Infant with Reflux

My almost 9 month old had the same problem. We weren't on medication, but we had the same symptoms. We switched her to the Isomil Soy formula, but that caused her to be constipated. So we switched to the Similac Organic. She doesn't have stomach aches any more. She still spits up, but not as frequently. You can also try to give him Mylecon drops before you feed him. It will help with the gas pains.

Hello C.,
My grandaughter had the same problem. We tried lots of things but what worked best, once we found the right formula, was to add baby rice cereal to her bottle so it was thick enough to stay down without her spitting it up. We started out small and gradually added more over time until we could see that she was keeping it down. She was then full and satisfied and did not spit up. Because of the reflux, she continued to take medication (Pepcid chewable) at night until age 4. She is now 6 yrs old, weighs 45 pounds (slim & tall) and eats well. Good luck!

I can go on and on about reflux. I have had three girls with it. Give me a call if you want to chat at ###-###-####. I have a 1, 3 and 5 year old and had to go through it with all of them. I live in Sendera Ranch, haslet area.

My son had severe reflux as well. He was on breastmilk and formula later on, and still had reflux, even on just breastmilk. Prevacid did not help him either. My ped told me that most infants eventually grow out of it, it took him unti he was over a year to stop. At ten months he had improved. We actually never burped him after we fed him, and tried to keep him on his back so he wouldn't vomit all of his meals up. We were lucky that he wasn't a colicky baby. He also gained weight without problem. He was not a preemie. He does now however have asthma, which coulc be related to his reflux. Good luck. -jm

C.,

My son was 13 weeks early and had reflux as well. The prevacid NEVER worked for him. We tried so many things and then found out he also had some type of protein allergy, so we had to go to a man made formula called NeoCate. Expensive and NASTY! Anyway, as time progressed, he started getting better and now at 2.5 he has no problems, and goes through about a gallon of milk every other day! My suggestion is to start weening him off of the prevacid and just see how he does, we did that and that's when it seemed D started getting better.

Good luck and belive me, I understand about the miracle babies!

C.
Here is an AWESOME book that you should read: "Colic Solved" by Dr. Bryan Vartabedian (sp?) It is all about reflux, milk protein allergy, signs to look for, typical behaviors of babies with reflux or m.p.a., questions to ask your pediatrician, etc. I highly recommend this book. I read it and felt like, "Finally, someone understands. I"m not crazy!!" Most importantly, though, I would make sure your son sees a pediatric gastroenterologist. They are specialists. GOod Luck and God BLess!

Hi C., I know exactly what you are going through. My baby had reflux really bad when she was first born. i thought I was going to die. She wouldn't go to sleep all she would do is cry, cry, cry. i'm a first time mother and I prayed so hard for baby and had to take meds in order to get pregnant and I felt like I was being put through a test. my baby was put on every reflux med and the one that sort of worked was the prevacid. I mean we swithed her formula 7 diff times, and the one that we saw Great improvements with was the Similac Alimentum. This stuff works. When my baby started taking it , we felt like God had rescued us.I mean we went from being at the stomach specialist every week till once a month for checkups.trust me Alimentum works. We also tried elecare but liked the alimentum best and you can buy Alimentum out of the store but with Elecare you can only get it online. Good Luck and Congrats with your twins

You might want to talk to the pediatrician about changing his formula. Similac is one of the harsher formula brands out there. My son was born 3 months premature and experienced the same problems. I tried the pumping of breast milk but that only lasted so long with him being in NICU. We next tried Similac but I thank God we were blessed with a great neonatalogist and pediatrician who listened. We switched my son to the Enfamil brand and had no problems from that point on as far as reflux.

Make your pediatrician listen to you as these little ones already have so much in their lives.

My daughter also had reflux (SO much spitting up!) IT was very challenging for us as the only thing that helped was to give her smaller feedings (3-4oz) more frequently. Also, make sure he is upright (wither being held or in bouncy chair etc) for at least 30 minutes after eating. If you can elevate the head of his crib that may help as well. Meds didn't seem to help her either. I think it is something they simply have to outgrow. The other thing that seemed to help her was a pacifier after eating (I think the sucking motion helped keep acid down and not burning her throat) Of course, now we have the problem of trying to get her off the binky...

I know it is hard...hang in there!

-K.

Bless your heart! I understand completely. My 10 month old has reflux but we didn't know it until he was 8 and a half months old. Sure would have helped knowing that before with all the spitting up or throwing up I should say and those other things. It will get better as he gets older and sits up better. We just put ours on Prevacid and it is working. We did a upper GI just to make sure everything is fine with his anatomy and it is, and we also did a swallow study. Come to find out, along with the reflux, he had issues with swallowing thin liquids so we started thickening his liquids and that really worked. The doctor had us buy a thickening agent known as Simply Thick for nectar consistency and that along with the Prevacid has worked great. The only difference is my little one never cried while being fed. Yours may have an issue with the formula and of course talk to your doctor about that, but hopefully the things I mentioned might help you to or at least give you another avenue to try. (You can only buy the Simply Thick at 3 places in the Metroplex - Walgreens at Medical City has it).

