Frequent waking, silent reflux, what next?

[penstamon]

DS is 7 months and wakes roughly every 45 min- 1 hour. On his bad nights he wakes every 20-45 minutes, on good nights we may get a 2-3 hour stretch followed by 1 -1.5 hour stretches. DH and I are soooo sleep deprived that we are having a hard time coping, but that's another thread. DS also has a hard time napping and fights the naps with gusto. He was diagnosed with silent reflux at 5.5 months and started on Zantac, which has never really helped despite increases in dose. He was also diagnosed with torticollis (head tilt), which appears to be a result of the reflux.

He currently sees a cranial sacral therapist 2x week, has watsu (aquatic therapy) treatment 1x week, has regular chiro adjustments (pedi chiro), takes high quality infant probiotics, eats some solids (not much though), takes vit D drops and is still on Zantac. Things go up and down, but as I said the "good" days aren't really all that good.

He has no real symptoms other than silent reflux and sleep issues, gains weight fine, ahead in his milestones, very happy and sociable. We are at a total loss of what to do next. We have been referred to a pedi GI, but our pedi is doubtful that anything is truly wrong and that he will grow out of it. We have no genetic food allergies or GI problems. We are scared though and do not want to continue with this horrible pattern, particularly with meds. We want relief for DS, correction of his torticollis, and SLEEP!

So after doing some reading, I am going to try cutting out dairy (again- maybe I wasn't so strict last time?) although our ped generally sees more symptoms when it is a true food intolerance or allergy. We have an appt with a ND in a few weeks too.

Any advice??

[kjbrown92]

Originally Posted by penstamon

So after doing some reading, I am going to try cutting out dairy (again- maybe I wasn't so strict last time?) although our ped generally sees more symptoms when it is a true food intolerance or allergy. We have an appt with a ND in a few weeks too.

No sleep and reflux aren't enough symptoms for the pediatrician?
Going off dairy will help if dairy is the culprit. But it could be any food (and yes, most reflux without a structural defect is from food intolerances/allergies, just go to www.reflux.org and look at all the people and the food they're avoiding). If it's not really improving, then it's probably something you're eating every day. The most common culprits for intolerances are dairy, gluten, soy, and corn (and once you try to avoid them, you'll notice they're in everything). If you only take out one at a time, and there are multiple foods, then you won't see much improvement. Do you or your husband have any environmental allergies? It doesn't have to be food. My DH and I have environmental allergies, and we have 3 kids, one has environmental allergies, one has environmental allergies and food intolerances, and one has food intolerances. The GI that we went to said we have an atopic family and the kids were more likely to have sensitivities just by the fact that we had environmental allergies. Of course, I had food intolerances too, but I didn't know it until I went off foods for the other kids.

If you do go off the 4 foods mentioned above and keep a food journal, you may be able to tell more easily if there are any other culprits.

[LadyCatherine185]

my DS has a dairy allergy as well, and had silent reflux as an infant. He also reacted to tomatoes

[penstamon]

kjbrown92- thanks for the link! I found an interesting article on there about compressed nerves and GERD which describes Ds's torticollis and how it could be causing the reflux. This goes along with what his therapist and chiro think. Now if only they could fix it...

The torticollis connection has been first and foremost in our minds for awhile. His poor sleep, tort, and reflux all get better or worse together.

LC185- I recognize you from the sleep board- hope things are getting better finally!

[LadyCatherine185]

thanks! but they aren't..

[kjbrown92]

Have you tried an osteo?