Help for Reflux

I feel your pain my son had acid reflux really bad, we started to notice this at about 2 weeks old and the doctor's didn't label it reflux until between 6-8 weeks old. My son never spit up all that much but the term "silent" is new to me but it sounds like him! I was told to have him sleep in his car seat, inside of his crib. That elevation did wonders and I wasn't able to lay him flat until he was 5-6 months old. Zantac did nothing, I agree. I liked prevacid but it's very weight sensitive. My son gained weight like crazy so I was asking for a higher dose every 2-3 weeks it felt like. Then he'd be better for awhile. It sounds like you are doing everything right, this phase will pass. My son was off all meds at 9 months. He is lactose intolerant and drinks soy but reflux is a thing of the past. Most kids outgrow it. Once your son starts to sit upright or roll over in the crib things get a lot better! For now wear him in a front carrier during the day if you want to get anything done. Car seat or swing to sleep, just make sure all the belts are buckled. I never let my son sleep in the swing at night, if I did I think I'd feel safer if the swing was in our room. Our doctor said it was okay, though. Other than that, I'd switch to soy based formula or Enfamil Gentlease. Start solid foods early, around 4 months when you get the okay. Solid food will help keep his acid down where it belongs. Good luck!

Try feeding him smaller amounts at a time and make sure to burp him every 1 to 2 oz. Also, place him on his tummy with the head slightly elevated (but only under your supervision and never while sleeping). The pressure on his stomach will help.

Also, minimize putting him in a seated position, such as an infant seat, because it puts pressure on his tummy and causes more reflux.

Hope things get better soon!!

My heart goes out to you. My 2nd child also had reflux like your little boy. He would gurgle, and , and the time-we had no idea what was wrong with him. When he was 3 months old my sitter called and said she would've sworn he was dead. Not something you want to hear about your sweet baby! So, after a rush to the hospital, many hours at Scottish Rite, they determined it was reflux. Our doctor prescribed Tagament. He took it in the morning and at night. Along with keeping him upright for at least the 30 minutes after eating, we saw a huge difference. We kept him on Good Start formula and added cereal via spoon at 12 weeks. Once he turned 1, we weaned him off of the Tagament and he's had no problem since. I would ask your dr for Tagament-especially if you have to supplement with Mylanta on top of what you are already giving. My little one is 5 1/2 now and is completely healthy. Pray for healing power and I wish you all the best during these scary times.

Sounds like you are doing all you can! My daughter has reflux although not as bad as your son's. However, our doctor told us to use Enfamil Gentlease, as it is somewhat broken down already, and that helped her!

The other thing you can try is to boil dill seeds in water and give him an ounce a day of that water!

That has helped other babies with reflux, my daughter used to take this also....

Hi-

I have a 4 month old and she has been diagnosed with the samething. She actually stopped breathing in the pediatricians office when she was 7 weeks old and then sent to MUSC. They thought she had Whooping cough but thank goodness it ended up being Reflux and a virus. Which the virus made the reflux flare up even worse than it was. She also has all the exact symptoms when she is not on her meds. The doctor put her on Zantac 30mg daily, Raglan and I use Enfamil Nutramegin (sp?) formula with rice cereal. This seems to help plus with all the other things. Keeping them upright after they eat, sleeping at a 45 degree angle and so on. It still is not perfect and she has her moments when you can tell she is in pain. She can start on baby food and it scares me to death that I am going to give her something that is going to make her miserable. Sounds like you are doing everything right you may want to try the Nurtramigin formula (very expensive) but it seemed to help us. I feel your pain it is awful to have a child suffer from this because you don't know how to help them.
My 2 1/2 year old never had any of these issues so when my little one started up I had no idea what was going on.
Good luck with everything and I have to be honest it is nice to know I am not the only one out there with this issue.

We did the same things that you are doing for our twin girls, now a little over a year old. And like you, we found the Zantac to be worthless. They are still on Prevacid, and every time I try to take them off of it, the reflux comes back. The only thing I can recommend is to try Maalox instead of Mylanta? Sounds like you are already doing everything you can. You may want to try a Pediatric GI Specialist, if you haven't done so already.

S. was your baby premie ?
i had a 7 1/2 week old baby boy who was premie and had apnea and reflux that gurgled in the back of his throat -our main concern was his apnea/ stopped breathing and his ablity to recover from choking -he did asperate into his lungs at 5days old and got pneumonia from it - we went to a specialist hospital and saw a wonderful gastrointestional doctor -who put him on reglan -dont know if i am spelling it right and we had him on soy formula and i put regular baby rice cereal in there to thicken his feeds -naturally the stomach cramps was due to ...constipation from the cereal -we used senneca -in his bottle every so often to loosen his stools and thus went the ugly cycle -he too outgrew it -and i remember all to well the maddening cycle of thickend feeds/colic and constipation -the senneca was a god send -check with doctor and see what he/she says -but if you have not seen a CERTIFIED GASTRO SPECIALIST -PLEASE DO ....
I LOVE MY PEDIATRICIAN -BUT HEY -SOME THINGS JUST AREN'T HIS BAG
PRAYER WORKS TOO WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS .
TRY WRAPPING HIM IN A WARM BLANKET WHEN HIS TUMMY HURTS -OR TRY A WARM WATER BOTTLE -OUR LITTLE GUY REALLY LIKED THAT .
J. H.

Hi S.,

I agree with Nola. IF you can't breast feed you may want to look into buying breast milk. Breast milk is much easier on the system. If you are breastfeeding, you need to look at your diet. Remove all the gasous foods from your diet and don't eat ANYTHING processed. The chemicals in the processed foods (preservatives and even the residues from the pesticides) will pass through into your breast milk.