Hi C.,
Sounds like to me since he is fighting the last half of his feeding that he may not be getting all his burping done.

Maybe if you waited a few minutes in between it might help....or maybe he does't want the last part of his feeding.
( since he spits it up )

Some babies don't need as much as others...and he will let you know if he is still hungry.

Some babies ACT like they are hungry...but they just want to suck...try a pacifier, it may help.
Good Luck

Hey C.,

It looks like you got a lot of good responses. I just wanted to add that you may want to burp him after every 2 oz he drinks. That seemed to help us.

My daughter had the same problem when she was an infant. One thing that worked for us was trying to play with the time of day we gave her the Prevacid. The reflux acted up differently at certain times of the day. So we would cut it in half and give her half in the morning and half at night. We also tried the whole thing at night, all in the morning, two pills one in the day one at night, etc.. Just keep trying different times of the day until you find the period that the reflux acts up.

Another thing that we were doing to make the formula stay down a little better was to take rice cereal and put it in the bottle. We would first run the cereal through the food processor to make the flakes much finer so that the bottle would not be to chunky, then we added 1/2 tsp per oz of fluid.

Just be sure that you are keeping him some what still and elevated while eating and for about 20-30 minutes afterward. Good luck, good news is he will grow out of it!!

My daughter went through something similar, and we gave her Axid - but it never seemed to work either. The truth is, it wasn't that bad, and it never really got MUCH better until she started on cereal. However, my best friend went through what you're enduring - and she was doing exactly what you are: Prevacid and her doctor recommended Similac Alimentum. When those two together weren't working 100%, her doctor actually had her start putting cereal into each bottle. So she cut the nipples to accomodate the cereal, and as early as 3 months old he was getting cereal in his formula. This seemed to work!

I know that many people don't advocate putting cereal in a bottle with formula - but if it's for a reason such as this, might be worth asking your doctor about it?

Hope that helps!

Try Similac Alimentum, we had the same problem with our son who was born a month early. Also if you keep the baby's head elevated that helps, so let him sit in a swing after eating or bounce chair. We also started adding a little barley cereal to his bottles to help weigh down the milk in his stomach. We noticed the problem got a lot better when he started eating solid food. So we started our son on baby food as soon as possible and moved him up to level 3 food almost immediately. The chunkier thicker food pretty much solved the issue. By the time he was 10-11 months his reflux was gone. Hope that helps!

C.-

I feel your pain. My son who is now almost three now had bad reflux. He was on prevacid and Nutramigen formula. My doctor told me as long as he was still gaining wait there was really nothing else that could be done and he would grow out of it (most likley by his 1st b-day). Sure enough the week he tunred 1 it stopped. I know that seems like a LOOONGG way off but you will get use to the constant spitting up. Keep him upright after you feed him and don't move him a lot (I kept my son in his car seat a lot)

Good luck!

my daughter had reflux when she was a baby. The formula that worked for her was prosobee it is soy based. We also added rice cereal to her milk to make it thicker so it would stay down. The dr recommended all of this, we did not do it on our own. THe good news most babies grow out of it, our daughter did. hope this helps.
Vanessa

C. - I have 11 month old triplets (born at 34w2d) and one of them had reflux. We did prevacid, etc. Talk to your doctor about putting 1/2 tablespoon of rice cereal per ounce of formula. One thing that worked - when my son would get 1/2 way through the bottle and start screaming, etc. I would give him a pacifier to calm him down and then gradually slip the bottle back in his mouth and eventually he took the whole thing. If he doesn't take a pacifier, I'm not sure what you could do - I also swadddled him or held him tight (not hard) and that seemed to calm him down. Then sometimes I would pat his bottom while he was eating and that seemed to distract him from the fussing....

At 6 months this stopped for us.

Good luck.
T.

My daughter was 3 weeks early and had it mildly. We had to keep her in her car seat after she ate to help keep it down. She was very colicky though for about 4 months. She used to stiffen her legs outward and cry. She just out grew it. If you think your baby is in pain, also check with your doctor to see if you can try those homopathic colic drops or pills. They didn't have those when she was a baby. It's sold over the counter at the drug store or pharmacy. Good luck!

Hi C. -I had similar issues with my son. My son ended up being lactose intolerant - not allergic to milk, his system just wasn't ready for milk proteins. I use soy formula - Good Start was the only one my son could take. It is broken down a little more than the others. This immediately helped him. I had him on prevacid also, but now I'm wondering if he really even had the reflux?? I just transitioned him off about a month ago (he's 8mos) and he's done fine. If you're son really does have the reflux, I hope your doctor has given you other techniques to help - inclining his crib (I put two 4-inch book under each leg of the crib), keeping him upright for 15 min. after feeding, burping throughout his feedings. I read that a pacifier actually helps because it stimulates swallowing and therefore won't let the formula come back up - didn't work for my son - he didn't like a paci!

