Anyone know about infant reflux or GERD?

[leahannpen]

We've been told our sweet 2 month old has reflux. We've tried so many things, yet you can still hear her erping up, then swollowing down her formula (silent reflux?). It's so frustrating!! Now her ped. wants her to go for an upper GI and said she may have to go on a med called Reglan, which I've heard awful things about. I'm kind of freaked out! I want her to feel better, as she's fussy so often and wakes up uncomfortable quite a few times a night, but I hesitate to put her on all these drugs. Ugh!

 

[Disney Doll]

My boss's son had it. He was on Protonix or Prevaicd (I forget which) for a while. The pediatric gastroenteroligist also recommended the Carnation formula (Good Start I think it's called) that you can buy in the grocery store. The combination of those 2 things settled it down, and eventually he was taken off the medication too. He sort of grew out of it, I guess.

 

[lewdyan1]

Both of my kids had infant reflux. They both took Propulsid and Zantac. By their first birthday, they were off the medicine and both fine!

 

[always quiet]

My niece's baby had this really bad....she could 'shoot' a bottle (after eating!) clear across the room!! She also needed to have the upper gi done. They told my niece to give her maalox before her bottle, add cereal in with the formula to help weight it down some and she had to feed her sitting upright. Also, she would sit her in her exersaucer for an hour after she ate. If she laid her down, whatever went it would soon come back out. She was also on special formula but I don't remember the name of it.

Hope this helps!! BTW...buy LOTS of bibs and burping pads!!

 

[paigevz]

Both my sons have it. Some people "outgrow" it as the little flap that keeps things down strengthens, but this is very prevalent in my family, and likely a lifelong thing for both my boys.

With my first, he took Propulsid to help strengthen the flap (did nothing that I could tell) and Zantac to decrease the acidity of the reflux (helps with the burning sensation.......especially helps if yours comes out of his nose like my first one did). He was my most severe. He'd spit out 2/3 of what he took in. I was also told to give Mylanta, which REALLY helped, and weight his formula with rice cereal and begin feeding solids early, to help him with food intake, as he was in the bottom tenth percentile on size. I also had to bring him back for weighing and checkups twice as often as other babies his age to watch the growing pattern. They did discuss operating if he didn't begin growing better.........thankfully, he did, and while still shorter than average (12th percentile), and still needing occasional tums, he did outgrow a lot of the worst parts. We were basically stuck at home until he could get off formula as he'd spit up SOOOO much, you just can't put others through that, and cleaning and so on.

My second did not have it as badly. He was also prescribed Regalan..........my brother told me under no circumstances to give it to him as it had been linked with so many problems with heart and liver. My brother was in PA school at the time. I never gave him the first dose. I gave him Mylanta (1/2 tsp 3x daily) and kept him upright as much as possible. I also fed him solids early since that had worked with my first. This one had no trouble whatsoever growing. He had more like you describe your baby.......he'd swallow it back down. But he also had obstructive apnea, where he'd stop breathing and have a hard time clearing his airway when he refluxed. That was scary. He's stopped most of that, but does occasionally have difficulty. The obstructive apnea causes problems when he tries to swallow too big a bite, and so we do get some vomiting when we aren't careful to watch his bite sizes, but it's not really a reflux issue.

By the way, both my boys always have and still get sick when upset..........that is caused by their reflux. Also, chocolate and orange juice are triggers for me, my boys, and a student of mine...........yours is too young for either, but nice to know in future!

 

[indigoxtreme]

My 1yr old D grand daughter had this. She was put on Zantac and the Enfamil Formula AR. This worked so great for her and by the time she was 7 months old, no need for the Zantac, but kept her on the AR formula. Now she eats anything she wants.

 

[goofy!]

.....

 

[nliedel]

Both of our preemies had it. 1. It will probably stop when she goes on solids, it did for the boys. 2. Really think about the Reglan. We opted not to. Our babies were not losing weight it was just annoying. They urped CONSTANTLY! It was all over the place all the time and looked much worse than it was. It never bothered the babies as much as it did me.

If you are AT ALL uncomfortable with any suggestion your doctor makes please get a second opinion. If your child is losing weight then you will need to be more proactive with the drugs but if there is a good gain, and most babies with GURD are surprisingly good gainers for some reason then it is not as severe. Also go out TODAY and buy a Doctor Browns bottle. It is a bottle with a straw like contraption in it and it really helped our boys. My husband is in a meeting so I cannot get all the info but he researched it well before we switched. My husband swears by Dr. Browns bottles.

Again MOST (not all, as the poster before me can tell you) kids outgrow this. One day they are urping an arch that could win an Olympic Medal the next it is just gone. They can do an ultrasound before the upper GI to rule out some things and that is non invasive.

 

[leahannpen]

Also go out TODAY and buy a Doctor Browns bottle.

I've been using these for weeks. My DD dosen't spit up ... much. She has a few times, but mostly, she swallows it back down. Her nose is SO runny/drippy and she coughs/chokes on that too, which is so frustrating for me to watch!

She's been on Zantac and is now on Prilosec. We tried Previcid once and she wouldn't get near it.

I've switched her formula 7...yes, 7 times now. I'm now using Carnation (Nestle) Good Start with no DHA/ARA stuff in it...and it seems to be helping a bit with the digestion...I'm NOT switching again. LOL!

