Search Results for 'breast feeding'

[hellbennt]

how are baby’s poops? gas? skin (excema)? that’s what *might* be affected if baby is reacting to something in your diet…poop would be mucousy, gas would be (terribly) stinky, etc

have you read Prevacid 101 https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1936&PN=0&TPN=1 ? Basically: when you give the nexium, you need to give it on an empty stomach, followed by a ‘meal’ 30 minutes later- that is if it’s the packets- my guess is it’s the packets? From this

link, there’s a link called ‘marci-kids dosing’ and there’s nexium dosing there…

[Anonymous]

what makes you think your kids have allergies? one of my kids seemed to have a cold all winter long almost every winter–i thought he had allergies, but it turned out he is IgA deficient. he tested negative for allergies. i guess he probably did have colds all winter long. the more colds they have when they are little–the less they will have when they get older.

i’ve had 3 with ear tubes, too.

If the nexium is starting to kick in, i’d keep nursing. it’s alot easier with a reflux baby. i don’t think you necessarily have to worry about an elimination diet, either. it could take anothe 2-3 weeks for the nexium to completely heal things up—and you are already seeing improvement, so hopefully she’ll be comfortable sooner rather than later.

i know alot of people on here have tried elimination diets—but i don’t really remember a whole lot of MAJOR success stories with any of them–i’m sure someone will come on and correct me on that one–but, even the ones that got some some help with elimination diets still had to keep their babies medicated.

I remember the ped wanted me to try sylvia on formula, but kevin didn’t want me to do it–and he usually doesn’t say much about that kind of stuff. but, he was right, she didn’t need a special formula–her reflux had nothing to do with my diet—she had a hiatal hernia.

there’s no guarantee that she would hurt any less on a formula than she would nursing–and nursing is alot more comforting to them. give it a little more time.

[Anonymous]

Hi! This is my first time ever posting on a forum in my life. I am a mom of four. All of my babies were born with severe Gerd. The first and last have food aversions. I have nursed my last three babies. My youngest is almost four months. She refused nursing and would cry for hours since she was two weeks old. We started on Zantac at two months. It showed great results for about two weeks and then stopped working. She is now on Nexium 10mg and was just bumped up to 20mg. She weighs 16 pounds (she was almost 10 at birth)!! I have one daughter who is still on nexium at 6 years old and was diagnosed with eosinophillic duodenitis from an endoscopy. My other three kids all needed ear tubs after 15 or more ear infections each. They are also sick all the time and seem to have allergies.

My question is I don’t seem to have the self control to go on an elimination diet with all of the stress I am under. My GI wants to try Neocate or Ella something formula. When my daughter can nurse (mostly in her sleep) although her nursing is improving now that the nexium is starting to kick in (we are on day 8) it is very comforting and we both love it. Should I stop and try the formula? I want to cry at the thought, but I don’t want her to hurt anymore. Would she even know how to take a bottle? I don’t want to be selfish but I know once my milk is gone, I can’t get it back. Thanks for your time!

[Anonymous]

Here is a copy of a message I sent to some friends/neighbors that had the same issue and a list of the foods I could eat cuz I was breastfeeding. But the list should be safe for the baby as well, but obviously I wouldn’t start with real foods.

The food list is from 2 years ago and our local store, but I’m sure you can find it most places.

I have a whole list of foods on here that I sent to my neighbor who has the same problem. I even have the stores you can get the food at and some prices.
Have you been able to get him cleared up and regulated so if you add anything back you’ll be able to tell if something else is bothering him as well? For instance my daughter also had a problem with corn, but it took a long time to figure that one out since I didn’t have it very often.
It can take up to 2 weeks to get dairy out of your system, so even if you don’t see results right away, it doesn’t mean its not working. There is also a huge list of foods that are hidden dairy and soy ingredients that you would never know. For example, MSG is soy. So a lot of people will eliminate things and it doesn’t work but they are missing some of the ingredients.

