reflux

Marisa - posted on 11/09/2008

the doc thought my first son had it when he was two months old they changed his formula to simulac alimentum and it worked wonderful

Ana - posted on 11/08/2008

My baby has awful reflux. I would here her cough and choke during the night and she would scream about 1/2 hour after she finished eating. She got to the pint the she wouldn't sleep and cried for 2 days straight. Wefinally had an upper GI test and she has grade 3 (really bad) reflux. We started her on Prilosec. It took 10 days to kick in but she has been a dream since. Now we are working on her weight gain...Babies with reflux can be happy spitters or scrawny screamers. They usually spit up, have mouths that smell like spit up, get fussy/irritable after feeds, cough and sound wet in their throat after feeds. They usually out grow it about 4-6 months cause their guts mature. Some people add rice to bottles, but research shows it doesn't reduce reflux, but may reduce the spitting...some moms swear by that though. I wouldn't do any changes though without discussing it with your pediatrician...hope this helps.

Kara - posted on 11/07/2008

My son is 4 months old and has had reflux for around 2 months now. Nothing has really seemed to help him. hopefully you have better luck than us! I feel like he throws up everything he eats, usually throws up about 6 times after each bottle. He went through 18 outfits today and an endless number of bibs!!!

Nikki - posted on 11/06/2008

My son was diagnosed with "silent reflux" at 4 weeks. He never really spit up, but would arch his back, scream after feedings, wanted to nurse 24/7 (to soothe the burn), and hated being flat on his back. We started Zantac and it helped within a week. I would definitely talk to your pedi about trying a different med. We bought a Soothing Motions Glider for him to sleep in because the head is elevated and it glides side to side to soothe him. As soon as he was able to roll, we let him sleep on his belly and he did so much better. We also started cereal early at 3 1/2 months and it helped. Now at 6 months we are still doing the meds twice a day, feeding solids twice a day, he is sleeping in his crib, and is doing great. Good luck!

Toni - posted on 11/06/2008

We too have the acid reflux. My dr. recommended keeping baby upright as much as possible and burp them alot. Previcid and Zantac did not work for my baby! I started him on stage 1 solids around 3 1/2 months and that helped me. My son has stomach troubles in addition and cant tolerate rice cereal so I was not able to use that method to help with the reflux.

Heather - posted on 11/05/2008

Gosh, I've been dealing with this myself. I have a 2.5 month old with the same issues. Here's what I've learned: try a medication (axid, zantac...she is currently on zantac) keep baby upright at ALL times (prop up mattress ALOT or have baby sleep in bouncer or something more upright of a position), burp baby often and especially before he sleeps, feed in a more upright position (this can be difficult with breastfeeding...I now pump and feed from a bottle) or there are formulas for acid reflux (milk based however...not good for the milk/dairy intolerant baby which our little one is) or there is a rice based thickener that you can mix into the breastmilk and feed from the bottle (I have not had to resort to this yet). At this point our doctor said that it is too early to start cereal, but once we do that this will get better because it is thicker than breastmilk/formula and tends to stay in the stomach better (not slosh up into the esophagus). Hope this helps!

Clarissa - posted on 11/05/2008

I am on my second baby with reflux... I noticed that my baby was spitting up alot and generally seemed uncomfortable after feedings, we first would adjust the formula to see if that made a diff.... One thing you need to do is feed baby in an upright position, have them sleep in an incline by either putting towels under the mattress or propping up end of bed with books etc.. it is super important that they are never flat - especially after eating!!! Do not do any kind of "wild" play after eating - ya know anything to jostle baby around.... Please ask your pediatrician about baby zantac that is what my son takes and also we were advised by our dr. to put rice cereal in baby bottles (1-2 tsp. per 4 oz.) to help keep food down... If you do not take care to reduce babies acid it will erode the esophagus so please give baby any prescription you were given.... It will not make the spitting up stop but it will reduce acid damage.... Hope this helps and oh yes there is a silver lining - they do grow out of it!!!

Alison - posted on 11/05/2008

I am new to Circle of Mom's and find this chat discussion so helpful!! My son also had acid reflux, found out at 6 weeks. Was projectile vomitting all feedings, my husband and I were so worried, being our first baby. He has been on zantac for the first 3 months, then prevacid, which didn't help because we had to give it to him in cereal, but would spit up all the cereal at such a young age, and is now on a combination med, omniperidol, that is working great. He will be 6 months this week, and it is getting much better. He is combo breast fed and formula, and also noticed that certain kinds of formula were harder to digest than others. The Good Start probiotic is what we are using right now. Thanks everyone for your stories!

