Scared about reflux

[amandamku]

I am a first time mommy with a 4 week old. My son stopped breathing after suffering from a reflux episode when he was 6 days old. Thanks to the ER staff he is here today. After two days of test we found out he has reflux and is on Zantac and Reglan. I am terrified. He spits up sometimes 30-1 hour after eating. He is usually asleep when it happens so I watch him like a hawk. As you can see I am getting no rest. He just has an episode and I couldn't get him to fully wake up for 30 minutes. It really scares me. I don't know if I can go through him turning blue again. I am so scared I am going to lose my baby. He sleeps on my chest every night and always at an incline in his car seat or swing. Someone give me some advice on how to get through this. I don't know if I can take this constant fear.

[fussybaby]

What you are going thru must be horrible, I can only imagine. My son did not have this particular problem with his reflux.

My cousin did have a simialr problem and I know that the doctors gave her a monitor to have at home that would go off any time the baby would stop breathing for a length of time that was a concern. I know this greatly helped her at the sleep time with her reflux babies.

I know these monitors are common and your doctor should be able to give you one.

I know this doesn't really solve the problem with the terrible reflux causing your baby to gag. There is a massage for reflux to help relax the babies tummy muscle a little, it did help my son even though it seems at the time that it is not doing anything because it seems too easy. (The Reglan should also be helping your baby keep the spit ups down, I hope it will help in time.)

Wish I could give you more advice other then hang in there, your baby will get thru this. My cousin had 4 with terrible reflux and on monitors for sleeping and they all got thru ok!

I know that doesn't make it any easier for you right now though....but I hope this helps a little.

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[cary]

Hi,

I'm really sorry to hear about your problem. Similar to what Fussybaby said my neighbor had a little girl about 6 months ago who used to stop breathing in her sleep (sleep apnea) and she also wore one of those monitors to alert her parents.

I don't know if this is of any comfort to you but when they were doing all the research about having babies sleep on their backs instead of their tummies they found that babies that did spit up while asleep had an automatic reflex where they turned there head sideways so as not to choke even when they were just a few days old... so they can turn there heads.

Do you think you're baby would sleep comfortably at night in a swing seat so that he was upright more than if laying down in the crib then maybe you could get some rest yourself as you must be exhausted.

I had my baby sleep on my chest for the first long 3 months of her life because of her colic, she would scream all night long. Sleeping on us calmed her a little but I could never have a proper sleep that way so my husband and I would take four hour shift each. Would your husband agree to that do you think? It would give you a break.

Please hang in there and keep coming to this website, I wish I could help more but I'll be thinking about you. Take care,

Cary

[gassybaby]

Your situation sounds horrible and I give you credit for knowing that you need to get some support. I don't know if this helps, but there is a surgery that they can do to stop the reflux if it is that extreme. I know I am not spelling it correctly, but it is a fundoplacation. That may be something to talk to your Dr. about. I know a family that wound up in the ER similar to you and that is what they wound up doing, however his reflux was so extreme that he was not able to keep enough down to survive so I don't know how extreme it has to be in order to do surgery.. Just a thought... good luck

[amandamku]

Since I posted on this website we have returned to the children's hospital here. I had to rush my 4 week old to LeBonheur in the middle of the night 4 days ago because he was spitting up and vomiting for 48 hours straight. He was really dehydrated and I didn't know all the signs or we would have been there sooner. Upon testing him they found he has Pyloric Stenosis. Surgery was done that night. We are now home and he seems to be doing much better. The reflux and the other condition are not related but one makes the other worse. We were told to stop the Zantac and Reglan after the surgery. We will be going for our check up Monday. I think we will be returning to the Zantac because he still spits up and makes a terrible face like something is burning his throat. The projectile vomit was really scary. I thought it was just the reflux and as hard as things have been, this was just a phase. If your child is doing this and especially if it is a boy between 2 weeks and 8 weeks ask about this. An ultrasound of their belly will determine this. We are sleeping better and gaining weight now. Thanks for all the advice and for all the information on this site. I'll keep everyone posted.

[fussybaby]

amandamku,

What a scarey thing to go through, I am so sorry that it happened but I am glad for you and your baby that there was a diagnosis and treatment available.
I wish your son a quick recovery.
Keep us posted when possible, I would love to know how things go for you now and how he does with the reflux, hopefully he will react ok to the Zantac once he is back on, etc.

Take care.

[MaryK]

Seems like I remember hearing somewhere that you should not keep a reflux baby upright in a car seat. My friend did this for several months, and then found out that she should not have been doing this. You might want to look into this, and if I find anything more, I'll post it. Hopefully things will improve for you. Are you breastfeeding or formula? There are changes you can make in your diet that might help, if you are breastfeeding. I have tons of info on that if you need it. Keep us updated and let us know how things are going!!

[cary]

Amandamku,

I'm so glad that they found the true problem and it now makes perfect sense about the projectile vomiting and severe reflux. I'm a veterinarian and this is certainly something we see in small dogs although we usually don't diagnose it earlier enough to do the surgery.

Opening up the pylorus will make all the difference in the world although I assume that you have instructions in terms of recovery and appropriate feeding etc. You must be so relieved to think that the problem is "fixed" and from now on the reflux should be so much less.

I hope you're sleeping better and I'm sure your baby is sleeping better and will grow so much better also.

Hang in there and keep us posted, I'm sure your baby will have a speedy recovery.

Take care,
Cary

[amandamku]

He is sleeping so much better now. The only problem we seem to have other than the occasional spitting up is crying. It seems like he is constipated and he cries for sometimes two hours or more. I am taking a break now and letting my husband work with him. I have been trying to read up on things in my diet. I called the doctor about the lack of dirty diapers and they say that it can be related to the surgery and the fact he was put under. We had only 1 dirty diaper in 48 hours. So far we haven't had one today. We are having lots of wet ones and he is eating well. The colic usually sets in around 10 pm, so I don't think this is it. I do however, feel so much better about him handling his food better. I never dreamed that a baby could have so many problems. This is our first child and I am not sure I want to do this again.

[fussybaby]

amandamku,

Just wanted to say that having the wet diapers is the most important, the wet diapers means he is well and not de-hydrated and that is the most important, the dirty ones will come in time and I am sure his little system needs some time to get back to normal. He could be constipated but I would give it a little more time.

I know this is hard to beleive but in a while once your baby gets past the worst parts and starts to become a smiling happy little boy you will start to forget all about this time. It just happens that way. Kind of the same as how we moms forget the real pain of labor, if we remember every moment then we probably would never want to do it again....:puh

It sounds like things are getting better and I wish the best for you and your family.

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