Good luck!! If you try the soy formula and it doesn't help, there are some really broken down formulas that are milk-based that are supposed to work well for babies with an intolerance. However, they taste HORRIBLE - my son wouldn't even try them, they smelled so bad. But, depending on where your son is, your doctor may suggest it. Two are available on the market (Nutramigen (Enfamil), and another one by Similac) and one is prescription (Elecare I think).

He could have a milk allergy. You do want to get the little guy some relief- so do call your Dr. Also check out reflux.org and send your post to the nice people in the forum they host. I think you will find a lot of knowledable parents there.

Try a soy based formula first. My doctor wanted to put him on meds too, and I was like hell no! It turned out that I was right and my boy was simply lactose intolerant. That's one thing that pisses me off more than anything. Neither the hospital nor the doctor told me to try soy formula. All they wanted to do was push the reflux meds on him. I had to figure it out on my own. Later I discovered I had to stay away from baby food with any milk products since he spit those up too. One day he ate too many biter biscuits and had very bad stomach cramps because they contained milk. My boy is almost 2 now and he still drinks soy milk. Trust me...stay away from dairy and stick with soy and see what happens.

My son is 4 months old and he experienced similar problems although not to quite the extent as your sons. I put him on Similac Sensitive formula and it has really helped his digestion. I also purchased bottles that assist in reducing a child's gas, fussy or colic. My son seemed to acquire more air in his stomach from the Avent bottles. I hope this helps.

sometimes this can be allergy related. if it is, get rid of the allergy and the problem will stop! C.

I think that you should look into changing the formula. My now 8 month old had the same problem with formula's with the RHA and DHA. When we changed to something that did not have that in it she was fine. We now have her on a completely raw formula that we make. This one has worked the best out of the four or five we tried for her. I hope that this helps. I know that you feel helpless when they hurt with gas pains but keep looking for something that does not upset his tummy.

Hi C.:
My cousin had this problem when she was an infant. She would vomit halfway across the room! The doctor had my aunt and uncle keep her on a slant while lying down (under her crib mattress and sofa cushions, if lying there, etc...). I believe they just put a pillow under the mattress to keep her at a slight slant - head upwards, of course.

Good luck!

My youngest also had acid reflux from the time he was 7 wks until he was 15 months. He would vomit projectile anywhere from 10-25 times a day, It was horrible for him and me being a single mom. I finally started using zantac for the pain and Enfamil Prosobee(sp?) which helped a lot but what really helped too was Dr Brown bottles. Once he transitioned to cow's milk he had/has to drink lactaid milk cause he causes he to throw up/have diarreah. He should grow out of it.
I also would never give him more than 6 oz at a time and burped every 2-3 oz and kept him elevated for at least 1 hr as well as elevated his mattress too.
Good Luck and I hope this helps.

My second child was diagnosed with reflux as well, and took Prevacid for a while... I don't think that really worked either, He had so much gas and he was very fussy every single feeding so I started him on Similac Isomil (soy formula) and I saw a huge difference!!! Soy formula is very easy to digest, so you'll see the difference almost immediately!!!
Hope this helps !!!

My daughter has reflux as well.
Do you have a hospital grade wedge for him to sleep on? I have an extra that we've NEVER used and a harness for it still in the package. They're uber-expensive so if you'd like it free of charge, just email me privately.
Have you tried Reglan?
Has he had a swallow study or an upper GI?
Have you tried thickening his feed with a prescription thickener, not rice cereal?

My daughter Emily had horrible reflux and still does although she had many other issues as well. We put a wedge (from walmart) under her bed to sleep on as well as after feeding placing her in a bouncy seat/upright position for about a 1/2 hour. We cut her feeds back a little to help with not being so full and we put her on Carnation Good Start which was absolutely wonderful. We also added plain baby rice to her bottles which gave some weight to the meal and kept it down so to speak. Do you have a GI Doc? If not I suggest Dr An at Medical City Dallas. Emily at age 4 plus is on adult dose of prevacid - one tablet in the a.m. and one in the evening. Occasionally she needs a dose of Maalox to help out during the day or late evening. Call the dr about the formula - try everything you can. Once it all settles down you will be amazed at how well things go. Have they said anything about an upper gi study or swallow study - ask about that when you call as well. There are other products like Simply Thick - but before you do these check with the dr as some children can gag on the thicker products. http://www.caringbridge.com/visit/emily
Best of luck

C.

I had a preemie as well with SEVERE reflux to the point where she quit eating altogether and was losing weight. We went to Dr. Kendal Brown, a pediatric gastrointerologist at Medical City. They were wonderful there. It turned out that our daughter's esophagus was red and raw and swollen (esophogitis). We ended up on Carafate and Prilosec. She still spit up about 6-8 times after each bottle but at least she was comfortable. Gradually, she spit up less and less and grew out of it at 14 months when we swtiched her to cow's milk. We also thickened her bottles with cereal - but that is a huge pain. I am not sure it really helped her that much. If it gives you peace of mind, then I would get it checked out. Also, because of the severe reflux and preemie thing...our daughter ended up delayed and we did PT and OT for 3 months through Easter Seals. It was another wonderful experience. Today our daughter is a happy and healthy 7 year old! best of luck!
A. Wheeler

my son was preemie and he had this same problem, it started when he was 2 months old till he was 10 months old. doctor gave him omeprazole. doctor also told us to put cereal in his bottle...and the vomiting reduced...he threw up at least once a day or not at all. he was also on nutramigen. good luck to u.

