you are back to square one and re-configuring. Poor subject.

My research is not top secret, so I will let you know some of the things that I have been researching as of late and tell you of the subject that I am using. The title of my position is Mom. The subject is Beatrix, my daughter. The research I am doing is on spitting up/breastfeeding.

Beatrix has been spitting up since birth. Something all babies do, and at first I was alarmed and it worried me. However, almost everyone has said "It's normal" for babies to spit up. I know that babies spit up and that it is normal, but 4-5 times after and during a feeding seems extreme. This spitting up can occur a couple of hours after she eats. It is traumatic for her and for me. She screams and cries when she spits up and seems downright uncomfortable. I guess I would too, if I was spitting up after I ate each time, my stomach hurt and I was gassy. That being said, I am doing some research. I consulted her pediatrician who said she has all the signs of reflux. Chewing motions after eating or spitting up, choking while eating, arching her back before spitting up, fussy spitting up...not your"happy spitter". She is gassy and has a gurgly stomach. She is constantly hungry and wants to stay latched and sucking even when she is not getting any food. That all being said, we started her on some medication, which seemed to help a little, but she was still spitting up often and still crying during feeding. I recently went back to the pediatrician because she seemed to have a cold. She was congested and had trouble breathing on occasion. The mucus sounded like it was in the back part of her throat or her sinuses. He told me it sounded like it was reflux related. He started her on another medication. Here is to hoping it works! Or back to the drawing board.

Through researching I have also come to the conclusion that I produce a lot of foremilk...let's be honest I produce a lot of milk. I have come to find out that foremilk, unlike the hindmilk is not easily digested because it slips right down to the stomach instead of going through the digestion process like it should...and whoops comes right back up. This is where my experimentation starts. I started pumping to remove some of the foremilk, but recently found out that pumping too much causes more milk. I have waaayy too much milk so why would I want more??? I found out that I need to use the same breast for feeding for a few hours, while letting her nurse whenever she wants to. No scheduled nursing. By nursing off of the same breast I won't get theforemilk or at least not quite as much foremilk, and she will get the hindmilk. Therefore, vomit/spit up less and maybe become a "happy spitter" . I also found out some new breastfeeding positions to help the milk to go down. There are some wonderful websites available and I am going to post the two that I like just in case anyone else has this same or similar situation. Maybe it can help in their research.

http://www.kellymom.com/babyconcerns/reflux.html

http://www.normalfed.com/Continuing/gulping.html

Now, I am off to take care of my subject and to collect a little more data.