Melanie - posted on 11/05/2008

this probably wont help but my bub is on the anti reflux formula and i have found the more solids he is eating the less he brings back up..so this is more to reassure that it does get less.

Melissa - posted on 11/05/2008

this is all very helpful just to knpw that so many others have been through it as well. thanks for sharing!!

Mary - posted on 11/05/2008

My son was put on rantidine( zantac) at 4 weeks. He didn't spit up a lot--some but not huge amounts. He would gag, choke, and cough a lot, and he would arch right off my breast during feeding, while crying--both in pain and because he was hungry. He also had an episode of turning slightlly blue. The doctor said babies with reflux display these symptoms, and the blue tinge could have been from the acid/milk, coming back up the throat and getting stuck there. She recommended keeping the baby upright for 1/2 hour after feeding is done, and put him on zantac. The zantac helps with the pain of the reflux because it is an acid blocker, but it won't reduce the other symptoms like spitting up, gagging, etc. For that to get better just takes time and development of the sphincter that closes off the esphogus. So I would say if your baby is showing signs of pain, try the meds, but all other symptoms of relux can't be cured without time.

Ashley - posted on 11/05/2008

My son was prescribed Zantac because he supposibly had reflux. He will be 4 months old on the 14th of this month. He has a lot of spit up problems and we stopped giving him his medicine because it was not helping him. I took my son to a different doctor and he said that the flapper deal in the back of their throat is sometimes deformed and they have to grow out of it. I know thats not much help but mine still does the same thing. They just tell me by 4 months or so he should be grown out of it.

Rachel - posted on 11/05/2008

My baby threw up so much in the beginning we were in and out of the dr's office almost every other day it seemed! We switched from breastfeeding to formula so she would gain weight and found the Infamill Acid Reflux formula to do wonders for her! Nothing they prescribed helped and I stopped filling them as well. She is 3 months now and seems to be doing fine, she doesn't spit up nearly as much as before and is gaining just fine. I wouldn't worry if he is gaining weight! Babies are just underdeveloped and need a little growing time for their systems to catch up and get used to the world.

Brianna - posted on 11/03/2008

Colic Calm... REALLY worked wonderfully for my daughter. I highly recommend this. My daughter had both Zantac and Previcid and I feel they caused more trouble then they were worth (not to mention how expensive they were) My daughter has been using the Colic Calm for 5 months and even though I was suspicious at first (my mom suggested it originally) I've been amazed for what it's done for my daughter.

If you want to read about it : http://www.coliccalm.com/

Heidi - posted on 11/02/2008

Hey there! I have ALOT of experience with this! : ) (usually 3 or 4 outfits worth of changes a day) My daughter developed "severe acid reflux" at about 6 weeks of age. She was hospitalized because she began to lose weight. First off, there is a difference between "spit up" and "throw up". My little girl was throwing up full feedings, sometimes 4 or 5 times a day. She was miserable all the time and whimpered or cried an awful lot. I feel fortunate that we were hospitalized for a full week, because I had the experts right there taking care of her with me. Even with all that help, we still didn't fully narrow it down. She was initially put on "zantac", but it didn't do much, then they switched us to "previcid" and it's working much better! I think you have to try a couple meds to get the right one. More importantly, ask your doctor if it is possible to take a stool sample to test for a "milk protein" allergy. Milk protein is in formula, but also breastmilk if you eat dairy. After we went home from the hospital, we had a follow up with our pediatrician. My daughter filled a diaper while we were there. The doctor just happened to walk in while I was changing her. She noticed that the "texture" of my daughter's bowel movment was unusual. She took a sample and we discovered she was allergic to milk protein. When I completely eliminated it from my diet, my daughter got significantly better...I started seeing signs of improvment in 3-4 days, and then by a week she was like a different baby. Milk protein is in alot of foods you wouldn't think of, and it's different than being lactose intolerant. It's been a real challenge for me to have no cheese, milk, butter, etc.. but it was totally worth it to see her feeling better. So, for us, it took a combined effort of previcid and eliminating all milk protein. The good news is they say that they grow out of the whole reflux thing at about 8 months or so....4 more to go for us!!!!