GERD In Infants

I hate to tell you this - you may have to go to formula and thicken it up with cereal and after each feedings keep the baby sitting up in his car seat for 15 minutes! My oldest had this as well as reflux. Man could that boy throw up like a fountain! He grew out of it but it didn't help with my hopes of breast feeding. If you are breast feeding - pump and then thicken with cereal. Good luck.

Both of my sons (now 1 & 3 and healthy) had reflux as infants. If the pedi allows you flexibility on when to give your son his prilosec, give it to him later in the day so it won't wear off near bed time. Do you think his additional discomfort could be gas? I know that it isn't that common in BF babies. My boys lived on Mylecon (simethicone) drops. They were also on formula and I gave them drops before and after feedings and spent extra time burping them if I could. It made a world of difference. My pedi told me to prop them up and put them to sleep on their side. Of course this alarmed me as how do do it with all the scare over SIDS. What worked for me was putting an old flattened pillow (the kind so flat you're ready to throw it out) with a baby blanket folded under it in the bassinet. What gave me peace of mind was placing it under the fitted sheet. It will flatten the bulk of the pillow and blanket enough to give a gentle incline. That way you won't worry about him getting tangled up in either. I also rolled up another baby blanket and wedged it behind him to keep him on his side. Rotate your little pumkin from side to side so you won't have worries about his head becoming misshaped. As if there wasn't enough for mom's to worry about! My heart goes out to you and your family and I can relate all too well to your stress. I pray that my experiences can help you in some way!

Dear M.,

Take your baby to Dr. Merkle. Babies shouldn't need any meds like Prilosec. Something else is wrong. Keep looking.

God Bless,

S.

Dr. Van Merkle
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p.s. They don't know S. at the office but he has helped a bunch of friends who swear by him.

My niece had this awful and was taken to many Dr.s before she was treated right for it but two visits to a chiropractor helped her so much. Also she was never laid flat but sat in a car seat at a slant but so she was upright 99 % of the time.Giving her rice cereal helped a good bit and it stayed down being mixed with Breast milk.She is 4 years old now and a healthy happy baby.
Also wash your childs mouth out best you can after he has thrown up, my nieces teeth were affected and she had to go to get all of her baby teeth capped and treated as the acid had nearly destroyed her teeth.
Good luck.
Debbie

I REALLY feel for you. We went through that as well....i was bfing my son for about 8 weeks, but he was so miserable (arching his back, screaming, losing weight, etc..) that I switched him to formula. We went to the lactose free version and thickened it with about 1/2 tbs of oatmeal or rice. (I think we did rice when he was younger--you will have to slit the nipple for him to get it out). It was like night and day. The dr also put him on Zegerid (after trying 3-4 other meds to no avail). Good luck, and keep us posted!! Hang in there, it does get better. My son is 21 mos now and has been off the meds since about 18 mos. He is happy and healthy!

My little guy had the same problem. BM and formula changes didn't help. He hated the swing. Every child has their own key to stopping the crying and barfing. For ours, it was the car seat and the vibrating bouncy chair. He would only sleep in them, but preferred the bouncy chair. His pediatrician OK'ed the upright sleeping. Keep trying, and allow others to help out. Good luck!!

Hello M.!
Oh, how I feel your pain! My daughter had this until she was about 8 months old. We did the Prilosec as well, and it did help. I was not able to exclusivly BF, so we did the thickend formula and it helped A LOT. She wasn't as barf-y after that. it does take awhile, and it does suck, bu it does get better! She has NO residual effects from this at all today, and she is 2 1/2 now. GOODLUCK!

Hi M.! Oh how you took me back 2 yrs.!! My daughter was exactly the same way. She too was put on prilosec and I breast fed as well. I first started by placing her in a bouncy seat after feeding. The slight angle seemed to help her. At bed time, I put a thin pillow under the sheet to prop her up. (They say to put the pillow under the mattress in order to give the angle the baby needs, but I didn't listen. :() I just did whatever I could to help her. You can even place him in his car seat after feeding as well. All these things helped with my daughter. After 3 months of breastfeeding I did start putting cereal in her bottle. I hope this helps and just know it gets better!!

I would NOT give your baby formula instead of breast milk. The only thing it will do is sit in your babies belly longer than the breast milk. Breast milk is much more quickly absorbed than formula or other foods. Also, can you imagine how much harder it will be on him to throw-up thick formula instead of the watery breast milk??

Have you tried putting his crib mattress on an incline so he is not laid flat when he is trying to sleep?