Anyway, I’ll send you the list and some links. And if you need anything else or want to know anything, just let me know. I know how hard it is. I only ate plain grilled chicken, pasta, rice, potatoes, and oatmeal for the first 3 months. But it seems , I guess its been a year now, but between her 5 months and 9 months old they came out with a ton of foods that I could eat.

She just turned 17 months and I am finally starting to eat mostly real foods again. Of course we’re now spending a fortune eating in every restaurant I’ve had a craving for for 17 months now.
But if you do want to eat out Blazin Bills is safe if you get plain chicken (its called bbq, but you can order it plain) and a baked potato. And my neighbor has actually found a wing place that has dairy and soy free wings, so we’re going there next week, I’ll let you know how it is.

Athenos Hummus – Marc’s $2.18-2.48
Back to Nature brand crackers or cookies – $4.99 at Giant Eagle, but I did find 1 box at Walmart last week for $3.99. The multigrain Flax seeded flatbread crackers are awesome. And so are the lemon cookies.
Venus brand Garlic & Herb crackers – Giant Eagle
She can have most Panko bread crumbs, my favorite are the Panko brand in the yellow bag, Marc’s sometimes has them 2 for $3 or less. But you can also have Progresso brand Panko, but plain.
Earths Balance soy and dairy free butter – Walmart $2.52-$3.44
Jack Daniels BBQ sauce – only 1 flavor is safe, so you’ll have to look to see which one, but its better than nothing.
Old El Paso hard taco shells – $1 Marc’s. Taco seasoning from Sam’s club is ok too.
Rotisserie chicken at Sam’s club is allergen free and yummy.
Lou’s brand sausage – Marc’s and walmart
Most ciabbatta breads (not at walmart)
Mustard Seed in Solon – sandwich bread-white $2.59/loaf
Cheese – Rice Vegan all flavors. It will say on the front dairy and soy free. The vegan ones will still have soy, so they need to be rice.

I don’t have any left here, but there’s some organic chicken stock at Marc’s that is safe as well. You have to check the ingredients to make sure since they don’t always carry the same things. Its one of those cardboard spout type containers, not can.
Buy a big huge thing of canola oil from Sam’s club and use that for everything.
Remember MSG is soy and if you don’t have the hidden list of soy, I can send it to you.

Guess what? Giant Eagle does have that Tuscan bread. And I forgot the best thing, Kettle brand kettle chips are ok. But you can also get Members Mark brand chips at Sam’s club, kettle chips. They are better than regular chips.

And I forgot the most important thing. They have soy and dairy free chocolate bars at Whole Foods too. They’re by Enjoy Life. They’re like $2 a bar, but totally worth it if you eat it in moderation. They also have them in chocolate chips if you ever want to make cookies. Plus you can also have/use hershey’s coco powder, the unsweetened kind you use for baking. If you need to have chocolate. And don’t forget if you get to the point where you need a cake, I have a cake and frosting recipe you can eat too.

[Anonymous]

Hello, my daughter will be 9 months next week. She was born with severe respiratory issues which we now know reflux could have been a contributing factor. Once home from hospital feeding issues got worse and worse. I was breastfeeding and supplementing with formula. Ped suggested Nutramagin (tried that and Alimentum) Nothing worked and it was to the point she would scream if she was offered a bottle and what was taken was vomited. In our local hospital she was placed on Neocate and then transferred to a specialty childrens hospital. After a trial of thickening but still vomiting, had a Nissen and G-Button placed (around 5 months of age). The surgery was a success, we feed mostly through button but I offer a bottle daily or a small amount of solid food. She has no interest in the bottle. I noticed on Neocate that she had increasing amounts of mucus. She would fight to get this up and she would vomit up a large amount of mostly mucus. Also when I would burp through her button, there would be a large amount in the tube. She would spit up a couple times a day. At first she was not able to vomit after Nissen, but it seems to have loosened after the third month. I made a decision to try Similac Soy Isomil one week ago. She appears to be doing very well (less mucus, not as much wretching) She had vomited three times so far, but it is around the same time every day. She is on erithromyacin 6.25ml 4x per day. I think I will time dosage with the morning feed. I know this is a lengthy post, but I know there are others that may be or have been in the same situation. I just wanted to know if anyone else has switched to Soy or regular formula after Neocate and if I am prematurely thinking that this could be a positive switch. I know when you have a child with issues it is so good to have other parents to connect with, and I am just a little apprehensive

Thank you for your input….

