12 Month Old with Frequent Vomiting

I would highly recommend a gasterologist, a stomach specialist. There is something wrong and you should get to the bottom of the condition. His ability to get adequate nutrition, which is necessary for proper growth, is being affected.

Just two thoughts...has he actually had an endoscopy to confirm that it is indeed reflux, or did the doc just prescribe based on symptoms? If the diagnosis was just based on symptoms, and the vomiting is enough that it's interfering with his growth or weight gain (or even just causing you serious distress) you may want to get a referral to see a pediatric gastroenterologist (doctor that works with the stomach/digestive system).

And if it is more than just a little spit up and is truly vomiting, you might also want to consider seeing an allergist to eliminate the possibility of food allergies or sensitivities. My daughter (now almost 4) had a number of issues with throwing up in the first year and a half before we were finally able to pin it to an egg allergy. Food ingredients (even sometimes in second and third stage baby food) can be sneaky. For instance, all of the toddler pasta, and several of the stage 3 meals contain egg. Good luck, and I hope you are able to solve this issue for him quickly.

My daughter who is now 16-months old has acid reflux and was on prevacid until she was 8-months old. I took her off of it because I hated giving her meds at such a young age. It seemed like vomits mostly water these days or if we pick her up wrong and push on her little tummy. He Dr said she should grow out of it by 18-24 months and if not we would look at other options. I have known of people who have had to have surgery to repair the problem. Good Luck.

Hi. I'm a pediatrician, thought I could help. It sounds like he needs a special study-- you could talk with your doctor about ordering an upper GI with a small bowel follow through to make sure there are no anatomic problems. This can also assess whether or not he is having bad reflux. If so, we need to make sure he is on the right dosage of prevacid and he may need another reflux medication. If still not better, he may need to see a pediatric gastroenterologist. Good luck.Let me know how things go!

Try process of elimination of the breast milk and the foods you feed. Give it at least 48hrs before you will see results. Same thing with you since you are providing breast milk. Some babies just have a VERY sensitive stomach. Try feeding smaller quantities within your normal feeding schedule. Or burp him more often during his feedings.

My son who is 2 months old would cry after he got sick, due to acid reflux. I was going to put him on med's but decided against it. Rather do the process of elimination then have him rely on med's to eat, when his system is still developing. Give it some time, it will hopefully lessen for you.

This also happened to my brother when he was an infant. You seriously couldn't move him for a good hour after feeding because the slightest movement made him vomit and he had a lot of food allergies.

Hang in there, use LOTS of bibs and towels lol. I do. 3 a feeding! So i feel your frustration. Oh also, if your son is maintaining a healthy weight and a happy baby, I would not worry about it too much. Just means mom has to do more laundry!

My son is almost 10lbs and overall a healthy baby and he still on occassions throws up A LOT of his formula. He is doing better since I switched formulas. :)

good luck!

M.

PLEASE be persistant until you get a consult with a pediatric gastroenterologist!! Prevacid can help, but is not the be all and end all of reflux meds--and vomiting like this can scar his esophogus to the point of causing permanent damage. And then there is the whole issue of kids not wanting to eat because they hate barfing--and that is hard to get past, even when there is no physical cause any more. Insist on a specialist--asap. And keep a diary (food, amounts, meds, vomiting episodes)--to take with you.

S.