Have you tried cutting dairy out of your diet? There is a possibility that the reflux is being caused by a diary allergy and cutting it out of your diet may help.

http://www.kellymom.com/babyconcerns/reflux.html

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/10/t106004.asp

Both of my kids had the acid reflux. My first was put on Zantac and then we also tried Prevacid which she ended up having an allergic reaction to (that was scary) So, we went back to the Zantac and started thickening her formula too once her GI doctor told us to do so. (watch their weight because my daughter needed a new dosage of her meds because she had gained weight especially once we started thickening her formula)

She also slept in a car seat after feeding's and ended up getting a flat spot on one side of her head from that and had to wear a helmet for 3 months to correct her flat spot (so watch for things like that too).

My son also had reflux and his GI doctor started him on Zantac and we had to also thicken his formula we noticed a difference, but he was still crabby so the doctor suggested switching his formula to Soy and that did wonders for him (he was like a new baby) at 1 year we were able to try whole milk and he did just fine with it.

With my daughter I think we tried EVERY formula out there and nothing seemed to make much of a difference we did end up on some expensive Formula's though.

Hang in there....they say most kids will outgrow this by age 1 (both my kids did) I know it seems like a long time, but it will get better.

Hang in there!

M.,
My daughter had that when she was is age. I had to pump and give her a bottle, then have her on a special formula over the counter for her other meals. She had to stay at an incline possition after eating for over an hour. I had to give her a small dose of mylanta an hour before each meal. This really seemed to help her.
Her ped, told me she would grow out of this in about four months. It took more like six, but it did happen.
I understand the not sleeping and not eating part. She did that too. Ask your ped if it would help if you kept him reclined while eating and sleeping.
We kept our daughter sleeping in her car seat or stapped in her bouncy seat while sleeping next to our bed.
He may also recommend not to feed him so much at one time. If thier belly gets to full, then it pushes all that food back up.
I know what your going through and I will be thinking about you all.
Good luck.

Hi, M.! I'm so sorry to hear about your little man! I would continue to breast feed, but if you are going to thicken his milk with cereal, I would pump and use your breast milk. You don't really want to switch to formula and upset his little tummy any more than it already is. I switched to formula, but I continued to pump, because I wasn't sure if my daughter would do well with the formula. Thank goodness I pumped, because the formula just plain didn't work out for her. She threw up even more with the formula! I put her back on breast milk, and she got considerably better. I would also make sure you are sitting him up straight with no pressure on his tummy for at least 15-20 minutes after he eats. I used to put my daughter over my shoulder or carried her around on the front of me in a carrier, and that helped a lot. If I put her in the carseat, swing or bouncy chair, she would spit up. It's a long and relentless process, but it will be over before you know it! I wish you the best of luck with him!! Happy new year!

While I am not familiar with GERD, I can sympathize with the sleepless nights! After weeks of being "mean mommy" I finally put our daughter in our bed and we all slept better. We had her swaddled and she slept on a changing table mat in between my husband and I, which kept her safe from rolling over or us rolling on her. I was initially reluctant to co-sleep, but I was desperate for sleep. Lately I've been reading "The Baby Sleep Book" and "Our Babies, Ourselves" which both advocate co-sleeping. It's not for everyone, all the time, but it's an option, regardless of societal norms.

Best of luck!

my son & daughter both have gone through this. their pedi said to put cereal in their bottles & to thicken the liquids to tomato soup consistancy. GERBER sells the + cut nipples at just about any store. walmart was the cheapest i found 1.24 for 4. also their pedi said to keep them in an up right position for 15-30min. after eating so it had time to settle & wouldn't come back up. what i found worked or mine was putting them in an infant carseat carrier for about 45min & for bedtime/naptime i elevated the head of the crib. they are both fine now as far as that goes. good luck & God be with you.

We went through this with our infant. It sounds like the medicine just isn't quite working. We had to swith around and finally found that Prevacid worked the best for him. Our pharmacists told us that that is what she has seen work the best too. Good luck!

I feel for you totally! My son had it to. Have you tried to give him his meds a little later in the day? It may make for a rougher morning but maybe everyone will sleep a little better. Also my doctor had me elevate is bed just a tad. Good luck!! C.

hello my daughter has had the gerd which is also known as acid reflux. she had severe acid reflux and still does. my daughter did the same things cried all the time, vomited all the time and didnt eat well. she will be 2 yrs old in a few weeks and still has the gerd. when she was little they put her on a formula called infant neocate which worked well. she is on a compound of prevacid a pharmacy makes it for her and she also takes reglan which helps with vomiting. she has been on both of them since november of last yr and she hasnt thrown up since and she eats alot more now. so it might be something to ask your dr i know they can have the reglan as a infant because my daughter did but not sure if he could have the compound prevacid but it did wonders for my daughter its worth a shot at asking your sons dr.

