Gastroesophageal Reflux in Infants

Hi,
My daughter had the same issue. The Enfamil AR was really h*** o* her tummy I think and she became very constipated. We changed to Enfamil Gentlease and also gave her Zantax(prescription). We also gave her Mylicon and Gripe Water.
Good Luck-

She's probably allergic to milk protein like my girls were. I used soy for one and Nutramigen for the other. Worked great! The soy one went to Silk Soy milk at 12 months and then to skim at 2 and the Nutramigen one went right to whole milk at 12 months with the help of Miralax.
Lots of pears can help too and avoid apple and banana stuff.
Good luck,
J.
Mom to 4, almost 5 through another adoption and hopefully more :o)

Both of my boys had this. The doctor put them on Emfimill Neutramigen (spelling) with a small amount of rice cereal mixed in the bottle for some substance to stay in their bellys. It worked for my kids well.

i just want to say that breastfed babies get reflux all the time...and i'm guessing breastmilk is not "junkfood." not that i think formula is great and nutritious (i think it's a bit scary actually), but babies get reflux not just because of formula...

Hi N.,

Now my daughter is 9 years old, however she was on Enfamil AR and it was harder to find then. My doctor at the time gave me the go ahead to mix a little baby food fruit with rice cereal when my daughter was around 5 months old and to give her a little water. Check with your doctor to see what they think. I would say fruit and water are two possible ideas for sure. My daughter had trouble gaining weight, she was 5 lbs. 2 oz. when born. The Enfamil AR has the added rice starch and it is made so you don't have to alter the bottle nipples, like people used to do to help the rice pass through. I also found that I had better luck with the ready to go liquid then with the powder, although I know it is more expensive. I also found that I could buy it by the case at Babies R Us and that was a little cheaper buying in bulk. Good luck to you and what you decide that works best for your family.
J.

One thing that might help you is a baby sling. Babywearing is a good home remedy for many issues with baby. https://www.askdrsears.com/store/detail.asp?pid=25

If you feel you only have so many options, you may be forgetting one that is already out there. Have you ever heard of induced lactation? You can read more about it here: http://www.surrogacy.com/medres/article/lac.html
Just because your baby is 5 months old doesn't mean your choices are limited.

GRRrrr...... what allows the GI tract to function, or any other part of the body at that? The nervous system! There is a sigificant correlation between brianstem function (primary bodily function ie homeostasis) and body function, especially in infants. If there is any interference between the brain and the body, there is going to be disfunction! I do not belive our bodies lack anything, they just need to function without interference. Have we as a society placed more faith in a pill, potion or lotion to make the ills of today wither away? Take your daughter and have her nervous system checked by a specialist that deals with this. If you would need a recommendation contact me, you could also go to nucca.org to find the closest doctor in your area. If you would like to talk about this, call my husband our office and he will gladly take some time, or he will call you back if his is seeing someone at that time.

Anyone reading this, please looking into ensuring your son/daughter is developing with the greatest potential and not with interference within their bodies.
Blessings, C.

I have noticed that the constipation goes away when they get used to the formula. My 2nd daughter had that and eventually we had to switch her to soy which also constipates. I put a little karo syrup in her formula to help with the constipation. Just a little cause you don't want to give her a sweet tooth:-) Also once I gave her pear juice (my bestfriend swears by it to "clean them out" when constipated) and it worked in a day. My daughter was 9 months when I finally switched her back to regular formula without her spitting up everywhere. The Dr. said it should go away at around 7 months so hang in there! Good luck to you, hope this helped.

Hi N.
My nephew had reflux- finally grew out of it- not a surgical issue.
My daughter on formula had the constipation- we tried Karo- gotta watch that, switched to prune juice- bad tasting but better, then we used our dissolvable fiber- called it fairy dust - and she did marvelous.
I have clients who use our aloe- it's purified so the alloitin is removed (why you hear bad stuff about aloe products) and for many, it takes care of cholic and dimishes the reflux- healing from inside and outside.
Downside of it is it's tart in flavor so you dropper it in- diluted and they get to like it.
I have some good friends too- who used it on their infants since birth.
Don't know if you're local- I live in St. Paul, but if you want to try either I can sample it for you.
The best medicine/remedy- patience. Kids systems are sensitive and take time to develop.
Hang in there-
B. Jarmoluk
____@____.com
About me- med. Prof., wellness coach, married and mom of almost 7 yo twin girls.

N., my now almost 10-month old daughter also had significant reflux confirmed through an upper GI series. I also used Enfamil AR and found it to be by far the best for reflux so I say stick with it. You did not say how old your baby was so I am guessing too young for prunes or any food. I would give her some baby apple juice. They tolerate it really well and despite what everyone says about juice - a small amount won't hurt her. I'd limit it to no more than 4 total ounces a day and you can water it down too.

My daughter had acid reflux and consitpation as well. We had her on Enfamil Gentelese and gave her pear juice a couple times a day. Our dr said any fruit juice that starts with a "P" helps with "poop" issues. We we were also told a tsp karo syrup with the bottle also helps although we never had to use it, the pear juice seemed to help. Good Luck!

