5 Month Old and Acid Reflux

My daughter had acid reflux early...like 8 weeks old...the old way I knew was she got raspy after she was fed (bottle baby)...she was on liquid prilosec 2 times a day until 6 months and it went away....I hear babies tend to outgrow it...had to prop the end up her crib up with bricks to prevent choking on the phlem...that was about it...not a big thing to be concerned with...:) I know, we are always concerned as moms!!!

Best wishes!!

You should try getting a second opinion. My daughter was diagnosed with acid reflux but she had the actual sypmtoms. Comparing what you have said about your daughter it doesnt sound anything like what mine had. She was on Zantac for a while and she did ok with it and she started very young.

Hi Y......hmmnn.....I don't profess to be a doctor, but based on what you're saying - that your daughter was a perfectly good milk drinker until you introduced to her yummy sweet foods like fruit, she has no apparent pain, spitting up vomiting or fussing - sounds to me more like she's just decided she prefers fruit to milk! And who wouldn't? It was partly for this reason, I think, that my pediatrician strongly encourage me to start with something bland and not sweet like rice cereal and then oatmeal (mixed with breast milk or formula - any special reason why you're using lactose-free formula?), and then move on to a mild vegetable like peas. His experience was that if you start a baby on sweet foods too soon, it's hard to convince them to eat anything else. Could you maybe go cold turkey on the fruit for a couple of days, see if you can get her interested in the milk again, and then introduce rice cereal or oatmeal, and then slowly add applesauce or something back in? Again, not a doctor, just my .02.

S.

Y.

I breastfed my first son and now breastfeeding my 2 month old. I also have a gassy baby that my pediatrician as well thinks is acid reflux. I would not be comfortable with Zantac medication either, and all I am doing is continuing to breastfeed to counteract the reflux. With my first child, when I went back to work, I expressed milk and he did fine, but my second son is refusing the bottle and for the same acid reflux reason. I read somewhere where the sucking motion causes the muscles in his esophagus to contract to allow the milk to go down and that muscle contracting might be uncomfortable when used from the bottle. By the breast being natural, it causes the same contractions, but somehow the breastmilk and the sucking actually normalizes the acid as nature intended. If she is eating solids now, I would mix the milk with the solid food and feed it so she can get the nutrients from the breast milk (kinda like cereal, milk and banana or the milk and rice cereal) rather than having to suck from the bottle and then nursing her naturally when you are able to or come home from work. Hope that helps.

One more thing, it could be that she is getting full with the solids and only need a liitle bit of milk now that her stomach has matured a little.

Hi Y.:

My advice would be to see the doctor. My daughter had acid reflux and would constantly vomit. First, they changed her milk to Enfamil AR, which was wonderful cause it filled her up more and would only have little spit ups. Second my dr said that she would only prescribe zantac if the vomitting did not stop. I have NEVER heard of any dr or nurse prescribe zantac for a baby that does not want a bottle. This DOES NOT sound like acid reflux to me. I would NOT give the baby the medicine. Get a second and even a 3rd opinion.

She's not spitting up, gaininig weight...she misses her mommy.....

You can try a Chirpractor- they use low force adjustments, which means no cracking or manipulating is it is painless. They use an instrument that just uses pressure points. A chiropractor will be able to tell you if your daughter in fact has acid reflux. Good Luck!

Jill

My little girl has that type of reflux and I make sure to stay away from acidic foods (apples, pineapple, peaches) and give more veggies that have a lower acid content. In addition for her bottle, I place ground up rice cereal in her bottle to thicken the formula.
I take the gerber cereal, the kind that comes in the silver can, blend half of it in the blender until it looks like flour, then repeat with the other half. In her 6 oz bottle I put 2tsp of the ground cereal in there. The starches thicken the formula and prevent it from bouncing back up. Just beware, you may have to increase the nipple size by 1 in order to get the thicker formula through. (move from size 1 to size 2 etc).
My best friend is a pediatrician and she recommended this method because I didn't want to give her zantac either. It has worked like a charm.
Also...my son, who does not have silent reflux, started pushing away his bottle after I introduced solids because he was more interested in eating the "good" foods than nasty ol' milk. I just make sure to give him his bottle as soon as he wakes up from a nap, before solids. He's still drowsy from the nap and will normally finish the bottle. I also give him a bottle at night before bedtime and he will always finish that bottle too.
As long as they are drinking their weight in milk, most of the time their hydration level will remain ok. (16 lbs = 16oz of milk)

