Baby with horrible reflux isn't gaining...

[earthmommy2]

I have plenty of milk, so I know that's not my issue...But he has horrible reflux, it pours out of him like a faucet. Anyone have suggestions on how to handle it??

[sosurreal09]

first off is he on meds? DD has reflux bad still at 10 m/o shes on prevacid 25mg and oh gee that one with a z i forget 1ml 2x a day so literally on meds 3x a day just to manage it. its been horrific. all the pain and screaming oh my word, and i dislike medication but she was in PAIN.
also elevate him as much as possible. how old is he? if he can't sit up (most likely) try and keep him at at least a 45degree angle most of the day, even the changeing table, also wearing him in a wrap would really help. i wore DD upright in the wrap alot and it did wonders.
as for feeding i fed DD upright in the wrap. i just made it looser and adjusted her so she could nurse sitting up. also fed her as much as i could when she was real tired or even sleeping just to get extra calories in her. try and get him to linger on the breats so he gets more hind milk and possibly pump after a feed to get extra hind milk and top him off after his last feed before bed or whenever. you may have to burp him several times while nursing.(DD would never let me do this but i have heard it helps)

[jenfl]

Is he in pain? Is he screaming, arching, pulling off the breast, refusing to eat? That's what we saw in our kids, not so much spit-up. They had "silent reflux" -- although there was nothing silent about them!

Medication was a god-send. We did all the lifestyle changes we could -- holding them upright 30+ minutes after feeding, elevating the head of the co-sleeper, burping well, nursing in as upright a position as we could, etc. But it took Prevacid (Zantac didn't work for DD, and stopped working after a month with DS) to really control the symptoms. It was an amazing change.

I try to avoid medications, but reflux is just so painful and the medication is so effective and safe, it was a no-brainer for us.

[earthmommy2]

Occassionally he will wrech in pain, screaming until a burp comes up or it just stays down. Hes on 1.5ml of Zantac. He will continue on this until next month, if there has been little to no improvement, they will change him to Prilosec and then send us on to GI for a Barium Swallow and watch how his reflux responds. I hold him upright most of the day. He's essencially sitting up all day weather it be on me, in bed, in the bumbo...hes sitting up. I'm blessed that my ped isn't even discussing supplementation which was an issue w/ my daughter. They wanted to force supplementing, and from watching the whole issue w/ my daughter....I know it's not going to help her condition continued.
I've tried modifiying my diet, getting rid of soda & dairy, but there wasn't much change. Has anyone heard of trying Nexium of their little ones?

[jenfl]

I'm really surprised they haven't tried you on Prevacid. It's used pretty commonly. A lot of kids aren't helped by Zantac or it stops working, so a switch to Prevacid happens often. You might want to push to try it -- you'd know within a weekend if it was working. We saw improvement in 24-48 hours. A month on a medication that isn't working is ridiculous.

[earthmommy2]

I kinda agree, and actually going in on the 3rd, I will ask him to try prevacid. I am freaking out mostly because they are concerned that he might have issues w/ the sphincter at the top of his stomach and the flap that prevents foods or fluids going into the lungs..yeah occasionally he sounds like he is drowning or something when he has reflux action. There is already talk of surgery...that's freaking me out!

[sahmmie]

you can get a lot of advice and information on reflux here:

www.infantreflux.org

Is his lack of weight gain due to not eating enough? Or, due to throwing up most of what he eats?

I had two refluxers, one silent (not throwing up) and one who puked constantly. Prevacid helped alot withe pain my son was in, but generally reflux meds do not help with the spitting/throwing up. The best way to deal with that is very small, frequent meals.

Sounds like he may have something called larnygomalasia. I "think" this is something that can be dealt with by "watch and wait" as it often resolves itself as baby grows. There's a whole section over at infantreflux.org on this subject.

I wish you the best.

[justKate]

Originally Posted by earthmommy2

I kinda agree, and actually going in on the 3rd, I will ask him to try prevacid. I am freaking out mostly because they are concerned that he might have issues w/ the sphincter at the top of his stomach and the flap that prevents foods or fluids going into the lungs..yeah occasionally he sounds like he is drowning or something when he has reflux action. There is already talk of surgery...that's freaking me out!

Sorry, how old is your LO? I definitely recommend Prevacid. I'm not big on meds but there is no reason for him to be in pain. The issue with the immature sphincter is common, and commonly resolves itself with a watch and wait approach, as a PP mentioned. I wouldn't wait until the 3rd unless you have to--the medicine will either work or it won't. Reflux is painful.

Do you have any oversupply issues? IME oversupply makes it worse...