Problems with Reflux

My friend's baby had the same problem and he was bf. The doctor gave her a baby acid medicine. She said it was like a baby zantac. He outgrow it before long. Call the doctor. They may want to make sure it is not a more seroius problem.

R.,

I don't know if you've tried Dr. Brown's bottles, but those seemed to help my baby with gas. A lot of women swear by them.

have you tried to switch to soy formula? I had a very colicky baby and the doctors suggested switching her to soy and it did help with the gas but she she still had problems but if your daughter is only unhappy during feeding times this might help.
A.

Have you tried switching formula? We had problems with our daughter too. We switched to Gentlease Lipil. The formual has partially broke down proteins. It is easier to digest. We also would add Gripe water by Baby's Bliss to her bottles a few times a day. Our doctor had told us about it. She is 10 months old now and we still use it. It has ginger and fennel extract that eases stomach upsets.
I hope this helps. Good luck. I know how frustrating it is to find what works.

A friend of mine also had a baby on the baby zantax and had to keep her upright for an hour after feeding (she would put her in the bouncy chair in the middle of the night). First, have you tried the gas drops? They worked really well for us. Are you shaking the bottles to prepare them? If so, add the drops to it when you need to feed immediately. Make the bottles a day in advance so they settle without having to add the drops. just some things I did to try to minimize gas because all babies suffer from this at some point!

Most of the time with babies that young, it's not an allergy, it's because the flap that connects their throat to the stomach is not strong yet, so things come back out easily.
But that is something that you'll want to discuss at her 2 month appointment coming up with the doctor.
The thing that offered us relief was switching the type of formula we fed. We switched from powder that you have to shake (therefore infusing more air into) to the ready to feed liquid. You just pour that in the bottle and it's ready to go. No shaking and adding more air. Also try the dr. brown's bottles. Stop and burp often. Give her a rest and then try to finish. In a few months, this stage will be over and she'll be wanting to sit up more and play more. The spitting up won't stop though. Even the healthiest babies spit up. Cover the nice furniture and don't wear your nice clothes for a while and just enjoy being a mom!

There a special formulated formulas for your baby's condition, but expensive! Enfamel (sp?) makes a good one, but ask you Ped first for suggestions.

R. I feel for you and your baby.

My 6 year old now was born with reflux.

Doctors do have medicines and or feeding tricks for the reflux.

By 3 months or so, they had me thicken the formula with cereal but you shouldn't do this with out consulting a physician cause they know what's best for your baby than I do.

My son too took a long time to drink milk, then I had hold him upright for a long long time before I put him down which ment feeding again in one or two hours during night time feedings, so as you know that ment very little sleep, maybe one hour at a time for 3 hours a night.

If your not getting the results from your doctor that you need, get another one who will help with the immediate situation.

Good luck.

G.

Our youngest did this til he was about 4 to 5 months old. We tried the gas drops everything. Its ok if a ten week old has a couple of ounce here and there. Their comfort means everything at this time. We placed a Boppy in his bed, and play pen. We just kept him in a upright position so he would not choke. You might want to talk to your Dr. about changing formulas....we had to change to Enfamil, and it really decrease the amount of gas, and throw ups....

My daughter had acid reflux and had to be on Zantac. She would scream all of the time and the medicine helped but she still was so unhappy until she turned 3 mths. Besides what you are doing their isn't much else except medicine. It can be so hard to see your baby unhappy and in pain but it will pass and you are almost at the 3mth mark. I have heard about some babies having it a lot longer then 3 mths. i would address it with my pediatrician.

My son had the same problem, it was acid reflux, G.E.R.D.S is what the doctor called it he had it until he was about two years old. His father has acid reflux too, so it might be from his father. But anyways we gave our son water through out the day. Just acouple ounces in the bottle like twice a day. It did seem to help but he also had a liquid Zantac to help the burning that would happen when he puked after eating. I don't know if that would help you at all I just thought I would let you know that she might have G.E.R.D.S talk to her doctor about it.

what kind of formula are you giving her? My son did the same thing when he was a baby and I put him on soy formula. I believe the milk based formula was too harsh for him and he had a lot of problems with gas. You may have to try different formulas until you find one that works for her. I also did alot of massage techniques with him like effleurage. Massage is wonderful for gas but you have to wait an hour or so after feeding to avoid spitting up. You can take 2 fingers and gently rub in a circular motion around her belly button. This will help with proper digestion. Also, holding her ankles together, bring her knees slowly to her chest and then straighten her legs out, or the "bicycle" exercise. A really good book to get is "Baby Massage: The calming power of touch" by Dr. Alan Heath & Nicki Bainbridge. This is where the above mentioned techniques are from. Good luck.