Adding probiotics to her milk may help.(probiotics is what makes yogurt and saved my daughter's life) Open a capsule and poor out the contents into the milk. She may have a yeast problem and the probiotics are the best for that. She will need to be on them for a long time and since you are using your breastmilk you should take probiotics also! The word "probiotics" means for life and they are necessary for life.
Good Luck and God Bless

Hi Y.,
My advice is, if she is not in pain, don't give her the Zantac. My son was prescribed Zantac at two months old becasue he gulped constantly during feedings (breast fed). Doc said, "must be acid reflux" and prescribed Zantac. After about a month on the Zantac, there was no difference in his eating habits. I did some research and found out that the Zantac does nothing to actually control the acid reflux, all it does is neutralize the acid so that the reflux doesn't cause the baby any pain. It has no effect on the muscles or mechanics of the esophagus, so it does NOT suppress the reflux action. Since my son was not in any pain to begin with, I stopped the Zantac (oh, it tasted HORRIBLE anyway..worse than any medicine I have ever had). He is now a happy and healthy two year old. For some reason, acid reflux is the "in" diagnosis right now, as I know so many babies over the past few years who have been on heartburn meds. In my son's case, I don't think he ever had acid reflux either.

As for the eating... maybe try moving up a stage in the nipple you are using. If she is having to suck to hard to get the liquid out, maybe she loses interest. And, make sure you always offer the bottle first, before any solid foods, at each feeding. She should still be getting all her nutrition form breast milk or formula. Baby food and cereal is for training, not nutrition.

I babysit a five month old and this is the age that they start letting us know when they are full.think that all babies let us know when they are truly hungry. My little one eats one 4 oz every 3-4 hours and eats breakfast of fruit and rice cereal and dinner of vegtables. Some times she only takes 2 oz after breakfast and then some about 2 hours later then back to the regular schedule. You may be feeding you baby too much solids to start off with lessen them and try a little more breastmilk. Ease her into the eating solids only once or twice a day. Our ped told us only once a day for the 5th month. Mine will be 6 months in two days so we have started a dinner feeding. Just my 2 cents maybe this will work. I agree I would not think it was reflux.

Not sure why Dr.'s are recommending starting solids so early as these are the problems that result. I waited until 7 months to introduce solids to my twin boys. Breast milk is all they need and unless the child is not getting full, my experience suggests to wait on the food. As you have noticed, once you introduce food, interest in breast milk rapidly diminishes and may be causing the reflux. I suggest holding off a bit longer on the food.

stop the solids. they don't need them at all. will she still nurse? solids before one year are to get baby used to texture and flavor. they are not necessary for nutritional value. she may just be full from solids. they take up a lot of space in a baby who's belly is about half the size of her fist.

Hi! From the sound of it (and I'm not a Dr, just a Mom) I think your right and the NP is wrong. I would prob take her back to see the Dr when you get a chance since she will need the vitamins in the formual til shes at least 9 month (thats when I switched my son to regular milk per my Ped). Maybe she just doesn't like the taste anymore? I would try to throw some of the jar food in with the formula and see if she'll take it flavored? Like bananas or mixed fruit. Go with your instincts always, never completely trust the NP or Ped, if it feels wrong to you, then is probably is!!! Hope this helps! Good luck!

This is why I always refuse to see the nurse prac!! Sorry if I offend anyone here, but you are paying the same (full or copay) for the visit so why not see the doctor?? I would either
a) call the office and explain the situation and say you really would like a doctor to call you
OR
b) make another appointment with a DOCTOR.

