My son is almost 7 months old and just this week he has started to be fussy when I feed him. He doesn’t want to lay flat to sleep and has had hour and a half long bouts of crying, more like screaming in pain and arching his back. I took him to the doctor yesterday thinking he had an ear infection but both were clear. They said that he might be starting to teeth, which could be, but I think something else is going on as well. I am starting to think maybe he is having heart burn. He is not a baby that spits up a lot and is always happy so this is so out of character for him. He gets mostly breast milk with a small amount of formula daily, and he acts the same for either breast milk or formula. Has anyone else experienced this? Is it heart burn? Thanks!!!
Thank you everyone for your wonderful responses! Very helpful. I did take him into see his pediatrician and she determined that it was heartburn/acid reflux. So he is on Zantac for 30 days. In just a few days of taking the meds he was back to his very smiley and happy self. Thanks again!
You should ask your Doctor if your son has Acid Reflux. My daughter start to get it when she was 2 months old and lasted about until she was 1 years old. My daughter would cry for almost 2 hours at a time, until we found out what was wrong with her.
My now 18 month old had severe acid reflux problems and had to sleep in a Danny Sling (a special medical device that allows the crib to be at an incline without baby sliding to the bottom). Before we received our Danny Sling, we had success having her sleep in her carrier car seat. The seat offered enough incline that her acid reflux improved. I would strap her in and have her sleep on the floor at the side of my bed. Thankfully, at 18 months, she has no symptoms of acid reflux.
I have a 10 week old and she behaves the same way and she was just recently diagnosed with acid reflux/heartburn and was put on xantac because it was causing irritation to her voicebox and vocal chords. She also takes 1 tsp of mylanta after each feeding and at bed time and this helps alot too.
Hi Kaia,
Your child may have restrictions on cranial and spinal nerves that could causing nursing problems and pain. A good pediatric craniosacral therapist can provide gentle touch therapy to resolve these issues. Lots in the Twin Cities, including me. You can visit me website at www.MamaBebe.org.
C. Burns
It very well could be teething--this is exactly what my son did. He ate VERY little for almost a week, and it ended up being teeth. He is just super-sensitive when it comes to his mouth. Heartburn doesn't always come with spitting, but if he didn't have reflux in the past, I would question why he would get it now. Have you started solids and he's reacting (allergically) to something? If you haven't started solids, and it is heartburn, maybe rice cereal would help "keep stuff down."
sounds like heartburn. Both my girls had it and did what your son is doing. Arching the back is a big sign of heartburn. Spitting up may or may not happen when the child has heartburn, the lack of it isn't a good indicator that it isn't heartburn. Anyhow, good luck. It's a tough road and getting the meds straight to help the child also is tough. It takes a lot of trial and error to figure out which one works and at what dose, both my girls would get better for about a week and then would go back to having problems before we figured the dose out. Also, try a chiropractor. It worked great for my second and often can eliminate the problem totally. Sophie's came back the next day so we still ended up giving her meds which doesn't solve it but makes the acid neutral which takes away the pain at least. Good luck!
Hi Kaia
I think if you as his mom think there is something else wrong you need to go with that. from what you said it does not sound like heartburn. usually babies will projectial vomit and start losing weight if that is the case. Have you tried tylenol or ambesol to see if these help. If the tylenol works and the ambesol does not. I would take him back to the Doctor. You know your child best and you need to follow your insticts. Good luck T.
It sounds like heartburn, I took my 6 month old to a chiropractor. We have been very pleased with the results. Maybe this could work for you little guy too.
My son (27 months) had severe acid reflux in infancy and started on meds at 2 months. It still hasn't resolved itself but it is a pretty severe case. He also has a very happy disposition and things like reflux, teething, and ear infections have always revealed themselves more at night than day. The symptoms do sound very typical to me, although I agree that 7 months may be an odd time for it to suddenly come on. Some reflux kids spit up, some don't, some avoid food, some (like my son) use food/milk as a soother for the burning. We also had him sleep in his car seat and then we raised the head of his crib (with thick books) for many, many months. We also had many struggles with medication dosages. I've heard that reflux and some allergies (like dairy) can be confused. The only way to really confirm infant reflux is an upper GI (which my son had at four months). However, if symptoms resolve after starting meds like zantac or a proton-pump inhibitor like prilosec or prevacid, you pretty much have your answer. These drugs do take away stomach acid though so they are not to be taken lightly.
I recommend a couple of websites:
we have a pediatric gastroenterologist at MN Gastroenterology in St. Paul, their website has some patient education: www.mngastro.com
www.infantrefluxdisease.com was a big resource for me when my son was little and has a ton of info - I caution you on this website though because the information is gathered more from advocates and experienced parents rather than doctors. The basic stuff is pretty reliable but some of the guessing that people do linking reflux with other issues may not be scientifically based - the message boards are outstanding.
I can understand why you think it might be teething - it's just that the arching of the back and not wanting to be flat are telltale signs to me of reflux or something digestive. Good luck and follow your instincts!
