My 6-week old son was diagnosed with reflux and the doctor put him on prevacid. I breastfeed and pump so dad can feed him once at night. What can I do to help make him more comfortable? It breaks my heart to hear and see him in pain!
Call Heide North. She is a homeopathic specialist and can help right away. She is in the phone book under William North on Mesa.
I had two sons with reflux, I was told it was ok to put him to sleep on his stomach, if you are comfortable with doing that. If you are not, put him down and elevate his mattress. He is probably more uncomfortable flat on his back. I didn't realize how painful it relux could be until I developed it as an adult. Flat on your back is the worst. Also, you should probably watch what you eat. One of my kids turned out to have a milk allergy. Cut down on anything that would give you gas or heartburn. I noticed that what I ate that gave me heartburn while I was pregnant, was also what caused him to have more pain. You might want to try a warm water bottle on his tummy when he is really uncomfortable. Just rap it in a towel and make sure it is not hot. You can put him on your lap on his tummy also for a little comfort, this work well for me. Good luck!
Dear Arden,
My heart & prayers are with you and your family.
(It WILL get better!)
My suggestions to you to ease your little guy's pain are--hold him in as close to upright position as you can during feedings; keep him upright for at least 30 minutes after feedings; feed slowly and remove as much of the air out of the feeding as possible.
Try these and see how the work. God bless, Alta Herman
See if you can elevate his crib on one end a couple of inches so his head is slightly higher. You don't want him sliding to the bottom but I think this is suppose to help. Ask your Dr..
Sarah M.
First thing, I am hoping the doctor told you that most boys get this. And they should grow out of it in 3-6 months or so. My son had sever reflux, we had him at the hospital with in his first week. The only thing that really helps is a pacifier. I know that some mom's with breastfeeding don't want to do this. But it keeps the sucking moting going which keeps the bile in his tummy. No bile, no burn. Also, hold him upright for about a hour after each meal. My husband and I learned how to sleep sitting up with Tyler propped on our chests so he would be upright all night.
I chose not to medicate. This was 5 years ago and the doc's at Children's weren't sure what it would do. Now they have doses small enough for them. With the Prevacid it should help.
Keep breathing, it's hard and tireless. My son only slept for twenty minutes at a time with this. But it does end. Again a pacifier really helps. Really helps. It's the only thing that calmed him and kept the reflux down.
My oldest daughter had really bad reflux, so I know what you are going through! My husband and I ended up taking turns sleeping with her on the recliner at night. The only way she could sleep comfortably as on her tummy, and at an incline. I didn't feel safe having her on her tummy in her cradle, plus it was hard to keep her at an incline in there.
If you don't want to do that, just try an incline. Let him sleep in his swing, bouncy seat, or car seat.
Good luck and I hope the prevacid helps!
I wish I knew what to say but I have not heard of this in someone so young..did the doctor say how he could have this being an infant??
My son had some reflux too. I heard that chiropracters can do an adjustment that helps. I was a bit reluctant but when a good friend of mine and her husband (who is a chiropracter) came to visit I asked him about it. He said there is an adjustment for that and I asked him to look at my son. We were in the front lawn of a resturant. He held my son and talked to him (my son was 6 months at the time). It looked like he massaged his back. I asked him if he did anything. He said he made an adjustment between the shoulders and behind the left ear. It took a day or two but after that we did not have the problems with reflux that we had before. Maybe every now and then there was some reflux but for the most part it was gone. The adjustment was in no way painful to my son, in fact it looked like they were playing. If my next kiddo has problems I'll probably go to the chiropracter sooner.
Our daughter who is now 4 had terrible reflux, projectile vomit at times that made me think she might have pyloric stenosis. Some things that helped tremendously were for me to drink chamomile tea and eat the herb dill-both of which help with digestion. Also it is important to cut out foods that are irritating-ie coffee, dairy, etc. All babies are different. You should eat a very bland and basic diet and add in foods and see what irritates your baby. There is a product called gripe water that works wonders, (can get it in most pharmacies). Gripe Water is all natural-not sure about using prevacid on a 6 week old. Be patient as the reflux should ease up with diet changes and age. Good Luck
Arden,
In raising 4 boys, I know what your up against and send my sympathy's! If you call Heidi North for something homeopathic, ask her about using a very mild dill seed tea. That's what I used way back in the 70's for my boys when I breastfed each of them. I would brew the tea and spoon about one teaspoon into them before feeding. They'd burp like little troopers when we finished. Gas would come through them as well so be forewarned. Ask her or your current Doctor and then see how it works. since it's jsut a mild herb tea I never had any bad feelings about giving it to the boys. Good Luck to you all with this!
