A warm good morning to MAMAS,
My little 29 month old little boy has been having a terrible time with reflux and chewing food. Poor guy is up at least 3 times a night with cough and vomiting and during the day chokes very easily. Sometimes he might vomit food from lunch at midnight and the food is usually undigested..He has no weight issue so his pediatrician was not extremely concerned and basically told us that he will grow out of it..He has not grown out of it and the problem started at 7 months. I am constantly on alert and never sleep a proper night as I worry that with the cough he might vomit in his sleep. This has happened several times, so I sleep in the same room with him.
I have raised his bed by 6 inches and I am careful with his diet! We have now been giving him MOTILUM and LOSEC medicine but nothing is working so far. The other problem is that his symptoms are resemble asthma so he doctor also adviced us to give him inhalers twice a day. I am very concerned that we are over-medicating him and that this will effect his health later in his life. Georgie has no resentment with food, in fact he wants to eat all the time and asks for milk in the night. I think warm milk relieves the heartburn, but unfortunaley does not help with the cough.
I would apppreciate any advice from Mums that have similar problems, I am really desperate and would love to hear comments
I would definitely get a second opinion. Going to a chiropractor who is certified to work with children is also a good option. They do wonders! Dr. Agrawal at Baylor Dallas or Dr. Tammy Kennedy are two very good doctors. I wouldn't wait on this.
Please research this site and the current documentation that exists about chiropractic and children. There is an answer besides medication for your child. Let me know if I can help you. I am a chiropractor in the Plano area. If Plano is not convenient for you, I can recommend a colleague that is closer. Email me with any questions or contact my office at ###-###-####. Please let my assistant know that you contacted me through mamapedia, your first visit will be only $45 for the consult, exam and any necessary x-rays (if needed).
http://www.icpa4kids.org/ (home page)
http://www.atypon-link.com/MCY/doi/abs/10.5555/pmfh.2009.... (research article)
I am concerned that your pedi is not more concerned. This is not normal obviously. I would seek another opinion. I HIGHLY recommend Dr. Bain. We found her and have stayed with her when we went to her for a second opinion on another issue. She has referred us to Dr. Chalmers, he has helped us with many things...... especially my youngest (47 months) and her Reactive Airway issues.....which were also a gut issue. He told us what she needed and it has been so effective she no longer is on breathing treatments. For the first time ever, me nor my children are on any Rx's........I would get a second opinion from someone who thinks more holistically. Both of these doctors do.
Has the pediatricain referered you to a Pediatric Gastrointeroligist? They specialize in these type of problems and will beable to tell you if it is an allergy or a problem with his digestion. There are some great doctors near both Dallas and Fort Worth childrens hospitals.
My vote is with Debbie G. for the Pediatric Gastrointeroligist. If your child is throwing up undigested food several hours after eating, common sense indicates there is not enough stomach acid to digest their food. This is not as uncommon as you might think and can be corrected with treatment. Food allergies are another possibility, but they do not generally produce throwing up of undigested food several hours after consumption. There are instant reaction food allergies that produce hives and anaphalactic response, and throwing up undigested food immediately after consumption. Then, there are delayed food allergies that produce other intestitinal and physical issues, i.e., IBS, Candida overgrowth in the intestinal tract & skin eczema, but do not include throwing up undigested food several hours after consumption. Go for the Ped Gastro for a second opinion, preferably a doctor with an understanding of alternative and natural treatment options. Your baby is in pain and miserable and needs medical care immediately to prevent this condition from becoming a much bigger problem than it already is. Good luck!
In addition to the very good advice you've already gotten, you might look into cranio-sacral massage therapy. This is an extremely gentle therapeutic massage technique that might be able to ease the constriction in his chest and gut. You would sit with your son the whole time. He can play with toys while the therapist works on him. It looks so gentle, it is hard to believe it is doing anything, but I've seen dramatic results in my daughter and felt them in my own body. www.kenpiercy.com is a great guy - he works with a lot of kids.
