My 7 week old is bottlefed breast milk and formula. Up until a week ago, we had no issues with him eating, and he was taking 4-5 ounces every 3 to 4 hours. Then he started struggling while he ate, and would only want 1.5 to 2 ounces at a time. At first, I thought his eating habits had just changed, and kept feeding him on demand--now every 1 to 2 hours. But it keeps getting worse...he'll take in about an ounce and then start fighting--arching his back, flailing his arms, kicking, spitting out the nipple. I take out the bottle and he cries. Put it back in, and he sucks vigorously a few times and then starts the whole thing over. This happens with both breast milk and formula. He is hungry very soon after eating...and it took me 45 minutes just now to get him to take 2.5 ounces. There is no spitting up (other than just a little here or there), but he does have loud, wet burps....I'm thinking it sounds like silent reflux? We have a ped appointment later today, but I was just curious about your experiences. Is there anything that will help him?
Thank you so much for the responses! Just back from the ped office and she immediately said it's likely silent reflux. We're trying Zantac for now--crossing my fingers that it works. It is torture to see your baby hungry but fighting with eating. She said his case is probably moderate, not severe, as he sleeps 7-9 hours per night (flat on his back). I'm sure I'll be back with more questions, and it's good to know I'm not alone.
If it doesn't improve with the meds, then do look into a swallowing problem. When I first read your post, that is the first thing I thought of. Loud burps goes along with swallowing probs. I'm just surprised it would just now show up at 7 weeks of age.
I hope you already have the correct answer you need!
R.
Sound like you are right. I have soothed my baby with the same problem by using babies magic tea. I was also drinking this tea to pass it through my breast milk. He's now no such problems.
My daughter had silent reflux, classic text book case even that was misdiagnosed. Once we treated her reflux we noticed huge improvements. Our ped prescribed zantac but we had researched the side effects and weren't comfortable giving her those. We used a homeopathic called colic calm, smaller more frequent feedings, keeping her upright after nursing, and I eliminated ALL dairy from my diet. Our results were almost immediate once I eliminated dairy.
If you would like to know more, please feel free to email me.
Good luck,
J.
There is a good website called "Reflux Rebels." My daughter found it helpful for her son & his reflux. In these instances, I believe Mama knows best!
If babies Doctor or Nurse Practitioner tells you there's no problem, get a second opinion.
I'm wishing the best baby & you.
A.
Your description could have been written about my son at that age. At first, they said reflux and put him on zantac. I saw no improvement. Then they put him on Prevacid for silent reflux. I saw a LITTLE improvement. But, the more research I did, I found that with reflux, the baby is usually upset AFTER (or at the end of) a feeding when the gastric acids are bubbling over, so to speak. My son NEVER cried AFTER, but DURING! He would scream and cough and arch his back. He would take an ounce or so, then scream, then want more and we'd do that over and over again. He did feed better when really sleepy, like dream feedings. But otherwise, it was difficult.
What I would recommend is to take him to Pediatric Gastroenterologist. We waited until our son was about 3.5 months old to call and get an appt. It was about a 1.5 month wait for an appt and then another month to get testing done. It turns out that our son has Dysphagia and a bit of reflux. Dysphagia is a swollowing problem and there is A LOT that can be done to help them (and train us as parents how to help them). But, Pediatricians are not trained to recognize let alone diagnose this. It requires a video swallow study.
It's no big deal, no meds are even involved (unless there is reflux) but my advice is don't wait. Our son was 6 months old before we had a firm diagnosis and his struggles with eating during that time caused him to drop precentiles in weight and generally struggle with eating.
I would recommend Cincinnati Children's Medical Center's Interdisciplinary Feeding team. They have SEVERAL specialists that work together (including a Ped GI, speech path, etc). to both find the problem and map out a plan of what to do next. It may not be near you, but maybe there is one closer. I know people travel very long distances to see them, they are just that good.
I'm certainly not saying this is what your son has, or anything. I just want you to know that it might be silent reflux, or it might be somthing else and a Ped GI is best equipped to make the right diagnosis and recommend the best treatment.
If you have any questions, please PM me!!
Jenni
Have a reflux study done. I had two babies with reflux. One was the full blown puke it out and the other was a silent refluxer. My nephew had the silent type and ended up having burning of the esophagus, larynx, and voice box and had to be hospitalized. Consider medicating, but study the side effects of anything you give. I chose baby Zantac because I felt it had the least side effects. You can get it flavored grape or cherry by the pharmacies. But most of all... have that baby sleep elevated... like on a reflux wedge or in a car seat. During my first daughters reflux study you could see the stomach contents splash up over and over when she lay flat. It was very eye opening.
My son is now 10 months old and has just gotten off his Prevacid for silent reflux. It was torture to try to feed him and to watch him struggle and suffer, obviously hungry but not wanting to eat due to pain. The Zantac didn't help him much, but when we switched to Prevacid, it took about 2 weeks and he really improved. I tried many different formulas, but in the end, I guess he just needed to outgrow it and have help from some medicine.
He never had issues gaining weight or spitting up, so it was hard to diagnose...but in the end, my new peds listened to the symptoms and my intuition as a mom, and we were able to help him out.
Good luck in your journey...there is a lot of help out there.
