TF baby reflux question

[TzippityDoulah]

my son is 4 weeks old and he has reflux. my other two kids had it too. the only difference if they he swallows the reflux more so and they spit it up. but it's the same otherwise- the gagging, choking and painful grimace followed by minutes or hours of uncomfortable fussing. and it breaks my heart!! he hasn't screamed too much yet (thank God!!) but he is surely very uncomfortable!

with the other two I had a terrible diet. I surely wasn't eating TF! I've been adopting this mostly TF style diet for about 3 years now. I am also gluten free b/c I found out I was celiac about 2 yrs ago. I've been dairy free for a week to see if it helps my boy's reflux. However I have very bad oversupply issues and heavy letdown which make his reflux so much work. (I know all the tricks on how to deal with the oversupply/letdown issues... so I don't need advise on that one really). I also stay away from the normal things people say aggravate babies - onions (which I LOVE!), cabbage, spicy things, tomatoes etc...

but my questions are basically, how much does a mom's diet really play into their baby's reflux? everywhere I look I find conflicting advice, but what I really want is a more TF stand on the subject but I can't seem to find one. Maybe it's a weird question... I don't know.

[honeysesame]

my understanding is that mama's diet and sensitivities *can* play a role in baby's reflux. have you gotten an IgG test or done an elimination diet to see if there are other foods you (and therefore he) might be sensitive to?
another approach could be to try probiotics and digestive enzymes for mama and baby; you could try that first and see if it helps before going to eliminations if that feels more comfortable.
and of course you may already know other things that might be helpful-- abdominal massage, herbs, essential oils for example. what have you tried so far with him or your other little ones?
and congratulations on your baby!

[greenmamapagan]

How is your baby now HennyPenny?
I'm bumping this because I need help with my 4 week old whose reflux seems to be getting worse, not better. I read today that dairy is the no. 1 culprit for foods in mama's diet that babe reacts too. Of course since our mainly TF diet is quite high in dairy I'm reluctant to cut it out. I could probably cut out milk itself fairly easily but I really don't want to cut out butter or yoghurt & we use kefir a lot for soaking. We don't actually eat anything with "hidden" dairy.
Advice?

[TzippityDoulah]

he's definitely doing better for sure! I was off of dairy for 3.5 weeks and since i'd had maybe a couple slices of cheese and a little yogurt 4or 5 times. so VERY lttle dairy and nothing with hidden dairy. I notice I have dairy (like I did yesterday at a restaurant by mistake) he has terrible reflux the next day (like he does today!)

i was hesitant to cut it out to but i couldn;t bare watching him spew and spit up and be in paiun, reflux begets reflux. it seems to often get worse and worse b/c it destroys the lining of the esophagus. that happened to my first two kids and i didn't even know my diet could affect them (I wasn't tf back then of course!)

I eat TF but I don't use dairy. it's really not that hard once you get used to it. I'm not completely "TF" in every way for sure... but I'm working slowly towards that more and more. (for instance I don't soak my grain for bread as I am GF and i found this wonderful place that makes wonderful millet bread that I just love!) in place of cheese on tacos I use avacados/guacamole, or sour kraut and mayo (they taste oddly good together) on a sandwich and so forth. the best way to do it is find something to replace it so it doesn't seem like you're missing anything.

[Peek-a-boo]

Just wanted to chime in and say that by eliminating all dairy my DD's reflux was resolved. I've read that it takes 2-4 weeks to fully leave both your systems and that if there's been damage to baby's esophogus it can take a little longer to completely see results.

[mbravebird]

This is only tangentially related, but I'm trying the extra magnesium this time around (taking Natural Calm), which is supposed to help oversupply/OALD issues, and so far it seems to be helping. I'm also doing a lot of RRL infusion and nettle infusion, which are also high in magnesium, so it's hard to tell what form exactly is helping what, but my oversupply is definitely better this time around.

Just mentioning b/c OP said she had oversupply issues in addition to the reflux, and I think I actually learned about the magnesium connection in this forum...