I second the suggestions of both chiropractic care and food allergy testing. "Regular" doctors may roll their eyes and call you crazy, but he's your son and you are responsible for his care. Certainly also seek out a pediatric GI, just remember that specialists see what they are trained to treat. You have to trust your gut if you feel (after doing some research of your own, and making sure they took the time to explain everything to you so you could understand why they want to do whatever they propose and what they hope to gain from it) like what they want to do is too invasive or makes no sense. I use both traditional and alternative medicine, blending them based on my own research and instincts. I rarely tell the MD/PhD allergist that the chiropractor seems to be helping a lot...sparing myself the eye rolling...but it works for me and my kids. Particularly for chronic conditions, I prefer to use the alternative stuff. For acute infection or injury I'll go to the regular doctor. I carry an epi-pen for my son's peanut allergy, but he sees the chiropractor regularly to improve his respiratory symptoms (for which the MD/PhD allergist wanted him to take prevacid, allergy medicine and do breathing treatments). I tried the medicine way for about 6 weeks, but it wasn't doing what the doctor hoped it would do, so I stopped it and tried something else. Homeopathy, chiropractic, massage etc, can be really beneficial in conjunction with traditional medical treatment. You don't have to be a fanatic or renounce all medicine to incorporate some alternative stuff into your life.
Good luck,
S.
SAHM of 3
I'm obviously not a doctor, but I do know that my children have both had reflux issues and my 4 year old sounds a lot like your liitle boy. We go to Dallas Allergy & Immunology and they deal with the asthma which is triggered by reflux, so they go hand and hand. We also have GI doctor who tries to control reflux with meds, but they aren't magic. I have to grips that when they have these conditions medication is important to keep them half way well and out of the hospital so you probably aren't over medicating. I'd love to know if you figure anything else out! Best of luck and wishes to you and your son!
i recommend a pedi GI doctor to fully evaluate him. my daughter had severe reflux and pedi's are ept to treat the situation differntly than a specialist.
This really sounds like a food allergy to me. The milk could be the problem My daughter was allergic to milk, soy and oats. She had very similar symptoms. I would go see an allergist and have him tested. Good Luck!!
a lot of feeding problems can be due to food allergies, or what types of foods they're eating in general. try giving him whole foods (unprocessed!!) like lots of veggies, fruits, WHOLE grains (no white bread) and cut back on things high in saturated fats- hot dogs, sausages, hamburger, etc. i am not a vegetarian by any means, but my daughter had a lot of digestive problems (as did I) and I've found that cutting down on meats to every other day has helped ease our stomach problems immensely. i think a lot of it has to do with all the added sugars and preservatives that is added to a lot of prepackaged and processed foods.
it's easy to try and at least see if it helps!
best wishes!
My ex-husbands muscle valve located between esophagus and stomach refused to open at appropriate swallowing times and let food drop into stomach. He suffered food stuck in esophagus for many years. Finally diagnosed when he was in early 30's. doctors went in and used "bubble" expander to stretch the muscular valve open and it now just stays open all the time. Not the best solution. I think if I had a child going through this experience, I would look for alternative health solutions rather than medicines or surgery. Try acupuncture or chiropractic care.
Updated
I forgot to mention that when my ex-husband's muscular valve, between esophagus and stomach, refused to open, any food swallowed would sit at the base of his esophagus stretching it out into a little pouch. It would feel to him, like it feels when you swallow a tortilla chip sideways - - painful just like a heartburn. Since food could not drop into stomach it would sit there undigested. The only way to get rid of it was for him to throw up.
the 2 major thing's i did was switch to powder'd milk(it's pretty much synthetic skim milk) and had my kid also checked for a Hiatal Hernia/present's same symptom's as Acid Reflux! Also your kid could have GERD's disease or have a gluten allergy-which also present's same problem's,but is accompanied with stomach pain,an constipation.
