Infantreflux.org | Now what?!

This topic has 11 replies, 1 voice, and was last updated 19 years, 5 months ago by Anonymous.

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April 27, 2007 at 8:38 pm #31638

Anonymous
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My poor son, I am at my wits end with him! He’s 7 months old and I feel we have tried EVERY formula and can’t find one that works well. I thought maybe he had a dairy allergy but now I’m not so sure. He used to spit up more after eating dairy but now he doesn’t, though he is constipated more which was my daughter’s main sign of dairy sensitivities.

So, any advice? I’ll list what I’ve tried and how long:

Regular Similac, Good Start, generic and Enfamil (with and without DHA/ARA when possible) – numerous tries of each at least 2 weeks on each
Regular soy formula of all above mentioned brands (also with and without DHA/ARA) – same time frame as above
Alimentum – 2 seperate trials. one with powder which made him so fussy and upset we only did one feeding and 2 days on RTF (which didn’t cause the issues the powder did but didn’t help the spitting up)
Nutramegin – one day only as it caused bloody mucousy poop
Enfamil AR – two trials. One with powder which caused him to projectile vomit and one with RTF which seemed to work well but then he got bad again after 2 days on it.
Lactose free formula of all brands – 2 different trials at least 4 days of each

Is there anything I haven’t thought of? Did I not try something long enough to tell if it worked? Do I just have to tough this out until he grows out of it?

One note is that he’s not on meds. The pediatrician I had when he was born refused to try any meds but Reglan and Zantac which made him FAR worse. He’s not a fussy baby and is what my old pediatrician (before we moved and before my son was born) termed a “happy spitter”. But the volumes he spits up are disconcerting.

Any advice would be appreciated!

April 27, 2007 at 9:35 pm #31647

Anonymous
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Hi. I answered your other post. I mentioned meds in the other post because I assumed he was in pain. But if he’s a “happy spitter” he probably does not need any medication. Is his main problem that he spits up? How much and how often? Is he gaining weight normally?

My son was a huge puker. He puked all day most days but he continued to gain weight (how I do not know!) so his doctor felt it was not neccessary to treat him for it. He was on Prevacid for his reflux pain but that generally does not help with spitting or throwing up. There are motility meds that can help babies who throw up a lot but they have side effects and as long as he’s gaining weight and not in pain, he’s probably better off without them.

Does your son have any other symptoms that are concerning you? (not that puking all day isn’t stressful enough).

There is another formula called Neocate. It’s an elemental formula, meaning it has no complete proteins (proteins are what most babies are intolerant to). It is made up of amino acids. Elecare is another elemental formula. Here’s a thread concerning these elemental formulas.

https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=6013&a mp;KW=misconceptions

I hope that helps.

April 27, 2007 at 9:59 pm #31650

Anonymous
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Thanks so much.

He doesn’t seem to have any other problems fortunately but this is getting very hard on me. He spits up SO much more than my daughters did! He only eats 3-4 times a day, usually around 8-10 oz per feeding (he’s had that eating pattern for roughly 5 months now) but spits up from the beginning of the feeding until the start of the next feeding. So basically constantly. It’s roughly 1/4-1/2 oz per spitting up sometimes an ounce at a time. He spits up I’d guess every 15-30 minutes or so. Sometimes in groupings where he’ll spit up once every few minutes and then not spit up for a half hour or so.

Weight was great to start with. Born at 6, 11 up to 18 pounds by 4 months. Then he lost weight between 4 and 5 months and was down to 17, 13. He was back up again at 6 months to 18, 3 and up to 18, 10 when I took him in for the bloody poop last week (the day before he turned 7 months). So basically his gain has drastically slowed.

I haven’t tried Neocate because it’s insanely expensive. I can’t be sure it’s really an allergy issue as he’s never been tested. My daughter and I are dairy sensitive (never been tested either) so that’s where that idea came from. My current ped has never suggested Neocate either.

