8 week old baby with acid reflux

[Vidalsg]

My son was premature (32 weeks) and has just been diagnosed with acid reflux. He is 8 weeks old now. He spits up all the time and has had projectile vomiting a few times. (loads of fun!) He will be starting on Zantac and another medication (not sure the name just yet) He wakes up every 2-3 hours to eat. My first son slept through the night at 5 weeks old so I was very spoiled. Then came this baby who won't sleep more than a few hours! I feel so bad because he seems so gassy all the time and spits up constantly. I would love to hear from anyone who can relate. Feel free to email me as well!

Stacey

[j'smommy]

My son has been treated for acid reflux since 2 weeks of age-he was born at 36 weeks and is now 10 weeks old. I totally understand what you are going thru. Jackson will do well at some feedings, then others its like he cant keep anything down. He also has terrible gas and doesnt sleep well most of the time. He is on Prevacid and Reglan-I think he feels better once being on the Prevacid, and I think his pain comes from his gas now, but its so hard to tell! With all his GI symptoms (gas, bloating, green poops-sometimes with mucus), I have thought he might be allergic to cow's milk (more common in babies with reflux). He is strictly breastfed, so I cut that out. He cries alot less, but not sure if thats just b.c he is older or the no-milk diet. Our ped said she doesnt do allergy testing and we cant get in to see the GI specialist for 5 more weeks, soI called a pediatric allergy clinic and they said they could test him for food allergies. Anyway, i think my point is if you feel like you are not getting help from you r ped, dont be afraid to take matters into your own hands! Good Luck and remember you are not alone! Apparently, there are tons of babies affected by this and tons of frustrated, spit-up covered mommies.
Paula-j's mommy

[averysmom]

If I didn't know better, Iwould think you were describing my son. He was also born at 36 weeks and is having identical problems. He was placed in the hospital because they thought he had piloric stenosis. After careful review it was determined to be reflux. My husband and I are so frustrated because we feel so helpless in comforting him. He doesn't cry alot but does arch his back and moan as if he is in pain. He spits up routinely but not consistently. As you said some days are better than others. He is prescribed Regland which does help and his formula is thickened with rice cereal. He has also been prescribed Prevacid but I didn't see a major difference so I stopped giving it to him. I am considering restarting it and giving it a chance. It's nice to know that we are not alone. Do you know if it will go away. I keep hearing that as they mature it will. It concerns me having to give him medication so young and especially to keep food down. One good things is that he is gaining weight.

[Taff]

Dear Averysmom,

I would suggest going back on the Prevacid and giving it a try for at least two weeks. I was also frustrated when I didn't see damatic results with it at first but now I can say our son is a much different kid (it took five days before he was content and 7 before he was a much happier kid). I was also worried about the side effects but really there are non with Prevacid. Our son was also on Zantac for a few months but we did not see any differances, but of course that was our son and your child might be different than mine. Hang in there, it's so frustrating.

Taff

[j'smommy]

Well we went to the allergy doctor-all tests were negative (soy, milk, peanuts, wheat, eggs). Then we went to the GI specialist on Friday. It was a good visit, lots of reassurance. We are now going to give him his Prevacid twice a day (to help him at nights) and they are solutabs, instead of this nasty compound that makes him gag. The specialist says he will most likely grow out of it by age 1 and symptoms will improve around 6-7 months of age. We took our baby off of reglan after reading some scary stuff about it on the internet. Our GI specialist encouraged us to keep him OFF the reglan. He said they see small amounts of improvement in around 25% of babies, but the scariest thing is the side effects. Babies get stiff and irritable and show Parkinson like symptoms. Interestingly, once we took our baby off the reglan, he seemed much more relaxed and his reflux hasnt gotten worse. I wish our Ped would have given us the option regarding the reglan....like the risks vs. benefits. Just letting you know. I am not saying reglan is bad, but it made our baby act worse and I wish I would have been more educated when we decided to put him on it (even though I give it to my patients....well I guess babies are different) Anyway, I wish I knew what makes the good days good and the bad ones bad. Does anyone know if babies with reflux act funny when breastfeeding. We just cant seem to get in-sync. Its like he eats a different amt at each feeding, depending on how he feels, I guess. Any suggestions from you breastfeeding moms? Good Luck to all. I realized today that my house smells like rotten milk-yuck yuck!
Oh yeah-Averysmom-we think the prevacid took about a week to help our baby and we definitely think it helps now. He still gets uncomfortable when he is refluxing and moans and grunts, but no screaming in pain anymore. I guess thats an improvement?