Yes, I dealt with this too. Starting at 7 weeks, Beatrix was on Zantac. It worked pretty well. She took it three times a day, including a bedtime dose. I breastfed exclusively too, which is easiest to digest. However, it may be worth trying to eliminate possible foods from your diet that could aggravate the problem. Beatrix couldn't tolerate me eating a lot of cheese. The pediatrician recommended eliminating dairy, caffeine, and soy, I think. He said we would notice within a few days if it was helping. Besides the cheese, I didn't really think it made much difference what I ate. You could try having him sleep sitting up or raise the head of the crib, but this wasn't an option for us, as we practiced bed sharing. The best I could do was just nurse her and comfort her as well as possible. She did nap well in a baby swing, though. Try the zantac and see if that is more effective. I was severely sleep deprived too, so I feel for you. I am glad to report that she ougrew the GERD around age 3, and it gradually caused less sleep problems. Good luck!

Hi M.,
If you are looking for a "cure" rather than a treatment, consider this: "The baby's digestive system is 'under developed'. We recommend 1 optiflora pearl crushed- pick out the shards of the covering. Mix 1/8 tsp of the Optiflora powder with the powder from the pearl. Put it on mom's finger and let baby suck it off the finger, then nurse. Once a day is usually sufficient. Works well for colicky babies, acid reflux, building immunity et al. There are large scale studies that have been done in Wales with infants from birth to 9 months- giving each a dose of friendly probiotics each day. The increase in immunity has been impressive."

I realize you probably aren't familiar with the products mentioned here but if this sounds like the direction you want to go, please email me off site and I'll walk you through it. I also have an article from Johns Hopkin explaining the many benefits of probiotics that I'll send you. It was too lengthy to share here.

Many studies also show that nearly all health begins in the "gut" so the sooner your baby's issue gets healed, the healthier he'll be for life.

____@____.com

My son had the same issues. My Peditrician put him on the prilosec and then recommended the Alimentum formula by similac. It was like day and night when he started both together after a couple of days. He was back to the happy go luck baby. Good luck.

I'm so sorry--I have been there, and it is awful. My daughter had severe reflux for the first 18 months of her life (they usually do grow out of it around one year give or take six months either way). She was completely miserable (as were we--we had a two year old also) for the first year of her life. That being said, I try to help other mothers going through this--I wish I had listened more to my gut instincts and pressed the pediatrician harder for more help when she was not getting better.

I'm glad you're on Prilosec--that helped us a great deal (Zantac was not much help at all). I'm sure you know to keep him upright for at least 1/2 hour after feeding. He's getting a little old for this, but we found that the Miracle Blanket (www.miracleblanket.com) was the only way we could get our daughter to sleep more than an hour or two at night. We also propped her mattress slightly with rolled towels. They do sell a special wedge for reflux babies, but we didn't use this. Is there any way he is comfortable sleeping in the day (carseat, swing, etc.?) You may try an alternative to his crib at night to see if he can get any relief and rest that way.

I would not put cereal in his milk. I know many people do this, but I just think it is too young for their little bellies to digest. It wouldn't have helped us anyway because the older she got and the more solid foods she ate, the more she spit up (the thickness of the foods meant nothing in our case). In fact, it wasn't until she completely stopped growing between six and nine months that the doctors got aggressive with her treatment. We exclusively breastfed as well, and I would encourage that for you also if breastfeeding is important to you.

My best advice is to give the Prilosec some time, but if you feel it is not improving, press your pediatrician to do more and get a GI consult and upper GI study done. Listen to those motherly instincts and don't be afraid to speak up if your child is not getting better. It can take some time to find the right combination of meds, feeding patterns, and sleeping routines. Good luck--I hope this will be a short-lived phase for you! Feel free to message me any time.

Forgot to mention that my daughter also had a milk protein allergy, so I completely cut out all dairy and milk derivatives from my diet. Sometimes just cutting out the dairy can help babies with sensitive tummies whether they are allergic or not.

My daughter had acid reflux (SERVERE) and after we thickened her formula with cereal it helped alot. You might want to check with your ped first they may want to try a stronger medicine first. Good Luck.

My sister's childen had acid reflux and she found that putting the baby in the infant carrier carseat to sleep helped (because it elevated the baby, so helped reduce the vomiting). Might be worth a try. Good luck.

M.,
Try checking out the website for Colic Calm. Its an all natural product for treating colic, gas and reflux in babies. It could probably be used in conjunction with the medicine, or maybe instead of. There is good info and testimonials on their website. I purchased some for my babe, who also struggled with reflux, and there were several occasions when he still seemed bothered by reflux, despite the meds, and it seemed to help.