My son is 3 months old and has reflux. He takes medicine twice a day for it, we also have tried several formulas. He was on the enfamil AR for a while then i noticed that he was spitting up a lot.So i changed him to prosobee thinking maybe he needed soy milk. He did wonderful for about 5 bottles, no spit up or anything. Then his 5/530 bottle he lost it all and continued like that the rest of the night. We have noticed a trend that he does great all day but starting in the evening he starts spitting up, but its not just a little bit. We feed him sitting up at least at a 30 degree angle and sit him up for 30 mins after each bottle. Does anyone have any suggestions on what we could try. O we also put a little rice in his bottle because the prosobee is so thin, so we add just enough to thicken it up some. I am open to any suggestions, at this point i will try anything.
we use gripe water like crazy. Although it doesn't help with his reflux, but does great for his hiccups. We have changed bottles from dropins to dr browns, to the new bottle from pampets. We are back to the dr browns. He is on medicine, he takes zantac twice a day. I have left the slow flow nipples in all the bottles, it takes about 30 mins to eat a bottle but that still hasn't helped. I also breastfed him. That didn't work at all. He would spit up more with that than with the formula. I am totally stumped on this and have tried so many things. I have researched different things an nothin seems to help.
Have you tried Gripe Water? I haven't personally had a baby with acid reflux, but I know many parents who swear by Gripe Water to help their babies spit up less.
My daughter had really bad reflux. At least what I thought was really bad. Maybe not in comparable to some. She was on Zantac. Finally my doctor told me I could put a tsp of ground rice cereal per oz of water in the bottles with regular formula. So a 4 oz bottle got 4 tsp ground rice cereal. I think it helped to keep the formula down greatly. She still spit up but less frequently and not much. Also, my daughter slept in the nap nanny, google it, and would sleep all night. Just dont put it in a crib and stop using when they can roll over. We loved it. Wish she could still use it today for times when he is congested or drainy from allergies. Just stick in there it will all pass around 6 months.
I will tell you what we did with my son who took medicine for his reflux till he was 3!!!
We used Dr. Brown bottles -- google them -- loved them!!
We bought a nap nappy for his to sleep in -- loved it! It is expensive, but well worth it!
We made sure to burp him after every ounce! A pain, but it sure helped!
He was on Similac Lactose Free (I think it's called Similac Sensitive now)
Good luck -- hopefully he will grow out of it soon ... :)
Have you considered buying breastmilk from a milk bank?
Hello L.
You will think I am crazy but seriously my sister's baby had reflux and in search of a solution before she went to Rx's, she went to Dr. Chalmers in Frisco (it was not close for her but worth the drive). He tested the baby (no needles just a Applied Kinesiology Test) and the baby needed salt. He sold my sister a 13 dollar bottle of a pink type of salt (not all salt is the same I guess...this one 'tests' strong but mine at home did not). It is a large bottle. He told my sister how much to give the baby or how much for her to take so that enough would come through the breastmilk, seriously in two days the reflux was nearly ALL gone. She still is doing this salt regimen every day but is so relieved it worked. Who knew????? Dr. Chalmers was referred to me by my pediatrician---that is how we found him. What a blessing he has been to our family; mine and now hers. IT sounds too easy, but seriously it worked!!!!
My LO is now almost 11 months old. He went undiagnosed with relfux til 4 months old (thanks to a quack dr). He was finally put on meds after seeing a new dr. I also did a ton of research on my own, and about the different meds. I found a group that helped me so much, in both helping me understand reflux & meds, and also in support. There's a good chance your LO's dose may need to be increased since he's growing. Also, with meds (H2 blockers, like Axid and Zantac), babies quickly build up an intolerance to them so they quit working. Zantac only lasted 7 days for my LO. We switched to Prevacid Solutabs, which helped the reflux, but caused insomnia. He was put on Nexium, which worked miracles!
Also check out www.marci-kids.com
E is now med free, and though he still has some occasional minor flare ups (nothing that Mylanta Cherry *Supreme* won't handle), he's so much better! Having a child with reflux can be very hard and frustrating, so I know exactly how you feel. I had days where I was crying along with E because I felt there was nothing more I could do to make him feel better. Feel free to message me if you just need to chat. :-)
I just wanted to mention that although my babies did not have acid reflux, they spit up alot after every bottle. This went on for several months. I must have washed at least 6 bibs a day and tons of burp clothes. What I'm saying is that it is normal for babies to spit up, some more than others. Is he gaining the appropriate amount of weight? Does he have enough wet diapers? If he does and he's not in pain, then maybe this is normal for him.
I played the formula game with my second son! I was unable to breast feed because he was tongue tied and so the formula game began. My son didn’t spit up, he threw up. He was also fussy, had a terrible diaper rash that would not go away and would consume too much formula. Life was not fun for awhile. So, my last option was a soy based formula after trying all the milk based ones with my pediatrician’s help and his help with free sample cans of formula. I also switched to Dr. Brown’s Bottles and nipples. Overnight the diaper rash went away and the throwing up stopped! Now, he would still spit up a small amount, but that is pretty normal. My son also had acid reflux so I did the usual of feeding protocol you did AND he slept at an angle for several months. I also had to watch how much he consumed. Literally, he would consume as much formula as I would give him and then he would throw it up. I used guidelines from my pediatrician on how much he should get and would just stop at the right amount of ounces. I breast fed my first son so watching the ounces was new for me. I don’t think I would recommend the rice as my pediatrician warns against this. Now, I never saw a difference in the thickness of the formulas. What I did notice that all the formulas were mixed differently. Some were even scoops and some were packed scoops in the measuring cup provided, so watch that. I will add that my son could not have anything milk based until he was around 11 months old and about 9 months the acid reflux stopped. We also used over the counter medication and prescription medication. Remember, it does get better and I am proof of that.
