Anyone have a baby with reflux?

[klynnw]

I have a few questions for those who do. First off, what were the symptoms that your kids had? And how was it diagnosed? Did you decide to medicate them? Did the medication help? And how long were they on it?

Our doc is thinking ds might have this.........

[KatieLou]

*raises hand*

DD was a big time spitter. I am talking 6 and 7 clothes changes a day, and a mile high stack of bibs and recieving blankets (I used them in place of burb clothes) She would nurse, and pull of in pain. We got the GERD diagnosis at 3 months when she was laying on her back in the floor and swallowed her spit up, and we ended up in the ER. Long story.

Unlike alot of GERD babies though, she was never fussy. She was on reglan (for 6 months) and Zantac(for a year) The medication did not help her at all. It may help others, but it did not help her.

I do need to add that she also had a undiagnoised dairy allergy too, so the extreme symptoms could have come from that.

May I suggest a crib wedge?

[pumpkinhead7]

Kieran had moderate acid reflux. He was never a huge spitter, he but was in obvious discomfort after nursing and completely freaked out when he was put in a burping position and was inconsolable for 15-20 minutes after a feeding. He refused to lie flat and would only sleep semi reclined. He loved to be on his belly and slept best upright on my chest. He made chewing motions with his gums after a feed.

He nursed very frequently and wanted to comfort suck all the time. I learned that swallowing motions are a comfort for babies with reflux as the constant swallowing helps to keep the acid in the stomach. He was only really content while at the breast until we had him on medication. A pacifier was reccomended to me and it did help him. We put him on Zantac and it worked well as long as the dose was adjusted exactly to his weight. If he gained even a couple of ounces too much it stopped working entirely. I have since discovered that priolsec and prevacid are much better drugs for infant reflux.

[USAFeyez06]

Yes... along with multiple food allergies! For the first month of life, she would vomit at least twice a day. I curved that symptoms by nursing her a lot, but her meals were smaller... she was eating a lot at one time and gulping air causing her to throw up.

She was very fussy and I would often hear her burp and see her make a nasty face (like something came up with it). She was pretty miserable.

Our Dr. prescribed Zantac and I don't think I gave it a fair go. I decided not to medicate her, almost that there was more to it.

We discovered a couple months down the road about her food allergies and my elimination diet helped her reflux and other symptoms tremendously.

The only piece of advice I can offer, is keeping your little one upright. My dd slept in her bounce, swing, and currently sleeps in her car seat carrier. This is the ONLY way she will sleep to this day... she only lasts one to two hours in a row on her back before waking. So, while you are breastfeeding, bottle feeding, while your lo is sleeping, laying down or even playing... in and upright or sitting position will help a ton.

It is very frustrating, but it will get better. My lo is light years from where she was and it slowly gets better, but does get better. While we are still trying to get her comfortable sleeping in her crib (wedges didn't work for her - not inclined enough), she is sleeping through the night and I only see a TINY bit of spit up maybe once a week now, hanging on her lip or something.

Hang in there mamma... you'll figure it out and it will get better.

[klynnw]

Max will only sleep in a car seat too! I just thought it was b/c he was stuffy in the nose. He's been kind of snotty for a while. I have already cut out chocolate and limit my dairy intake as he seemed to have more freak out fits after I had eaten ice cream. The doc thinks that by putting him on meds (I didn't ask which one, but I will when I call back today) he will stop stiffening and pulling at the breast and that if he is more relaxed then he will nurse better. She said since he stiffens with his bottles too that reflux is a possible culprit. I'm just soooooo hesitant to put him on any medication. And dh is against it. But she said it wouldn't harm him if he didn't have reflux, so I guess we'll see. Thanks guys!

[SingingMom]

I thought my DS had reflux, but now I think it was OALD. He was a big spitter-upper. And he was obviously unhappy after nursing. And he did better when we put a wedge under his crib mattress.

But by the time I had DD, it was more clear that OALD was the problem. Green poops, along with gassy fussiness, really tipped me off. Block nursing solved our problem.

But, my babies were never obvious candidates for GERD. They were fussy, but not inconsolable.

[Nipple_nectar]

:::Waves hand::: Us too! Wonder what the percentages are for babies that have reflux and a dairy intolerance? We have both here too.

We also had a near emergency visit over a choking episode, very scary:( We were on zantac when that happened and DR switched us to previcid at that point. I saw no changes while on zantac but the previcid did the trick.

We kept her on it until the spitting up virtually disappeared around her first birthday.

[pumpkinhead7]

A stuffy nose can be both a sign of a dairy sensitivity and reflux. It definitely sounds like this could be what is going on with your little guy.

[pumpkinhead7]

Ranitidine (Zantac) has been used pretty extensively in babies for reflux and it has been determined to be very safe. Prilosec and Prevacid have been less extensively used, but so far have proven to be safe as well. Most of us don't want our kiddos to be on a medication if they don't need it, but left untreated, reflux can cause esophageal erosions and just a miserable baby. If it were me, I'd try a trial of the meds to see if they make any difference. They might not help, but they won't hurt.

[pumpkinhead7]

I also had over supply and overactive letdown issues. These didn't cause his reflux, but boy did they make it worse. Things were much better once I got rid of the dairy, put him on Zantac and started block nursing for the OALD. No one of those things worked on their own, but together they made a significant difference.

[NolasMom]

My baby has reflux. We were first alerted to it when I talked to the pediatrician at 6 weeks about her occasional projectile vomiting. We ruled out pyloric stenosis. She would arch her back during a feed, be very fussy during and after a feed, and throw up some after every feed, sometimes a lot. She is also wheezy and has frequent hiccups. The ranitidine seems to help a little, as well as keeping her head elevated. The feeds themselves are more peaceful, although she still spits up quite a bit. She's 3 months old now.

[mfirst]

DS1 had severe GERD - we started with Zantac (he wouldn't take it) and then moved to Prevacid at 3 months. He was on that until he was 12 months. His symptoms -projectile vomit, diahrea, arching during and after feeding, crying, recurrent ear infections, and he always smelled like stale milk (his breath). He slept in his infant carrier until he was nine months old. At that point, he'd flip onto his stomach and sleep. He was never a great sleeper. He did okay on the medicine, but what really seemed to help were small, frequent meals.

DS2 was suspected of reflux. They had us try Axid, then pepcid, and finally Mylanta. We had him allergy tested- he tested positive for a soy allergy, peanut allergy and egg allergy, and has a dairy intolerance. We now have him off his meds and are working on altering my diet and his. His reflux tests came back negative. His symptoms are vomiting, crying after feeding and poor weight gain.

[klynnw]

Max ended up on prevacid........I haven't noticed much difference in his feeding, but I have seen a small change in his temperment. He is actually happy after he eats! And, he will lay on his back for short amounts of times by himself. This is a huge development for us and allows me to set him down a little easier, which is nice for a change.