[Anonymous]

tisnelgrove, have you tried spoon feeding him? In one of your posts you said he took solids from a spoon successfully. Perhaps you can do what I did and spoon feed him his breast milk or formula as well. This is how I kept my son out of the hospital. The Prevacid did stop his pain but it was too late because by the time we got him on a high enough dose (at 5 months) he had already developed a feeding aversion. The site of a bottle would make him scream, but he would take just about anything (breast milk, formula, cereal, etc.) from a spoon.

[Anonymous]

medications did not help my daughter. well, when they put her on prevacid after 12 days she finally slept for 4 hours in her bassinet one night. she had carafate, and once or twice i gave it to her in the middle of a feed and it seemed to help her a little.

i was breast feeding her, but she also was given bottles. breastfeeding was sometimes a wrestling match because she was hungry, but obviously it hurt her to eat. she ate enough, but she could not keep enough of it down to gain enough weight. this child spit up all day long. i would read posts where people would say that their child was spitting up 7 times a day–and i’d be thinking, sylvia spits up 7 times an hour.

we had to hold her almost 24 hours a day for the first 2 months of her life. i could not even go to the bathroom (i’d set her in the swing) without coming back to her screaming. she was on oxygen for the first month of her life because she kept desating in the hospital–they though her lungs were immature. she was emergency c-section with the cord wrapped around her neck 3 times and had to be resuscitated when they got her out. she was 6 lb 4 oz at birth—and 6 weeks later she was 6 lb 10 oz. i was supposed to be induced a week early because she was going to be my 4th v-bac after 2 c-sections. they did not even get the induction started and they could see she was having trouble—her heart rate kept dropping—so they rushed me into surgery and got her out as quick as they could. they told me she could have been dead the next day–i’m sure glad they had me planned for an early induction.

i learned later that when a baby is under stress that their lungs will actually develope faster—and that reflux can cause them to desat.

the medications did not help sylvia because her reflux was so severe because she had been born with a hiatal hernia.

I’m sure she was in pain and that is why we had to hold her constantly for the first few months. she slept on my chest in the recliner. i really had no idea how bad her reflux was until she had her ph probe and her scope. as far as being in pain, the doctor said that it was all she had ever known.

I bought a big waterproof cloth and put it on the carpet in my family room to try and keep it from getting ruined from the massive amounts that she spit up.

[hellbennt]

here’s some more light reading for you :

MSPI ‘Main’ page:

https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=2697

best EXPLANATION OF FOOD ALLERGIES/INTOERANCES and their RELATION TO REFLUX that I have found, to date: 2nd post: https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=2697&PN=2

Misconceptions about how Neocate & Elecare work: https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=6013

THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT:

Erin‘s sticky: https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=12948&PID=105126#105126

More Erin: https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=13175&PID=106395#106395

Erin post: https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=13576

Great anne post: https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9242

Exposure to foods & blood testing: https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=12993

Sheri’s allergy/intolerance explanation: https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=10223&PID=87638#87638

Another Sheri explanation- intolerance/allergy post:

https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=11579&PID=97442#97442

Accuracy of allergy testing & great post by sherri explaining IgE and IgG (intolerance/allergies) https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=10815

(sue again, replying to gina- breastfeeding info to (TED)https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=11324&PN=1

probiotics, brands used:

https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=8970&PN=1

erin posts that mentions enzymes:
https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=12781&KW=enzyme

https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=12610&KW=enzyme

https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=12227&KW=enzyme

Post from me:
https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=12200&KW=enzyme

babywearing SAVED US!
https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1044&PN=1

http://www.thebabywearer.com/forum

Milk allergy/night wakings/lLoveMySophia:
https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=10017&KW=

[hellbennt]

I would consult a lactation consultant and la leche league- get all the help you can-

read about what you can do- try taking a warm bath w/ baby & try nursing in the tub

research all you can!

