OT: Infant Reflux--HELP!

[Juliet25]

Does anyone have any experience with this condition? My almost 7 week old is so fussy all the time. Whenever she's not sleeping or nursing, she's fussing! Lately, it's become screaming, especially in the evening. My first DD was also fussy, but not to this extent. Also, this DD spits up a lot. I was nursing her on my side the other night and she vomited all over me and DH. This was the second time that happened. She's gaining weight really well; it's just the spitting and the screaming that has me concerned.

I have a ped well baby visit on Monday, and I obviously plan to bring this up. I'm just wondering if anyone has any BTDT experience.

 

[moparop]

That post sounds an awful lot like my son. He was just a generally unhappy guy. Everything bothered him and I knew all kids were different but he always had a sour look on his face. He was gaining weight so when I mentioned my concerns to the ped she thought I was nuts until I fed him once at the office. He'd want to eat with extreme hunger but would pull away and cry during feedings.

Some things we did to help (before we went on to meds): He slept in a bouncer (even at night), nursing upright, shorter more frequent nursing sessions.These all helped some, but getting on Prevacid made a REAL difference.

 

[Juliet25]

Ruby also pulls away during feedings. At first I thought the fussing was because of forceful letdown, but she gets frustrated even before letdown. The poor thing is just miserable and screaming as I type (holding her and gently bouncing). Fortunately, she sleeps well, so she gets some relief there.

 

[all4fun]

My ds (now 5) had silent reflux (no spit up). We also went the medicine route and did a lot of the things the pp mentioned. He did outgrow it eventually but it was a tough road! I feel your pain, there. Definitely talk to your ped. If it wasn't the weekend I would say don't even wait for your well baby visit, just call. I actually called my pedi and she suspected reflux and prescribed meds w/out seeing him. He was a micro preemie though (so he was being seen a lot more than normal anyway, even after he was released from the NICU). She started him out on Zantac (iirc) and then Prevacid. I found this site to have some helpful advice about infant reflux: http://www.infantrefluxdisease.com/

 

[AUDramaQueen]

Our second child (our girl) had baby acid reflux. Sorry I can't really help you much other than to say she'll grow out of it. She's almost 6yo now so I dont remember when exactly she stopped but I remember having to change her (and me or whoever happened to be holding her!) after every feeding and going through lots of bibs. She too would do it while I was nursing sometimes. It was disgusting and frustrating but there really wasnt anything we could do nor was anything really wrong with her.

She's fine and healthy now though so it's really just one of those things we have to put up with when they're babies...

ETA: After reading other posts just thought I would add that my doctor didnt prescribe anything

 

[princessalexis]

My son had problems when he was 2 weeks old. The pediatrician told us to have him sleep on a wedge (it looks like a ramp for the crib - not the wedge that keeps a baby on their side) and we made sure to always change his diapers before feedings (so we wouldn't be pushing his legs up on his stomach right after eating). She also prescribed Zantac in case we needed it, but just with the wedge and keeping him upright after feeding we saw a huge improvement. He wasn't too fussy with the reflux though, just a lot of spitting up. I think a lot of babies have issues with reflux, so you are not alone!

 

[Mouse House Mama]

If you are nursing stop eating dairy. Do not eat spicy foods or gassy foods. It sounds like if you stop the dairy it might help a lot. Good luck!

 

[NotUrsula]

DS and DD both did this at that age, but DS had reflux and DD does not (she's 10 mos.).

I would be *highly* suspicious of an overactive letdown; this was the initial problem with both of mine. Pulling away is the classic sign. Fussing before the letdown doesn't necessary rule it out; she could be learning already that eating is uncomfortable. One thing to be aware of if this is the reason -- they very quickly learn to gulp air any time they can when nursing, so they get horrendous gas, too, so arm yourself with simethicone drops. Once my milk supply evened out at about 12 weeks, DD stopped the forceful vomiting. DS never stopped until he was 4 yrs. old, even with Rx liquid Zantac -- his system just had to mature.

