HELP I NEED LOTS OF ADVISE

Hi. I don’t have answers to all of your questions, but I’ll do my best.

H2 Inhibitors, like Zantac, and Proton Pump Inhibitors, like Prilosec, Prevacid, and Zegerid, do NOT stop spitting. They stop the stomach from producing acid, so the spitting doesn’t burn. You can find good information about reflux meds at http://www.marci-kids.com.

There are many reasons why babies spit, and sometimes you can stop them and sometimes you can’t. For example, many babies have a weak lower esophageal sphinchter (LES), which allows stomach contents to flush out of the stomach easily. It is very common. What you are saying about the carseat leads me to suspect that your son may have this issue. There’s not much you can do about it, other than keeping pressure off of his stomach. I’m guessing the carseat keeps him too bent, which makes the reflux worse. You may have better luck switching to a convertable carseat, which keeps the baby more upright. We had the same problem and the convertable helped.

MSPI also causes reflux. I’m wondering if your babe is so allergic to milk protiens that even Alimentum or Nutramigen are too much. As to your question about which is better–it depends on the baby. You just have to try them both and see which works best for yours. However, you may want to consider an elemental formula like Neocate or Elecare. They are very expensive and pretty yucky from what I can tell, but for kids with severe milk protien sensitivities, they are a lifesaver.

It’s pretty common for MSPI kids to have a hard time with rice cereal. You can try oat. If it doesn’t work, there are products called Simply Thick and Thickit (I think these are the names, we haven’t used one, we thicken with rice), which you can add and shouldn’t be as much of a problem. With spitting this severe, formula thickening may really help you. (For others it does nothing, it’s another try it and see thing.)

Avent bottles were terrible for us; we love Dr Brown’s. Maybe try one again and see? The benefit of the Dr Brown’s is that it decreases the amount of air babies take with the bottle because there’s no vaccum inside the bottle. For alot of babies, excess air causes the reflux to be worse. Some have had luck with Playtex Nursers.

RE the baby holding the bottle. You will not deprive him developmentally by helping him. Nursing babies never hold their own bottles and they’re not developmentally deprived. If he insists on holding it, you can hold him upright in your lap and help him. Babies only benefit from being cuddled by their mothers during feedings.

One thing I couldn’t tell from your post is if you think your baby is in pain. If you think he is, moving to a PPI may be really helpful to you. Zantac is great for some, not so great for others. For us, it was like giving water. We’ve been on both Prilosec and Prevacid and they have been livesavers for us.

Hello. You have come to a great place. Everyone here is very helpful. Regarding the spitting. That is so common in reflux babies and my Emma spit up like crazy at 5 months, 20-25 times at least. I just got used to that part and she finally just stopped completely around 8 months. I would recommend elevation, it does not stop spitting but it does help. Elevation in his crib and elevation after feedings, they say to give 30 minutes after feeding but sometimes that is hard to do so as much as possible. Laying flat just makes it worse. Zantac is based on weight so they easily grow out of the dosage and become accustomed to it, basically it just stops working. I highly recommend a PPI (http://www.marci-kids.com explains all the meds & dosage), Emma is on Zegerid and besides Alimentum was a lifesaver. She has been a different child ever since. For the formulas it just depends on the baby and some prefer the RTF. We never tried Nutramagin. I would try Alimentum though that way you would know if it can help. Some babies do do better on Oatmeal. What kind of cereal is he on? A lot of mothers use Beechnut, I use organic brown rice & oatmeal. I have to say though my Emma could not handle cereal at 5 months so for me it was to decide whether to put her in pain or deal with the spitting. I know it is a pain but most babies will out grow it. I know more will chim in on this issue and others. Emma did not start to attempt to roll over until 5.5 months. She absolutely refused tummy time even a couple of seconds, but I continued every day with that couple of seconds and eventually she did it. This is probably over a month span of time if not longer. The only bottles that was better for Emma was the ones with liners, the Avent bottles were the absolute worse. Keep hanging in there, it will get better.

All 3 of us just posted at the same time, sorry I repeated the some of the same stuff. I agree with what Stacey and Tiffany said on the bottles. Emma just started holding her bottle at 11 months and I really don’t see why that is considered a milestone at all!!

Looks like you’ve gotten some good advice I have a few things to add/agree with.