On another note, first time moms worry an aweful lot about things that are just life. I did the same thing with baby #1 (I have 3 now). If she is gaining weight, why worry about how much she eats at each meal or how often you have to feed her?? All of that will change constantly, so if she is thriving you can't worry or you'll just go prematurely gray! haha

And one more thing-- please, please, please stop feeding her when she is asleep. Mention it to the doctor and see what he/she says if you don't want my advice on that

Hi,

My daughter was diagnosed with acid reflux at 5 weeks old, and she never ever ever spit up with it. She was pushing out the bottle, arching her back and crying as if she was in pain. What happens is the reflix comes back up into their throat and burns them. The dr prescibed Zantac which i researched when i got home and it is safe very safe for babies to take and it helped. The zantac surpresses the reflux action. I also changed her bottles to Dr Brown bottles which helped with the air in take.

She was on zantac until she was 9 months old and I have no regrets about sdoing so she is perfectly fine now.

My son developed acid reflux when he was three months old, and what you are describing with your daughter does not sound anything like what we experienced. My son would projectile vomit after every feeding. He was clearly experiencing discomfort. I'm not sure what the nurse practioner is basing her diagnosis on, but I would go back and see the doctor before you start giving your daughter meds for reflux. My son went through an upper GI before the pediatrician would diagnosis of acid reflux.
Good Luck!

Go back and see the doctor. That doesnt sound like acid reflux to me at all.

Try to see if she is snacking. My little boy did that when he was a baby. He was 9 months old and was waking every 2 - 3 hours wanting a bottle (I had to stop bf). Anyway, I read that he might be snacking. I let him CIO (it's up to you - but I am fine with CIO). Since your daughter is doing this in the day - try to not give in to feeding her on demand but on a flexible schedule. Try to keep pushing her off -- like playing with her or something. See if this helps and encourages her to eat more when you offer food.

Hi Y.,

My daughter needed zantac when she was tiny too. BUT, she was throwing up after feedings for a very long time, and after giving her the medicine, she stopped and the milk stayed down. I am VERY surprised to hear that their thoughts were to give your daughter that, and would probably get a second or third doctor's opinion first! Secondly, that's a very young age to have begun feeding foods!! Usually they wait until atleast 6 months old when they are sitting up by themselves. Good luck with her!! Go with your gut instinct!!!!

You may want to take her to Neumors(Gastro Dr's) to see a specialist if your not comfortable with the current diagnosis. Both of my kids had acid reflux which they both grew out of, but they also threw up all the time even though they continued to eat it came back up about 10 to 15 mins later.

I would take her to see a specialist just to ease your mind.
Be Blessed

I have a 14 year old daughter that has suffered with acid reflux and she is horribly lactose intolerant. Seeing that hind sight is 20/20 - I would take your little one to a pedeatric gastroenterologist and get the diagnosis from them - Zantac is not such a bad thing, can also help protect the lining if it is in fact acid reflux. I only listened to my pediatrician who is WONDERFUL but not a specialist in that area and I would have had my daughters gastro issues under control MUCH earlier than when it did come under control.

Try feeding her with a sippy cup or a cup with a straw.

Follow your instincts! It doesn't sound like it to me either (I have a child with reflux). I would make an appt to see the actual ped before giving the meds. If she is still growing and gaining weigh fine, I wouldn't really worry. Kids appetites fluctuate quite a bit for the first few YEARS. With the introduction of solids her little tummy seeks fewer liquids. I would also request a visit with a ped gastroenterologist if your regular ped tries to say reflux also. Testing by a ped gastro doc is the only way to truly diagnose reflux. Good luck and good instincts mom!

You gotta love her, she has her priorities straight, eating and sleeping. Isn't it great when they eat and drink without any fuss? One question, why do you feed her when she's asleep?
It seems to me she is getting satisfied with the solids and might not need a full bottle. If she has any gas patting her back while holding her on your shoulder could take care of that, no need for meds when she's not vomiting or in pain. Good luck with your little angel.