C.,
Both of my sons had/have reflux. My oldest who is now 5 had it until he was a year old and that poor child lived in a bib due to the spitting up of everything! We switched from Similac to Carnation Good Start and that seemed to work for him. He still spit up but wasn't fussy about it.

My 3rd child is now 3 months and he has had the most awful problems with digestion from day 1. We switched from Enfamil to Carnation Good Start with no improvement. Finally we switched to Enfamil Nutramigen and also have him on Zantac three times a day. He still gets fussy but it pales in comparison to when he was a month old. He also spits up all the time but is not fussy while doing it.

Both of my boys gained weight/are gaining weight and were/are perfectly healthy, all the while suffering from reflux. I hope that after a year my 3rd little guy will be rid of it like my 1st was.

It's funny too because my 2nd child, a girl, did not suffer from this whatsoever, so I don't know if boys are more prone to have it or what.

I would talk to your doctor about possibly switching formula again, the Nutramigen is terribly expensive but it has worked for us. Oh yea and we switched from the Avent bottles to the Dr. Brown's bottles and that helped a little too.

Good luck!

I have a son who had a reflux problem as a baby. His was so bad that he had a difficult time gaining weight. He was even first diagnosed as "failure to thrive" before they discovered the reflux problem. We were sent to specialists to determine what his problem was. We were told to give him Gaviscon crushed up in some food before every feeding. And also to give him smaller but more frequent feedings. This actually helped. He still had problems but they weren't as bad. By the time he turned 2 all signs of reflux were gone. He's strong, and healthy now! Hope this helps. D.

All 3 of my boys had reflux. try Enfamil AR it is a formula that is designed to thicken when it mixes with the stomach acids so it will not come up as easily if at all. As far as the prevacid goes, he should be taking the solutab 75 1/2 in the AM and 1/2 in the PM. it seems to help if you do it 2 x a day instead of once. also Make sure you give it to him the right way, by mixing the tablet with a tiny bit of water and letting it disolve then draw it up in a medicine syrenge and give it to him that way. if you crush it or chew it it will not work correctly.

In addition to the Prevacid, ask your dr about Bethanochol (spelling) it aids in emptying the stomach faster so the liquids dont sit and spoil in the stomach.

you may also need to see a GI dr for furthur testing.

Good luck
A. J

Here's our story. My guy was born full term. We breastfed but he was a huge spitter from day one. Around 2 months, he started being bothered buy the spitting up. He would scream and scream uncontrollably and by three months he was fighting nursing. We started prevacid and after three weeks we saw no improvement. He would not sleep more than fort five min. at a time and we could hear him spitting up and swalling it. He was miserable and we were miserable! We finally saw a gastro specialist and he was diagnosed as milk soy protein intolerant. I had to stop breastfeeding and we put him on prescription formula (elecare). Within 48 hours he was a different baby. He started sleeping 5-6 hours a night and within weeks his reflux was not a problem. He is still on elecare and prevacid and is almost 8 months old. He is doing soooo good. I would absolutely request to see a specialist. WE see Dr. Ogunmula at cooks and he is great! Good luck!

I forgot to mention that we also thicken his feedings with some rice cereal and have since the beginning of formula feeding. Also, nutrigenim or alimenten is the same type of formula my baby is on (but it still has 20% of the complete protein in it). If you switched to this formula and see some improvment than your baby could be milk/soy protein intolerant. We tried Nutrigenem and saw some improvement but needed the elecare to really make him better.

Hello.

I have a 3 month old that has the same problems, but I am breast feeding. It is horrible to see them squirm when eating! I just changed his medicine to Prilosec to see how that works. I was told to make sure you burp him a lot and keep them upright for 30 minutes after feeding, but he still spits up a lot too. I am not sure what to tell you to do, but good luck. I just wanted you to know that you are not alone!

My girl that does my hair had the same problem and she switched to Dr. Brown's bottles from the Playtex version of the same thing and she said her problems went away. I'm about to have twins myself this year and I was going for the Playtex but I'm going to just bite the bullet and start out with Dr. Brown's, even though they're more expensive. I don't want any gas/reflux problems that I have to figure out how to fix. Hopefully that works.

Hi C.,

My baby had reflux or at least he had a hard time keeping his formula down. He would spit up after every feeding and he would spit up a lot. He was gaining weight so his pedi said it was nothing to worry about but I didn't like seeing him have such a hard time eating. We changed his formula to soy and it really helped him. He's almost 10 months old now and has not had that problem since we started the soy. Also, he responded best with the Walgreens brand soy formula. Congratulations on your miracles and keep enjoying those precious babies!!

