Help with reflux

[NaturalMama311]

DS is just 2 months old and has been suffering with reflux since he was only a few weeks old. At one month old we put him on Zantac because it had gotten so bad. He was barely sleeping, crying a lot, and having episodes of 'choking' where he would stop breathing for a few seconds. It was really, really scary so we broke down and started him on the Zantac. It has helped tremendously but I really don't want to keep him on it if we can find another solution. I stopped giving him to him for 2 days to see if he woudl be ok without it and he started showing the same symptoms again - mainly the 'choking' which he did three times in less than 24 hours. So my question for you mamas is - are there any other solutiosn that we should try to help with with the reflux? We have a bottle of gripe water that says it helps soothe tummies, would that work? Would it help if I took probiotics? Are there probiotics that I can give him? Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!! FWIW, he doesn't have any other symptoms so I don't think it is a food intolerance causing the reflux.

[DaisyMae08]

My guy is on Zantac too.  He would pull off the breast shrieking and arch his back and neck and get very stiff.  He's also make this terrible face as though something tasted really bad.  Poor little guy.  The Zantac has helped a lot.  I missed a dose one night (not sure how I forgot - still feel guilty about that one) and noticed a difference after missing just that one dose, so I'm not really sure about alternatives.  His two month appt. with the ped is coming up and I'll discuss it with her then.  We don't want him on it forever either, but I don't see how I could take him off of it if I noticed a difference after only one missed dose. 

[LadyCatherine185]

probiotics for him (we use nature's way reuteri, or udo's choice), catnip/fennel herb, cutting offending foods from your diet (dairy being a big one)....

i've had 2 with reflux and #1 had to be medicated for 9 months.. so far #2 has only needed it for 3 months (he hasn't needed it the last 3 weeks). 

[Knitting Mama]

Are you doing non-medicated things to help with the reflux as well, like wearing him vertically after he eats, and making sure that he is never laying down flat (elevated head and shoulders during nursing, sleeping, etc)?

[Bokonon]

Have you tried eliminating dairy and soy?  That would be my first step.

[SeattleRain]

If the Zantac is working, why not keep going? Reflux is not just a laundry problem (that's plain spit up), it's a painful medical condition. Zantac is quite safe for babies who have this medical condition and there is absolutely no reason not to keep him on it as far as I can tell.

[lizzie]

Well... there may be a reason not to leave him on it long term. My son was on Zantac too, but not starting until he was around 17 months old. I was told it was just an acid neutralizer, but it turns out (according to a couple of different sources - somewhere online and my gf who's an RN and looked it up for me) it's actually a pump inhibitor, reducing the amount of acid that their bellies produce initially, but then as they continue to take it, their bodies override that and start making extra acid to make up for the pumps that are inhibited, causing an increase in the reflux. My doctor at the time (who I loved and very much believe had my son's best interests at heart) told me it was just a neutralizer, but she was wrong. They can't be right all the time.

It sounds like it's mostly helping you ladies' babies at this point, but I believe it wasn't meant to be taken for more than 8 weeks at a time, before the "override" sort of kicks in? For a few reasons, we would take my ds off of it, and he would actually improve for awhile, and then start to get worse again. So then we'd try it again and he would initially improve, only to have it worsen after a couple of months. Took me awhile to figure out what was going on.

Then after a couple of years of struggling with all of this, we had blood tests done to check for food sensitivities, (through a naturopath - the allopathic med community didn't even suggest this type of thing for him) and he had 17 or so foods he needed to avoid totally (the usual dairy, wheat, soy, and some other crazy things like rice and bananas!) and we had to start a rotation diet (totally different foods every single day, on an at least 3-4 day rotation) for him. I think now that he had and has (he's 8.5) the eosinophilic esophagitis that causes chronic inflammation in his digestive system, and that he never actually had GERD. That also explains how it was something he developed over time, whereas GERD is frequently an issue of sphincter immaturity in newborns - but not always of course. I'm not saying your babies have that - it's just how things turned out for us. WHEN we we're able to keep him on his diet, his immune system is just bullet-proof, and he doesn't spit up or burp up anything. It's just an ongoing challenge as he gets older, and the rotation is KEY, or he develops new sensitivities, just as he loses old ones when given enough of a break from those foods. (He can eat rice and bananas again now, but no milk - yogurt and cheese is ok, and no wheat or eggs. Gluten is fine for him, just not wheat gluten.)

Basically something to keep an eye on long-term, of course I'm not a doctor and don't mean to advise you per se, just thought you'd possibly benefit from our experience! Hope things continue to improve for your little ones!

[northwoods]

I found that eliminating dairy and shellfish and wearing my LO to nurse so that she is upright has eliminated reflux symptoms. She is a MUCH happier baby!

[PatioGardener]

You name it, I did it for my DS's reflux. He had apnea episodes from it as well. I think each thing helped a little, resulting in a lot of help over all, and he is much much better now that he is upright for most of the day. So much so that I am going to wean him off his medication.

