Reflux? Ideas?

[sunnygir1]

I have a 9-day-old 35 weeker at home. The birth was fine, and he was fine after a serious blood sugar drop right off the bat. We came home at 48 hours. He is nursing so much better than my dd, it's been great.

Last night he started to choke and gag and stopped breathing. He would recover in 20-40 seconds, I think. This kept happening all night long. One time he spit up a pretty big glob of mucousy milk, but after that there was just some bubbly milk in his mouth. He slept on my chest while I was propped up on pillows; that seemed to help. I also held him completely upright for half an hour after each time he nursed.

He is exclusively breastfed (except for a little fortified formula in the hospital when his blood sugar dropped).

So, is this reflux? He doesn't really spit up, like my colicy dd did, and he doesn't cry a lot. I am increasing the amount of time I wear him during the day, I am eliminating dairy and chocolate from my diet, and I am going to try catnip tea. I will also take him to a craneo-sacral therapist and/or chiropractor. It doesn't seem too severe, and I would like to go the natural route before I try drugs.

Any thoughts or experiences would be appreciated.

TIA

[Momof4kidz]

Hi, I would say its probably reflux, and chances are that it will get worse. Almost all babies reflux to some degree (spitting up) but the vast majority dont need medication. They simply outgrow it. Reflux is normal and expected in most babies, and expecially in preemies. They do start medicating when the reflux causes trouubling symptoms (choking, FTT, cyanotic spells, oral aversion and so on.)

My son (32 weeker) was and still is a bad refluxer. We didnt treat it until he was 2 months old and started to have episodes of choking and turning cyanotic spells. He was started on prevacid and it made all the difference in the world. He too was (still is) breastfed. Prevacid works well and its easy to give and rarley has side effects. Reflux is painful, so I wouldnt hesitate to try the medicane!! DS was on Prevacid until he was 22 months old, he still refluxes (he is 2 years old today!) but no longer needs the prevacid.

Good luck in finding something that works for you. Reflux stinks!

[sunnygir1]

Thank you for your response. Like I said, he doesn't really spit up. He has started having a runny nose today, so I am thinking maybe he caught his sister's cold and it isn't reflux after all. We'll keep an eye on him and see how it goes. His sister, born at 34&6, spit up a lot and had colic for 7 months, but then she was fine without any medication. I hope that he is okay, but if he gets really miserable we will, of course, consider medication.

[pauletoy]

It may be just a cold. I hope that is all it is.

FYI- refluxers don't always spit up. He could have silent reflux, where the stomach contents and acid only reach the throat or the mouth. Your baby could be gagging trying to swallow everything back down. When this happens, you may want to suction his nose because some of it may make its way in there and can cause congestion.

Ways to help:

1) Smaller feeds but more often
2) Elevate baby while sleeping
3) Keep baby upright 30 minutes after meal
4) If gas or stomach pain becomes a problem, put a towel in the dryer to heat, fold and wrap fairly snuggly around baby's belly.
5) Watch weight gain or loss very carefully
6) If all else fails, see a doctor.

This is about all I can think of right now.

I had 4 reflux babies 3 of whom were also preemies. All 4 of them had severe reflux which required medication. Our oldest dd's reflux was so severe that she ended up being FTT. All of them took Prevacid.

[sunnygir1]

Thank you for that great response. He still has a cold, so I'm waiting to see how things go. He has had some painful gas, but no weird stools yet.
We are going to our family doc today to make sure his lungs are okay since this cold has hung on so long. I will ask him about reflux too.