Reflux--HELP!

My 3.5 month old has had reflux since he was 2 weeks old. He's been able to take Prevacid, however, it took me going to see a Pediatric Gastroenterologist in order to get some more detailed information/knowledge about reflux. I felt tons better after the visit.
Something I tried was Colic Calm. It was an herbal remedy much like Gripe Water that seemed to distract him from the irritability. you can get it at www.coliccalm.com. I've since have had to stop using it - but at the time I couldn't live without it.
If you need the name of the GI I'd be happy to give you their info. They were amazing.
Good luck!

I have my daughter with the same problem, even I had to take to hospital emergency because I wear a shock to her when she was 4 weeks since she drink the milk with rice cereal, that help her much, Zantac also helped in her case, give to your baby 1 teaspoon per each oz of milk that could help you, also help to much if the baby bounce the burp every 1 or 2 oz, always make sure you that the baby not have gas, I do all that and helped me so much, now my baby still have this problem but mild, the doctor tell me that the reflux disappears completely at 6 or seven months.Patience and God bless you.

We had a really rough time with reflux until my son grew out of it about 12 months. There are still stains on our carpet!

We saw Dr. Eric Argao, a pediatric gastroenterologist, in addition to our regular pediatrician and he was very helpful. He definitely had some new ideas for us. Prevacid sort of worked, but we really noticed a difference when our son went on Bethanechol in addition to Prevacid. Both our pedi and Dr. Argao recommended this and it helped tremendously. It is actually a drug for bladder issues, but is also prescribed for reflux because it makes the stomach and intestines empty more
quickly and this helped us a lot. Not sure if this helps you or not but it might be worth a question. It is a liquid and he took it twice a day. It is also a compounded
medication so typical pharmacies like Walgreen's didn't have it, but we got it from one called Drugcrafters
in Frisco.

Hope this helps!

As other posters said, you need to see a pediatric GI doc. This is a process of figuring out what meds work and a GI doc knows best what to try based on your child, symptoms, and what hasn't worked. With my son the magical medicine ended up being Carafate which is not a very frequently used med. He went through 7 or so others before this one and it changed his entire personality. He cried so much he was kicked out of an in home daycare because he cried so much. They did an endoscopy and showed us the inside of his esophagus all eroded from acid, it was so sad. So, see a GI doc, don't give up.

have you tried pre and probiotics? I'm a Shaklee Distributor and Shaklee just came out with a prebiotic for babies over 6 months of age. Talk to your pediatrician and see what he/she might recommend for an infant. Pre and Probiotics cured my reflux.

Have you looked into getting a Tucker sling for his crib? As for the doctor, I would suggest seeing a specialist for this. I know for myself I really had to get aggressive toward the doctors to get the help I needed. It was frustrating.
Best Regards,
C.

My son is 9 months and is a fountain. We saw a pediatric GI doc who checked out everything and said he is a happy spitter. It is not affecting his weight or development, nor does he have eating problems. They investigated his throat for laryngomalacia (see my previous posts), and did not have that. He is 'sensitive' to certain foods, especially tomato and carrot. And oh, those stains are nasty!

It was so great to be reassured that he was going to be okay. He does take zantac, which does NOT lessen the spit up - that's not what it is meant to do. It just prevents damage to esophagus, which pedi GI guy said is so extremely rare in infant reflux. Infants are built for spit up, and natually are protected from most future problems by design.

yes, my living room is still littered with stained quilts and burp spots on carpet in the gaps. Yes, we do a load of laundry per day. But at 24 pounds, he ain't hurting. Just my laundry pile issues and that aweful smell that's on my shoulders every other time I leave the house!

I agree - see a specialist if for nothing else than peace of mind. (plus, I think they give prevacid at 6 months for the youngest, although insurance companies have been denying claims for it according to the GI guy.)

On top of using prevacid, we used Simply Thick to thicken my son's milk. You can buy it at pharmacies. It is better than adding rice cereal because it mixes more thoroughly and it doesn't digest so it isn't harmful to the immature digestive system. I actually took my son off of the prevacid before I took him off of the thickener, and it worked wonders.
Good luck!

My baby boy had the same issues...we finally saw a gastro specialist and found out he was milk/soy protien intolerant. You may want to google it and read. Once I stopped breastfeeding and put my son on Elecare formula he was better in 48 hours! I mean, he went from screaming 20 hours a day with constant reflux to sleeping 12 hours a night and very little crying! Elecare is an elemental formula where the protien is already broken down! The formula is ridiculous expensive but so worth it! As far as your pediatrician goes, I think that sometimes they don't have all the answers! Definetley go see a specialist!!!Good Luck

My older daughter had the same thing. The pedi said sometimes the little flap over the tummy to esophagus is not complete, and some reflux comes up. He said after three months it would probably gorw to the right size. Fortunately he was right. Although Zantac did work for my daughter, we first tried Mylanta. It worked, but for a short time -- I could tell the moment it wore off! Perhaps you could speak to your doctor about Mylanta? It might at least give your baby a few hours of reprieve. If you feel your doctor has washed his hands of you, you might want to consider a new pedi. I had to go to 4 pedis before one took me seriously -- and as a research type person -- I went in with charts showing nursing and time span until crying began, length of crying -- I know excessive -- but she was in such pain, I was desperate for someone to believe me that there WAS a problem, and to solve it. Dr. Karam knew immediately -- and 11 years later, we are still thrilled with him. Good luck! Your relationsip with your pedi is a very important one -- be sure you are with someone you trust, and with whom you are comfortable.

Best Regards,
S.