Symptoms of Acid Reflux in Infants??

Updated on May 12, 2008
K.H. asks from West Chester, PA
17 answers

I have a 4 month old son that is now horribly fussy when we try to give him a bottle of expressed breastmilk. He might drink 1 - 3 oz alright, but then starts screaming and screaming and won't stop and won't drink anymore. The doctor thinks it could be acid reflux, although his weight gain is good and we've already tried a round of Zantac and one of Prevacid. We're trying the Prevacid now for a longer period of time, but so far, it's not working. Does this sound like acid reflux? Does anyone have any suggestions?

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E.M.

answers from Philadelphia on

Hi K.
My son did the same thing except it started at the age of 6 weeks. i switched him over to formula and he was much better. Although i wanted to breast feed for as long as possible it wasn't worth him getting so upset and in pain. he did fantastic after we switched him over to the formula.
I don't know if that's what you want to hear but it worked for us. Good luck!

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P.M.

answers from Pittsburgh on

Acid reflux is where the stomach is where it's not suppose to be. There are some chiropractors that have an adjustment for that. Once it is put back it doesn't happen anymore.

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C.Z.

answers from Philadelphia on

my daughter hated drinking her milk and/or formula too. she never drank more than 5oz at a time even when she was 10 or 11 months old. she had reflux and colic. we finally got her stable by trying prilosec which i get from a special compounding pharmacy in Warrington (CVS mixed it with baking soda and she foamed at the mouth) and at 3 1/2 months we started putting rice cereal into the bottle and she got much better. she got better the more solid food she got. hope this helps.

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K.N.

answers from Philadelphia on

Was it your pediatrician that prescribed the Prevacid? You may want to see a GI specialist because there are so many GI issues and allergies these days...my son sees Dr. Liacouras at CHOP...not the greatest bedside manner but he is one of the best out there! My son has GI issues and our pediatrician kept reassuring us it was just reflux and it turned out to be more...we waited 3 years to seek specialty care. We still are kicking ourselves...should have went with our gut....

good luck

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D.W.

answers from Philadelphia on

may be he does like not the bottle. may be he has gas? have you tried mylicon? The type of bottle you use is also a factor. the advent bottles are great and are good for gas prevention.

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L.O.

answers from Pittsburgh on

Hi K.,
Just to cover your bases, I would suggest talking with a regional La Leche consultant and/or a lactation consultant at Magee Women's hospital. They may have some ideas, particularly if you ask about items to avoid in your diet that can upset sensitive babies. You could also ask about fore-milk/ hind-milk imbalance; I have heard/read that babies who receive too much foremilk (the milk that comes out first) have problems with gas, fussiness, etc. (The solution is to make sure enough milk is pumped (or suckled) from each breast so to get to the richer hind milk.) Please check in with these experts to benefit from their years of experience and fresh points of view. I met with a lactation consultant at Magee with my third child and we benefitted greatly from the appointment. I also received fastastic advice from a La Leche member/consultant with my second child and great help from a nurse at Ohio Valley Hospital who was trained in the art and science of breastfeeding.

Best wishes from our family to yours!

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A.C.

answers from Allentown on

Maybe he is swallowing too much air and the bubble is hurting him. Have you tried a different type of bottle?

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M.S.

answers from Philadelphia on

HI K.
My daughter has had acid reflux since she was an infant. Her main symptom was when she would burp, the milk would stream out of her nose. Does your son spit up often? We tried every different formula on the market. The only thing that worked for us was to put 2 tablespoons of rice cereal per ounce of regular formula. We also have her on Zantac twice a day. My daughter had a barium swallow done to make sure it was reflux.

M.W.

answers from Philadelphia on

Hi K.,

He might be teething. Try Hyland's teething tablets.

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M.F.

answers from Philadelphia on

Hi K.... I am curious..what did you end up doing????

I feel for you. My daughter has acid reflux, and before we knew what was wrong we were going nuts trying to figure it out... it was impossible to get her to calm down. Here's the thing though....i am hesitant to agree that your son has acid reflux, because usually when the milk is going down it is soothing the throat of any burning sensation your son might have. i would take the advice of some of the other responders, and maybe try a differnt bottle or nipple. The playtex drop ins are great. My daughter never has gas. back to the acid relux...i never put my daughter on medicine.. i just couldnt bring myself to do it, but i will tell you what worked awesome...mylanta!!!!! i bought cherry flavored mylanta (the doctor recommended it!) you could get one of those medicine pacifiers to give it to your son in, or like i do, just dip the regular pacifier in it... i know you shouldnt do that, but hey what can i say...so anyway the idea behind the mylanta is to keep the throat coated, so that the baby feels no pain. If he is going to grow out of it when he sits up, then i saw no need for meds.... please let us know how it turns out!!! oh and another thing..i know you are breastfeeding, but just in case you change to formula, i use enfamil AR, because it is thicker than other formulas. It has added rice starch in it.