April 28, 2007 at 10:10 am #31681

Anonymous
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I definitely understand how stressful it is. I posted many boo-hoo posts about how I couldn’t stand the puking anymore. It’s very stressful. My son puked no matter what I fed him, breast milk, soy, good start, regular milk formulas, cereal, solids. It just didn’t matter. But suddenly at 9 months he just stopped.

I think as long as his weight gain is adequate I’d just tough it out. We could have put Myles on some motility meds but his doctor and I felt it was not neccessary as long as he was gaining. I’d probably just ask to have him weighed regularily to ease my mind. My clinic will allow you to call and just say, I’m bringing him in for a weight check, and the nurses will weigh him and imform the doctor with no charge.

Have you tried thickening his feedings or feeding him any cereal? The cereal does help some babies, but Myles threw that up as well.

Hang in there.

April 28, 2007 at 2:08 pm #31700

Anonymous
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Thanks. I was talking to my husband last night and he said we’ll just have to stick is out as well. It’s frustrating but as he said, it could be MUCH worse and I agree.

We’ve tried cereal and it doesn’t help. He’s done well today because we just changed formula again (which seems to be the only thing that helps) so I guess we’ll just wait.

Thanks again!

April 28, 2007 at 2:39 pm #31710

Anonymous
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Which formula are you using now? Typically you should trial a formula for at least two weeks before you decide if it’s working or not.

April 28, 2007 at 3:18 pm #31719

Anonymous
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Currently Wal-Mart milk based no DHA/ARA. We’ve used it before. It’s weird with him, we’ll use one, it’ll work for maybe a week tops and then he starts spitting up a ton again. His doctor even said it’s really strange.

April 28, 2007 at 3:34 pm #31723

Anonymous
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Karen wrote: Currently Wal-Mart milk based no DHA/ARA. We’ve used it before. It’s weird with him, we’ll use one, it’ll work for maybe a week tops and then he starts spitting up a ton again. His doctor even said it’s really strange.

thats not strange at all. almost all formula switches have the “honeymoon phase”. thats why you should give switches a good 3-4 weeks to see if they work.

April 28, 2007 at 5:02 pm #31730

Anonymous
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Have you checked to see if your insurance will cover Neocate? I know it is super expensive!!!

April 28, 2007 at 7:19 pm #31739

Anonymous
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Natalia – Thanks! I wasn’t actually aware of that since that never happened with my girls. The only thing we knew to try was soy with them and it did NOT agree with them (severe diarrhea right off the bat) so we stuck with milk-based even though they spit up on it.

Tracy – I haven’t. I think I’ll discuss that with his doctor because I know they have to prescribe it.

April 28, 2007 at 11:59 pm #31751

Anonymous
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My daughter Paige used to be a projectile vomiter when she was breast fed and also after we switched to Pregestimil (similar to Nutramigen). She also spit up with every feed, and after every burp, but at least once or twice a day she would projectile vomit what seemed like her entire stomach contents, and then very shortly after be hungry again. We switched to Neocate at about 11 weeks old (mainly because of lots of mucus in the stool) but after the switch, she didn’t projectile vomit any longer! She still spits up a bit, but nothing like before. It could be coincidence, but the timing makes me think that the Neocate helped cut back her vomiting, and the amount of spit up. She is still a refluxer though, but more of a silent refluxer now. I know the Neocate is really, really expensive, but definately see if your insurance might help pay for it. Your son certainly could be milk protein intolerant, especially if he has had mucus and/or blood in the stool on milk-based formulas.

Good luck!

April 29, 2007 at 4:15 pm #31787

Anonymous
Inactive

Thanks so much! I think we’ll try soy again for a few weeks and if he’s not any better I’m going to call his doctor again. Maybe if she prescribes it our insurance will cover it. I know our old insurance (Aetna) wouldn’t but maybe our new insurance (United) will.
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