We go for an upper GI Tuesday...and we'll see what happens after that. I'm so nervous ... I hope she dosen't suffer for life with this and outgrows it.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

I'm sure that all 4 of my kids had reflux, but only my 3rd child was diagnosed with it via a milk scan. He was gaining weight fine (was a fat baby), but had asthma and the dr thought that if he had reflux that it could be aggravating the breathing problems.

We tried different medications (I don't remember them all, but do remember reglan and propulsid), cereal in addition to breastfeeding, keeping him upright, etc. I don't know if these things helped the reflux, but it did not help the asthma. So, we had a baby with daily breathing treatments AND reflux medicines. He was not a happy camper!

He did grow out of these problems by a year old. Today (literally today--it's his birthday) he is a healthy, strong 12yo who does not have asthma or reflux issues.

All of my boys had very sensitive gag refluxes. Don't know if it was related to the reflux or not.

paigevz, interesting about the chocolate. My youngest, now 5yo, would throw up so easily. We tried to link it to foods and it did seem to happen more with chocolate.

 

[justjulie]

My youngest had it too and it lasted 11 months. We went through a battery of tests including the GI when he was only three days old. Make sure you have plenty of bibs and burp cloths. He was fed as upright as possible and slept in his car seat for months. The sphere that keeps everything down eventually matured and I could finally move out of the laundry room. We added cereal to weight it down and eventually this will pass. Good luck to you - I remember having to tell everyone do NOT touch him - not because I didn't want him to be held but I just didn't want them dealing with the unpleasant aftermath of moving him - that fun was all mine!

 

[OceanAnnie]

I've been using these for weeks. My DD dosen't spit up ... much. She has a few times, but mostly, she swallows it back down. Her nose is SO runny/drippy and she coughs/chokes on that too, which is so frustrating for me to watch!

She's been on Zantac and is now on Prilosec. We tried Previcid once and she wouldn't get near it.

I've switched her formula 7...yes, 7 times now. I'm now using Carnation (Nestle) Good Start with no DHA/ARA stuff in it...and it seems to be helping a bit with the digestion...I'm NOT switching again. LOL!

We go for an upper GI Tuesday...and we'll see what happens after that. I'm so nervous ... I hope she dosen't suffer for life with this and outgrows it.

I had a similar experience. DD swallowed, rarely brought anything up. She cried & was uncomfortable a lot of the time. She had to eat every 2-3 hours (for months and months) 3-4 oz. It was all she could handle. And in time she took 4-6 oz every 3-4 hours.

She was on reglan and zantac (starting at around 2 months of age). I had to keep a log just to keep the meds and feedings straight. The lack of sleep can make you loopy! I have 2 books that I kept for prosperity. She was gaining weight and looked fine, healthy --- cause I was feeding her round the clock! Never failed she's look chipper and in good spirits when we went to visit the doctor.

I had tried to explain her symptoms many times, but I'm sure it sounded like colic or something. Finally after reaching my wits end I explained how bad it was (at the time, I had no sleep and no makeup) she went to a specialist. I think she was 2 months old.

We tried so many forumulas it wasn't funny. Nutramigen was the most memorable. Smelled so terrible and it was very expensive. We tried Good Start too. After awhile we (the doc, DH & I) realized the formula wasn't going to matter so we went back to Good Start and stayed with it.

The specialist had to adjust her meds with weight gain and if there were repeated bouts of symptoms. I was always watching her for side effects. I was a nervous wreck! I felt so bad for her.

Our DD had an upper GI too. It confirmed she had reflux. I think she outgrew it around 18 months. I had heard they outgrow it by 12 months. Around month 11 we hoped every month that this would be the month she'd outgrow it. What a let down when that didn't happen. It got to the point where I just said, "I'm not getting my hopes up anymore!" It was so frustrating. But we were extremely happy when she did at 18 months. She was weaned off her meds and that was that.

Those were some tough times. Really tough times. I'll never forget it. I found people that haven't gone through it don't really understand it so much. We didn't venture out very often. When she was crying uncontrolably we had all of our soothers at home. It was unsettling and people would look at you like, "why can't you calm your baby?". Maybe it was the lack of sleep, faulty perception, but I was feeling awful about it on my own without that added element. It did get better.

The meds didn't work like magic. It helped but she wasn't 100% like I thought she'd be.

Anyway, there is a wealth of information on the net about reflux. Also there are forums where parents tell their stories and offer advice. I found it very helpful, but I found it when she almost was through it all. Still it helped to read other people's stories. If I can find some of those websites I'll add it to this thread for you.

Take good care of yourself. Get naps when you can.

Those bouncy seats were a god send to us. It kept her elevated and gravity kept everything down. I think we had 4 different kinds. LOL!

I hope the upper GI went well.

Hang in there. There is light at the end of the tunnel.

 

[Rafiki Rafiki Rafiki]

I just wanted to mention that Propulsid has been removed from the market in the United States because of causing heart attacks/death in individuals.

It was THE BEST medicine for my daughter's reflux. We were on Zantac and Reglan prior to using Propulsid.

By the way, if your little one is prescribed Zantac, you should know that it changes the taste of her bottles and will likely make her not want to drink in the beginning. Reglan didn't do much for our daughter.

She's 7 and still has reflux. She's a Pepcid junkie. It really helps with the pain.

 

[OceanAnnie]

By the way, if your little one is prescribed Zantac, you should know that it changes the taste of her bottles and will likely make her not want to drink in the beginning. Reglan didn't do much for our daughter.

Yes. Our doc recommended we put the meds in 1 oz of formula to make sure she took it all.