I haven't read all the responses yet, but my friend's child was 6 weeks early and he had lots of reflux issues. The biggest thing they did that helped the most was let him sleep on his tummy. Yes, I know that's a big no-no these days according to the "experts", but the back-sleeping campaign has caused a rise in infants with reflux. Children with reflux often sleep much better on their tummy's because the entrance to the stomach is at an angle that makes reflux nearly impossible. If this makes you nervous, try it once during a nap. But him down somewhere where you can watch him (in front of the couch while you read or watch TV) and just monitor his movements. If he keeps trying to bury his face, then this isn't for him. But if he can sleep soundly and either stay in one place or move his head from side-to-side, this might be a good option. Remember, there are generations of adults out there (I'm one of them) who slept on our tummies because that's what the "experts" said to do back then.

Hi C.,
My son had refux too. We put him on Alimentum. But the best thing to help him was craniosacral therapy. Google Upledger institute and read about it. Then there is a place called Integrative Pediatric Therapy and ask for Sally or Suzanne. ANd aguy in Dallas named Ken Piercy. www.kenpiercy.com He is wonderful.
Hope that helps, L.

I don't know if this will help or not, but my son used to spit up soo much!!! The doctor said he didn't have reflux, but I swear he had a little case of it! I put him on Similac Sensitive formula and he hasn't been spitting up since! He will every once in a while, but the spitting up has decreased dramatically! I hope it gets better for you!

Both of my children have reflux and when my daughter was born we tried 13 different formula before we used Nestle Good Start Soy and that is the only formula she or my son can use. I will tell that ones you find a formula the previcid will work better. If you have not tried Good Start formula I would give it a try!!!! I hope that your little boy grow out the reflux stage and also there a website www.reflux.org that can be helpful!!! If you have any other questions please e-mail me at ____@____.com Luck
A.

Hi C.,

My little girl was born with reflux and was put on Previcid as well at 4 weeks and continued until a year old. I tried about 5 formulas during her first few months of life and not only did they cause her pain, but they gave her constipation. Then I found the miracle formula - Enfamil Nutramigen Lipil. It was amazing. Once she adjusted to the new formula, the spits ups decreased. No more screaming in agony and pulling up her legs in pain. It is really expensive, around ($27.00) but worth every penny. Unfortunately, I was unable to stop the previcid. I always new when I was late on her dosing because she would spit up and it would smell so sour.

Hope this helps and good luck. I remember how completely scary and out of control I felt during that time. But we got through it and today she is doing great.

My oldest daughter had terrible Reflux. She also had a condition called pyloric stnosis, which required surgery. The surgery was wonderful, but did not completely get rid of the reflux. We had her on Enfamil AR. It is a thicker formual and appeared to stay down longer. You might want to try burping him more often. We never let her lay down right after she was through feeding. We would keep her upright for about 30 min. We also had the head of her bed elevated. If she was having a really difficult day, we would let her sleep in her infant carrier. Keeping her head elevated and good burps were the keys that worked best for her. Good luck.

He might not need a whole bottle. Try just feeding half and see how he does. Maybe he needs smaller portions more often.

We started my son on Similac Advance and it was just to rough for him. We thought he was getting colic (screaming for seveal hours for a couple nights in a row). After talking to several friends we decided to change his formula (to Nestle Good Start) and it made a HUGE difference. Several friends told me their babies had trouble with Similac too - it can be hard on their little tummies. I've also heard that the Enfamil Gentlease is good and is easy for them to digest. Good luck - hope he's better soon!

Maybe try a new bottle too. My son has reflux and is on prevacid. We've finally gotten it to where he still spits up but doesn't seem to be in pain. My pedi said the prevacid only reduces the acid, but he will still spit.
Anyway - I nursed him all the time until I went to work a few weeks ago. I bought these really expensive Born Free bottles because they were supposed to reduce gas and help with reflux. My sister had used Dr. Brown's on her daughter and she spit up alot too. He spit up so much after the bottles! Someone on Mamasource recommended using the playtex drop-ins bottles because you can squeeze the air out and he does GREAT on those! It cost me $15 to buy 2 bottles and 100 drop-ins. The drop-ins are bpa free too, so they are great!
Hope it gets better! Reflux is awful!!

Hi C.!
My son was born 12 weeks early and had reflux also. I fed him the high lipid formula with iron that Similac makes and he took Zantac as opposed to Previcid. I don't know what the difference is but perhaps when you ask your doctor about changing formula you could ask about the meds as well, assuming he has not already discussed this with you.
Good luck with all the spit up and tummy aches and God bless you and you twin miracles! Oh what a blessing!!!!
M.

C., I didn't read all of your MANY responses, but we put our son on Enfamil AR when he had the same problem. It has rice proteins in it so you don't have to add the rice yourself. Give it a shot. Worked great for us. He stopped spitting up so much and he is off the Prevacid.

