Home › Forums › Infant Reflux Support › HELP!!! › dazed and confused…
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July 15, 2007 at 12:32 pm #39268
Anonymous
InactiveHi there…
I am a new mother of a beautiful baby boy. Ethan is two months today. He gets mostly pumped breast milk. My pediatrician had suggested supplementing with one or two bottles of formula during the night because Ethan was constantly eating throughout the night. I could not keep up and was getting no sleep. I am self-employed and could/can not really take time off from work. I do work from home or take Ethan to the office with me when I can and I have a lot of family support to help me when I cannot. I have been supplementing since he was about 2 weeks old and things were going well. He only cried when he was hungry or when he was trying to pass gas.Anyway, about a week ago everything changed. He now cries in pain during and after every feeding. He went from eating 4-5oz of expressed milk every 3 hours to eating only 2-3 oz. He always had gas but it is now exacerbated and his belly becomes really bloated until he either passes the gas or has a bm. His gas now smells terrible and his bm are no better. The gas pains wake him up during the night a lot more than usual. He is now waking up every hour to hour and half trying to pass the gas. (I have been using gas drops for quite some time because they seem to make it easier for Ethan to burp). His stomach constantly churns and rumbles. He does not spit up. I’ve been to the doctors twice this week and they have told me that he has acid reflux. They prescribed Zantac which he has been taking since Thurs. However, there has not been any significant changes. I don’t understand why all of a sudden this is happening.I am at a loss and really confused. I don’t believe I have changed my diet significantly since last week but I am thinking that I must be eating something that caused the change in Ethan. I have avoided dairy for the most part. I am contemplating giving up breastfeeding and switching solely to formula. I realize the benefits of breastfeeding but I do not think I can handle doing the TED. My stress level is already at its peak. But I do know I cannot handle feeling so helpless watching my son go through this. Has anyone switched from breastfeeding to formula with success?Any thoughts/advice would be much appreciated. Thank you for your help.July 15, 2007 at 12:51 pm #39270hellbennt
KeymasterI’m sorry you’re going through this! As for switching, there have been success stories but there have also been stories that formula was no better…
do you nurse him also or only bottle-feed him? if you nurse him, how does that go?
are his poops mucousy (stringy)?
it might be your diet- the main culprits are milk & soy proteins, so you might want to start there by cutting out all milk & soy proteins, including ‘hidden’ dairy like whey, casin, etc…
if you go to the main MSPI forum and then go to thetop/stickied postthen to page 2(whew! you’ve made it that far
)& scroll down to ‘google cache’ you’ll find an excellent explanation b/t the dif b/t allergies & intolerances and included are symptomsJuly 15, 2007 at 1:44 pm #39275InactiveThanks for the reply. I usually only nurse in the early morning. He sometimes cries after eating or he sometimes falls asleep.
There is no mucous in his poops. They have been watery and green. They’ve been so explosive that seep through his diaper and up his back.
I haven’t had milkbut I am not sure about soy. I’ll have to check on that.
July 15, 2007 at 3:59 pm #39281InactiveSince it’s only been the past week, do you think it could be a stomach virus?? My son recently got over the flu and he had those explosive diapers for more than a week and the constant gas and churning stomach. Just an idea. I hope you can figure out what’s bothering him. Good luck with everything!
July 15, 2007 at 5:03 pm #39284InactiveHi Heather –
I kept thinking that it was a stomach virus so I didn’t use the Zantac when first prescribed last Sunday. I wasn’t convinced it was acid reflux. When I saw another doctor on Thursday she again said it was acid reflux and to try the zantac for a couple of days. If I didn’t see a change over the weekend than to come back in. I have seen no change and he still cannot eat without crying. Did your son have difficulty eating/crying during feeding.July 15, 2007 at 8:15 pm #39288Keymastercrying during eating to me sounds like your baby is in pain…I would push for a PPI to help heal his esophogus & help with the pain
and, in the meantime, figure out the highest dose of zantac for his weight- it’s 5-10mgs per kilo & we can help you with the dosing- I am not a doctor by any means! so talk to your pharmacist and ask her/him to consult her ipharmacist which is updated regularly with all the current dosing. I have asked recently for a pharmacist to check it & this is what it says for oral pediatric dosing of zantac:Duodenal and gastric ulcer: children 1 month to 16 years: 2-4 mg/kg/day divided twice daily to a maximum dose of 300 mg/day
GERD and erosive esophagitis: children 1 month to 16 years: 5-10 mg/kg/day divided twice daily. GERD max dosage: 300 mg/day. erosive esophagitis max dosage: 600 mg/day
July 15, 2007 at 8:34 pm #39291InactiveWell… Bryce mostly eats from a feeding tube, so it’s hard to tell if the virus affected his appetite… he definitely ate less, but it’s normal for him when any little thing happens. I definitely think that could be it as the virus would probably make her feel sick to her stomach and just not hungry, BUT I also think it’s very likely it could be acid pain that’s causing her to cry when she eats. I don’t think it would hurt to continue with the Zantac either way. I would think if it is a stomach virus that it would clear up within a few more days, and then you’ll know if it might be reflux causing the crying. It’s so hard to know with these little ones! Good luck!