I have a LOT to say and most of it’s here, in a link called ‘groupie intro.‘
it’s looong but TRULY will help you- read through it, refer back to it, scroll through it/skim through it. You’ll find yourself coming back to it!

https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=853

reflux what I have learned: https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=2948&a mp;PN=2

I would say try some mylanta cherry supreme before feeding? it’s the one variety of mylanta that does not contain aluminum. it’s hard to find, but you can find store brand equivalents try rite-aid, cvs brand, walmart, target, etc- just look for one that does not list aluminum in the ingredients. you can give 1ml up to 5 times a day- it’s safe, even for newborns. if you see loose stools back off.

I did not think my baby’s reflux was due to my diet, as his diapers were ‘normal’ but I was desperate so I did do the TED that’s the Total Elimination Diet- you’re already stressed but it is something to consider…

Reasons a breastfeeding mother might think her baby is reacting to something in her milk:

*poop that is not ‘normal’ mustardy yellow, seedy breastfed baby poop

*mucous in poop; mucous can look like: snot, jelly, cottage cheese, stringy like the inside of a banana

*foul-smelling poop

*stinky, foul-smelling painful gas

*straining and grunting to poop and, when baby finally does poop, it’s soft

the TED takes two weeks and then you start adding foods in to see what you CAN eat.

Research all you can! You are your baby’s best advocate!

On the other hand, you might decided to focus first on medication and then address diet at a later date…

(look for the ‘marci-kids dosing chart’ link from the link I’m giving you below, called Prevacid 101- it hasPROPER nexiumm dosing by weight- check your baby’s dose!- also it must be given on an empty stomach followed by a ‘meal’ 30 minutes later- ‘they’ don’t tell you this) Prevacid 101:

scroll to the last page of this post, (it’s actually also about other PPIs like prilosec, too)
https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1936&PN=0&TPN=1

you can do this!

I cried along w/ my baby for hours!

hugs!

~laura

[Anonymous]

I am new to the forum but I need some advice. I had twins at 30 weeks last Sept, basically feeders and growers. My smaller twin stayed longer in nicu because he wouldn’t eat. Finally got him home and was bottle feeding him breastmilk and adding neosure formula to the bottles. But it was a nightmare. He cried and was so uncomftable bc of the gas and just seemed in pain. He hated the bottle barely ever finishing what the dr. Wanted him to eat. and I was a nervous wreck. Dr. Prescribed Zantac, no change..so he then prescribed Prevacid. I went straight to breastfeeding him as well, he at that time seemed to do better at breast. He has been a very slow gainer…little over half ounce a day. fast forward to today, I still had to bounce him to eat, he only would take one let down and then he would cry. About 2 weeks ago I went and had his diapers checked for blood– those were clear no signs of microscopic blood. I got referred to GI. Because I was so stressed, he was developing a breast aversion… He is refusing to nurse now..

That was 2 weeks ago…saw the GI dr today…. He was put on Nexium 5, 2 times a day…And carafate. I am a wreck because he only gained 2oz in 2 weeks. He is 5.5 months and only weighs 11 lbs. 11oz and I don’t know what to do about getting him to eat. I am a nervous wreck about his weight gain. Should I try and feed hima bottle? Should I just wait it out 2 weeks and hope the new meds help? He just now associates breastfeeding w pain. I can’t stop crying because I just want him to eat and grow.. Please any advice….

[Anonymous]

He’s been on zantac for about a month now. This simply helps with neutralising the acid but has not stopped the refluxing. I have included others things in the TED but his poop looks good and there are no obvious signs that he is allergic to what I have included (well apart from increased refluxing).

I am wondering whether I might be overfeeding him (as now he takes both breasts). I simply don’t understand what is going on.