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M.H.

answers from Pittsburgh on

Hi! I know you are probably frustrated, because there is little you can do to help your baby. My daughter, now 8yrs, had acid reflux. One thing that helped her was to make sure she sat up for approx. 20 minutes after a feeding. Also, she had to drink lactose free formula. Once he is sitting up and eating thicker foods, it will get easier. Now my daughter has very little problem wtih this.

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K.D.

answers from Philadelphia on

My now 2 1/2 year old son had reflux as an infant and it sounds a lot like what you are going through with your son. We started him on Zantac and it did take a couple of days of the medication before we started to see a difference in his vomiting/fussiness. Like your son, mine was putting weight on without any problem. We eventually had to switch him to Prevacid because he was growing so fast that we were constantly changing his dosage of Zantac. Does your son arch his back after drinking the 1 - 3 oz? That is another tell-tale sign. You could request an upper GI for your son, that will tell you for sure if he has acid reflux. My son had one at 4 months b/c of some other symptoms and shows the reflux clear as day. On that note, it sounds very scary but it was very easy and painless and he had NO problem with it at all.

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J.B.

answers from Philadelphia on

Hello. I have two boys and both of them went through acid reflux. Zantac worked for the first one not for the second. My younger one had to use prevacid. He really started to work for him after about two or three doses. He used the prevacid solutabs. At first I thougth it wasn't working because a pharmacist had mixed it all into a liquid and they arn't supposed to do that. It's lesss potent. I took him to the specalist and he couldn't believe that happened. He put him on the solutab and it was like having new baby. Both of my boys also had a milk alergy. Did you think that could be it? They both had to be put on nutramigan. They normally out grow relux by 8-9 months. Good luck!

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H.F.

answers from Pittsburgh on

You only mention it happening when you give him a bottle of expressed breast milk. For that reason, I'd have to say it sounds more like gas. If it was acid reflux, I would expect to hear you say it happens whenever he eats not just when you try the bottle.

Here are few things I would try... When my youngest was newborn, we tried using the First Years bottles. He had a hard time make a good latch on them so that he wasn't getting air with each suck. We switched him to the Avent bottles. If you haven't tried them, go and get an avent bottle. Playtex nursers have worked for other kids in our family too. Additionally, because he will get more air when using any bottle versus using a breast and will also get more liquid faster, you will need to stop and burp him a little more often. Until he gets used to the bottles and is able to better pace himself, try burping him after every 2 ounces (1 1/2 if he takes only 3 ounces at a time, up to every 3 ounces if he is taking 6 ounces at a time). If you talk to your doctor and he agrees that maybe it is gas and the other fixes don't work, you could ask him about using Milicon (sp?) drops.

Anyhow, I hope this helps. Good luck with your little guy.

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M.B.

answers from Philadelphia on

Hi K.! yes, i would say 99 % it is the reflex. at least my baby had the same symptoms when she was 5 month. She used to be such good eater and all of a sudden she would olny take 2 or 3 oz of the bottel and she would start crying...for 2 weeks i could not understand what is going on, but then Prevacid worked lik a charm. Within the next week she was normal again. We were on it for a few month. I dont know if there other medications for it, but I think you should see the doc again or go for the second opinion. Good luck

B.K.

answers from Pittsburgh on

Change the kind of bottle and or nipple you are using. If he doesn't have any problems with nursing and only has them when using a bottle then you are using the wrong kind for him. We had problems with our oldest, spitting up a lot even hours after she took a bottle. The simple change (suggested by my doctor) to playtex bottles cleared up the problem in a day! Good luck and best wishes!

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L.K.

answers from Philadelphia on

Both my sons had acid reflux. My oldest the doctor kept telling me it was colic, it actaully was not until his symptoms were gone and i changed Peditrician that we found out what it was. Both kids had all the symptoms but gained weight great. My youngest was put on Axid. After both were done eating we would have to have them sitting up in a chair for at least 45 minutes and gave mylicon drops before each feeding. I was also told to raise one end of the crib so they are not laying flat. Also try Dr. Browns bottles.

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