Acid Reflux with 2 Month Old?

Acid reflux can be stopped. I have a LOT of experience in this department.

Most babies are overfed (like a 3-4 oz bottle this early on) OR the BFing mom is eating something that upsets the baby's stomach. A baby's stomach at birth is the size of a marble. 3 days later, the size of a shooter marble and by day 10 its the size of a ping pong ball. If you put a gallon of water in a 1/2 gallon bucket, where is the excess going to go??? It's NOT a Zantac deficiency.

Thrush is yeast and I find that PB8 stops it. You can take it orally and probably should if you diet consists of ANY dairy, sugar or breads. I have given it to my babies and they got instant relief. I opened the capsule and dumped a little into their mouths before I latched them on. It's dry, so the baby can gag a little....or just mix a little breastmilk or water with it to make a paste and then latch him on. Also, if you had a c-section or any antibiotics, including for GBS, then you will definitely want to consider taking PB8.

Foods that are most commonly upset the baby's stomach are as follows:
Dairy
Corn (including corn syrup)
Tomatoes (including ketchup)
Wheat
Cabbage
Broccoli and Caulifower
Sugar and breads - to those with a yeast issue

Changing the foods, giving/taking PB8 (other probiotics didn't seem to work as well) and Chiropractic helped the baby tremendously.

www.icpa4kids.org

Try chiropractic AND take him back to the doctor *I* have reflux and Zantac is WORTHLESS for me-- Prilosec and Prevacid are miracle drugs, and they make them for infants too....

The acid comes up into his esophagus from his stomach because the valve is weak or in his case immature. My granddaughter, who was diagnosed with acid reflux as a baby, stopped having reflux after a few months.

We found that letting her sleep in her car seat helped a lot. We buckled her in and set the seat inside her crib. Keep him upright as much as possible. The acid stays down in the stomach better.

Marda is giving good advice.

All chiropractors are not the same. Don't let a chiro without a LOT of experience with infants near your child. Your baby's spine is very fragile and at 2 months, you don't want someone who doesn't know what they are doing pressing on that little spine.

Make sure you get rid of thrush if you are breastfeeding so that he doesn't keep getting it.

Good luck and hhope this passes soon!

Dawn

Zantac only works in the weakest of reflux cases. You could ask the pedi to step up to Prilosec or Prevacid, but all three medicines have long term side effects. We did chiropractic for our daughter who has severe reflux and it helped. She still goes at age 5.5 to keep the reflux under control. Just make sure you go to a chiropractor who is skilled in working with kids. There's a group that certifies chiropractors for kids: http://icpa4kids.com/index.php

Search their site for a good referral.

Also, make sure your son is upright for at least 30 minutes after each feeding. And elevate the head of his crib so he's sleeping at an angle. It will keep the reflux from coming up while he's sleeping. Many people need to eliminate dairy from their diets while they're breastfeeding because it can aggrevate reflux.

THe best thing you can do is get a referal for a ped. gastro. they are going to be better at helping your baby with acid reflux. Also I am not sure if you breastfeed or formula feed but he could have a milk allergy and need a hypo alergenic formula or if breastfeeding you would have to cut out dairy from you diet. I also don't know if you are open to alternative meds. but I struggled with this with my youngest daughter for almost a year and FINALLY after MANY recamendations at about 10 months I took her to a chiro. and within four visits she was off all meds (which was three very high doses) and her spit up completely stopped. She is very happy and healthy now and can eat anything with no pain. I still take her to the chiro now. Good luck! and not to make you more stressed but acid reflux doesn't peek until 4-6 months so it WILL get worse. I feel you though hardest time for me as a parent.

When laying him down, make sure he's at a 30 degree angle (you don't have to spend money on a nap nanny or nap him in his car seat -- that's going to create another issue down the road with napping!). For my son (and at the daycare I work at), we put blankets/towels in the crib until the mattress is elevated high enough. For my son, it took a thin bath towel and a flat pillow to get the right elevation for him.

He also has Laryngomalacia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laryngomalacia) and the pediatric pulmonologist we were referred to also said that it was OK to let him sleep on his tummy if it got bad (I would *not* do this without a doctor telling me to - and we never did with him -- I couldn't deal with the "what ifs"), limit time in swing/car seat -- because of the angle it causes pressure on the belly and can actually make the reflux worse (at least that's what I'm remembering the explaination being, it's been 6 months and I don't remember where I put the paper with all this listed). Smaller meals more often -- so 2 oz bottles every hour and a half instead of 4 oz bottles every 3 hours. Bouncy seat was a life saver, but you don't want to over use it or he could end up with a flat head. We were told to elevate in a bouncy seat, infant carrier (the type you wear, Bjorn/Moby), or hold upright for 45 minutes after feedings.

We were lucky that our son had "happy reflux" -- meaning he puked constantly, and had horrible gas but didn't have the screaming/arching/pain that can be associated with reflux -- so we didn't ever get any meds for him. But now at 8 months he hardly spits up -- most often now it's at the end of a meal when he just won't stop eating!

Buy a nap nanny or have him sleep in his car seat. Never lay him flat or it won't get better. Both my girls had it bad and my nephew had it and was laid flat and suffered burning of the larynx and esophagus and was hospitalized. They also have Danny Slings to basically suspend him at an angle but my girls hated those. I found that Zantac had the least amount of side effects so I stuck with it. Prevacid caused my daughter to act like she had colic and she cried the entire time she was on it. Don't let anyone lie him flat (some of my relatives didnt believe the importance sometimes) and maybe he will start healing and become a happier baby.

Try chiropractic. Helped my daughter and several other kids I know!