[Anonymous]

Forgive me in advance for the long post…

I’m so happy to have found this forum a few weeks ago and have been a silent reader, gaining so much useful information for my situation. My baby girl is 2 months old today and has been struggling with reflux/allergic colitis since she was 4 weeks old. I have a 2yr old son and as soon as my daughter started blood curtling screaming in the middle of the night, I knew something was not right (not to mention her poop had turned green). Our dr tested her diapers (positive for blood) and diagnosed her with reflux and allergic colitis, prescribed her with zantac, and told me to go off dairy and eggs (my son was allergy tested at 13mo after he broke into hives from his 1st birthday cake – dairy and eggs were his 2 strongest reactions). After 2 weeks without dairy/eggs she was doing so much better but still had episodes of pain/struggling to poo/screaming/etc. We went back to the dr at 6 weeks and she told me to eliminate soy and wheat as well. Things were going pretty good, eating tons of fresh produce, chicken/grass fed beef, and rice. Then she had a HUGE flare up, wouldn’t nurse, lots of screaming, not sleeping (1st time it impacted her sleep). The only different things I had eaten that week were corn tortillas and oranges. After researching on this site and others, I realized it could be the citrus. I debated what to do for a couple days (continue with just no dairy/soy/wheat/eggs/citrus? or follow an elimination type diet because I didn’t want to see another flare up ever again (I know, unrealistic, but was at my breaking point emotionally seeing my baby girl in so much pain). So, I decided to go on my own modified elimination diet (based on what I already had feelings she could/could not tolerate). I picked chicken, rice, pears, potatoes, grass fed beef, green beans, carrots, olive oil/salt/pepper. On the 4th day, she had her 1st full day without having one pain episode, all of her poos were the right color (still mucousy which I realize takes time), and she was smiling/happy (finally!). We had 3 days in a row of this and 2 nights ago my husband asked if I was allowed to have squash. I told him its in Dr Sears elimination diet, so assuming it should be fine. We made a rice pasta with chicken and yellow/green squash with olive oil/salt pepper. We had it for dinner and she had a great night. Yesterday I ate the leftovers for lunch, and then we made the same meal for dinner again (husband was happy to have variety, he’s been doing his best to stay as close to the diet with me for support). She had a great day yesterday, but then last night she woke up sooner than usual, and she was screaming in pain. I immediately felt panicked, its just been a long 5 weeks and I thought we were finally on the right track. She only screamed for 15min and then gave up and went back to sleep without pooping. This am she woke up happy, pooped and went back to sleep. She’s basically been sleeping all day, just waking up to nurse and go back to bed. No more episodes, but I’m super paranoid because we went 3 full days and 2 nights without any apparent pain.

So…finally where I need help 🙂 1st, during the healing process do babies still have some bad screaming/struggling to poop/hard belly/loss of sleep moments even if you’ve figured out the right combination of foods that seem to be working? Or is her episode in the middle of the night last night an indication that she reacted to the green/yellow squash? Her poops look exactly like they did the last couple days (right color, a little less mucous than at her worst). Is being extra sleepy sometimes an indication of healing? Or should I be concerned? She’s honestly been a pretty good sleeper thru all of this, just sometimes needs to be in bed with us, but she seems to be even more sleepy than usual today. I’m just afraid to overreact and cut out the squash, but I’m also afraid to keep it in and have her get worse again. My 2nd question is how long does it typically take for a flare up to normalize again. The week that made me decide to do total elimination made me think it took almost a full 6 days since the last time I had oranges to see ANY improvement…is that normal?

Oher things to note – We always giver her the zantac as prescribed (twice a day .8ml) and I just ordered the Klaire labs infant probiotic last week so I plan to start that as soon as it comes. I myself have been taking probiotics since pregnancy with her. She is gaining weight wonderfully as well.