Hi C.,

I know how stressful this is, I went through it too. Similac Allimentum is the formula we used. Basically, it's already broken down to the point of digestion, so when it hits the baby's stomach they absorb it very quickly. It's expensive, but it was the only thing our daughter could keep down. Best of luck!

Similac Alimentum, Prevacid, Dr. Brown's bottles (although now we switched to Born Free bottles), and a tiny amount of rice cereal in the bottles worked for us.

My daughter was diagnosed with reflux at 2 months. She grew out of it at 9 months, which is about the normal age to outgrow it. So, first thing I would say is have patience.
We too were on Prevacid. As someone told me when I questioned whether it was working, Prevacid doesn't stop the spit-up, it only stops the acid from coming up with it and causing damage. Prevacid can't control the muscles that keep food in the stomach.
So, I would suggest sticking with the Prevacid. Be sure to keep your baby elevated for at least 30 minutes before putting him down to sleep. When he's down, keep his upper body elevated - either by propping up the top of the mattress, or by getting him a wedged sleep positioner.
You may need to look at switching formulas, as well. He may not be tolerating the cow's milk in the formula. Try a Soy based; that worked wonders with my daughter's discomfort after feedings.
Good luck! Just remember that it will end eventually. :)

There is a product called Baby wedge on the market that is a foam wedge (looks kinda like a big door stopper) to use for babies with reflux and GERD. Elevating him on this wedge position while feeding and after (some even recommend sleeping them this way) will help. You might want to consider changing his formula. In the homeopathic community Similac is also called "Seems-to-lack", as of all of the formulas on the market- they way Similac is processed makes it the weakest in absorbable nutrients, and historically hard on little tummies.

My son had the same problem when he was approx. 2 months old. We gave him Zantac once in the morning and once at night. We also gave him Urecholine fifteen minutes before he ate each meal. We also had him on a formula called Alimentum. It was expensive but really helped. We did all of these things for 3-4 months and he eventually outgrew it. We then switched to Carnation Good Start formula with no problems at all. Good luck!

My daughter had GERD when she was 3 months old, the doctors also put her on previcid, but the one thing they forgot to tell me until she was 6 months old was to prop her up with pillows for 30 minutes and when she sleeping. When I started doing this we both have been sleeping like babies. She is now 2 yrs old and does not take any medicine for GERD. God Bless you and your Twin Boys.

Consider trying him on a soy based formula or something a little gentler, like carnation good start. . . if that doesn't help, ask your dr about reglen, my daughter had severe acid reflux ( ended up with a g-button and a fundo ) and they had her on reglen to help calm the stomache acid. We spent a lot of time at cooks's ( kidney disease ) and their Dr.s are the best!!!

Hi C.,
My son had "silent" reflux and would scream from about 2 in the afternoon to 2 in the morning everyday for 2 months until we finally figured out that it wasn't just colic. My doctor put him on prevacid and within a day or two he was much better (probably 80-90% better). Since my doctor wasn't happy with just 80-90% better, he asked us to start thickening his milk with Simply Thick. It is much better than thickening with rice cereal (it makes the milk into a milkshake consistancy). We bought it from a pharmacy on Parker and Alma in Plano. That did the trick. With the prevacid and the Simply Thick, my son was 100% better. The other things we did to help were: burping after every 2 ounces, upright position for a minumum of 30 minutes after a feeding, sleeping at a 45 degree angle, changing to playtex ventaire bottles, and we also had more success with a lactose free formula.
I hope these suggestions work for you!

I have a four year old child now, but when he was an infant, soy formula and lactose free formula worked for him. The medicines they prescribed for his relux didn't seem to work either.

I also have a two year old child; he had more problems with spitting up and he cried all the time as if something was hurting him. I tried lactose free and soy formula on him, but they didn't make a difference. At four months, someone told me to try NUTRAMAGIN by Enfamil. It's expensive, but it worked. The crying stopped almost overnight and the spitting up became less and less frequent. I was so relieved!

Good Luck!

My daughter had bad reflux. The pedi tried prescription for her but they made it worse. I brought her to my chiropractor who uses the B.E.S.T. treatments. There is often an area where the intestines connect the binds up and can be massaged out. Most of the time it is very gentle touch therapy. It looks like there is no way it would work but it is amazing! After her treatment with him (Kent Harrington D.C. in Richardson) she stopped all spitting up and crying from stomach pain. I know that people are often afraid of chiropractors but mine has helped with ear infections, reflux, and turned in toes whil walking. I would definately go with one that was refered!

I had to use Nutramigen with both of my girls. My youngest had really bad reflux but was also allergic to any milk based formula. Once we switched to Nutramigen, the prevacid seemed to help much more. Hope that helps.

God Bless!

Good Morning, My son had reflux since he was born, We went through about 3 diffrent formulas until we were switched to Alimentum by our pediatrian. Its pricey but it worked for my child. Anyway. I hope that everything works out for you and your precious little one. Have a good one!!!

The Similac Alimentum formula helped my daughter tremendously along with a little of the prevacid. He may need a different antacid.

