• Alternatives to Zantac for 7 1/2 month with reflux
• Extreme reflux in 6-mo-old
• Bad gas or reflux in 3-month-old?
• Reflux (GER) in 6 week old
• Barium Swallow Test
• Breast milk allergy causing reflux?
• Baby can only sleep in upright position
• see also: Reflux in older kids and adults
• related pages: Colic and Spitting Up

Alternatives to Zantac for 7 1/2 month with reflux

Does anyone have any positive experiences treating severe infant acid reflux with alternative medicines/practices? My 7 1/2 month old still has a fairly bad case and I worry about giving him so much Zantac. Please write if you've had success with other approaches. --tired of Zantac

Extreme reflux in 6-mo-old

Our son, 6 months old, has had severe reflux since birth. On a bad day he is spitting up over 30 times a day, on a good one maybe 5-10. There are more bad days than good.

I am nursing and have given up dairy, wheat, caffeine, gas- causing veggies, peanuts, etc. (Also briefly eliminated soy, but didn't seem to make a big difference.) We have worked with our pediatrician and he is on Zantac and Reglin to minimize acid and move food through his system faster. The head of his crib is elevated. I have taken him to sessions with an osteopath and with an NAET food allergy specialist. He has had an upper GI barium swallow and everything was normal. He has started solid foods, and gets 1-2 bottles of formula a day (we've tried regular, hypoallergenic, but not soy yet. He doesn't seem to spit up any more with formula--maybe even less.) Nothing seems to work--all of it, in concert, help slightly.

Two complications--he has suffered about 8 sessions of apnea up to 30 seconds as a result of spitting up (he stopped breathing at birth for 4 minutes, so this scares us to death), and at his 6 month checkup he is now in the 5th percentile for weight and 10th for height, and has lost ground since 4 months (which could be the reflux, or the medicine, or both...)

He also does not sleep much -- between 10 and 12 hours in a 24 hour period.

Any ideas of anything else I can try would be appreciated. Nancy

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/kidswith-EosinophilicDisorders/
www.parent-2-parent.com/forum (there is support group forum just for reflux)
www.apfed.com
www.allergypreventioncenter.com
www.food allergy.org

some articles:
www.allergypreventioncenter.com/news2003/
allergiesvomiting.html
www.feingold.org/GI_eosinophilic.html
www.cincinnatichildrens.org/services/programs_and_services/eosinphilic_disorders/patients.html

He had a bout of vomiting (hard to tell apart from spitup, really) once and tore some of his esophogeal lining and bled. He then had some specks of blood in his spitup occasionally for the next few weeks. We did a course of Zantac then in hopes the decreased acid would decrease irritation to his esophagus while it healed. It didn't change the spitup and we stopped w/ the zantac. Around 6 months my son dropped from the 10% or so in weight to 5%, too. I attribute this to him starting solids and me not being as good about giving him as much as i should have and his digestion probably not handling the solids as well as the breastmilk. His weight came back up by the next visit, though.

Management: The best things we found for reducing spitup was to keep him as calm and upright after eating as possible and to use and change bibs continuously. We never changed him soon after eating (induced spitup).

Re: soemthing in your breastmilk - I tried changing my diet, too, but nothing helped and formula didn't seem better. My son ended up w/ a serious milk allergy, but even eliminating all milk protein from my diet didn't help his spitup. Our second son also spit up more than the average baby, but nothing like the first child (maybe only 5-10x on bad days and rarely in bed. He stopped around 8 months.

So, hang in there. I know it's hard having a baby that spits up a lot - I fed ours every 2 hours, went through enourmous quantities of bibs and spit up cloths, changed my and his clothes frequently, layered receiving blankets on the crib to change them more easily than the sheets, as it was continuously needed, washed his toys a lot (many that say surface wash only can go in a washer. if they have paper inside, they lose the crinkle sound, tho), etc.

Do realize a number of babies spit up a lot and they generally stop between 1/2 year to 1 year. I hope this helps and good luck! Sue

Bad gas or reflux in 3-month-old?

My 3-month old son has recently become very gassy, spitting up a lot after feedings, and very fussy--crying inconsolably, writhing in pain and then puking all over me...I was hoping that hitting the three month mark would mean that things would get easier (as the baby books say) but it's getting harder. I just started trying Mycolon drops, but they don't seem to make a big difference. I was reading about GERD/reflux and he has some symptoms, not all. This doesn't happen at all at night--I am breastfeeding, feed him and he goes right back to sleep, a little burp but no big spit ups. Help! I am going to quit all dairy, started today, as both his father and I are lactose intollerant, and I have been eatting cheese. The fussiest time is the evening--hours of fussing, crying, spitting up, wanting to nurse for hours but spitting up. He's droolling alot lately too. Anyone else had these things happen with their baby? Any advice? Suggestions? Soaking in spit up

Reflux (GER) in 6 week old

Our pediatrician just told us that our 6 week old son has reflux. He spits up just about every time after he eats. He's very congested as well (mostly at night), which she says is related. Has anyone out there had success in finding ways of making their infant with reflux more comfortable during and after eating and while sleeping? He's gaining plenty of weight, so that's not an issue, but he just seems to be so uncomfortable, and it's hard to listen to him struggle to breathe during the night.

We've tried having him sleep in the car seat (which he hates, and doesn't seem to work to relieve the congestion), and would be very appreciative of suggestions on how to sleep with him propped up in bed or in the co-sleeper.

Any suggestions or information would be greatly welcomed! Abby in Berkeley

I don't really think your baby's congestion would have anything to do with reflux -- reflux means his esophagus isn't fully developed and allows the contents of his stomach to come back up, whereas if he's having trouble breathing at night that's because of congestion in his nose. Which is actually very common in newborns and their noisy breathing usually bothers their mothers a lot more than it bothers them!

Anyway, it's usually helpful both for mild reflux and for nasal congestion to elevate the head. The simplest way to do that at night in a regular bed (or in the baby's crib) is a firm foam wedge under the mattress, or on the mattress but under the sheet. If the baby is in a bassinet or playpen, you can also try putting blocks under the legs at one end.

You can also use saline drops or, believe it or not even better, breastmilk in the baby's nose to help drain it out before bedtime. A humidifier in the room can help as well. Holly

Our pediatrician prescribed tagamet and reglan. These helped the reflux itself. Perhaps if the reflux can be treated, the congestion will diminish. (Note that neither of these drugs have been approved - or even evaulated - for babies, but given that we had a life-threatening situation, we decided to give it a go.) Ask your pediatrician if this is a reasonable course of action. It may be a bit extreme in your case.

It's not uncommon for babies to begin to associate eating with heartburn, and literally avoid eating. That's a bad thing. As long as your baby is not going down that road, you're in good shape.

As for alleviating the congestion, I seem to remember that it eventually just went away. It's a tough time, but they do grow out of it. --johnt ** No war on Iraq! **

What can help - we found keeping our son calm and upright for awhile after eating, with no pressure on his belly, helped. He spent a lot of time in an infant chair. We raised the head side of his mattress for sleeping - a lot for just after eating, a little for the rest of the time. This also works wonders for adults, such as w/ pregnancy induced GER (just put the head end of the bed on 1 brick/leg). Diet for me or him didn't matter.

My son didn't seem bothered by it. Since yours does, it might be another issue. It sounds like the congestion is more of an issue. It's possible that will pass in very short time. I remember my son was quite a noisy breather around 6 wks, but that passed. Good luck and happy laundering! Sue