Karen
PS 1 Teaspoon Dill Seed, bring to boil in one cup of water and then steep off the heat for about 5 minutes. Keep in the fridge, ready for feedings each time. Use one teaspoon of the liquid for the baby. Burp well after feeding and you should all feel better very soon!
My son, now 7 months has reflux as well. What helped was to keep him upright/legs straight after feedings, I would put him in the Bjorn.
Also, the doctor approved use of Mylanta in extreme instances. I did this twice and it worked almost instantly. Check with your doc, I don't remember his age, though he was real young.
Dear Arden,
I'm not sure if what my son had was the same as yours, because I don't think we used the word "reflux" for little children back in the 70's. My son would have a hard time keeping any liquid from coming back up and so we went to a specialist and found out that he had a larger trap door (I don't know the correct word for it) than normal, that is located at the base of his stomach, between the stomach and the beginning of the intestine. So, liquid would come up looking the same as it went down because it had not had time to settle and even start the digestion process. We were told it is normal for first born males, and he would grow into the size of the trap door. So for a time, we had to set him at a position half way between sitting and laying down to feed and also to sleep. He started to keep everything down without problems and really did grow out of it soon. We also tried to not let him drink 8 ounces at one time, but gave him 2-3 ounces and then occupied him with chat time, then 2-3 more ounces. Not letting him get too hungry, but letting the milk have time to slowly settle before we gave him more.
I apologize for not knowing the proper terminology for this, but if my explanation of his symptoms seems the same, then maybe some of this will help. One more thing we did, we laid him on a pillow at the very first until he was old enough that he would roll over, then no more pillow, but would just keep him at a 45 degree angle, and he seemed to sleep well.
A little about me is that I've had 7 children and now have 14 grandchildren. But even with that, you should keep an update to your doctor of how you take care of problems like this, because they are learning more and more stuff all the time, and even though some older remedies are good ones, be sure to listen if your doctor has better advise then mine.
Hi. I have had 2 babies with reflux, the first severe and the second milder. With both, the thing that helped the most was keeping them upright after feedigs and even to sleep. I let both kids sleep in a bouncy chair or swing so that they wouldn't reflux as they slept. YOu can also roll up a towel to put under their matress or basinette to keep their head more upright.
My daughter, with the more severe reflux, had it until 6 months. She was on prevacid the whole time and it definitely helped a lot, so keep doing that. My son's reflux wasn't that bad. The doctor told us we could occasionally use Mylanta. It helped too, but he hated it. He outgrew the reflux after 2 months.
Good luck to you. It is hard having a baby who throws up all the time and who is in pain!
Try smaller more frequent meals, have him in an uprifgt position when feeding, try a Podee bottle which has them sit up while eating
My daughter also had reflux. Our doctor said that babies outgrow it by four months. We made it but (and without meds), when she told us that, I didn't think we would. There are some simple things that you can do to help. First of all, don't let the baby stare at the tv because they can't focus and it actually makes them sick to their stomachs. Also, try to put your baby in a quiet room to sleep during the day. Many couples tend to put their babies in a bassinet in the living room so that all of the visiting relatives can see them; however, it's loud and the babies don't rest (or digest their food)well. Also, put phone books or something under your child's mattress so that he is inclined when sleeping (you can buy wedges at babies r us but the books worked fine for us). Finally, feed your baby more often so that he doesn't eat so much in one sitting and pump for a few minutes before you feed him to take the edge off (but save that milk)!
Every child is different, but Gripe Water really helped my son. He was never diagnosed with anything, but I could tell he refluxed a lot. Gripe Water you can find in Health food stores and it is a natural and safe. You may also try to really log what you eat and see it anything that you may consume might trigger the reflux since you are breastfeeding. Hope it helps it was a heaven sent for me.
Have you tried a sleep wedge, or let him sleep in the swing or bouncy seat. A paci can really help keep stuff down after he eats. You can also wear him in a sling during the day, it helps alot to be close to mom, and to be able to smell her ect. It also might help to nurse him more often and shorter time, and hold him upright for 30 minutes after he eats. Good luck, it gets better.
Sarah
Both of my children had reflux and it was so hard when they would just scream in pain. The medication does take some time to start working so they are not in pain. Also, make sure that your prescription is strong enough. The first doctor we saw for reflux prescribed a miniscule amount of medicine and our regular pediatrician more than doubled the dose, it wasn't until then that my daughter stopped screaming in pain. There are also different medicines and some work better for different children, so ask your doctor about changing it if it doesn't seem to work after about a week. Good luck!
My girls had reflux and slept in their swing (rechargeable batteries are a must) for 3-4 months. I set it up outside my bedroom door with a nightlight in the hall and left my door open so I could see them at all times (I was a bit paranoid and overwatchful) They would also sleep buckled into their carseats, just not laying down.