Acid Reflux?? - Darien,IL

My son also had acid reflux and digestive issues. He too was on similac Alimentum, he was also on Prevacid, and mylicon and rice cereal in every bottle. It basically was a trial and error at first but this combination worked best for us. I remember it being such a stressful time, but the good news is they do outgrow it. By 1 my son was drinking whole milk, eating whatever, off prevacid and not having issues. I wish you the best of luck!

I have a 6 week old, BioGaia has been an absolute lifesaver, wish I had had it for my 3 previous fussy babies. It's a probiotic and you can get it from the CVS pharmacy.

my best advice is to swaddle swaddle and more swaddling it really works for almost any ailment in baby.I am reading great book right now called the best baby on the block it has been extremely helpful:)

Check to make sure its just acid reflux. They told me that that was all my son had and that he hda a rash on his bottom from not changing him enough and it turned out ( at 18 months) that he had a yeast infection that went from his mouth through his digestive track to his bottom. We shared it back and forth with the nursing. All I had to do was give up the sugar. You never know. Check with le leche league and other mothers. Your child might have somthing else and the Dr are giving it the easiest answer.

I know I'm late in reading this, but get some medicine from your doctor. We suffered like you for months with our 1st daughter, and I was losing it. We finally tried Zantac which didn't work, and then Prevacid (chewables in a syringe with a little water). It took about 2 weeks for her esophagus to heal, but then she was like a new baby- she was happy! I don't believe there are any bad side effects to the acid reducers, and it made a world of difference for us. She was on them from about 5- 10 months old. Good luck!

Hi there. We went through similar problems with our son, right around 6 weeks. At first I thought it was just reflux. Once I told my doctor (who used to specialize in pediatric gastrointenstinal medicine) about his symptoms, she checked him for a milk and soy protein allergy. He also had reflux, which accompanies most babies with the allergy, but that was not what was causing his tummy pain. It's very common in babies actually, but not talked about a lot. However, it's a very simple test that your doctor can perform. They take a sample of his bowel movement, put it on this special paper, if it turns blue, then yes he has it. And it's very easy to fix once diagnosed... just a different formula until he outgrows it :) If you've got questions about this, contact me. I'd be happy to tell you my son's symptoms, etc.

Not sure if this is what your son has, but it may be worth asking your pediatrician. Good luck!

Hi,
Both my girls had (and my 3 yr old stlll has) acid reflux. It is so so hard to go through. I feel for you. It will pass but you really just have to try to get through each day hour by hour right now. Swaddling can be good, definitely keep him upright as much of the day (and even night) as possible. An ER doc told me to let my first girl sleep in her carseat and so at 5.5mos we did and it really helped. Honestly whatever is best for him to feel good and get sleep is most important. I did a LOT of holding them and walking them with a slight jostling, but it only helped a little, distracted them from the pain a little. I tried singing to calm them, calming music. But the BEST remedy is to get on Prevacid as soon as you can. I think it was at 8 weeks I want to say. Prevacid works wonders. Both girls started with Zantac but it wasn't enough for them. But Prevacid really made the difference and be a stickler to not eating an hour or two before the Prevacid and a half hour after. That is so so hard with infants!!! Or at least my girls who both ate little bits often. Hard is an understatement. But you have to so that it works. Also, Nutramigen formula worked well for my second girl. So very expensive though. Ask your doc for samples. But my best best advice is keep him upright almost all the time and get him on Prevacid. They can outgrow it at anytime. My 3.5 yr old still has it like I said, my other daughter outgrew it at 10 months. I will be thinking of you. Please take care of yourself as best you can-right now you just have to survive day by day and someday you will have a happy boy and you will realize what a hero you are to have survived it all. P.S. The girls see (saw) Dr. Suzanne Nelson (Gastroenterologist) in Glenview and she is with Children's Hospital.

My son had the same symptoms - went on Zantac, and through the help of a pediatric GI, we discovered milk and soy protein allergies. We were on Neocate formula until he was one year. The amazing thing that was within 24 hours of changing to Neocate (after trying Alimentum and Nutramigen for about a month each) the symptoms stopped right away - no more spit ups, could fall asleep after eating without pain, no more bloody stools. Ask your pediatrician to refer you to a GI doctor and keep trying until your kiddo feels better. Oh, and this started at 7 weeks for my child and we were on Neocate by 3 months.

Give the formula some time. We switched our son and it took about a week. If he is still bad, ask the doctor for Zantac. It was a Godsend for us. It took away his pain almost immediately. Poor baby, I know what you are going through and hope it gets better soon.

After talking to your doctor, consider a milk bank (breastmilk).

I'm sure other mothers have great advice too.

If your child truly has acid reflux, I'm shocked the pediatrician did not recommend a course of action. What did the pediatrician have to say? If they didn't suggest any sort of remedy, then you either need to go back and ask them what to do or switch pediatricians.

Hi L.,
My son had reflux and bad gas pains too so he wouldn't sleep. Doc put him on Zantac and that helped with the pain and spit up, but he still had had horrible gas pains. He would cry and cry. We tried Similac alimentum and Enfamil AR, with Mylicon in the bottles, but neither worked. Finally we went to Similac Isomil (Soy formula) and it worked a miracle! No gas pains and he sleeps like an angel. We figure he was sensitive to the milk. (I'm lactose intolerant myself)
I still put Mylicon in each bottle. Now that he's 6months and eating baby food the reflux is less and we're using less medicine. Soon i'm sure he'll be off the medicine completely.
See if you pediatrician will give him mendicine, and if the alimentum doesn't work after a couple weeks, I'd recommend trying the Soy for a couple weeks and see if it gets better.
Good luck!