I don't really have any suggestions, except to maybe alternate his formulas? My son had reflux too at that age. Not just the spitting up, he would project it several feet out! Just know, that somewhere between 6-9 months, my son just stopped. Sitting up it the big issue and evenings/nights was when it was the worst. Is diluting his formula an option? I breast fed mostly with a bottle of formula every now and then. When we started cow's milk around 13 months, his body did not like that either. He spit up his first glass of milk. So, I started him with 25% milk with 75% formula for 2 weeks, then 50/50 for 2 weeks, then 75% milk with 25% formula, then 100% milk by 6 weeks. The gradual increase seemed to be the ticket for us. Good luck. My son is 18 years old this week and he doesn't have trouble with any heartburn, yet. :)
I'm not sure what medicine your son is on but for my son with reflux we had to use Prevecide to control his reflux. Also we had to make sure he had no dairy or soy in his diet.
The only thing that might help that I haven't seen mentioned here is more frequent burping. I know it sounds basic, but even a small bubble will bring formula back up, and acid and gas go hand in hand.
L.,
I have the exact same problem with my son. He is 2 1/2 months old and he seems to do fine during the day until the 5:30 and 8:30 feedings. He is breastfed though. We have been on Zantac for a 1 1/2 months now and it seems to work wonders at first, but now it isn't helping as well as it use to. We have only gained about 2.5 pounds since birth and were in the 25th percentile at our last doc. visit.
I am hoping that a Mommy that has been through this before will make an awesome post that will help us both out.
Has your doctor checked the flap at the bottom of the throat? I think that is going to be our next step.
Sorry if I repeat what others have said. I had 2 boys with bad reflux and on meds. First, do not let him eat more than 6 oz at a time, anymore and it will come back up. My older son would drink a good 10 oz at 4 months old, it felt good going down but then he would spit a lot back up. Make sure and burp after each ounce. If you are using meds then ask for Prevacid (if he's not already on it). It is not nearly as weight sensitive as Zantac which will stop working as they gain weight and you will constantly be needing to adjust the dose.
As for rice cereal, both my boys also had swallowing issues and had to have thickened formula or else they would aspirate. If you don't want to use to rice cereal then another alternative is Simply Thick. It's a gel, no calories, and will not get lumps like rice cereal will so no choking hazard. If you do opt to use rice then get a cheap electric coffee grinder and grind the rice so it is a fine powder. I would grind an entire box (in small batches) and keep it in an airtight container so when I made bottles the rice was ready to go.
The one problem I had with my son when he has reflux was the timing of the medication. I noticed if I gave him his medication during the day he was fine but a terror at night. Do you give him a dose before bed? What medication are you using? I breastfed so I can't give any suggestions on the bottle but I did angle his mattress in his crib which helped (used pillows under the mattress) - laying him flat caused his reflux to worsen. Prevacid was a life saver but right around 3 months he started to get worse. Turns out he was developing a tolerance to the prevacid so they had to put him on zantac as well.
My son had this too. Ended up being Vaccine injury. Craniosacral therapy helped the reflux along with classical homeopathy. If you are interested, you can email and I will give you names of doctor or therapists.
L.
One thing you might try is the Similac RS formula. It's lactose free and has the rice starch to help keep it down. If you have trouble with lumps when you mix it just get a formula mixer, it's made by munchkin and is $5.99 or so at Babies R Us. Other than that, you are left with the really expensive formulas like Nutramagin or alimentum. I know you said you hold him upright after feeding, but is his bed propped? A lot of kids have trouble laying flat and benefit from a wedge under the mattress. Or he can sleep in a bouncy chair or the swing.
My son had bad reflux as a baby too. We put him on Nutramigen, which is pretty expensive, but I think you can purchase it on-line for cheaper. We brought him to see a pedi GI doc who told us that there really is nothing to be done for the actual spitting up, but the meds (we used Prevacid) would help with the pain, and they did. The doc also said that most babies grow out of it by the time they are 11-13 mos. My son stopped by 12 mos, and what a relief that was!
I also wanted to let you know about a supplement. Not sure if this is something you'd be open to, but we have our kiddos on it and have seen great results. I honestly wish I had know about it when they were newborns! I know of some moms who put their reflux babies on it and saw great improvement with spit-up and reflux. Let me know if you'd like more info! Good luck to you!
Gripe water is great! What also helped us was to make sure our little one didn't eat too fast we also switched the type of bottle we used to Playtex Ventaire (SLOW FLOW)
http://www.playtexbaby.com/Bottles/VentAire/Advanced-Wide
Hope this helps!
P.S.I've heard that sometimes a hypoallergenic formula helps...we never
actually had to go that route sine the suggestions I mentioned above helped us
Note: Dr. Brown bottles never worked for us...I really think the Playtex VentAire works better at keeping my little guy from swallowing air. Plus it doesn't have all the extra pieces.
Another thought...I've read that allergies sometimes cause reflux and babies that have a lactose allergy are often allergic to soy as well, it which case a hypoallergenic formula might help. (We just use Similac Sensitive Milk Based Lactose-Free) Emfamil's Prosobe didn't work for us either.
t know if anyone has mentioned it but it really helps if you elevate the head of the baby bed it really helps.