First thing I would do is to keep her elevated at an angle after feeds. You can still nurse in bed, just keep your arm under her (oh, and if you don't already have some, go down to TRUS and pick up a couple of full-sized flat flannel waterproof pads for your bed, they are meant for cribs, but if you fold them in half they are good for feeding in bed -- they will protect your bed from having to be changed in the event of an episode. I still keep one under my pillow for night nursing.) You could also elevate both the crib mattress and yours by putting rolled towels/sheets under the head end. Also buy some plain flat birdseye cloth diapers and keep at least one handy at all times -- nothing else soaks up thrown-up milk as quickly as those will (we call them spit-rags at our house.)

If you have a pump you might try taking off a little foremilk before nursing and see if that helps. Nursing all on one side each can help, too, odd as that seems. (It helps because it ensures the breast is truly empty and gets you down to that fatty hindmilk. With OLR you run the risk of giving baby nothing but skim if you switch sides -- you can tell by the poop if this is happening: it will be greenish and very explosive. You'd probably be able to hear it.)

You can PM me if you want to talk about this -- I'm in St. Louis, too. There is nothing quite as depressing as getting repeatedly soaked down to your undies by that adorable new baby, is there?

PS: I eat tons of spicy foods and I drink lots of dairy -- what I ate never made a dang bit of difference to my kids. For me it was ALL about the letdown.

 

[MrsKreamer]

I sent you a pm!

 

[Ariel8676]

I would also suggest cutting out dairy, caffeine (if you haven't already), spicy foods, and gassy foods. Also hold upright for about an hour after feeding..slings work great for this, you can do a tummy to tummy hold, and still have your hands free.
My oldest had reflux and it is hard to try to figure out exactly what works and what doesn't...she still has stomach problems..dairy allergy and reflux...
Good Luck to you!!!! And Big HUgs to you all!!

 

[timzagain]

Had the same problem with my oldest DD - minus the screaming! Add lactose intolerance to the mix and it made for an unhappy baby! I made significant modifications to my diet. I also had to keep her propped up for an hour after feeding; considering that she was feeding every three hours that meant that I was hardly getting any sleep!

Keeping her propped for the hour seemed to ease her discomfort. She outgrew it after a few months. No lingering stomach issues, but she is a picky eater to this day and she's now 16!!

 

[bellaprincess98]

I had the same problem with my son, and I tried everything. The doctor gave him Zantac too but it didnt completely work on its own. Here is what has finally worked for me.

1) There is something out there called a Podee. Its allows the baby to eat upright from a bottle. Its something like a straw that goes from the bottle up to the nipple to his mouth. I love this thing. Not only does he feel better being upright but sometimes when we are out, I can just give him the bottle while he's sitting in his stroller or car seat.

2) Put rice cereal in his bottle. This is the best thing that ever happened. The cereal in the milk holds the milk down in the stomach so it doesnt come back up. I dont mean just a teaspoon, you have to put at least 2 tablespoons if he/she eats more that 6oz. If less than 1 big tablespoon.

I hope this helps!

 

[belle&beast]

My DS was diagnosed at about 4 weeks with reflux. He just never stopped crying, vomited massive amounts even though he was growing and gaining weight, he was generally unhappy. He was breastfed only until about 3 months, then we occasionally used a soy formula supplement-about 3 bottles/week.

I did make some dietary changes, but they did not seem to help. At first they put him on Reglan. That is a med that aids digestion and it helped for awhile, but he was always hungry because he was digesting faster and still fussy. Then we added Zantac and it really helped with the pain for him. He was on meds until about 6 months old. Once he started sitting up and moving on his own, the reflux was all but gone. We also waited to introduce solids until 6 months. ( I thin kthat might be the norm now, but when he was a baby, solids were ok between 4 and 6 months.) I will say that he is 4 now and he still has a sensitive stomach- he throws up if he eats too much, so we are careful with him. Good luck!