Hi M.,
I had to respond to you because my son too had frequent reflux. He too was on Prevacid which seemed to help some, but not a ton. We had an upper GI for him at 4 months because of the reflux and everything was normal. I struggled with his feedings because of the reflux and we also joked that we would get new carpet only when he stopped throwing up on it. Eventually he stopped. I am sorry I can't say why or when, but I do believe it was when he was off bottles and onto solid foods. Here is where I want to caution you. He is my 2nd, so I was able to compare his likes/dislikes to my first, who really never refluxed. My daughter seemed to take all the jar foods on the market (veggies, fruits, lasagna, spaghetti, etc) while my son was "very picky" compared to her. We noticed that he would only stick with about 20 different foods at 2 years of age. The day he was offered carmel sauce on an apple and looked at it and said "no thank you" so sadly I knew something was not right. All foods other than his "safe 20" were approached with fear by him. I tried letting him "go hungry" to see if he would then take a bite of the new food, but he would literally eat not a thing for hours and I would have to give him one of his preferred foods (like oatmeal). I've since read that some kids with this problem will starve themselves rather than try a new food. I was not going to put my son and the rest of our family through this ordeal without professional help. I ended up getting him into a feeding program because my friend and psychaitrist in the program said that a lot of the times kids with reflux like this do develop food aversion. It's like an adult getting a meal at a restaurant that makes you vomit that night....you really avoid going back to that restaurant. There is no reasoning with someone that young when their brain has associated food with throwing up at meal after meal. It's a really big deal in our lives, he's currently 3 1/2 and I'd still have him in 3x/week therapy if we had not just relocated from TX. I guess what I am trying to tell you is to read and prepare, push your medical group to look for a way to get him to reflux less (and make those negative associations less), and maybe try to get more of his nutrition through solids versus the bottle (just my thoughts...check that with your MD), and maybe try a variety of foods sooner rather than later so he sees there are lots of things that he likes rather than just staying with one new thing for a while (but I know that's not recommended due to looking for allergic reactions to foods, but retrospectively, I'd rather given him a lot of variety then have to take in all back if he had an allergy.) I feel for you. Please feel free to contact me and I can give more detail.
E.

We found that when we transitioned our son from formula to whole milk shortly after his first birthday his acid reflux was almost immediately diminished to nothing. Since he's a year old, I'd try the move to whole milk and see what happens...

Fair warning, because eating will have been such an unpleasant experience, your son may be a rally picky eater for a while. My little guy is now 3 and we still get some blurp-back if something hits his gag reflex just the right way.

M., I am not a medical doctor; however, my little brother had a similar problem when he was a small child. He would throw up soon after eating and he would wake up with vomit on his pillow in the morning. Request an upper GI be done on him. Don't let the doctors tell you otherwise. Even if they don't "think he needs it" demand one any way. This is what they told my mother. She demanded. When the GI was done, it yielded that his esophagus leading into his stomach was constricted. The food and liquid was "pooling" in the bottom of his esophagus and wasn't reaching his stomach. Since it wasn't being digested, he would throw up. They simply had to open it with a balloon apparatus. He is now 36 and has to have it done every 10 years or so. It hasn't stopped him from doing anything. He knows when it is time to go back for another procedure because he has trouble swallowing and he can feel when his food isn't going through his sphincter muscle into his stomach. Just a thought. Good luck to you. Just another concerned mom of three....M.

Hi M.,
My daughter had acid reflux and also had problems keeping food down. Our ped. prescribed Zantac and that seemed to help a lot. The acid problem went away after about 6 months, but then when we started trying to give her any type of solid food, she would sometimes gag and then throw up what seemed like everything. It seemed to me at the time that she had a very sensitive gag reflex. She is now 18 months and as time goes, she seems to be getting better and better about keeping her food down. I think some children, just have a hard time learning how to keep their food down or that their gag reflex is just too strong. At least this has been the case for my daughter. Hope this helps..you're definitely not alone. We're just now getting a reprieve from all the lovely vomit. Hang in there!
K.

Hi,
My pediatrician also did not think the reflux was a big deal. Since I have followed a gluten free, dairy free diet my baby is so much better in every way- emotionally and physically. We are going to get off of the Axid (reflux medicine) soon under the supervision of our homeopath. I know it is hard to do the gluten free, dairy free( you are still breastfeeding right?) Also, I know that you said it doesn't seem to be a food allergy thing, but if you really want to know for sure just try it for a couple of weeks. I did the elimination diet (you can look it up online.) I only wish I had done it sooner. My baby is so much better now! Good luck!

My son (now 29) and his baby daughter both did that until they were about 1. Long ago his pediatrician said it was due to an immature stomach valve and that he'd outgrow it. His baby's ped. prescribed something like you're using and it didn't seem to make a lot of difference except to make the parents feel like they were doing something about it. Both children outgrew it around 1 yr. It very upsetting and annoying to deal with, I know. I still remember following my crawling son around, cleaning up thrown up milk and food on the carpets! Be patient and see if it stops soon.

