ACID Reflux in Infants...

L.,
with acid reflux in infants there a couple of things you can do to help her without the use of medications. The first is to feed her, and not too much at each feeding, and then after burping her make sure she remains in a an upright position for at least 20 minutes after eating. When you lay her down, yes your pediatrician is telling you correctly, elevate the crib on one end so her head is higher than her feet. this is easily done by putting something under the mattress and to keep her from moving down the mattress over time you can use something called a snuggle nest or a sleep positioner. Also, you can position her somewhat on her right side because this helps to facilitate stomach emptying. If she is still suffering and it is effecting her tremendously then your pediatrician will probably prescribe reglan or another drug that helps with acid reflux. Some pediatricians require an upper GI Study to confirm the problem and others do not. There are alot of children who have "loose tummies" until they are well over 1 year old but few have true problem acid reflux and Gerd. Your daughter is only 1 month old. I would give it some time before you are medicating her. That should be a last resort. Try the non medical suggestions first.

All three of my children suffered from Reflux. The ped we had for my oldest children refused to take it seriously. She was not medicated for it until we switched peds and ended up at a pulmonologist when she was 18 months because she had severe asthma. Both doctors felt the asthma was worsened by the Reflux. She was then put on adult strength Nexxum which she took daily until she was five years old. She still suffers from chronic asthma and has flare-up of reflux, she is 10 years old.

My middle and youngest children were medicated when they first showed signs of reflux and did much better. They both have minor flare-up of asthma when they have upper respistory infections but that is it.

My youngest had reflux the worst. The ped tried several different meds for him while we waited for an appointment at CHOP. Elevating the bed did nothing so she recommended sleeping on the belly. Still no relief. I ended up holding him in an up-right position in a chair so that he could sleep comfortably. Finally, the ped called the GI doctor at CHOP and ask for suggestions just until he could be seen. He was put on Prevacid and Zantac together at three months old. He was a new baby. He was off both medications by 12 months. He will be five next month and still has flare-ups too.

My suggestion would be to follow-up with your ped and don't let him/her not take you seriously. If he/she has any concern about the severity, request a milk scan be done. The milk scan will show how many times you daugther refluxes in a specific time period and how much gas is in the belly after eating.

Good luck.

Hi L.,

I have a 5 month old son, who suffers from acid reflux. One weekend, he was screaming so much, refused to eat and had blood in his stool (so the docs thought it was a milk allergy). We knew he was in pain, and we tried everything, feeding him sitting up, keeping him upright, raising his crib, but nothing worked. The doctor started by putting him on Axid and we thought it worked a little. Aaron was still spitting up, but the blood didn't go away. Then, we visited the GI doctor and he changed the meds to Prevacid. Wow!! That worked like a charm. Aaron has been so happy for the past month. He still spits up, but there is no blood and no pain. Prevacid can be challenging to give (it is a dissolvable tablet) , but it is well worth it. I hope this helps. Good luck.

Hi L.,

Here are some web sites:

http://www.infantreflux.org/formulas.htm

www.pollywogbaby.com/refluxand colic/alternativetreatments.html

products:

http://www.infantreflux.org/tucker_wedge_sling.htm

http[://infantreflux.org/products.html#feedingproducts

Hope this helps. D.

My daughter had reflux as well. I found that feeding her while she sat up worked for us. As for sleeping, we found that letting her sleep in her car seat on our floor worked out great. She is now back in her crib. Good luck to you.

My son had it as well, we used his bouncy seat to let him sleep. You can also get one of those wedges to put under the crib sheet. Also, if it really bad and you are bottle feeding, ask your doc about using a formula with rice starch. it is thicker and possibly stays "down" better. I started mixing breast milk and formula when he was about 5 or 6 weeks, and it seemed to help more. If your daughter is in pain and cries a lot, be prepared for some gas issues too. My son had terrible gas! For that I found the most helpful for him was to pat him firmly on the lower back to loosen gas bubbles. good luck!

I agree w/pp about using medication as a last resort. She's only 1 month old that could start a long cycle of medicating your daughter. That's only my opinion though, I'm not much for any medication unless it is our only option. My son had really bad reflux when he was 3 weeks old. He'd scream out in pain anytime I tried to nurse him, I knew he was hungry but he was in too much pain to eat. I strictly breastfed him & realized that something I was eating was possibly causing the reflux. I completely cut out dairy & he improved 100% within a few days. I also needed to be careful with some other foods such as pineapple or anything acidic. I followed my pediatrician's advice & did not lay him flat for 45 minutes after he ate. If your daughter is breastfed & you do end up cutting out dairy you may not need to do it the entire time you nurse her. I slowly reintroduced some dairy in my diet when my son was 10 months old. Most babies grow out of their dairy allergy by 12 months,. Good luck!

We suffered with this too! We put bricks under the cribs head end so that the mattress would remain flat and not roll. Then IO mixed breast milk with formula and/or breast fed and then gave her some rice formula to end the meal. We ended up adding some gax meds to her formula because the ped said the gas was not able to get out without taking too much of the food and acid with it.

We also held her upright (in the first few months she needed to be held so that her body was actually leaning slightly forward and there was slight pressure on her tummy. Later she graduated to being able to sit in her bouncy seat for a half hour after eating.... It's a long road, but they eventually outgrow it. Good luck!