July 19, 2007 at 3:16 pm #39557InactiveHello!
Your experience sounds a lot like ours. Brady’s troubles started when the formula-to-breastmilk ratio increased at 2 weeks (my body just could not keep up). I don’t know whether you have him on a hypoallergenic formula like Alimentum, Nutramegin, or Good Start Supreme (all have pre-digested proteins that are easier on the stomach), but if not, you may want to consider it. Breast milk is easy on their tummies, and sometimes a switch to a regular milk-based formula is too much for primarily breast fed babies (according to my ped, anyway).
The reflux more clearly presented itself when he was having those troubles because the regular milk-based formula stayed in Brady’s tummy longer and was much harder to digest.
BTW – broccoli was terribly hard on Brady when I indulged… don’t know if you eat it, but I later read it wreaks havoc on breastfed babies and is notoriously gassy.
Hope this is helpful!
July 20, 2007 at 2:44 pm #39645InactiveThank you for the response. We are still having problems. The zantac did not work. I stopped giving it to him on Sunday after speaking with the on call pediatrician. He stated that it is most likely a food intolerance and the zantac would not help and rarely does even in cases of infant reflux. He stated that many doctors are too quick to point to acid reflux before looking to see if it is an intolerance. He either suggested the elimination diet or putting Ethan on formula.
I tried Good Start Supreme and for two days Ethan was doing well. Then the problems came back on Wednesday. I was back at my pediatrician on Thursday who advised me to try soy for three days. I will be back at the pediatrician on Monday. If soy does not work, they will have me switch to Nutramigen. His problems with crying during/after feeding do not seem as severe as when breastfeeding. He is not doing it every time he eats and I can put him on his back after he eats. If it is reflux, causing heartburn, I would think that he would cry every time he eats and would cry inconsolably which he does not. When he does cry, I can usually console him but he is clearly in discomfort.Ethan’s gas has also reduced dramatically since stopping breastfeeding. I never drank milk and avoided broccoli and other gassy vegetables.He is also gaining weight without a problems. In the last week, he gained 7 oz. However, he is only eating between 3-4 oz every 3-3.5 hours.July 20, 2007 at 3:29 pm #39647InactiveI’m so sorry to hear that you are still having problems!
Your son could be having a combination of a food intolerance and mild reflux. Not every baby reacts in the same manner or severity with it. Even when Brady was not on Prevacid, there were times when his symptoms were much more severe than others. And some reflux babies can gain weight normally – Brady has been packing it on since birth.
Our ped does not know whether he has an intolerance to something in regular milk-based formulas, or whether his system is simply not mature enough to break the proteins down. Either way, Nutramegin has worked wonders for us.Some signs to look for that could indicate reflux are choking/sputtering, chronic congestion, spitting up, wheezing, back arching, and crying when burping or eating. The crying is not necessarily inconsolable, that I know of. From what I understand, not all babies exhibit all signs, and not with consistency (that holds true in our case – Brady only exhibits some of the signs – he rarely spits up, for example). I think it must be very tough to make a call between a food intolerance and reflux. For us, we knew it was not just the formula because Brady was exhibiting the reflux symptoms even while on Nutramegin until we started Prevacid.
Also, when changing formulas, I have read (and experienced) that there is a ‘honeymoon’ period, where the formula and baby seem to agree (about 2-3 days). After that, it all goes south quickly if there is a problem. We had that experience with Lactose Free Enfamil and Prosobee. Alimentum didn’t sit well with Brady at all (he projectile vomited at the third feeding), and I could not get the little man to take three swigs of Good Start Supreme, so I don’t know how that would have worked out if he liked the taste…Also, if the baby cannot tolerate the formula, the effect compounds and gets progressively worse. When the ped told us to try Enfamil with Lipil again when Brady was balking at the taste of Nutramegin, he exhibited some fussiness on day 2, got worse on day 3, and by day 4 was having extended periods of inconsolable crying and terrible gas and diarrhea…I hope some of this info is helpful. 🙂 I also hope that your little one’s problems are addressed by the formula switch alone! That would be terrific. If not, you are not alone. Either way, things will get better as soon as you are able to pinpoint what is going on.Good luck on Monday’s visit! -
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