Acid Reflux - Arnold,MD

Both my kids had reflux. I had NEVER heard the wedges increased risk of SIDS. I would think it would be the opposite. I used a wedge with both my kids! It worked well, but I did need to do meds with both of them. We did zantac for my son and prilsec for my daughter because zantac didn't work. Good luck!!

K.,
We used a modified wedge with our daughter (almost 4). The terror is real, isn't it? She would esentially not breath for what seemed forever, but was probably seconds. It's the look on their face that kills you:-)

I think the wedges were just coming about then. I used a bouncy seat, which we got cheaply at a huge yard sale, and we bent it so it was lower, but still inclined slightly. I placed it in the pack and play next to our bed, and she slept in that for months. Once she was able to sleep on her tummy, we transitioned her to her own room and crib, but I was never without the baby monitor so I could hear. Our sessions improved and mostly disappeared by 11 months (Prevacid, Alimentum {yuck} and all). When I looked at the wedges, they seemed like they might not be as stable or easy to use. I found the the bouncy seat great, because it cradled her. She didn't end up with a flat head, either:-)

Since you've been through it once, you probably know about the GERD groups out there, but they do offer great support, ideas and talk groups.

Hope that helps...good luck. Let me know. I can talk or correspond further if you want....let me know.

Take care, K.

I just read the other responses, and we also stuck elevators under the matress once she transitioned to the crib.

Dearest K.,

My now 19 month old son suffered terribly with reflux. I've never heard of the wedges you are talking about but, what I did was put a pillow under the top of his crib so there was a slight tilt, and of course gave him the prevacid that was prescribed after begging doctors for months to help me because he screamed 24/7 and I KNEW he was in pain. No one believed me for the longest time and a doctor went as far as to say that my 3 month old son (then) had a behavioral problem! The prevacid worked WONDERS on my son. He is happy and healthy now. You could try the pillow under the mattress before spending money on something else.

Good luck! D. B.

My son is 3 months old and has severe acid reflux. I had to stop breastfeeding and give him formula mixed with 1 tbsp of rice cereal per oz of formula (this was done under the direction of a gastorenterologist). We also have one end of his bassinet propped up on books.

I have found the position the car seat and the bumbo puts him in causes him to spit up, so we either hold him semi-upright, prop him in the boppy or sit him in the bouncy seat for abt 30 mins after each feeding.

The other key that we found to help him keep his bottles down is to give him smaller feedings more often.

Our son had acid reflux. Instead of using a wedge, we raised one end of his crib and pack and play three inches. That way we didn't have to worry about him sliding off of the wedge. We also took him to a pediatric gastroentonologist and got him on my medication (prevacid) and mixed rice cereal in with his formula to ease his suffering.

My son had reflux from birth til about 3 months. WE elevated one end of the crib using a two by four piece of wood. I recommend that or putting something underneath one end of the mattress. The wedges, although they are popular, have been connected to SIDS. WE also kept our baby upright for 20-30 minutes after nursing. Best wishes.

My youngest has acid reflux, although now that she is older it only really flares up when she is getting sick. When she was an infant I used to keep her propped up on a boppy pillow until she was able to roll over. When she started rolling I elevated the head of her crib by putting a pillow under it. I would also keep her sitting up in either her carseat, her bouncy seat, or her swing for at least 30 minutes after feeding her. All of this seemed to help.

I didn't use a wedge, but had similar issues with my daughter. We just wedged her car seat in her crib and had her sleep in the seat until she was about 3 months old. It worked wonderfully!

My youngest suffered from reflux until he was about 10 mos. He slept in a co-sleeper next to my bed and I propped up one side to make it more comfortable. When he was able to turn his head completely I switched him to a belly baby. Yes I know it's a huge no-no because of SIDS so you need to be careful.

Good luck to you.

On my first child he had major reflux I was told to hold him up right for 30 minutes after every feeding. As you can imagine that grew very tiring so the alternative was to have him sleep in his infant carrier all the time. The second and third child same thing. By time the fourth one came along I started her right off the bat in a bouncy seat or swing for the first 4-5 months and I never once had a problem with her.
Good luck!

My little guy had the same problem. He slept in his infant carrier for almost a month to help the problem. Then I changed him to SimilacRS formula and the problem seemed to be less and finally no longer.

Sleeping on a wedge helped my son tremedously when he was younger. He was also on zantac for about a year, until totally on solid foods and sitting up majority of the time. The wedge abled him to sleep longer periods at a time.

Hi K.,

My best friend had a son with acid reflux and she propped his crib mattress up a little by putting a pillow under it. She said it helped. Good Luck.

My daughter also had reflux, and we used a combination of Zantac and a sleep wedge, which seemed to do the trick! In fact, my daughter was so comfortable sleeping on the wedge that we left it in her crib all the time, until she moved to a big bed!

Hi K.,

My son Tyler who is 10 years old suffers from acid reflux from birth till today. Sleeping on a wedge helps minimize reflux, but the best suggestion if your breastfeeding, you may need to keep him tilted upright for a longer period of time, like sitting in a infant car seat to allow the milk to settle in the belly. If that doesn't work, you may have to change to a soy based formula and see if that works. It will make a world of difference for both you and baby. Best of luck!