Thanks for being here, it helps to just be able to get this stuff out of my head and I know everyone but my husband and my parents think I’m crazy and being extreme. I would do anything for her, and my goal is to definitely not stop breastfeeding her. I nursed my son until he was almost 15months old and would love to be able to do the same for her.

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Your posts bring back some terrible memories for me. My son DID develop a feeding aversion due to untreated reflux. It was nearly impossible to get the meds you needed when he was suffering because doctors didn’t take reflux seriously and rarely prescribed high enough doses, and Prevacid was not then available OTC. You can bet I would have been buying it and using it if it had been available.

I’ll tell you what finally helped me keep my son out of the hospital and off of a feeding tube. I started spoon feeding him his breast milk. He had developed a strong aversion to the bottle and he would not nurse either. The doctor told me to get him to eat or he was going to have to get a feeding tube. For some reason the thought of trying the spoon occurred to me and it worked. I’d prop him up in an infant seat and put the spoon to his lips and he’d slurp and swallow. It was messy and very time consuming, but it kept him fed and out of the hospital.

As for the Prevacid, it took 10 days of the right dose (30 mgs per day / 10 mgs three times daily. He was on the solutabs) before I saw him get any relief from his pain, but by then he’d already developed a feeding aversion so that even when his pain was gone (I could tell because his screaming and irritability stopped) he still would not take a bottle or sippy cup until he was 13 months old. He associated the bottle with pain. So I spoon fed him his breast milk (and all fluids) until he was 13 months old.

If you want to try this, I’d suggest using one of those plastic picnic type spoons because they are deeper and hold more than a baby spoon. Don’t push the spoon into his mouth. Just set it on his lower lip and push down slightly. Hopefully he’ll open his mouth and slurp like my son did. Even newborns will do this while waiting for mother’s milk to come in. They use little cups in the nursery and call it cup feeding. The spoon is easier though, I think.

Good luck. I know how hard it is. I pray you find relief for your son soon.ndrose2012-02-27 12:17:40

[Anonymous]

Yes, I’m giving him both on an empty stomach (as much as I can he eats little bits frequently so being truely empty is a challenge) and then I try to feed him 30 min later, which I can usually get at least a little into him, but sometimes not. 🙁 He was doing very well on his prevacid solutabs for a couple months, then not so good and is still getting worse and worse.

I didn’t realize the capsule beads (that is what I meant by BB’s) had to be given with applesauce. I thought giving them with nothing was best. I was just having him suck them off my finger. Does the applesauce make them work better? He isn’t really taking solids yet. I have started giving him small amounts of very thin rice cereal on a spoon recently, but I think it will be awhile before I can give him a spoon of applesauce and actually have it go down. Right now it would all probably end up on his bib since he LOVE blowing raspberries off a spoon! 🙂 He is breastfeeding, but the only thing in my diet I have identified is if I eat a LOT of dairy he seems to be fussier. But, nothing major changed in my diet when he started to get worse.

What does the caracreme (or these other products that are available now) do?

Thanks!

k

Stonecypher2012-02-19 16:14:40

[hellbennt]

yep, I have much insight, LOL!

as for building a tolerance to prevacid, no, not in the same way they seem to plateau on zantac/tagament/pepcid.

sometimes it is necessary to try another PPI- just like advil or motrin or alleve seem to work better for some than others- prevacid is NOT one of those drugs, just using an example.

my son started on prilosec, maxed out on it & we switched to prevacid and

caracream (don’t know what it’s called now, lol, but I’m on my way to finding out- I’ve emailed them) & it seemed to do the trick- but he also needed zantac, too…for a while- then he didn’t…

as for the bbs- do you mean beads inside the capsules?

are you giving both the solutabs & the beads on an empty stomach, followed by a ‘meal’ 30 minutes later? the beads from the capsules need to be given w/ 1 tsp of applesauce or some pedialyte –

OTC w/ applesauce, pedialyte, etc:

https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=14642&PID=113339#113339

what formula or breastfeeding? could it be a reaction to a protein in his diet?

also, try some probiotics?

probiotics, brands used:

https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=8970&PN=1