Baby Suffering with Reflux

HI C.:
I live in Chesapeake & have 3 kids..all have reflux courtesy of my hubby. Anyway, I have found that the Previcid worked the best for my kids but you might want the DR to try axid. We were on that for a while with child#2 but then he outgrew the dosage and then it didn't seem to work. How much previcid are you giving your little one? And is it the tablet that you have to mix w/ water, the powder, or the liquid? All the formulations should be the same but to be honest the powder didn't work for my 3 (who has it the worst).

On the helpful front: Your diet should be restricted to no dairy or wheat for 2wks, then work the wheat back in. It is HARD but it helps to see if the child is allergic to either one or both. It is HARD but the alternative foods can be good. You can contact me if you want a list of "approved foods" and you can go to the Hertigage store down at the beach because they do have the best selection. More on that later.

The Gastro DR should have the baby set up for a Barium test where by the baby drinks a milky shake type thing from a bottle and then has xrays taken. This will identify how bad the reflux is and if there are any other issues. It is easy and not painful for the baby..although holding off the child from eatting to get the test can be a real test for the parents.

Personally, I would call the Gastro DR again to see if there are any cancellations and see if you can get in earlier.. Re explain the situation you are having and the difficulty. I know they are busy but you have an infant and waiting is not helping anything.

As for your child sleeping. Definitely either have him sleep in a travel swing or the baby car seat because of the upright position. It may seem uncomfortable to us..but it is easier on them (the reflux stays down more) in the upright position. If you put the baby in the crib or play n pack for sleeping, make sure you rise the head side by sticking an old pair of shoes under each support on the 1 side or getting a small riser of some sort. This also allows the baby to sleep at an incline.

Good luck and help is coming soon.

I went though the same thing w/my 1st. My water broke 7wks early but he came out 5wks early. He was a spitter is what his doc called it. He always wore a bib and i always had to have a burp cloth w/him. He did grow out of it once he started solids. If ur doc is not owrried about and he is not in pain and his gaining weight i would just make sure not to wear any nice clothes for the 1st year(LOL).

Hello C.,

First off good for you for breast feeding your little person! That is the absolute best thing for him as I am sure you know :) I am sorry you are going through this! It must be miserable to watch your little guy suffering this way!

There is lots of research that shows that babies don't really usually have reflux but instead its food sensitivities that is causing the problems. You can check out www.mercola.com, www.askdrsears.com, www.kellymom.com and www.lli.org for more information. There are saliva tests that can be done to determine which things he may be sensitive too then you can just eliminate those from your diet. I know one mom who had similar issues with her son and once the saliva test showed that he was sensitive to cane sugar and they removed that he was like a new child. If you want more info you can email me at ____@____.com, I have always been told that babies younger than 6 months should never have rice cereal, I would really question using that. Babies digestive tracks are not mature enough to handle it and it can cause more problems not really help anything.

Good luck to you!
S.

My daughter had reflux for her first four months. This was back in 1999-2000, so there may have been some advances since then, but she did well on Prilosec. There were several other medications that were tried first, but Prilosec was the one that finally did the trick. It did take a week or two to be able to really tell; it's very frustrating getting through that waiting period when you're searching for the right medication.

If your baby seems to be having bad gas pains during feeding, try burping him after every 2 oz or so. Our daughter couldn't burp at all (though she could spit up just fine). A children's anti-gas remedy such as Mylicon (get the generic, it's way less!) can help also.

I wasn't able to nurse (apparently my boobs are strictly ornamental), and after a lot of trial and error with formulas we finally discovered that she could only take pre-mixed (and more expensive) formula, not the powdered kind. You're pumpink so you shouldn't run into that problem, but if you ever do switch to formula, you might want to keep that in mind.

My daughter was also extremely constipated, which seems to be kind of common in reflux babies. While adding the cereal to the milk helps with the reflux symptoms, it can cause constipation. To relieve the constipation, you can try mixing in prune juice to the milk, and if necessary, use glycerin suppositories to "unclog the dam."

Tests: they may want to do a pH probe. They'll feed a small, flexible tube through the nostril down into the stomach, where it will stay for 24 hours. During that time, you may be asked to record behaviors, such as crying, spitting up, etc. Afterwards they will match up your records with the pH results, and can tell if the times of discomfort match the times of high pH. It's hard to watch when they're putting in the tube, but afterward it doesn't seem painful or even uncomfortable for the baby.

After four months or so, my daughter's symptoms waned and she was a happy baby. She recovered from her experience much faster than we did! She's now 8 and eats like a horse.

Best of luck to you and keep hope! It won't last forever!

My son will be 1 year on August 31 and he has always had reflux. When he was little he spit up 4-5 times a day and I had to stop breast feeding because he would never take enough and I kept falling ill. Zantac didn't work for us either but now he is on Prevacid. The spitting up didn't really decrease that much when he was on it before but when we found out he hadn't gained any weight over a 3-month period he went back on it and subsequently gained 1 poind 13 oz in 4 weeks! He was on the Enfamil AR for months and that made a huge difference (he is since back on regular Enfamil) and the other thing that made a huge difference...he slept on his stomach. Our home daycare recommended it because all 4 of her children had reflux and it was a lifesaver and since then he has always slept thru the night and woken up happy.

Please go see Dr. Jones at Pediatrics at the Beach and tell him everything. I think that one of these meds has an ever so slight risk of causing liver damage and if he is throwing it back up, what good is it?

i can't believe they suggested giving a brand new baby rice cereal! seems way too soon as it is not as easy to digest as breastmilk.
my daughter experienced horrible reflux early on as well, she would scream in pain frequently, especially in the afternoon and evening. zantac didn't help a bit, but she has now been on prevacid for 3 months and that has helped immensely! we also used gripe water for about a month until the symptoms lessened considerably.
i was also told to cut out caffeine and limit my tomato intake, which helped as well. last week i ate more tomato than usual (marinara with pasta, pizza another night) and i noticed that she was having increased symptoms as tomatoes are highly acidic.
good luck with whatever route you take.