I'm responding to your statement about your body hurting from holding your baby. I'd like to suggest getting a baby carrier, such as a Moby Wrap, etc., so you can hold your little one close and snuggly, yet be hands free.

I could have written this question, 3+ years ago. My son developed reflux about the same time. I tried everything and the pediatrician was not much help, saying it was "a phase" and he would grow out of his "colic." I finally demanded that he give him something for it, and he prescribed infant Zantac drops. My son still refluxed, of course (they do just have to grow out of that), but the Zantac neutralized the acidity of what he was refluxing so that it didn't burn his throat. He'd still burp up everything but at least he didn't cry anymore. I;ve heard Zantac doesn't work for some babies, there's another brand that does if not. I was at my wits' end, I totally know what your'e going through. The Zantac, at least for my son, started working in 2 days and he was a like a totally different baby. There are almost zero side effects to the Zantac (and nothing that we experienced). He even liked the taste of it. Good luck!

My son took medication for his reflux, we also had him on soy. I also put Mylicon in his bottles to help with the gas. I had an older infant carseat from when my oldest was a baby, he slept in that a LOT. Or in his bouncy chair. He also was a projectile vomiter, so I had one of those flannel mattress pads that was quite large and I placed it under his bouncy seat so when he spit up I was not scrubbing carpets too.

I'd check into medicine for him, as well as testing for an allergy. My child has allergies to milk, but was ok with soy.

And you are not a bad parent! :)

J had reflux and we tried several ways and I am going to share with you what we found that worked.

1. The Pediatrition gave us liquid Reglan. He took .9mg??? It was a very skinny syringe that went to 1.0 and his dose was almost to the top. It smelled like oranges and he would just lick it up. We gave it to him a few minutes before every bottle. Reglan relaxes the stomach muscles and this allows the food to pass on through more quickly. Other drugs for Reflux can work on the acid producer glands in the stomach, so different meds work on different issues. Talk to your doctor aobut this option for your baby. The X-Ray test showed the reflux very well in J. He burped up stuff during the test....

2. We added Mylacon Gas Drops to every empty bottle, then added the nursery water, then we added the nipple, ring, and put a lid on it and kept them in the diaper bad. When he got hungry we added the formula powder and the med was already mixed up so we didn't have to shake the bottle more than necc. adding even more air bubbles.

3. You know those seats that are called bouncy seats? They slightly recline and have straps that go across the crotch area and when the baby kicks or moves the seat moves up and down. You can sit them on the counter tops, on the floor, dinner table, etc...we put one in J's bed and he slept in it until her was really fussing at night. IE: wanting to roll around, sleep on his tummy, etc...by the time he gets old enough to really start disliking sleeping in the chair he should be growing out of this.

Here's a link to a picture just to make sure I am not confused and saying this wrong.

http://www.parents.com/baby/gear/registries-buying-guides...

Anyway, even at the child care center we made sure they knew the bottles of water had medicine in them and that was why they looked slightly milky. They thought, at first, the bottles hadn't been washed well and old milk was still in them.

They do grow out of it. Eventually!...LOL. It sounds like you are doing everything you can, especially if you add a medication.

I sent you a personal answer

Ask your ped if you can add a little rice cereal to his bottles until he gets a little bigger. It thickens up the formula so that it doesn't come back up so easily. My ped recommended it with both my boys that had reflux and it helped a lot.

Get him to the chiropractor! Their are lots of pediatric chiropractors out there!!

Is the doctor entirely sure this is the case? I know many doctors will pass this off too easily when it's not entirely the deal.

Babies tummies are tiny, so they won't require as much during a feeding time (which is one reason it's wonderful to nurse - there's no measuring. But I'm not judging you, so please don't think I am.).

Sometimes, the gas and pain can indicate an allergy to the formula.
My husband's co-worker had a very hard time when their baby (that was adopted as well) had a severe allergy to a group of formulas. They finally found one that did work, but only after they worked at it and found the allergy.

Not always is it acid reflux... just find out and make sure.

And no, I would not take him to a chiro at this age, unless you have a really good reason to. Sorry, but I have seen many chiro's that use fear tactics, go thru a client's insurance and cause injury to my clients.

have you tried probiotics?

My daughter had colic and what they thought of later as reflux. She grew out of it at 5 months. We gave her Good Start(purple can).It is very gentle on the stomach. We also tried Alimentum and she needed to burp double with that which made her worse. Try the Good Start for two weeks and see how she does. Also give Mylicon in every bottle. Good luck :)

allergy.
if your doc says no possible, ignor him and go to a pediatric allergist anyway. scratch tests are no big deal

My son had it and we were never told about it until we swiched doctors. Once we switched, his doctor had him goi go previcide chewables and it worked out great. It's crunable so you can take a little bit and add it to his soft means.

My guy is 16 months old and had reflux from birth. It was pretty bad and led him to have airway issues. He was a NEW baby on Zantac. Also he will be much more comfortable almost completely upright even when sleeping. We used the swing and infant car set and a bouncy seat with pillows behind it so it didn't sag backward too much for almost a year! We added rice into his formula and that helped as well, this was all at the advice of our GI specialist. The reflux is caused by a muscle disorder which they eventually outgrow. Good luck and talk to your pediatrician about rice in the formula and medications.