Reflux

[sugabeanzs]

Any parents here who have/had babies with reflux? I had to take my girl (Twin B) to the hospital today to get a barium test so that they could look at her while she ate. Well needless to say, she has nothing wrong with her tummy or intestines but she has horrible HORRIBLE reflux. As soon as her belly got a little bit full, it started to come back up. She has projectile vomits sometimes as well. Is there anything I can do!? She is on reglan and zantac and I do not think that helps whatsoever! Advice please! I try to leave her propped up in her boppie after she eats or I hold her upright.

[Cocoa]

Hey Suga...

Well, I am right here - a mom with a baby girl with TERRIBLE HORRIBLE reflux!!! I was told "oh, she should outgrow it by 6 months..." well, she's SIX MONTHS PLUS!!! and she's still letting it loose - sometimes projectile but mostly not. She has been on zantac since our horrendous experience at the ER last July when she "snarfed" 2 hour old formula and I didn't know whether or not she aspirated (it was pretty scarey with coughing and turning colors etc). Turns out not but she's had her share of snarfing I'll tell you that...and all the changing of clothes!!! Oh boy, if I don't keep a bib on her totally forget it! Anyway, the doctor also put her on enfamil A.R. - that stands for "added rice" starch. Supposedly its heavier and sinks into the belly faster. Sometimes it stays down - a bit of it - most times it does not. The zantac keeps her from burning her esophagus as it comes back up so be sure you continue its use otherwise your poor girl will scream in pain after about 24 to 36 hours without it. I don't know what reglan is but I only use zantac. I was blessed in that my pediatricians wait and watch and reserve further testing if certain signs occur. Nothing else did occur so no further tests needed - it was clinically confirmed to be reflux.

I do have to tell you that it NEVER mattered whether or not I let her finish a bottle or drink it little by little over an hour with burps in between - the results were always the same...REFLUX! and you just never know when its going to happen or how bad it will actually be...

Stay with us here and I will try to encourage you through but its pretty bleak up to about a year I am guessing...

Sorry for the bad news...

xxxCocoa

[crasmus]

my son is now 16 months, and he had it really bad.... cocoa was right about the zantac...for us it ended about 9-10 months...eating foods seemed a bit better.. my other son was on nutramigen with added rice cereal...didn't help too much, so i thought that i would totaly BF this one, and still got GERD... we did start cereal early to try and help.

for us... the night time was hell... so i put a wedge under his mattress, and he was also in an upright position.. another thing... weird but tight or elastic pants.. i stopped putting him in them, and it helped a little, and i always made sure the the diaper was not to tight.

now, we are going through sensory food adversions... they say kids with GERD can have adversions to textures.. mine will eat hard crunchy stuff, pretzels, gold fish, crackers, ect.. but will not eat soft mussy stuff, and gags and vomits on those types... so just keep an eye on it..

it gets better.... hang in there!!
colleen

[sugabeanzs]

Thanks ladies! I do not know about the AR formula. They were preemies and they are on the enfacare for preemies. I will ask about it though. I know they told us no rice cereal till they are 4 months adjusted. So who knows! I will def. ask about it. The reglan is supposed to empty the belly out faster so there is not as much food in it for them to spit up. Who knows if that is even working because 2 hours after they eat it is still there. I hope it gets better soon. I feel bad for the poor girls!!!

[washingtonda]

My daughter is 6 weeks old and she has it very bad also. She is on 2 different prescribed meds that only give her throat releive, it doesn't stop the vomitting. She never cries with it so I think she is comfortable but throws up 24/7. The doc had us add 1 tablespoon of rice cereal for every once bottle that we made and it does help a little. She have been on the rice cereal for about three weeks now so I guess age doesn't make a difference. She has been switched to Similac Isolmi with Soy and Iron (the red can) and that doesn't help. He advised that one we used all this milk we could try buy Similac Alimentum (probably not spelled correctly). He advised that it is very expensive and has a very bad smell but it may work. I will try that as soon as we are done with this can of milk to see. I was told that it would go away between months 6-9 and my doc advised that if it didn't than they could take a number of xrays to look further. He advised that is subjecting the baby to radiation and some parents don't want that. Im not sure that I do but I guess we'll wait and see.

You're not alone so hang in there.

[sue e]

Hi,

Our little one had reflux and we were prescribed infant gaviscon, it helped her quite a bit, she still had to take it until she was over 6 months though. It thickens the milk up quite a bit, so that helped, before that she was screaming in agony after every meal.

sue e xx

[sugabeanzs]

Yeah they made me add Rice Cereal to her feeds. She can not come off her formula till 9 months (preemie formula) so the rice does seem to help! Before she could not sleep at all after she ate (like had to wait till it was digested before she would sleep) now she wants to sleep all the time! I think she realized that her tummy does not hurt as much and it is not coming up as much so she has relief. She too is on meds for the burning.

[shantala]

hi

my little girl had silent reflux (nothing would come up but she would gag for ages and i would never hear her do it so could never leave her out of my sight). we tried everything which is meant to thicken the milk in their stomach so its harder to come back up but nothing worked. the doctor said it should get better once she hits three months and surely she did stop it just after she was about 3 months. ive noticed your little ones are 3 months so my advice would be to wait another week or two and see if it goes. they grow out of so much when they turn 3 months!!

(having said all that, she did stop at 3 months and has recently started again but with proper projectile vomit....she only does it occassionally so i'm not worried!)

hope that helps. good luck and let us know how you get on.

xxx

[sugabeanzs]

Yeah I hear they do outgrow it eventually. However, mine were preemies so in reality they are only a month old so I still have a few months. But adding the rice has helped a lot. They still throw up sometimes but not nearly as often. But the one still gags on her spit coming up so who knows. But I think by 9 months it is totally gone in all babies.

[elca]

I had to change a pediatrician in order to receive some treatment for my baby-girl. She has an acid reflux and was prescribed Zantac.
Ladies, how are your babies taking this med? It is liquid syrup (I am giving 1 mL). I tried myself - it has a very unpleasant taste. I went to the pharmacy and asked them to add some flavor. The only flavor they were able to add was grape one. It still tastes horrible. My baby is spitting everything without swallowing. I am wondering, if your babies get something different or your get some tricks?

[sugabeanzs]

Mine take the Zantac as well (liquid). However, I put it in a bottle with milk so they do not taste it as much. THey take it right down. But make sure you put it in a bottle with not so much milk to they get all the meds.

[elca]

Thank you. I will try the next time.