[Vidalsg]

i have heard that the reflux will go away with time. Our doctor told us that babies outgrow reflux. The average age is 4-5 months, but serious cases may last up to a year. I can't imagine doing this for that long! I am hoping for sooner rather than later. These poor babies, so little to have this! I don't know that the medicine is doing much good. Zach is still throwing up and most of the time seems fairly happy. Who knows? Anyway, I wish you all the best. Hang in there, it's not easy. Just keep telling yourself that this too shall pass!

Stacey

[Kyndall's Mom]

HELP!! WE HAD TO CALL 911 A WEEK AGO BECAUSE OUR NOW 8 WK OLD GAGGED, CHOKED AND STOPPED BREATHING BC OF HER REFLUX. WE WERE TOLD TO THICKEN HER FORMULA, MYLANTA, ZANTAC AND ELEVATE. WE ARE SCARED TO DEATH AND THE DOCS THINK IT'S NOT A BIG DEAL UNLESS SHE TURNS BLUE! IT SEEMED TO GET WORSE WHEN WE PUT HER ON ALIMENTUM. BACK ON PROSOBEE NOW. I FEEL HELPLESS. SHE SLEEPS A LITTLE BETTER NOW. BURPING ISN'T A BIG TEAR PARTY FOR US ANYMORE. SHE'S REALLY GASSY NOW AND BEFORE HER CHOKING EPISODES SHE GETS CONGESTED. SOMETIMES SHE COUGHS AND CLEARS HERSELF BUT NOT ALWAYS. ANY ADVICE? DOES IT GET BETTER WITH AGE?

[stacyg]

Hi my name is Stacy and I understand exactly what you are going through. My baby Tyler is now 11 weeks old and he did turn blue on me about 3 weeks ago. I was home alone and I turned my back to heat up a bottle. Next thing I knew he was bright red and by the time I picked him up he was blue. I immediately called 911. I had no idea what had happened. They took him to the emergency room and admitted him for 5 days. He underwent intesive testing. We found out he had severe reflux and he must have spit up and choked!! Really scarey!! He is now home on an apnea monitor and lots of medication. I am going crazy because I am afraid to take my eyes off of him for a minute. I should learn to trust the monitor. The nurse at the hospital told me though, that if he was choking it would take at least 1 minute to sound. I don't leave his side unless I may a quick run to get something. I am losing my mind and my sanity. I have another son who is 8 and is really tough managing them both. He tries to understand but he doesn't seem to really UNDERSTAND. I try to explain it all to him as well as I can. He also had severe reflux that went undiagnosed until he was 3 years old. He had barretts esphogus by the time we found it. Nobody wanted to believe something was wrong. I was always told that he had colic. I knew better and by the time the drs. listened to me he had precancer cells. He did end up having Fundoplication surgery at 4. He is doing well now. He just is unable to vomit. Of course that is very difficult on us all if he is sick. Anyway just rambling on now. Thanks for listening. If anyone has any good advice for me I would love to hear it. Feel free to email me as well. segall66@aol.com

Stacy

[j'smommy]

Stacy-
I am sorry to hear what you are going thru. How scary!! Jackson barely refluxed during his upper GI so they said his was minimal. However, he does gasp for air at times and coughs like he is gagging. The GI specialist said babies gag reflexes are so strong that they are very good at protecting their airways. The same is true for your little one. You are in my prayers!

[hopebrady]

Hi guys: I am also on the boat. My baby boy just turned 8 weeks old also has acid reflux!!!
He can't sleep longer than three hours and each time he eats he spits up a lot areches his back cries in pain etc.
It's so horrible to see him like this, the worst part is that if he doens;t sleep we don't sleep. I'm a journalist and my husband is a photojournalist for local newspapers both super demanding jobs.
My maternity leave just ended and I am now on vacation for another two weeks, my husband is on vacation until Sunday, I am now debating if I should return to work, because my baby also has some kind of urinary infection which is being evaluated and working like a zombie won't be much fun.
I don't know what to do, the baby has to go to doctors at least once a week, he's currenlty on Renglan, Zantac and Gaviscon plus Amoxil for the urinary infection.
Even with all these medicines he is still in pain and still needs a lot of attention.
If I take a leave of absence I won't get paid for a year, If I quit I might not be able to return to the newspaper once the baby gets better.
Today he has another visit to the Gastro pediatrician and tomorrow to the urologist.
He also got his vaccines two days ago and was in such pain plus had a fever from them, plus he had the reflux to top it off.
I haven't slpet in 48 hours neither has he or my husband.
I am lossing my mind!!! Any advice would be greatky appreciated!!!