Here's a list of what I feel helped:

• breastfeeding
• decreasing my over supply and over active letdown
• eliminating dairy and soy from my diet (I was super vigilant) and caffeine
• breastfeeding him upright (me reclining back a bit), and keeping him upright (and not bent at the tummy) for 20 min after each feed
• sleeping him on an angle (head up 30 degrees, flat, not bent at the tummy like can happen with smaller babies in a car seat)
• wearing him as much as possible upright in a wrap (love my Moby!)
• probiotics for me
• infant dairy free probiotics for him
• chiropractic adjustment for him
• prevacid (fast tabs at a high enough dose, adjusted for his weight gain as he grew). His specialist didn't even suggest zantac, as she new he was severe and so we went right to the big guns.

HTH

[Buzzer Beater]

Originally Posted by NaturalMama311 

DS is just 2 months old and has been suffering with reflux since he was only a few weeks old. At one month old we put him on Zantac because it had gotten so bad. He was barely sleeping, crying a lot, and having episodes of 'choking' where he would stop breathing for a few seconds. It was really, really scary so we broke down and started him on the Zantac. It has helped tremendously but I really don't want to keep him on it if we can find another solution. I stopped giving him to him for 2 days to see if he woudl be ok without it and he started showing the same symptoms again - mainly the 'choking' which he did three times in less than 24 hours. So my question for you mamas is - are there any other solutiosn that we should try to help with with the reflux? We have a bottle of gripe water that says it helps soothe tummies, would that work? Would it help if I took probiotics? Are there probiotics that I can give him? Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!! FWIW, he doesn't have any other symptoms so I don't think it is a food intolerance causing the reflux.

OP- I'm sorry you are dealing with this. We have the same problem with dd2. Nights were terrible before we started on Zantac. She's 9 months now and still on it (tried weaning off several times, but her symptoms come right back). Maybe you'll find some more natural methods of dealing with it, that would be nice. If you do have to stay on the meds, that's probably fine too... just wanted to let you know we haven't had it stop working or any "override" kick in, we're very happy with it.

[CoBabyMaker]

Here's a list of what I feel helped:

• breastfeeding
• decreasing my over supply and over active letdown
• eliminating dairy and soy from my diet (I was super vigilant) and caffeine
• breastfeeding him upright (me reclining back a bit), and keeping him upright (and not bent at the tummy) for 20 min after each feed
• sleeping him on an angle (head up 30 degrees, flat, not bent at the tummy like can happen with smaller babies in a car seat)
• wearing him as much as possible upright in a wrap (love my Moby!)
• probiotics for me
• infant dairy free probiotics for him
• chiropractic adjustment for him

Yes, This!  All of those things helped us too.  I can't recommend BioGaia probiotic drops enough.  Within a day it was like I had a different baby.  They aren't cheap but they were worth every penny.

Just because he is not showing at allergy to dairy doesn't mean it's not aggrivating his reflux so it's worth a shot.

[SeattleRain]

Originally Posted by lizzie 

Well... there may be a reason not to leave him on it long term. My son was on Zantac too, but not starting until he was around 17 months old. I was told it was just an acid neutralizer, but it turns out (according to a couple of different sources - somewhere online and my gf who's an RN and looked it up for me) it's actually a pump inhibitor, reducing the amount of acid that their bellies produce initially, but then as they continue to take it, their bodies override that and start making extra acid to make up for the pumps that are inhibited, causing an increase in the reflux. My doctor at the time (who I loved and very much believe had my son's best interests at heart) told me it was just a neutralizer, but she was wrong. They can't be right all the time.

It sounds like it's mostly helping you ladies' babies at this point, but I believe it wasn't meant to be taken for more than 8 weeks at a time, before the "override" sort of kicks in? For a few reasons, we would take my ds off of it, and he would actually improve for awhile, and then start to get worse again. So then we'd try it again and he would initially improve, only to have it worsen after a couple of months. Took me awhile to figure out what was going on.

Then after a couple of years of struggling with all of this, we had blood tests done to check for food sensitivities, (through a naturopath - the allopathic med community didn't even suggest this type of thing for him) and he had 17 or so foods he needed to avoid totally (the usual dairy, wheat, soy, and some other crazy things like rice and bananas!) and we had to start a rotation diet (totally different foods every single day, on an at least 3-4 day rotation) for him. I think now that he had and has (he's 8.5) the eosinophilic esophagitis that causes chronic inflammation in his digestive system, and that he never actually had GERD. That also explains how it was something he developed over time, whereas GERD is frequently an issue of sphincter immaturity in newborns - but not always of course. I'm not saying your babies have that - it's just how things turned out for us. WHEN we we're able to keep him on his diet, his immune system is just bullet-proof, and he doesn't spit up or burp up anything. It's just an ongoing challenge as he gets older, and the rotation is KEY, or he develops new sensitivities, just as he loses old ones when given enough of a break from those foods. (He can eat rice and bananas again now, but no milk - yogurt and cheese is ok, and no wheat or eggs. Gluten is fine for him, just not wheat gluten.)

Basically something to keep an eye on long-term, of course I'm not a doctor and don't mean to advise you per se, just thought you'd possibly benefit from our experience! Hope things continue to improve for your little ones!

I think you might be confusing Zantac with some other medications. Zantac is in fact an acid neutralizer, Prevacid (another commonly prescribed reflux med) is a PPI (proton pump inhibitor). PPI's DO have some dependancy issues which is why doctors prefer to taper off of them, not just stop right away. Zantac is a histamine blocker, which is a totally different class of medication. I've had a totally different experience from you, medications have been a lifesaver for me. Whenever I miss a dose he's screaming in pain.