Hi, 3 of my six kids had GR Disease, so I know how hard it can be. My last baby was the worst of them. We were breastfeeding to start, but the breastmilk was to light so she would throw it up right away, she just could not keep it down. So we, by the recommendation of the doc,changed to Enfamil AR too. She will need a week or 2 to adjust to the new formula. But to help her, give her juice, watered down, you can also give her corn syrup added right to her bottle of formula, and the last thing I can think of is to feed her prunes if is she is eating fruits already.

I just wanted to let you also know that the formula (Enfamil AR) really did help, espically after a week or so, we were able to take her off the meds, after 2 months and took her off the formula, back to a normal formula in 4.

HTH,
J.

My little preemie had a lot of trouble with her bowls and severe constipation. There were times when she would scream for hours until she finally had a bowl movement (giving enema's to infants is not a great experience!). Anyway, we started giving her 2oz of apple juice thinned down with 2oz of water per day. this really relieved the situation. Hope this helps, good luck!

Get some Omega 3s in her. She's only getting Omega 6. She needs fish oil. Look up Omega 3s- without them, not only will the digestion be off, but her brain/neuro development, too.

My youngest had the same problem when he was on the Enfamil AR. He pretty much always had 6oz bottles and every day (usually only once a day, sometimes twice) I would put up to 2oz of prune juice in his bottle. It pretty much always did the trick for the constipation. I just had to make sure that he was wearing a good bib in case he spit up after that feeding.

My daughter was diagnosed with the same thing at 3 months and Enfamil Neutramigen did the trick along with Prevacid/Reglan.
Good luck!

Our daughter was diagnosed with reflux at about 4 wks of age... instead of Enfamil AR, the doctors recommend we use our usual Enfamil and add the rice cereal ourselves - approx 1 tsp rice cereal to each ounce of formula, up to 3tsp/1oz... whatever works best (currently we are using 6tsp cereal w/ 4 oz formula). We have yet to have problems with constipation - there may be some extra filler in the Enfamil AR that is causing the constipation that making your own mixture may eliminate... best of luck!

I went threw the same thing with my little girl. We switched formula's and finally ended up on Nutramigen. It worked wonders. No more constipation and no more acid reflux. We switched bottles to Dr. Browns also and this helped with spitting up. I have also been told by my doctor to add a lttle light Karrow syrup to each bottle. This helps loose them up. I have never had to do this after we switch to nutramigen. Good luck.

I'd have to say Enfamil Nutramigen LIPIL, too.

Hello N.

My grandson had reflux real bad. The doctor gave him some anti acid drops. That saved so much energy and time. My daughter would give him the drops b4 feeding and after @ times and he was able to keep his food down. Prior to the meds it was coming thru his nose and wasn't good at all. Also there is a formula with RICE in it. Not sure of the name at this time. however I will check and get back to u.

He now if fine. In some infants it is not always developed and just take some time.

Hope this helps~ we went to a natural store and orded the Rice formula. Also it's easier to digest!

Leese

Mine had the same issue. Switching formulas confuses their bowels so what I did was stick with one formula and added probiotics for regularity.

We used Similac Soy formula and would use Karo syrup, prune juice, apple juice or sometimes just a little mineral oil mixed in with the bottle. And yes, we did all of this with the doctors recomendation :) Oh, we also put cereal in the bottle.

My son also suffered from constipation due to the Enfamil AR. My pediatrician advised me to use Miralax to keep him regular. The stuff works awesome and is sold over the counter now. Hope this helps!

Take her to see a chiropractor that uses the "activator". (that's the "clicker thing" that is used for adjusting the spine instead of manual adjustment) I have heared countless stories about how chiropractic care cures Acid Reflux in babies, and adults for that matter. Another post said that the nervous system controls all of this and she's right! Having even one adjustment may cure her completely. There are a lot of people who don't believe in Chiropractors because they aren't educated about them. Do some research online of you aren't convinced but that would be the first place I would take her. You've got nothing to loose!

Hi N.! Another vote here for Nutramagen. I know its expensive (trust me we COUNTED the days until our little one turned one so we could start weaning her onto milk!) but she also had clinical GERD and that was the only thing that didn't make her scream in pain or have rock hard, forest green poopies. Also, our Pediatric GI told us one tsp of Milk of Magnesia each morning for a month would do wonders to get things moving - and it did. Even now if she goes more than one to two days w/o a BM we give her some MOM to help.

As for the health food police below, first and foremost babies most certainly DO get reflux. If she feels they don't I'd encourage her to watch the scan of my daughter at 4mo eating a bottle and watching it come right back out the valve to her stomach that wasn't strong enough yet to close completely. I'd say just do what you think is right. There are plenty of "natural things" that are terrible for us too (i.e. arsenic, ricin, belladonna, nightshade, etc). So just do what you feel to be right for you and your little one and don't worry about anyone else's soapbox!!

Best of luck!

My son is 3 months old and was just diganosed also. The formula that I use is Target brand that is partically digested proteins. I started out using Enfamil when he was first born but it made him really constipated and gassy. I found this one to work the best.

My now 12 yr old son had the same thing, but the doctor at the time said it was and under developed gag reflex. Have you tried soy based formulas? Sometimes the iron can lead to constipation. Good luck, you have a long road ahead.

I would suggest Gerber Pear juice. It has done wonders for my family and friends. My kids would clear up their constipation with this juice within the day. Just be careful, I would give her a max of 3 ounces a day. My son had 5 ounces one time and had stools that filled his pants and his back and tummy. It works wonderful! Good luck!