Any suggetsons on helping my child cope with severe acid reflux????He is on Zantac four times a day and still has issues> Thank you again
My baby also had severe constipation and acid reflux - keep up with that zantac, and 3-6 months, he will grow out of it and be just fine.
First of all, put him to sleep in an "upright" position: put him in his infant seat or in a baby swing to nap and even sleep in during the night if he is happy with it. That sitting up position really does wonders as it keeps the acid down in the tummy instead of creeping up the esophagus as he sleeps laying down. My daughter slept in her baby swing for the first 4 months of her life - neither of us would have slept if not for it. And she wanted that swing on the highest speed, so I felt compelled to ask my doctor if all that swing could hurt her, and he assured me that it doesn't harm the baby in any way (and to use it if it worked!).
My daughter also had anal stenosis (where the skin of the anus actually grows back over opening partially) along with sever constipation, so I know just as much about this issue (the reflux and constipation go hand in hand). We tried every silly home remedy in the book, but the baby still couldn't pass her own stool, I would have to remove it for her while she bled and screamed - it was terrible. The ONLY thing that ended up working was suggested by the ped - plain old original Phillips milk of magnesia. We put 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of it (depending on how old she was at the time and how much she weighed) into her bottle once a day..... and POOF. It was like a different child. Since milk of magnesia is not a laxative but a stool softener if just softened the poop enough for it to come out all on its own - saved my LIFE and her's too. Please try this - there is absolutely NOTHING in the milk of magnesia that is harmful to even a newborn, I did my research. Within the same 3-6 months timeframe, my baby also grew out of the constipation as well as the reflux (mainly because of the introduction of solid foods).
Dennis,
Have you gotten a second opinion on the acid reflux issue? Sounds to me like it's an extreme amount of Zantac for a little body!
Good luck and God Bless!
Hello Dennis,
our daughter had acid reflux, part of it was the formula she was taking as a supplement. Out of all the forumlas we tried good start was the hardest on her poor little system. in the end it was enfamil lipil and breast milk.
Is there anyway you can get breast milk from a milk bank?
Also is baby sleeping flat or elevated? elevation works.
could the malt barley and probiotic mixture be excerbating the situation?
again not sure of age of baby, but fresh mushed bananas help too. Also try to relax, remember that baby can feel your stress and stress will make the acid reflux worse.
Good luck!
Hi Dennis,
My baby had/has acid reflux (8 months old now). She got better around 7.5 months. I would say first that it is a stressful thing and I feel for you. Second, there is another type of medicine that actually stops the spitting up BUT we tried it and my baby threw it up so we couldn't give it to her (She threw up her whole bottle or what was left in her stomach with it.). So, you should try it. Ask your doctor, I forgot what it is called. Besides that, I'm sure you've heard/read about having him sit up 15-30 minutes after eating (never seemed to help my baby), sleeping at an incline (this did help) and all that other stuff. Good luck!
Jessica
Hi,
It's very helpful to keep your baby in an upright position as MUCH as possible. The doctor even had us raise (put it at an incline with the head end higher)the mattress in our son's crib for sleeping. Some dr. suggest surgery. The doctors said it would get better with age, as they sit, walk, etc. things that we do in upright positions. Breast milk is the best. We tried everything,all the formulas,goats milk,etc.and we found our son could tolerate Vita-Mite (dairy section at the store), suggested by the dr. Our son used VitaMite for years. It's not availabe where we live now. Now he is on Rice Dream (in a box in the health food section). I breast fed our son until he was 18 mths. old and the acid reflux was still severe. He never got one full hour of sleep until he was 18 mths old. It help us get through knowing the condition will improve with time, it's not something you'll be dealing with forever. Try to stay relaxed and calm. I understand what you are going through.
Good Luck.
Linda
I would visit a naturopath and/or homeopathic doc rather than Zantac 4 times a day. If hes taking that much and its not working then its not right for him. The western outlook can be so harsh for babies. Try a natural remedy....
Good luck.
Our second child had severe reflux. Neither Zantac nor Prilosec helped him. As others have said, sleeping sitting up helps. He slept best in the swing or car seat. You could try putting him to bed in the car seat if it is on the floor or in the crib. (I actually did this with our third, although I wasn't sure if his fussiness was reflux or just colic.)