Hi C.! I have a very similar situation. My littler guy still has problems with reflux, but after introducing solids I can say that the spit up is not only less frequent but less volume, and almost altogether disappeared at this point. They are now 9 months old. It was extremely frustrating. Right now I'm still giving him metaclopromide before his morning bottle, but he gets solids at all his other feeds and I don't even mess with the meds.
Bottom line is, it WILL go away, he WILL grow out of it. We are so glad we're past that stage but I will never forget how hard it was watching him launch every feed.
Hang in there-it's worse for you than it is for him, I promise! :)

You should really try using the gallon of Distilled water that you can buy at any grocery store. My daughter had collic and we quite using tap water and switched to the distilled water. It worked right away. After switching formulas and trying almost anything we gave up, she cried all the time for 3 weeks and the pedi told us it would last at least 6 weeks. By the forth week I was a wreak, so I went to the store and bought the distilled water, and what a CHANGE. It is cheap!! I was able to put her back on the Nestle good start, this formula breaks down easier and is not as hard on their stomachs as Similac. Try changing the water source, it wont hurt to try. Good Luck.

C.,
I dont want to repeat what everyone has already said. Let me just add that if he is gaining weight things are moving in the right direction. The prevacid will not stop the reflux but it coats the esophagus which prevents burning/irritation and permanent damage from the reflux. You may not thing it works but when you stop it you would probably notice a huge difference. One of the best things we did was small frequent meals. This will get better, actually sooner than later. You are at the peak of this nasty stuff but improvements are just around the corner. Make sure you hold him upright after feedings and as elevated as possible when you feed.

Hi!
I have a almost 4 month old with reflux. We tried Prevacid at first, too, but it did not work at all!! The doctor put him on Axid which has really helped. I mix it with a little breastmilk in a bottle before feedings 3 times a day. He doesn't seem to be in pain like before. He still spits up a little after a feeding but I was told that is ok. Maybe a different prescription might help ;)Good luck!

My daughter suffered from acid reflux and nothing seemed to help. We finally switched her formula to Enfamil AR and it has done wonders for her. She still spits up on occassion, but it's nothing compared to what she used to go through. Good luck!

My son had the same problems. Keep in mind that the prevacid does NOT keep them from spitting up. It only keeps the stomach acid from burning his throat when they do. You may want to try a different medicine as well. My son seemed to have better luck with Axid. Make sure you are burping after every one to two ounces. One thing that seemed to help for us switching to the soy formula. He would still spit up but it seemed to be less amount. My son would spit up the most with his burping and the soy formula reduces gas so that seemed to help. That might be why he squirming around so much too. I know its frustrating for you. My poor son spit up until he was 17 months old. :( But he was a late walker! Try to keep your son in an upright position when feeding too. Like a bouncer. Once they start walking and sitting up more the spitups will lesson. Hang in there. Eventually it will go away!

I really feel for you. It is frustrating to see your baby in pain and feel helpless to make it better. My son had terrible GER from birth. He would cry at every feeding and spit up all day long--not just during feedings. We first tried to address it without meds. I tried many things, including feeding him laying down, which helped a little. His pedi finally gave him Zantac which seemed to help within about month. Others are right in that they do usually grow out of it. We took him off the Zantac at around 8 months, but even now at 11 months he has infrequent episodes. As an aside, his father has very bad GERDs.

Hi C.,
I'm SO sorry to hear about you and your son. It's a very hard place to be and requires alot of you.
We tried Prevecid and it really didn't work well. We then tried Zantac and it worked like a miracle! We kept him on it for almost a year then I weaned him off. It has a awful strong mint flavor but he got used to of it in a short while when he realized it made him stop hurting. We used the Gentle formula by parents choice from Walmart. I also kept him upright most of the time. I used a tucker sling in his crib to help him (and us) to sleep. It helped alot. Please don't feel pressured to try to do things "natural" without meds. If something works and you don't need them great but if if you need more help, ask/beg for it and then use it! :)
It's very painful for them. Most have ulcers in their esophagus from the acid burning them and need meds to heal them and keep them from returning.
I really wish you the best,
C.

I have 2 sets of twins. One of my girls had reflux really bad, and it was our night nanny that suggested Nutramigen; she had a lot of experience with premies. Nutramigen was like a miracle for her. But all my babies had some trouble with reflux. We treated by making sure the babies were upright for at least 20 minutes after each feeding (and during the feeding). Also we would stop and burp very very frequently. With my boys, who were 6.5 weeks premature, we would also go back and burp them about 20 minutes after eating. Each child has its own system and that is what the boys seemed to need. Some people feed their babies in car seats to help keep them upright. We bought the Aquarium Bouncy Chair by Fisher Price and fed them in it; then we could leave them in their chair and they were entertained by the lights, colors and music. Worked well for us. All have outgrown their eating problems and in my case all four are now larger than average full term babies, so it worked out. Also as another post mentioned, be careful with the kind of bottle and nipple that you use. Every baby is different; with the girls the disposable bottles worked well but not at all with the boys; for the boys using Evenflo medium nipples seemed to work best. Also at that age I fed them less milk at each feeding and had more frequent feedings that might be suggested by BabyWise etc. - I think I was still feeding them every 3 hours at 5 months because it was harder for them to get enough milk at one time. as they got older, I started stretching the feedings by 15 minute increments and seeing how they reacted.

