Infantreflux.org | Nursing strike

This topic has 13 replies, 1 voice, and was last updated 19 years, 3 months ago by Anonymous.

Viewing 14 posts - 1 through 14 (of 14 total)

Author

Posts
July 24, 2007 at 11:11 am #39793

Anonymous
Inactive

Hey All,

Okay, as of right now Kate has not eaten in 8 hours!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! When I try and feed her she just gets mad when the milk comes down. She’s sleeping in her swing right now but she’s not fussy!!!???!! She’s happy as larry!!! I thought maybe she was teething and that’s why she didn’t want to eat but I can’t se anything unusual in her little mouth when for a split-second she lets me see. She’s getting close to five months so is this normal for her to just REFUSE food for such a long period of time? Reflux maybe?(please no,please no)Should I take her in to see a doctor or get fluids??? I’m so scared and have NO idea what’s going on. I know around this age eating starts being more of a cognitive thing and not so much a reflex…or swallowing or something. Is she just being stubborn? Help!

July 24, 2007 at 2:23 pm #39802

Anonymous
Inactive

Claire,

I hate to say this, but I really think it sounds like reflux. Normal babies like to eat, and they ask for it regularly. I used to hope that it was teething with Hailey, but it was always reflux and the teething only made it worse. What dose of zegerid is she on? Maybe she needs an increase.

When I was nursing, before Hailey’s feeding aversion got really bad (when it was more mild), she would be agreeable to nurse until I had a let down. Then she’d pull off and scream. They told me that it was probably OAL, but it was always reflux. When she swallowed the milk, it was like pouring acid into a wound. It’s really hard to know what’s going on I always found, but for refluxers, I tend to think that most feeding refusals are related to flareups. Hopefully a dose adjustment is the answer. Good luck.

July 24, 2007 at 2:27 pm #39803

Anonymous
Inactive

Oh, no! 8 hours seems like an awfully long time for such a small baby to go without food or fluids. I hate to say it too, but it sounds like her reflux is flaring, unless maybe she’s coming down with something. Mabye the beginnings of a stomach virus? With my kids it often starts with not wanting to eat.

Maybe she needs an increase in her Zegerid? Do you have any Mylanta on hand that you could try?

Is she wetting diapers? If not I’d take her to the doctor. Babies can dehydrate quickly.

I hope things turn around soon. Please keep us posted.

July 24, 2007 at 4:15 pm #39811

Anonymous
Inactive

Oh Claire,

I would agree with everyone above that it might be reflux. Cooper has only gone 8hrs like 2 times in his whole life and that was at night not during the day. The most I can get him to go during the day is 4hrs and that is pushing it. Even when he is fussy he still gets fussier if I take the bottle away. I would probably take her to the doctor. It could be an ear infection or a stomach thing, but may be more likely reflux. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for ear or stomach.

July 24, 2007 at 6:07 pm #39816

Anonymous
Inactive

I’m really going to cry now!!!! This has never happened before. Would she still be happy and sleeping and everything else if it was reflux?! She woke up and ate great and ate fine the rest of the day too. I don’t know what to do……so it’s not even possible she could just not be a morning eater?…….

July 24, 2007 at 6:38 pm #39817

Anonymous
Inactive

Claire,

I’m not sure why she is refusing to nurse, but that concerns me too. None of my 3 have done that until much older (10-12 months) and that was their natural weaning process, because once they weaned they were fine with sippy cups and solids.

It sounds like something is bothering her and causing her to refuse nursing right now. I don’t know what though…she is on meds for her reflux right? I’m still wondering about the OALD – do you still seem to have that or is it under control? I know sometimes babies will refuse to nurse when it comes out too fast or forcefully. Just a thought…

I am so sorry you are going through all of this! I know how frustrating this is – getting one thing figured out only to have another issue come up. I hope you get little Kate’s feeding issues figured out soon so that you can enjoy her and not have to worry so much.

Hang in there and please keep us posted.

July 24, 2007 at 7:08 pm #39819

Anonymous
Inactive

Hmmm….that’s interesting that she nurses fine the rest of the day. I wonder if the Zegerid wears off at night and it just takes a few hours for her to get some relief after her first dose in the morning. Thank goodness she ate well the rest of the day.

I wonder if a higher Zegerid dose would help, or maybe trying an H2 Blocker at bedtime to help with breakthrough acid. Maybe she has some breakthrough acid in the wee hours of the morning and that effects her appetite in the morning. A few babies on the board have had the best results using a PPI during the day and an H2 Blocker at bedtime.

I guess it could just be that she’s not hungry in the morning. If she’s happy and sleeping well; mabye just keep an eye on her weight and make sure she’s getting enough without the morning feedings.

I hope you get it figured out soon. You’re sure it’s not OAL in the am?

July 24, 2007 at 7:54 pm #39821

Anonymous
Inactive

Christine,

My gut, and this is just my gut, is that it’s OAL. Like I said before…somewhere…., when I pump first thing in the morning(I did it just to figure out how much I would get with the pump in how long to guestimate how much she was getting)I get 3oz in 2 or 3 min. That’s a lot…FAST!!! This has been her pattern for like a couple weeks now though. First two feeds of the morning are weird. No terrible screaming, she just seems irritated. After that she’s fine and is happy,sleeping well, and gaining well too.(like I’ve said, I’m SUPER DUPER neurotic and weigh her waaaaaaay too often)That’s what threw me off this morning. She wasn’t acting hungry, she played,giggled, and slept. Then she woke up hungry and ate fine. I don’t know whether to call G.I and schedule an endoscopy or just take it for whatever it is. Do you think it’s reflux if she’s so happy and sleeping and wetting diapers????I know I definately have an OAL….arrrg………………….thanks for listening

July 24, 2007 at 8:02 pm #39822

Anonymous
Inactive

Claire,

I know you directed that to Christine, but I just read what you wrote, and I say – go with your gut. There’s nothing like mommy instinct, and I bet you are right. Just work with her, and she’ll probably grow into the fast flow as she gets a little older.