Has your little boy had x-rays or an endoscopic exam? Some children have a problem called pyloric stenosis. This is a thickening of the muscle around the pylora, which is the passageway out of the stomach. It can cause projectile vomiting or more mild vomiting. If the passageway is large enough, the child will continue to grow and gain weight, but will also continue to vomit. In some cases, they outgrow the vomiting, but it can return later on (say, after puberty). It used to be that the solution was a pyloroplasty, a surgical trimming of the muscle to enlarge the pylora opening. At least this is my understanding. :-) I would definitely get an expert opinion. I would highly recommend Dr. Triadafilopoulos, who is a gastroenterologist in Mountain View. Best wishes.

My son was about 11 months when he started vomiting. He would eat, vomit shortly thereafter, and carry on. We couldn't figure out what was wrong, and did not appear ill other than the vomiting. Took him to the doctor and he was diagnosed with asthma. He was vomiting when there was anything in his stomach because he was using his stomach muscles to try and push the air out. He had no other symptoms. I felt horrible that I let it go on for so long, but we had no idea. They put him on medication for the short term and it went away completely. He then used a rescue inhaler for attacks and did quite well for about 6 months. The attacks started coming more frequently and now he takes a daily prevention medication that has worked wonders for him. If we didn't have a really good physician I hate to think where we would be today. Nobody I had ever talked to had heard that vomiting can be a sign of asthma, so I never would have made the connection. Just a thought, if your child has a hystery of acid reflux, it is more likely related to that, but you never know. Anyways, good luck in finding your diagnosis, and if not happy with your pediatrician's answer, definitely get a second opinion.

Vomitting during/after every meal is most definitely not normal. I think you should take him to see a ped GI specialist. My son (now 6yo) had reflux as a baby that turned out to be caused by food allergies. He slept terribly and was constantly fussy, but he never vomitted.

There are not many ped GI doctors around here. We went to a practice in San Jose. (www.pediatricgisanjose.com) You could also go to Packard's Children's hospital (Stanford) or Oakland's Children's hospital. It would be best to call asap because there will probably be a 1-3 month wait just to get the initial consult. The GI doc would probably have you come back to do an upper GI test (x-ray while swallowing barium) to see if the reflux is caused by an anatomical problem. (Which was not the case for my son.)

Acid reflux meds (we tried three) did not help my son at all. The treatment was to figure out which foods were triggering the reflux and avoid them. Once we did that, the reflux went away. My son also had rashes, was constantly congested and had frequent diarrhea. These are all symptoms of food allergies as well. If your son has any of these other symptoms of allergies, I would also take him to an allergy specialist. There are lots of allergists around. They usually see adults and children. We see Dr. Rubinstein at Camino Medical Group in Mountain View. He is really good.

Good Luck!

Have you checked into food allergies? I'd also recommend a pediatric gastroenterologist. That is where we finally found some help for a similar thing.

Our son turned out to have something called Cyclical Vomiting.

M.,

My son had horrible acid reflux. I would definitely go to a specialist- GI doctor and get an opinion of someone who routinely deals with these kinds of issues. I would start there and then see what they recommend for your son. Take care and I hope that you get the help your son needs.

Sincerely,

Molly

Hi,

Depending on how often frequently is, I think you're right to be concerned. I hope you'll get a second opinion from a naturopath who has a lot of experience with food allergies, and I'd also add that there are digestive disorders which can cause a lot of problems, which you might check into. Sometimes there's a gene that makes it impossible to digest certain proteins, for instance. Although this sounds more like a specific food intolerance. I hope you'll find a good N.D. and get some results.

All the best to you and your little one.