[Cristiaz]

My daughter had reflux at 6 weeks. She would literally shoot my milk across the room. I took her to my NMD and she said to eliminate all citrus first because that's the main culprit. Just so happens I was drinking a lot of Orange juice at that time, which is weird cuz I had never been a big juice drinker. Anyway, I cut out all citrus: oranges, limes, lemons, pineapple, tomato,etc. and it her reflux was gone in about a day. I am celiac and lactose intolerant so I wasn't eating/drinking those anyway.

[kjbrown92]

The top 4 intolerances are dairy, gluten, soy and corn. Barring a structural defect, I (not a doctor, just a mom) believe that probably almost all reflux is due to food intolerances (either the baby's or the mother's which is being passed down through the breast milk). We eat a lot (not all) TF and don't do any of the top 4, plus others. We do coconut milk yogurt, bone broths, pasture fed meats, eggs (but not for one of the kids), soaked (non-gluten) grains, fermented foods, etc. We can't eat processed foods because of all the intolerances. My two kids with food intolerances were both diagnosed with reflux and put on meds, before I figured out their intolerances and removed them from either my or their diets.

[CrunchyChristianMama]

Thought I would throw out my own experience. My DD had reflux that was cured completely by two things - chiropractic and switching all my dairy to raw. I can drink raw milk all day long with no reaction from her, but if I drink one small glass of pasteurized/homogenized milk it's projectile vomit from her.

[greenmamapagan]

Evie's Mama, that's just the kind of thing I was wondering when I bumped this thread. I was drinking raw milk for most of the pregnancy but have had to switch (pasturised organic non-homogenised) because we can't find a provider less than a few thousand kilometres away (and is milk that has been frozen fro transport really raw?)
By the way I love your signature.

[spartz]

Absolutely fascinating!

My DD had shocking reflux for the first five months of her life - by the end of the day it would look like a flock of seagulls had been in the house. It never occurred to me that it could have been related to diet - my midwife told me that the baby that spews well, grows well and all of my baby books said she would just outgrow it.

This time I will be prepared. No.2 is due in December and if s/he is like big sister then I will try diet - it would be wonderful not to have a spewy baby for months on end (wonderful for the poor little baby too!).

[earthmama4]

Originally Posted by Evie's Mama

Thought I would throw out my own experience. My DD had reflux that was cured completely by two things - chiropractic and switching all my dairy to raw. I can drink raw milk all day long with no reaction from her, but if I drink one small glass of pasteurized/homogenized milk it's projectile vomit from her.

This was my hope, but we still have issues here, so other mamas proceed with caution. Small amounts of butter and cream caused the reflux to return and then I had a very small piece of raw goats milk cheese and he got hives from my breastmilk for the first time that evening! Eek!

We stay completely "spit-free" with a dairy-free and gluten free diet (he spits when I have wheat or oats - even soaked). I am convinced as kjbrown said, I think "intolerance" every time I hear of a refluxing baby too. Its been completely black and white for us - eat it = reflux, don't eat it = no reflux. Hard but worth it IMO.

[TzippityDoulah]

I had cheese twice today by mistake. yup... TWICE!!! thats what happens when you eat out at an unplanned for resteraunt. now my belly is upset and i'm sure it is only a matter of time til his is too... ugj!

i expect to get barfed all over and here a lot of fussing tomorrow. poor baby!

[greenmamapagan]

[Koalamom]

My daughter had issues but then I started taking a digestive enzyme and a probiotic called LactEnz from Standard Process, and she was good from there. I wasn't eating many probiotic rich foods when she was a baby. With this baby due, I am just going to eat the good 24 hr yogurt and see how babe reacts.

I was also not drinking raw milk with DD and am now, so things may be different just from that.

[CrunchyChristianMama]

Originally Posted by bluebirdmama1

My daughter had issues but then I started taking a digestive enzyme and a probiotic called LactEnz from Standard Process, and she was good from there. I wasn't eating many probiotic rich foods when she was a baby. With this baby due, I am just going to eat the good 24 hr yogurt and see how babe reacts.

I was also not drinking raw milk with DD and am now, so things may be different just from that.

I wonder with this too how much the mother's gut health has to do with some babies' reflux. I'm sure it's not true for all, but I would imagine for some if they have leaky gut for instance if that would be harder on the baby and lead to issues? I haven't done enough looking into it though to say for sure, it would just seem to make sense.

[greenmamapagan]

I would think it has quite a bit to do with it, from the little I've read about GAPS.