If those aren't options you can make formula with rice milk (never soy, too much estrogen for HIS system)but don't use the corn syrup (until after age 1)as suggested. There is a possibility of botulism just like in honey. I have a friend who used a supplement called Florify which is a probiotic and prebiotic that helped. It was in capsule form and she opened it and added it to the formula.

All the drugs that you mentioned stop pain for a short period of time. The problem with them is that they neutralize acid that is supposed to digest the food so the tummy works overtime to make more acid. This is because now there is not enough acid to digest the food. These medications cause what the doctors call a rebound problem.

I know your little one is miserable. My youngest suffered terribly and I wish I had known then what I know now. Feel free to email me if you would like to know more about the Florify.

God Bless!

M.

HI S.- my 3rd son (now 16 mos) had bad "reflux' they had me try all of the medicine - which didn't work- what I ended up doing was using mylanta before feedings- I breastfed for a year - the milk is SO much gentler and better for them- if you cannot breastfeed- It was suggested to me to use goatsmilk which is very gentle for babies. I actually made my own formula for a while(to supplement and for nights out) which includedgoats milk, corn syrup and acidophilus and juice from boiled barley. Most babies cannot handle the protien from cows milk thus giving them "reflux" - Reflux is very wide range of symptoms and is overused bydoctors....our bodies tell us something is wrong by these reactions- I would try something more natural for your baby - try the goats milk- and I think the mylanta is fine- it always calmed my little guy down- when I did start whole milk when he was 1 - he has horrible constipation problems and crying fits- so I switched to soy milk....good luck to you - I know how hard it is! and how heartbreaking it is to see those precious little babies in pain. Let me know if you have any questions...
Nikki

S.--I feel for you!!! My FOURTH child, now 10 months, had "silent" reflux, and the doctors initially did not believe me. Noone else had it.

My pediatrician put Michael on Maalox for a period of time, like 2 weeks, with his Zantac. They did this because my they had to heal the damage already done. You have to get the doctor to tell you how much. AND the Maalox (the plain old white nasty stuff--already has the gas medicine (simethicone) in Mylanta, so don't accidentally overdose. I was told that is coats and heals the esophagus. You might just be in the middle of the healing if the prevacid is supposed to cover this.

I might seek help from another doctor. They are not always the right person for your child. Be an advocate for your child's health and have self confidence in yourself as a mother. The doctor needs to listen to you and help you.

Also I would not let the screaming and discomfort go on if you can help it.

You can tell the difference between an "I am hurt" and "I am bored" cry--right? I would try to swaddle him and also try a sling. Being near you helps to calm them. Also, make the car seat your best buddy. Let him sleep there. You can move to the crib later on.

My third child had severe reflux as well. We were blessed that the Zantac worked for the most part. His wasn't silent but quite messy. And before he got on Zantac was yellow from the stomach bile! We, too, couldn't let him cry long or he'd reflux and choke. I used a sling to carry him around. A baby carrier would work great, too, if you can find one for him. It would probably be ideal because he wouldn't be bunched up in it like in a sling. We also bought a SnuggleNest which fit between our pillows on our bed. We propped it up (I don't believe it was recommended but now they make them propped up for reflux babies). That really helped for when he refluxed at night, we were right there and could sit him up if he choked. Carrying him, however, would be the best way to keep him from crying. I guess you kind of have to dismiss the expectations that he'll sleep through the night or can cry like "normal" babies because the reflux can be really hard on him. Even with reflux, my third learned to sleep by himself by between six and eight months.

I hope this helps!!

Poor Baby.My 5 month old has reflux we just switched to prevacid.I saw immedate improvements.How horrible to not be able to get it out.I wish I knew how to do other than what you're already doing.We do the same for Mya.She too will trigger an episode when crying to long to the point of not being able to catch her breath and choking.How old was your daughter when she outgrew it?

I know where you are coming from; my son had severe silent reflux that was diagnosed as colic after numerous trips to the emergency room until he was six weeks old. His pediatrician was amazing, though, and she really helped him. She sent us to a ped. gastroenterologist who put our little one on baby tagamet. The difference was amazing! We put him on Nutramigen, a hypoallergenic formula by enfamil. Our doctor said rice cereal would be too much for his little digestive system, and since he wasn't spitting up like crazy, he didn't need it. She said rice cereal was really used to add weight to the formula to try and help keep it down. My son is now 11 months old, and he has been medicine free for a few months now. My pediatrician also recommended gripe water for gasiness, and it works like a dream! You just have to be sure not to get one with alcohol in it. I hope this offers some help. Good luck!

Hi S.,

My first son was born at 26 weeks and had such severe reflux it literally almost killed him. He would stop breathing.

Using Alimentum (Similac brand) was a huge turn around for us - (of course he was also on meds). While this formula is much more expensive - it is so worth the money! It is broken down so it is easier to digest. I know of other people who feel like switching to Alimentum was a turning point for their baby too. Remember, when you switch = you need to give it a least a week.

Best wishes to you.

Hi S.,
I want to say good for you for taking your baby to the chiro. I just hope he/she is offering you advice on feeding him. Whom ever told you to add the rice to an 8 week olds bottle is absolutly insane! Sorry! But at 8 weeks he cannot digest rice and by putting it in a bottle, it only escalated your already exsisting problem. Your baby wont be truly ready for rice until he can get it from a spoon. Waiting until 6 months would be even better. As far as what you can do to help...talk to your chiropractor about natural stuff that can help, standard process has great things that your chiro can get for you. He has a lot of drugs in him for only being 2 months old and his body is rejecting it. Try and get his system cleaned up. If your current chiro cant help then find one that deals with peds a lot. They would do wonders for your little boy. Gid rid of the cereal dr! Best of luck for you guys!