You could ask your ped for referral to a ped GI doc. They may want to do an upper GI. My son's upper GI showed that there was no physical problem. The GI doc suggested a few things to try but none really helped. It turned out that the reflux (and diarrhea and general fussiness) was caused by food allergies.
You could try switching brands of formula. (Although Good Start is what our allergist recommended for our third.) You could also try switching to soy formula, although soy is highly allergenic too. Our son was very fussy and slept terribly until he was 2.5 yo old, when we finally diagnosed the food allergies and got all the foods he is allergic to out of his diet. I know how hard the sleep deprivation is and do NOT recommend waiting to see if he outgrows it. Push your doc for more suggestions/action. (We actually ended up switching peds several times because they didn't seem to be able to help/figure out what was wrong.)
A food allergy could be causing the constipation too. You could try giving him a fiber supplement. Products like Benefiber come in a powder that totally dissolves in liquid and is tasteless. Not sure it helped our son or not, but it's worth a try. What helps most is diagnosing the cause!!
Good luck!
-Donna
My daughter had to be on Zantac & another stonger Med. to help keep her stomach muscle tightened. I really had to struggle with my doc to give it to her but she wasn't gaining weight and was throwing up all her food. She was also up all night gurgling and choking on her saliva or stomach acid. It was really bad. I heard the only way they prescribe it is if the child is NOT gaining weight. Otherwise, they will just say that he is taking enough food if he is gaining weight. Have you tried all the routine; small feedings frequently, holding baby upright, burping, sleeping on an incline (we put a pillow UNDER the crib mattress so it was inclined) this was recommended by our lactaction consultant. She was more comfortble sleeping and wasn't gurgling anymore. I hope your situation wasn't as bad as mine. All her clothes were ruined as well. If baby is very young he will probably grow out of it pretty quickly.
Hi i don't know where you are or what care you have access to but I would suggest finding someone who does Cranio-Sacral Therapy. It helps with the entire nervous system.
You can contact the Upledged Institute for a referral, they are located in Florida.
Good luck,
Linda
A wet nurse{nanny who has breast milk), or purchased breast milk, which is extreemely expensive.
My physician took my husband off of all refined foods including whole wheat products, soy and soy based products,tropical fruits (bananas especially, no sugar, no high fructose corn syrup or corn based products, high starch vegetables (potatoes & peas). He has almost no symptoms except when he adds something back into his diet that irritates him! He eats whole, real food that is we eat very little food that comes in a package or is processed.
I hope this helps.
Hi Dennie,
Looks like you have gotten a few responses. One of my preemies had severe reflux. I strongly recommend a Pediatric GI doctor. Ours in Sacramento is awesome. The treatment for our daughter is Zantac (.8 ml 2x day) and Nexium (20mg 2x day). Nexium is the newest med being used for infants. Also,our GI doc switched her to GoodStart formula as it is the easiest to digest and we mixed it to a higher calorie level. We had weight gaining issues as well. Due to the higher calories, we use Miralax for constipation. Our GI doc told us that most infants out grow reflux around 18 months. As parent who has dealt with in virtro, twin preemies, one with health issues, I can understand and sympathize with your concerns. Again, I recommend getting a Pediatric GI doctor, even it is just to relieve your fears. Good luck!