 

[hmacmahony]

My 9 month old has been diagnosed with reflux, with failure to gain weight. He was born 7 lbs 14 oz, and at one month was only 7 lbs 13 oz! So, we put him on medicine, and we also went to see a ped GI specialist. The wait was horrible to get in, over a month! We had to keep a feeding journal, medicine, see a nutrionilst, the whole 9 yards. Finally they did a blood test to see if he had any allergies.
EGGS!!! So, long story short, I cut out all eggs, and within a week he was a diffrent kid. The doctors do not think he had reflux at all, but obviously a pretty severe egg allergy. There was about a 10 week period of time, where he would go to bed around 8, and wake up by ten, and be up EVERY HOUR all night long, nursing. (still not gaining weight though). It was killing me, but once we cut out the egg (that was at 6 months) within a week he was sleeping all night, and just happy!! He still has slow weight gain, but I think part of it is that he is just a tiny kid.
Long story short, find a specialist, there were only 3 in our area that saw kids, they will help a lot.
Good luck, it is a hard road, keep lots of clothes handy! I would carry stuff for both of us where ever we went!
Heidi

 

[bookgirl]

My nephews had reflux, we used a sleeping wedge. It's this big foam triangle with a baby pouch. They napped in it and sat in it sometimes after eating. It keeps them at the right angle so that they don't get reflux as bad and it keeps the "acid burps" (where the acid in thier stomach rises in their esphagus and falls back into thier airway if they are lying down) to a minimum so that they don't irritate thier windpipe and cause them to have pain and cry. It was a wonder.

 

[Poohs#1fan]

My DD is 10 months and she was diagnosed at like 6 days I think. She never did spit up much, though. The first thing they had me do was feed her rice cereal from a spoon. I know it sounds crazy, but I was nursing, so there was no bottle to put it in. She got pretty good at eating it, too. I also had to go out and buy a second swing because that was the only way I could ever put her down. She slept in one upstairs and I had the other downstairs. The ped also put her on Mylanta. That worked for a few months, but we eventually had to move on to Zantac. I also couldn't eat spicy or gassy foods for awhile, but I never gave up dairy. One of the big things my ped told me was to not lift her bottom when changing her, but roll her because when you lift her bottom it just pushes everything up. When she did eventually get out of sleeping in the swing I always had to elevate the mattress of the cradle and crib.
That's all I can think of at the moment, but if you have any questions I can try to help. Good luck and just know it will get better!!

 

[lilysmommy]

My little one was diagnosed with GERD (reflux) at 3 weeks of age. We ended up on meds immediately - mostly due to the spit up shooting out of her nose and almost 10 feet across the room. She took reglan and axid for almost 10 months before we weaned her off. They also put her on Enfamil AR formula which has rice cereal in it. She slept on an incline and had to be held COMPLETELY upright for 45 minutes after she ate. We also discovered that she HAD to be on a strict schedule - no variations EVER.

The good news is once you get a handle on it - they do get less fussy.

Lilysmommy

 

[Erin1700]

We put rice cereal in the bottle...works wonders! Good luck!

 

[tammy1210]

DS (7) had acid reflux as an infant -and it was horrible - the continuous screaming after feedings really wears you down. All of the pp have already mentioned everything we did - elevating after feedings, elevating the crib (we found this worke better than the wedges), thicking their milk with cereal - Zantac didn't work for ds, but Tagamet was a God-send!

I did want to mention to everyone that's dealt with babies and reflux though - last year the dentist noticed that ds' (then 6) back teeth were worn down to nothing - not from grinding, but from acid! He told me to call his Ped immediately - which we did and in the past year have ended up seeing a Ped. gastroenterologist and ds is now on Prevacid - but, even though we thought that he grew out of it - he actually just built up a pain tolerance to it - he never once complained, but it had been continuing all of these years! Talk about making you feel bad. He can't have caffeine now (including chocolate), no red sauces, nothing spicy, and no peppermint - he's done really well with the diet, and the dr. says we may be able to wean him off of the meds next year, but he'll always have the diet.

 

[tinkerjess]

my daughter also had this! we also had 4 upper gi's we did everything was on prevacid , nutramigen formula, also i just poured a bunch of rice cereal in her bottles, sat her up for 45 min after feedings. she must have gone threw 15 bibs a day poor thing you could never see her cute outfits because of her bibs. i thought when she got on baby food it would stop,yeah right!!!! she still would do it. i remember it finally stop when she was 13months. she still to this day drinks rice milk and shes going to be 3 next month. i know how diffcult it is,but in time it will stop.