Take care!

July 24, 2007 at 8:28 pm #39826

Anonymous
Inactive

Hey Claire, I’m just getting to this, but while you are probably right about the OAL, I just wanted to suggest that it also might be time for an up in her meds. It was right at Kate’s age, that Ben went through the same thing, and we had to up his Zegerid dose. After that, he was much better, and we havent’ had to up it since then. He was pretty happy when not eating too, but eating was just awful, and it was so stressful. Hopefully, this is not the case for you at all, and once you get the OAL under control all will be fine. But if not, I think I would try adding a third dose (at night) and see if that doens’t help matters after a few days.Bensmama2007-07-24 20:29:49

July 25, 2007 at 9:11 am #39843

Anonymous
Inactive

Thanks everybody. I gave Kate an extra dose of her Zegerid last night before bed and this morning she still was not super duper excited when she ate but she ate!!! I really think she just isn’t all that jazzed about food in the morning and that my let-down is so fast but we’ll see if the Zegerid works after a few days. You guys are amazing. You have NO idea(well,some idea)how much your quick replies mean to me!!!! If we were in person I’d give you a group hug!!!

July 25, 2007 at 5:17 pm #39862

Anonymous
Inactive

Claire, Since she’s in no rush to eat first thing when she wakes up, can you test the let down theory by pumping a bit off to ease the letdown, and then trying to nurse her? I really hope it is OAL rather than reflux, but I always take a better safe than sorry approach b/c of what we’ve been through. s&h’s mum2007-07-25 17:19:25

July 25, 2007 at 6:43 pm #39863

Anonymous
Inactive

Lori,

Believe me, I appreciate all of your great advice. I tried pumping before and she did better but when I pump my supply increases even with that little bit and she drowns later! Maybe I’ll try it again and see. Like I said though I did add another dose of Zegerid before bed so if it’s reflux, hopefully that will help. When did Hailey’s feeding aversion start? I’ve tried sending you a couple of pms but your mailbox is full…..maybe on purpose so I won’t bug you…? Just kidding! Thanks again!

July 26, 2007 at 9:36 am #39878

Anonymous
Inactive

Claire,

I’m not trying to push you into thinking it’s reflux. I just remember a thread about this a long time ago, and the babies who had feeding problems also refused to feed in the morning. We never found out why. I also had OAL, and our docs were always trying to blame the feeding problems on that- I would pump 3-4 ounces in under 5 minutes, most at the beginning. At first, I believed what the docs told me, and I sought a lot of help from lactation consultants and BF specialists. It wasn’t until I finally found one, who said that what was going on with Hailey didn’t really fit OAL, b/c the baby would likely still want to feed, they would probably just get choked by the let down, and also that babies can’t really distinguish the morning feed from the other feeds.

About Hailey- Hailey started becoming difficult to feed when she was a week old. She never spit up or arched at that point, so no one even thought reflux. We were told the behaviour was colic, and the feeding was due to a large milk supply. It got progressively worse, starting with the morning feed being the hardest, and spreading out to all the feeds becoming challenging, and then all the feeds becoming impossible. The change from the feeds being hard to impossible was pretty fast. She was 8 weeks old when she seemed to decide overnight that it was not worth the pain to eat. When the feeds were short and difficult, the ped and all the lactation experts told me it was AOL and/or a huge milk supply. They said that she would choke and gag b/c my let down was too fast, or my supply was too much for her and she couldn’t keep up. They said that she would pull off to get relief from the flow, and then come back frantically b/c she was still starving. They said that she only nursed for a couple of minutes and then was done b/c my flow was so strong that a full feed was “shooting down her throat” in just a couple of minutes. It didn’t seem right, but I believed it. Looking back, they were all classic signs of reflux. They kept weighing her and said that everything was good, and that if she wasn’t getting enough milk then she wouldn’t gain (which was true, but she was so miserable that the only way to console her was to keep offering her to nurse as a pacifier around the clock, hence the gain). The day she went from difficult to feed to impossible to feed, we were told it wasn’t OAL or a super abundant milk supply, that it was definitely reflux and that she had a feeding aversion and sent us home with a script for zantac, and three days later for prilosec compound.

Anyhow, that was just our situation. As I said, I really hope that it’s NOT reflux for Kate.. Of course our experience clouds my judgment so I always think if it walks like a duck and sounds like a duck, it’s a duck (but applied to reflux). If she’s feeding well for the other feeds and shows no signs of pain other than not wanting to feed in the morning, then I wouldn’t worry too much. It always just struck me as odd, b/c babies without reflux tend to feed ravenously in the morning. I always used to think that it was just Hailey, until I came here, and found out from other moms that their babies with reflux did it as well.

I’ll empty my mailbox. Hang in there.
Author

Posts

Viewing 14 posts - 1 through 14 (of 14 total)

You must be logged in to reply to this topic.