Hi Dennis,
I'm sorry to hear you're going through this. Our son had really bad reflux, too. Our pediatric GI (at UCSF) had us spend a fortune on Alimentum (and stop with breast milk, which he had been taking for four months). Apparantly breast milk is not always better than special formulas designed for digestive problems (I'm begging the breast milk police to please, please not hassle me; it was tough enough as is). Nutramagen (sp?) also works, but it's vile, and our son ate a lot more w/ Alimentum. I was upset to stop with the breat milk, but the Alimentum did help, and my mom found it for a less atrocious price at WalMart, though I hate to promote thst place :(. We switched from Zantac to Prevacid (disolved pill in a little water and then added it to anything he was drinking -- we just had to be we gave him an amount of liquid he would finish!). He didn't have to take the Prevacid as many times per day as the Zantac, btw. To regulate his GI tract, we went from Reglan to milk of magnesia (which might be enough for your child -- add to bottle as previous poster said) and then finally to Miralax powder. That really worked best. I was so bummed to be giving him meds, but they really helped to decrease the spit-up and horrible pain he was experiencing. As the earlier milk of magnesia poster said, getting poops to come out more easily made a huge difference in decreasing spit-up an pain. If he didn't have a solid poop, though, and seemed to be in pain (sometimes poop made liquidy by m.o.m. can seep around a larger stool in the bowel and it seems like you child is pooping), we had to give him a glycerin enema. They make children's ones, and we only gave him half. He did NOT like getting these, but they were totally miraculous. We only used them in the worst situations (under doctor's orders). Our son had to stay on Prevacid until he was almost three and Miralax until about three and a half. He's totally fine now (he's four and a half). We watched his poop carefully (and had to ask his preschool to do so, too -- that was cute!) so that we could adjust his Miralax for the next day. Most kids grow out of GERD by one year old or so, but not our son. Perhaps it was because he was born 11 weeks early. We also had him sleep in his infant car seat on his bedroom floor (strapped in) for months to keep him more upright. His head was pretty pointy from being born so early (vaginally) with such a soft skull, so while the car seat did flatten is head a bit, it only flattened it to a more typical shape. He slept much better in his car seat. He transitioned easily to his crib and his twin sized bed later own. Not to be alarmist, but I highly recommend you brush up on choking procedures for babies or toddlers, depending on how old your child is. My son once aspirated on his own spit-up about a half-hour after finishing his bottle (Dr. Brown's -- great for reflux, but a huge pain to clean and apparently not so much for the plastic; didn't know at the time; worked better for his reflux than Advent). Luckily, after spending so muh time in the pumping room at the NICU, I had seen the CPR/choking video dozens of times (every time a family took their baby home), and I was able to help him quickly, though I also called the paramedics. I was so glad I had seen that video so many times.
I hope some of this helps and that your child's reflux improves soon. As he/she transitions to solids, the reflux should diminish as well. It didn't go away imediately for us, but our son did FINALLY grow out of it. I agree with others that it feels very uncomfortable to give too much in the way of meds. Personally, I'm a huge fan of acupuncture, herbs, etc., and our son did have cranial work done by a fantastic osteopath However, meds were what worked for our son. Good luck and don't feel guilty about the meds. You're doing what you need to do to keep your child comfortable and gaining weight.
How old is the child?????
Malt Barley is highly allergenic - you might want to think about prunes instead.
There is some great information in a file called Living with Infant Acid Reflux on www.PollywogBaby.com --many things you can do to help your baby rest and eat more easily, to reduce the reflux response.
Not sure of his age, but sounds like he may still be on formula, if he is an infant, I know someone who's doctor instructed them to put rice cereal in the forumula to help keep it down. Also, this might be costly, but they have milk banks that you can purchase breastmilk from: http://breastfeed.com/resources/articles/breastmilkbanks.htm. I hope it gets better soon. Good luck!
Stay away from fried, spicy, and acidic foods. Eat more vegetables. Eat carbs, but don't overeat on carbs. Bananas act as a lacxative. Try prunes or prune juice. Look into probiaotics on the internet for information to help your son. Good Luck!
Arleen
Dennis--
Taking care of a baby with severe acid reflux is exhausting! Our son was in a similar situation, and though the Zantac helped (4x/day), he started to develop seizures as a result--this is extemely rare--even the pediatric neurologist hadn't heard of this reaction, but my sister who is an MD, dug up research that found that Zantac trials pointed to some rare reversible central nervous sytem reactions.
Obviously, we took hime off Zantac and then turned to craniosacral therapy and, most successfully, to homeopathy for help. Our homeopath cured the reflux. I recommend her entirely--Mary Gordon (likewisehomeopathy.com)
best of luck, caitlin
my twins had reflux and my mom told me to put rice cereal in their bottle. 1/2 tsp per 2 oz. you will see tons of literature and people who say oh! no, no! but it worked!! even my dr. said, "if it works- do it. rice cereal never hurt anybody!" i also used alimentum formula. (big bucks but you can find decent deals on craigslist and/or ebay.)
i was able to give up zantac and at about 10 months or so- they were pretty much over the reflux saga.
good luck!