Hold the baby on your knee sitting up and rub her back and burp her while holding her chin with your fingers and the palm of your hand on her tummy and put a little pressure on her tummy that way. do that for about 3 minutes and it should work. That was the only way I could get my baby to burp and even sometimes I still have to do that to him and he is 10 months old Well hey goo luck and it helped me.

Also try giving her gas drops I just thought about that today. And try putting rice cereal in her bottles just a little to thicken it up a bit that should help with the spitting up. Good luck again. K. W

I would definitely talk to your pediatrician about it. My son had similar issues, and I used Enfamil AR Lipil with him and it seemed to help. He's 3 now and still has reflux and takes Prevacid everyday. Unfortunately he wasn't diagnosed with it until shortly after his second birthday, but since starting Prevacid seems MUCH better. Make sure you're burping her after every ounce fed and take it slow. I remember feeding my son took forever and felt like I spent all my life feeding him. I feel your pain! Hope it gets better!!

have you taken her to the pediatrician? she could have some colic from a milk allergy. my oldest daughter had it bad and was on a anti-siezure med to stop her intestines from spasming and when taken off lactose she was fine. i'd talk to the Dr and see what he says

My first baby had serious GERD, he was breastfed, we even tried formula just in case, but that made it much worse. I read if they throw up 3-4 times a day it's serious, my son threw up 3-4 times an HOUR! He was either constantly nursing, screaming, throwing up or so wiped out he passed out. Our ped at the time was no help at all, we finally changed (but that's another loooong story). As bad as this all was, I found two things that helped some. One was a sling or pouch. I started with a pouch when he was newborn, I laid him down in it and sort of curled him around my stomach and wore him around as much as I could stand. The constant movement helped him.

The second thing was a swing. We had the Fisher-Price Swing N' Meals, and that thing was a Godsend. We were so tired and my son was in so much pain, and he was hardly ever sleeping (20 minutes here and there, day and night). I didn't know if he'd like the swing, but I put him in it, and he stopped screaming and fell right asleep! He would sleep for up to 3 hours at a time. You're not really supposed to leave them in a swing that long, but in our case, it was the only way he got some relief, and so did we. After we got the swing, my husband and I actually got to eat at the same time AND sitting down, and that hadn't happened in months.

If you like the sling idea, I got mine from Zolowear.com. They're really super-nice, and have a zipper pocket on the front. I used to stick my keys, DL and money in the front pocket and baby in the sling when I ran into a store. I'm sure there are tons of swings to choose from...

HTH,

M.

My daughter (2 1/2) had it and now my son (7mos) has it worse than she did. Our pediatrician in Texas (we just moved here), said that most of the times, allergies are a strong factor in reflux. I am breastfeeding have cut out dairy, and a ton of other stuff. So maybe try Nutramigen or Alimentum, or even soy if you haven't already - call the ped. and ask them for samples if you haven't tried it already. If your child does have a milk allergy, there is like a 50 or 70% chance (I can't remember...) they also have a soy allergy, so that's something you might watch out for if you do try soy (and haven't already!). Our pediatrician in Texas had him on prevacid, which seemed to help until a few weeks ago. They just switched him to Axid, and it seems to be helping a lot. Our daughter was on prilosec, which I was very happy with also. However with reflux, they still spit up a lot, they just don't hurt when medicated. So we still have an awful time with spitup! And it has been really interesting now that we're on solids. Yick! If anyone has any fantastic carpet cleaning tips.... of course that's another post.

I also second the sling idea. I have a hotsling (www.hotslings.com), and I LOVE it. I can still use it for a side hip hold for my son, and it was wonderful when he was a tiny baby. So that's just a second kind to look at!

Gas drops also worked well for us. We had great success with the Target generic brand which are significantly cheaper than the Mylicon name brand. Poor thing. I know it's hard on you AND on her! GOOD LUCK! I'll be watching this thread to see if anyone else has any great tricks for dealing with it.

J.

I struggled with this with my now 41/2 yr. old. He still has it occasionally. Just keep her upright. You can buy a wedge from the pharmacy that you can place her on while she sleeps. My doctor made that suggestion. Otherwise, you may have to medicate her. My son was on zantac & reglan at first...then they placed him on Prevacid granules. I know what you are going through. At least you found out about it early. My son was 6 mos. old when they finally diagnosed him. Good Luck and God Bless. J.

breast feed/pump your milk and you will have a much healthier,smarter,happier baby!!! or you could try changing formulas like soy