Hi M.,
Our son had bad reflux, and you absolutely need to see a pediatric GI for this. Is your son truly throwing up or is he spitting up (mostly a question of quantity -- it often looks like more than it is, but either way, go to a specialist)? Our son was on Prevacid for a couple years, but more than that, he needed to be on Miralax (and Reglan when he was younger). The motility of the whole digestive system is often involved, and any amount of constipation can reinforce vomitting. Also, the docs had me stop feeding breastmilk and start giving him Alimentum. This was at 4 months, and I was pretty upset. I called my cousin, who is a pediatrician and who worked at the National Institutes of Health (along with actually practicing) going through research to assess methodologies used and veracity of outcomes. She was looking into breastfeeding and its benefits for her own kids and let me know that the main health benefits of breastmilk are transfered to the child in the first five weeks. That made me feel a lot better. Making that change helped a bunch (but certainly didn't fix the problem. What concerns me the most about your story is that it sounds like your son's sphincter is particularly loose. There are procedures that can be done to tighten the sphincter if that is really the case (I'm no doctor, but I had a loose sphincter myself). Go to a specialist at a major hospital -- UCSF, Children's Oakland, or Lucille Packard, depending on where you live. It can take a long time to get in w/ a pediatric GI, but if your pediatrician calls personally to explain that the situation needs to be addressed immediately, that can help a ton. Is your son staying on his growth curve? If so, you have less to worry about but should still see a specialist as there is no reason for you to all go through this every meal. If he is not on his personal growth curve,you can call that "failure to thrive," and he will get into a specialist more quickly (as he should). Also, the more he has solids, the less he should vomit, but please insist on seeing a specialist. I am shocked, quite frankly, that your pediatrician has let this go on for a year if it is really as frequent and severe as you suggest. Regular pediatricians see basic cases of reflux frequently, which leads them to believe they can treat it themselves. However, when reflux is severe, you need to see a doc who sees *severe* reflux all the time, and that is a pediatric GI. Advocate for your son, and do not worry what his ped thinks about you. Just so you know, we were able to stop all meds when our son was 3 years. I hope you find someone good for your son. There is an excellent doc at UCSF that I can recommend. Email me if you would like me to look him up. It's been a couple of years, and I cannot remember off the top of my head. Best to you as you work through this.
K.

Try giving food, wait 30 - 60 mins, then do drink. Or try breaking meals up into smaller units. 2 oz milk, 3 oz food - twice as often.

Do food allergies run in the family? Even if they don't, your child may have an allergy.

As far as pediatrician goes, I would get a second opinion from an ear-nose-throat Ped (or specialist). More often than not, "mom gut instincts" are correct.

It is not normal for a child to vomit like that. Way too many babies are on acid reflux meds nowadays. What the heck is going on? 20 years ago you didn't hear about all of these reflux issues in babies. Could there be additives to our foods that are not tolerable by many?
I would suggest it is possible there is something you are eating that he cannot tolerate crossing over in your breast milk.
There have been other moms on this site asking about the same thing. You should do a search on their questions/responses. Many responses come back as dairy products being a main culprit. Another high offender for food intolerances can be grain products.

Hi M.,
Did you say that your little one is still eating baby food? Do you think that maybe table food would be easier for him to keep down? I know that my daughter had acid reflux until about 9 months old and our doctors had us thickening her bottles with rice cereal from the very beginning. Then when we started giving her more finger foods it seemed to lessen. I think it was around 1 year that she was on just finger foods and completely off any baby food and she's been fine ever since. I'm sure you've already talked to your doctor about this, but I just thought I'd mention it just in case.
Oh and the other thing that we found was that we had to put our daughter on a special hypo allegetic formula at that time that had no dairy in it which helped a bit as well. She's out grown that now and is drinking whole milk just fine, but I'm wondering if he might have any issue with breast milk that could be causing it. Again just things to talk to your doctor about if you haven't already.

Have you talked with the doctor about a different medicine? One of my twins has reflux and had to be put on Zantac because other things were not working. I hope he is able to keep the food down soon....that is not fun!

My son also vomited a lot. We tracked it down to his constipation - every time he pushed, he barfed. Once we got him loosened up, he stopped throwing up. I'm not sure this is your issue, but you never know. Good luck!

When I was an infant well into adulthood, I had this problem. Back then, it was often diagnosed as just plain colick until I got older. Then it was just a sensitive girl with a sensitive digestive system. Now IBS and acid reflux seem to be the quick answer for a lot of things. Hopefully it is something else for the little guy's sake. For me, it was very serious food allergies. A Pediatrician/Allergist diagnosed my problems. Many were food allergies resulting in stomach pains, sometimes loose stools and worse, and vomiting. The things that your boy eats most often can actually be the culprit, for reasons I will not go into here. It would not hurt to find a reputable allergist. I know that is hard from experience. Keep a meticulous food diary - everything that he eats and when; and then the symptoms - putting down the time of occurrence. While in the doctor's office, I saw a little girl throwing up everything she ate(her mother carried a bucket around), then after testing and appropriate treatments, she was able to eat and keep everything down. It can be a time consuming project, but well worth it. Those meds he is taking for acid reflux - have you checked into all the side effects? Don't mean to scare but to help.

The only thing I can think of is maybe he has food allergies? Has he been tested for that?