J.
Independent Shaklee Distributor
www.shaklee.net/Z.

My middle child had reflux and we elevated the head of his bed, but not with a wedge. We just folded towels and put the under the mattress. It worked well. But elevating the head of his bed definitely helped him. I hope your 3 week old does not suffer with reflux like it sounds like your older child did. I know it's so hard when your children feel bad or are uncomfortable. Good luck.

Hi K.,
I am a physician with an infant who also has acid reflux. The home remedies should always be used to help alleviate the problem (sleep wedge is great, upright feeding as much as possible, holding baby upright for 20+ minutes after eating for digestion, frequent burping), but you need to figure out if it is truly reflux. If so, the baby will need to be on medication. Believe me, it is far better to have your child on some Zantac for a little while than to have stomach acid eating away the lining of their poor little esophagus. All babies reflux a little as their sphincters develop, however, those that exhibit serious signs of distress have a fair amount of acid coming back up. This can lead to scar tissue formation and may result in permanent problems with acid reflux. The medicine will neutralize the acid and hopefully allow the tissue to develop normally so that your child won't have to deal with this issue later in life. Go see your pediatrician and have them do an evaluation. Good luck!

Yes, my youngest had reflux and a wedge did help but we did not buy one, we just kind of made our own wiht pillows/blankets/etc

K.
Something else that may help is to elevate the top of the mattress.
Good Luck
A.

My son had really bad spitups, cried a lot after eating, and even ended up with blood in his stools. Turned out it was food allergies.

He would not deal with the nasty formulas the Dr wanted him to try, so I ended up going on an elimination diet to keep breastfeeding. I was given a list of things to eliminate, but after doing a LOT of reading, I started out only eating meat and potatoes. I even looked at the ingredients in vitamins and bought special vitamins. Then after my son greatly improved, I started adding food back.

One of the things that bothered my son most was peas, of the legume family, and that was not even on the dr's list to eliminate, so I am glad I went whole hog.

I recommend seeing a pediatric gastroenterologist to see if that or something else might be the problem.

On the plus side, My son is now eating some of the things he was allergic to. It seems to be subsiding.

My daughter was diagnosed with reflux at 6 weeks old. Prior to her pediatrician introducing medicine (Zantac) to us, she suggested trying a wedge or sleeping her on her side with a tightly rolled blanket placed behind her back for support.

We bought the wedge/sleep positioner and it seemed to help initially; however, we noticed that she would slide down in between the arm supports in the middle of the night. One night she actually rolled off of the wedge and ended up on her stomach...We threw the wedge/sleep positioner out! SO if your child moves around a lot in his or her sleep, be careful about which one you purchase!

Sleeping my daughter on her side when she had painful gas or an upset tummy helped, but she was still having some problems with reflux. Also, making sure the baby is elevated during feeding (at least a 45 degree angle)and burping her more frequently during feeding helped. Also, holding her or keeping her upright like in a swing or bouncer for at least 30-45 minutes after feeding helped.

I breast feed, but had to supplement with formula when we brought our daughter home b/c my milk supply was slow to come in. Initially, my husband and I thought that my daughter was having problems with the formula (Enfamil Lipil) so we switched to the Gentlease. She continued to have problems. Our doctor then prescribed Zantac and it made things so much worse. We actually had three situations in which she had so much milk backing up into her esophogus and out through her nose that she choked and couldn't breathe.

My husband and I stopped giving her the Zantac after giving it to her twice. I did some research and decided to strictly breast feed her instead of supplementing with formula. I watch what I eat to avoid giving her gas. She has been perfectly fine and has had no reflux symptoms at all, just minor gas which we can easily deal with :). Her symptoms were a bad reaction to the formula (Enfamil Lipil and Enfamil Gentlease)!

My youngest had reflux for the first year. I knew if shortly after birth so I started talking to her doctor. She would only sleep simi upright, like on me or in a bouncy seat. We tried several formulas and found the Prosobee worked the best with added rice cereal. She still had problems and they started her on Zantac,which worked for short periods of time then she would out grow the dose. Finally after seeing 2 GI doctors and having an UGI (which showed moderate reflux) she was started on Prevacid and did wonderful. Once she turned 1 year old and was able to spend more time upright (like walking) and we switched her to whole milk and regular foods, we were able to stop the Prevacid. Now she is 19 months and perfect.

My 7-month old has bad reflux, and we did use a wedge under his crib sheet for an extremely short period of time. Reason being, once he was able to roll around (at about 3 1/2-4 months), he would just scoot off the wedge, or worse scoot around it and end up with his head lower than his body, which as you know is horrible for reflux! Our alternative was to have him sleep in his swing, semi-upright - worked wonders, and eventually around 5-6 months he was able to sleep in his crib w/ no wedge and w/o it being propped up (he takes Prevacid now - the Zantac did nothing for him). The reflux still flares up when teething, sick, etc. If you're thinking of buying a wedge, I'd recommend trying other things first....put a pillow under one side of the mattress, or books under the legs of one side of the bed, etc.

Best of luck to you!