My son had the same thing... we put him on the Nestle Good Start formula... and also the doc gave us Zantac for the acid in his stomach... not much you can do about the spitting up though,... ours did that daily til he was 10mths old and walking... its their esophagus not shutting all the way and the acid in the stomach comes up and burns... so the zantac will help that... the formula is just easier on the tummy to digest..hoe that helps.

You may want to put him on Soy formula. My friend hasd the same problem, her son was on medication, had several problems with her son keeping the milk down (sleepless nights) stomach pains, etc. in the end all they needed to do was switch to SOY milk! Try that and good luck. :)

I had the same problems with both of my girls and the doctor told me to try goat's milk. Which I must say I had never heard of before he suggested it, but it works. It is easier for their little tummies to digest. It is shelved with the baking products in the store. You might ask your doctor and get his take. It worked wonders for us.
Blessings,
A.

C.,
First of all, congrats on your little miracles. I know how scary having a preemie is--but mine was only 4 1/2 weeks early! Feeding can be such a challenging task. My son was put on Prevacid which also did not work for him. I was breastfeeding which became so unbearable there for a while that I was strictly pumping and doing bottles. Anyhow, while I was doing that, my doctor had me add formula to my breastmilk to help him gain weight, which seemed to make him spit up worse. Anyhow, here are some things I discovered that helped me.
Try to feed him less, but more often. Babies that eat too much at once can spit up more. Also, try to burp him more often during his feedings. Bottle-fed babies tend to get more air in their tummy while eating. You can also try a different formula. My son was on Similac preemie formula, which made him spit up even more. There are also hypoallergenic formulas that are made for babies who are lactose intolerant, which your baby might be). I never tried this, but a friend of mine gave her kids Mylanta for spitting up. The mylanta caused diahrea, so she also gave them aloe vera gel or juice. If you're interested in doing that, respond and I'll give more details on how much to give etc. Good luck, I hope some of this helps. I've done a lot of reading online to find all this out. You can google anything and some good sites are Kelly Mom and Dr. Jack Newman's web-site. Good luck!

Hi C.!

I so know your pain! I had a 24 weeker with terrible reflux, we ended up having surgery for it when he was 14 months old because he could get no relief from medicine.

First I would reccomend going to see a GI doctor (if you do not already have one). This was very helpful to me, as they specialize in this field and would up the meds more than our doctor would.

His prevacid dose may not be high enough, we ended up on a very high dose that seemed to help for awhile.

Feeding small amount and thickening help with the tummy being full and the reflux coming up more. We did 2oz feeds for a few months and then 4oz feeds. Yes I had to wake up and feed him a lot, but it was much better than him being miserable. We used simplythick.com and most of the time it is covered by insurance if ordered through a home health company with a doctor prescription.

He also slept in a swing because we could not get him bed elevated enough to help him. His occupational therapist was ok with this, as long as while he was awake he got a lot of tummy and floor time to stretch his muscles out.

It was a long year and we ended up needing surgery because it was causing my little guy so many respitory issues. I have a million other things I could write, but you seem to have a lot to read right now! Please email me if you need a preemie mom reflux buddy! ____@____.com

Good Luck!!

C.

first of all, similac is one of the harshes formulas a baby can use..at least thats what all the drs. i've talked to said. my son started out on similac soy and iron, etc. i put my son on good start after trying enfamil (that did the same thing). works well and he quit spitting and throwing up. it was pretty bad too. good luck. and i would deff try a new formula.

Hi Cortney,

My baby is now 4 1/2 months old, he had reflux pretty much when he was born. The doctor put him on Axid and had me put blankets under the mattress of his crib so he would be elevated. After being on Axid I noticed a difference, I actually just took him off of it because the doctor said he may get over it in at 4 months of age and he's been off of it for almost a month now and seems to be doing fine. I don't know if the medicine your baby is on is pretty much the same or not but it seemed to have worked for my baby. Also, I breastfeed my son but due to my milk supply being low I have to supplement with formula. I tried giving Similac to my son and he would not eat it so I started giving him Infamil Lipil and he eats it just fine. It may take your baby some getting use to just because he is used to the Similac but it's worth a try. I hope this helps you out beacuse as a mother I know it sucks to see your child in pain.

My hubby is a nurse and we have some friends with a little one with the same issue. He ended up getting pneumonia before they figured out that his reflux was the culprit of all his pulmonary issues (aspirating a little when refluxing and it getting into the lungs). To test for this they can do imaging studies, you may want to ask your pedi about this. Dr. Drake is who they used. Also, try to feed him smaller amounts more often...a lot of times, it is after a certain amount and they just can't take that much food. So try that to see if it helps. Good Luck!