Aargh. The screaming is back. We just had a few days’ reprieve, that was it.

In part the screaming is caused by reflux. All of Adrian’s burps are “wet” and they often make him cry, and he throws up a lot, sometimes as much as an hour after feeding. Last week he lost his voice for several days, and since he had no fever I am pretty sure this was also due to reflux (although the screaming probably contributed, too).

But much of the cause sits in his head. While reflux is often the trigger, once he’s gotten started, he continues “just because”. And when he’s underway, most kinds of stimulus or change make things worse. Just when I think that nothing I’m doing is helping and he couldn’t possibly scream any louder, something happens – a door latch clicks too loudly, or I make the mistake of turning off a lamp – and he still manages to escalate.

Holding him so he can arch his back sometimes helps. Apparently this helps alleviate the reflux. A certain kind of vigorous patting also works to some extent. Unfortunately patting often leads to burps, which cause him pain, so he starts screaming louder again… Walking at a brisk pace also helps, and loud shushing. Swaying and rocking have almost no effect.

I think that often he needs not calming, but a stimulus that breaks the spiral of screaming causing more screaming. This is why the shushing needs to be loud and the back-slapping strong. Both just strong enough to get through the wall of noise, but not so strong that they would hurt or shock him.