1. As for meds I agree about checking out the information at http://www.marci-kids.com/. The researchers there believe that PPI’s (Prevacid and Zegrid) are the best treatment options for babies with REFLUX. My second born had silent reflux and was treated with Zantac. It never seemed to help her that much, but I didn’t know there were better options then. My newest babie (also 5 months old, 18 pounds) has REFLUX with vomiting/spitting. He’s been on PREVACID (10mg/3x’s daily) for a few weeks and is doing much better. He still spits up, but he’s much more comfortable and is eating much better. My doctor originally only had him on 7.5 mg a day which was not enough. I copied all the information from MARCI-kids and sent it to her and then she allowed me to increase his medication to what the researchers reccommend. If your little boy seems to be in pain, you may want to ask your doctor about a PPI drug for him.

2. I agree with the others, none of my three children ever held their own bottles. I think it’s better that way because then they don’t get so attached to it and it will be easier to get them off of the bottle when the time comes. Babies who hold their bottles use them more as a security object, I think.

3. Both my babies who have/had reflux hated tummy time and were/are a little behind developmentally, but I don’t worry about it as much with my son as I did with my daughter because I saw that my daughter caught up as soon as she felt better. She didn’t roll over until she was 7 months old, and was a late walker (14 months) but she did everything else at average times (sit/crawl, etc.). Also, my daughter was a very clingy baby (probably because she felt lousy, but I didn’t realize it then) and she was held almost constantly until she was 8 months old. I’ve known lots of other moms with clingy babies who were held alot. They still developed normally despite having very little tummy time or time on the floor to play. With my son, I do what some of the others have suggested. Put him on his tummy very briefly a few times a day – a minute after a diaper change, a minute or two on the bed with mommy, etc. Even short periods of time will help.

4. About Oatmeal cereal. I never gave any of my babies rice cereal because I found it to be very constipating. I started all my babies on oatmeal and my doctor said that was fine. As for the Organic Oatmeal – I buy it too (Earth’s Best brand), but I find that it isn’t as fine as the GERBER and I have trouble getting it to mix thoroughly in his bottle – so it tends to clog the nipple. So, I use the GERBER oatmeal for his bottles, and the Earth’s Best organic for his spoon feedings. I just thought I’d mention that in case you have the same problem if you are thickening his formula.

5. Related to spending so much time in a bouncy seat – my boy does too because it’s one place he doesn’t spit up so much. I recently found another seat that he loves and it allows him to sit upright. It’s called a Bumbo Sitter and you can find it here http://www.onestepahead.com/shopping/search/resultsmain.jsp? SelectCat=0&Ntt=bumbo&Nty=1&Ntx=mode+matchpartia lmax&N=0&Ntk=All&Nu=Leader+ID

6. As for bottles, I agree that Dr. Brown’s are the best. I’ve tried them all!! Avent were the worst for us, too. I think the wide nipple is hard for some babies to wrap their mouths around and make a tight seal. Even my first baby who didn’t have Reflux had trouble with Avent bottles.

Welcome to the site. Hope your little guy grows out of his reflux soon. That’s what we are all waiting and hoping for. Sorry this post is so long. You had so many good questions!!

I got Zegerid from my ped GI doc. When I brought it up to her regular ped he told me that they will not prescibe it b/c it is to new and they do not know anything about it. They would also would not prescibe prevacid over 15mg. I would highly suggest a pediatric gastroenterologist. That is there speciality. What I did was print the info off of http://www.marci-kids.com and took it to her ped GI and they gave me what I wanted at the dosage DR Phillips recommends. You can even email Joel and Dr Phillips info you can give to your ped GI. If he will eat off a spoon I would keep doing it that way and he will stop eating when he is full. If he is better off a spoon than the bottle, I would definetly keep doing it, it is giving him great practice too!

I have to say when I gave Emma oatmeal or rice cereal earlier in life she was very gassy and bloated, she just couldn’t digest it very well. I stopped giving it to her and just dealt with the spitting, it made for a much happier baby b/c the spitting didn’t bother her just me. She finally started handeling it at around 7-8 months and it was the organic kind. She never did handle the Gerber brand. You can also try Simply Thick instead of cereal or oatmeal.

Mylanta is more like zantac, only immediate relief and they say not to give them together, more like 3-4 hours apart. I can honestly say I have given them 30 minutes or an hour apart b/c Emma still has gas and mylanta is the best thing I have found for gas, it is awesome.