Reflux and Gas - Downers Grove,IL

Have you tried letting her sleep in her carseat rather than giving her meds. Sometimes something so simple works well.

We did Reglan. We have him .09 mg...it was a very small syringe and almost full.

It relaxes the lower stomach muscles so the formula will go on into the intestines faster. This way it can start digesting sooner. The baby gets more nutrition out of it and it's not in their tummy long enough to come back up unless you're over feeding her.

The way to manage reflux better is to sit her up while feeding her. Then don't let he lay down at all. Even at night time she needs to sit up more. She needs to sleep in her carrier car seat or in a bouncy seat. You can sit it in the crib and strap her in. This way she's sitting up and her tummy is not lower that her throat.

Once she gets big enough to roll over when she's sleeping she can lay flat. She'll need to be able to roll around.

Also, if you're using formula you can use this trick we learned.

We always used Nursery Water from Walmart. It's cleaner than any tap water out there and it tastes so much better. We'd put the correct amount of Milacon Gas Drops in the bottle then add the Nursery Water. We'd sent the bottles mixed like this to Mother's Day Out, Nursery at church, everywhere. Then when it's time for a bottle we added the powder and gently swirled to mix the powder and formula. This cut the gas before it ever got a start. This really really really helped.

Many people will tell you to start her on cereal to help. It makes it much worse. Her tummy won't be ready for food until she's about 6 months old and only then dry cereal mixed very runny with some formula. It will sit and rot in her tummy and rot if she's not old enough to digest it right.

Don't give in to peer pressure. She's too important to start her on food too early. This might seem to help at first but she'll start having more problems.

Do small feedings, lots of them through out the day instead of a few longer larger feedings. She will only puke it back out if her tummy is too full.

You can get through this. It does get easier. I can honestly say that Reglan was a miracle drug to us. Without it about 10-15 minutes before each bottle we'd have a screaming bloated awful baby. With it he'd smile and take his bottle and be a joy to have in my arms.

We had 2 kids with colic/acid reflux so I totally feel for you! We used the solutabs that you are talking about, but I never used the liquid, so I don't know which one is better, but, I do know that Prevacid is the best! But, it is not enough! You need to use MYLANTA as well. We used to give it a little at a time, no more than 2 ml at a time when the baby needed it. This is a gas relief medicine, and it is an antacid. This will help with the immediate pains when she is crying. We also had to alternate between Zantac and Prevacid, so that he was getting something every few hours, I don't remember the schedule. Sorry. The Prevacid is a blocker, so it stops the acid from being made, but the Mylanta neutralizes it, and the Zantac stops something else. It was a synergistic affect.

I had to stop breastfeeding because they both screamed from the pain caused by it. The milk protein and the soy could be factors in the pain from the breast feeding that you are experiencing. We tried the sensitive formulas, and the soy, but in the end, we had to go with Alimentum, which is hypoallergenic. Also, the Playtex drop-ins are what we found to be the best bottles with latex slow flow nipples because they don't drip when they need to stop and take a breath.

Break up feedings from 3 hours to every 90 minutes, and cut the amount in half as well. We fed 1.5 oz every 90 minutes for the first while then upped the amount of formula, but not the time. It is also super important to burp the baby, and this may include vigorous bouncing on your lap. Eating less more often is easier on the tummy.

Next, go to craigslist, or your consignment store, or if you have to pay full price because it is SO worth it, and buy a Graco Sweetpeace Soother! This is the best thing ever made on the market for colic and acid reflux. I think every new parent should be given one. It has a noise maker/mp3 cord, but more importantly, it has a seat that you can put on either way so that it moves front to back or side to side. The seat also comes off so that you can put the carseat in instead. We used ours with both the snugride and the snugride 32. This gives the baby at least a 30 degree angle to sleep in for the reflux, and when she falls asleep in the car, you can just keep the same movement in the house so the baby doesn't wake up. I love this machine, and although my baby is 2, I still won't sell it because I just can't, it saved me so much!

Also, don't forget Hyland's Colic pills, these can do what nothing else can at helping the baby feel better. Oh, and find a show or song that the baby responds to...for my daughter it was the theme from Gilmore Girls, if it came on, she would stop crying until it was over. Sometimes this gave us the break we needed to get the medicine in her. Bouncing and movement really help!

Finally, know that this will pass, and by 2 you may not be able to give your kiddo milk or dairy, BUT, the crazy crying will end. Good luck! Pm if you need more help!

There are many different meds you can give them for reflux. One of my kids was on Axid. Another one was on something different. And one had prevacid or prilosec (we had to open the capsules and mix it in something to get it in her). If one doesn't work, try something different. And as a fyi- mine were all sensitive to taste, so have them flavor the medicine--watermelon seemed to do the trick with my last one. It could be what it is mixed with or the med itself that is causing the gas. The only way to find out is to try the other medicine and see how it works. Remember to keep her upright after feeding and try not to put pressure on her tummy.

Did you or do you nurse your baby? That sounds like thrush.

Both of my children were diagnosed with acid reflux as infants. Zantac did NOT work for either child. We tried Prilosec with our second child, and it didn't work for her, either.

Prevacid was our miracle drug for both babies (and just to reassure all you mom's out there who haven't had babies with reflux, I promise that we tried all sorts of things before going the medicine route). :)

Liquid prevacid was not an option for either of my children (now aged 5.5 and 3 yrs old). With each child, solutabs were what we used. We would dissolve the solutab in water and use a syringe to suck up the mixture to then feed to the baby (both of mine were exclusively breastfed, so mixing it in a bottle wasn't really an option -- plus prevacid works best if given at least 15 minutes prior to a feeding). We did not have any major problems with gas for either baby...so I'm not sure if this is something with your baby or if it is something with the liquid prevacid. As each baby got a little older, we found it was MUCH easier to just hold the solutab on the inside of baby's cheek until it dissolved. It dissolves pretty quickly, and then we didn't have the time and mess of trying to get it mixed in a syringe.

As another mom has said, one of the biggest things is to keep baby upright after feedings. This means that nursing your baby to sleep is going to make things much worse. With exception of a late night feeding, we would always play (upright) with baby for 15-30 minutes after a feeding to let things start to digest. Then we would lay baby down during nap times (and both of our children were excellent sleepers). I was worried that baby wouldn't sleep well or long if they weren't nursed to sleep, but very quickly found out that the opposite was true.

We were on a 3 hour feeding schedule for both children at the 10 week mark (unless baby was going through a growth spurt). We would cluster feed in the evenings to prepare for bedtime, and then baby would sleep through the night. This worked well with their reflux.

Hope this helps!

Have you considered anything other than medication? A lot of times people who try so many drugs with their kids, especially babies, find that doing something more balanced and food-based works much more effectively, whether the baby is breast fed or formula fed (or a combination). It's really much much easier to prevent the reflux and gas than to treat it after the fact, never mind worrying about side effects. That's what we do for all the kids we work with who have digestive issues (reflux, constipation, diarrhea, gas, and so on).