[j'smommy]

I am sorrry to hear you are are going thru what all of us have/had been going thru. If you read any of our old posts, you will hear several suggestions and ideas. My baby is now 15 weeks and still spits up a ton, but his upper GI showed minimal reflux!? One suggestion is to ask your GI specialist about the Reglan. Our Pediatrician put our baby on it for 6 weeks, until we got to see the specialist. We had taken him off the Reglan ourselves after reading some scary stuff on the internet. The NEXT day he seemed more relaxed and happier. When we went to the GI specialist, he stressed his dislike of Reglan and asked if our baby seemed stiff while taken it-which he had, but we attributed to arching due to reflux. ANYWAY, he said there is only minimal improvement in around 25% of cases, but not worth the risk of scary side effects. I THOUGHT the Reglan was helping, but once he was off of it realized he didnt spit up anymore than before and was happier. Ask your doctor about it so you can make a choice yourself. My baby is on Prevacid and does not seem to be in pain, except for lots and lots of gas. Good Luck!

[E's Mum]

After spending a night in the pediatric ICU for an apneic episode my 8 week old was diagnosed with acid reflux and put on Zantac. Unfortunately a week later he still has symptoms (he eats fine and is gaining weight but has wheezing, coughing, and chokes a lot). He had a scary and serious choking episode this evening - he coughed a lot and just couldn't properly catch his breath for several minutes. Any advice on how to prevent this? I'm at my wits end worrying about him breathing.

[vickiereising]

Originally Posted by Kyndall's Mom

HELP!! WE HAD TO CALL 911 A WEEK AGO BECAUSE OUR NOW 8 WK OLD GAGGED, CHOKED AND STOPPED BREATHING BC OF HER REFLUX. WE WERE TOLD TO THICKEN HER FORMULA, MYLANTA, ZANTAC AND ELEVATE. WE ARE SCARED TO DEATH AND THE DOCS THINK IT'S NOT A BIG DEAL UNLESS SHE TURNS BLUE! IT SEEMED TO GET WORSE WHEN WE PUT HER ON ALIMENTUM. BACK ON PROSOBEE NOW. I FEEL HELPLESS. SHE SLEEPS A LITTLE BETTER NOW. BURPING ISN'T A BIG TEAR PARTY FOR US ANYMORE. SHE'S REALLY GASSY NOW AND BEFORE HER CHOKING EPISODES SHE GETS CONGESTED. SOMETIMES SHE COUGHS AND CLEARS HERSELF BUT NOT ALWAYS. ANY ADVICE? DOES IT GET BETTER WITH AGE?

Hi Kendall's mom! I just started my son on Alimentum about four days ago. He is extremely colicy and has reflux. I got the double whamy! I noticed that he seems to be a little congested and does gag sometimes too. Did you notice this with the Prosobee? I have had my son on so many different formulas and my ped suggested the Alimentum. With soy, he got constipated. Any experience with that? I am just completely frazzled!

[aj's mom]

Originally Posted by vickiereising

Hi Kendall's mom! I just started my son on Alimentum about four days ago. He is extremely colicy and has reflux. I got the double whamy! I noticed that he seems to be a little congested and does gag sometimes too. Did you notice this with the Prosobee? I have had my son on so many different formulas and my ped suggested the Alimentum. With soy, he got constipated. Any experience with that? I am just completely frazzled!

my son has also been on every formula known to man. the alimentum was the
worse. he had loose stools and screamed for an entire weekend. that sunday
i made my husband go to a local pharmacy and pick up carnatin good start supreme. it is cheaper than all the formulas and milk based. he is much
calmer and sleeps for 3-4 hours at a time. he still has reflux and now we
are working on that. ----aj's mom

[leepro]

Hi.. I totally undersand what you are going through. My son is now 6 weeks old and I feel like I am going crazy. It is so difficult because I have a 1 1/2 year old as well.
I was breastfeeding and stopped because of the reflux. We tried all kinds of formula. The best so far is Enfamil AR (anti reflux) it is thickened with rice starch. it has helped so much. I also give him Mylacon before or after each feeding. As well as Zantac 3x a day.
I have been swaddling him and propping him up. When he sleeps I put him on his side. My daughter also had reflux but not this bad. I have already seen a difference. Last night he slept for 5 hours straight. I too can't take this. I am glad he slept but I was up waiting for the weezing and gagging and choking.
Good luck.. hope this helps.
Lisa