breast feeding vs. formula

[Anonymous]

I posted about a month ago. My DD is 12 weeks today. She is on prilosec 2X daily… doc won’t increase it. She is doing well though. So much better than before the meds. She was also given levison but I’m still not 100% why. She was also colicky but it’s pretty much gone.

I was solely breastfeeding. The Ped suggested the cereal which only gave DD gas. Then I tried the Emfamil thickening formula to see if it would help DD not spit up. The main problem with all of this is she spits up all day long. Spits up before naps, during naps, after naps, at night, etc. She isn’t napping well because of the spitting up. Which I guess would lead me to another question. How much vomiting is normal for a reflux baby? Should the meds take care of the majority of the vomiting? She isn’t fussy anymore and will sleep so much better, but she wakes up spitting up. Yes, I’ve done the diets and nothings seems to bother DD.

Has anyone used the thickening formula and it’s helped your baby quite a bit? When I give the formula to DD, she hardly spits up at all. I guess I just can’t believe that this formula is the answer to our problems. Could it be? I didn’t want to stop breast feeding and I’m weepy just thinking about it. But I have to think about what’s best for my baby and her not sleeping well can’t be good either. Esp. if this might continue for another 6 months or longer.

Any advise?

Thank you! Laura

[Anonymous]

That is such a hard decision to make, Laura. Most people on the board say meds will not decrease the amount of spit up. In our case, this is not true though. Addy starting spitting much less after being on the correct dose of meds after 11ish days. Unfortunately, your dd is getting right in the time when a lot of refluxers are at their worst (3-4 months). IMO, I would try to stick it out with breastfeeding. She may start to spit less after she can sit up on her own (around 5 months). We had a spit up soaked house for 6 1/2 months so I know its the pits and the fact that its interrupting her sleeping isn’t good either. Would pumping and adding cereal to the bottle be an option…so its not just the cereal all at once? Enfamil AR just has added rice cereal in it…is this what you are using? Good luck with your decision!

[Anonymous]

PPI’s generally do not stop the spit up…although it is possible. their main function is to stop acid, so the baby isnt in pain.

i would stick with breastfeeding. it is so much healthier for them. you cant thicken bm with cereal, as the enzymes in the bm break down the cereal so it is useless (a bm expert will explain this better im sure)

but if your babies weight isnt being affected and she is overall happy, i would not choose formula over bm.

[Anonymous]

If you can feed her the breast milk immediately after adding the cereal or thickener (within 15 minutes), you can thicken it with cereal or Thick-It Food Thickener but after that, it begins to break down. I know thats probably almost impossible to do though. Once it hits the stomach, it breaks down anyway though. Its worth a try over using formula, IMO.

addysmommy2007-5-8 11:10:41

[Anonymous]

I’ve never really been able to express much BM with any kind of breast pump. I tried with DD #1 and #2. So that’s not an option.

I hate this so much, I feel sick about it.

[Anonymous]

I feel so bad for you! When I had to stop breast feeding, it was so hard for me. (I had to because of Addy’s entercolitis-inability to digest whole proteins). I am sure you will make the right decision for the both of you…the bonus is that she’s not in pain now!

[Anonymous]

i gues what i was saying is that yes is this:

” Note that rice cereal will not effectively thicken breastmilk due to the amylase (an enzyme that digests carbohydrates) naturally present in the breastmilk. “

http://www.kellymom.com/babyconcerns/reflux.html#thickenedfe ed

so its pretty pointless.

[Anonymous]

Well, you can’t actually thicken breastmilk, but we used to add cereal to Bryce’s anyway. Although the milk wasn’t thicker, the cereal was still present and seemed to weigh things down in his stomach, keeping him from spitting up quite as much. I don’t know if that made sense.

Anyway. Is your daughter able to gain weight okay with all of her spitting up? Where’s she’s spitting up that much, it makes me wonder if she has an emptying problem. Has she been tested for DGE? My son used to spit up huge amounts, several times a day. At one point it got so bad that he couldn’t gain weight. He was diagnosed with DGE and started on Erythromycin. His spitting up decreased dramatically and he was able to start gaining again. Just an idea. It might not hurt to ask your doctor about it. Of course, if she’s gaining okay and not aspirating or anything, then it may not be a problem.

[Anonymous]

I was totally in your boat. I was torn to give up breastfeeding, but my DD was having such a hard time sleeping, I felt that maybe, no matter what I did, my BM was bothering her and I should just stop. Luckily I had my mom as my cheerleader. She kept encouraging me and encouraging me. It turned out for me that my daughter was MSPI and the only way it affected her was her sleep. HOwever, even on a milk/soy diet, my DD still required up to 30 mgs of Prevacid. I would stick with the BF and try to find a new Dr.

[Anonymous]

I really feel for you. My son was a huge spitter, actually a puker. He used to spit up all day every day and even worse he used to puke entire feedings several times a day. It was very discouraging. The decision to stick it out with breast milk was easy for me though, becasue thickening did not help. He threw up anything and everything!

This is going to be a hard decision for you.

Myles continued to gain weight and he was pain free and happy on Prevacid, so the puking was more of an annoyance than anything else and it did not seem to effect his sleep. I’m not sure what I would have done if it was keeping him from sleeping.

Are you absolutely certain that she is pain free and that she is waking due to spitting up and not due to pain?

I like Tracy’s idea of feeding her some cereal first and then nursing her. It’s true that it’s not the same as thickening, but maybe it would help keep the breast milk down. Each and every baby is different, so it may be worth a try.

Also a test for DGE like Heather mentioned may be a good idea. My son did have DGE but since he was gaining and happy we did not treat him for it, but there are motility meds that can help if warranted.

[hellbennt]

this is such a personal decision…

personally I would say keep breastfeeding, as you say you are torn up about stopping…

do you by any chance have overative letdown? does your milk spray out?

what are her stools like? maybe you could try modifying your diet?

this is very hard

[Anonymous]

Laura,

we tried the Enfamil AR, but kendra had a terrible reaction to it. she screamed a lot b/c she couldn’t tolearte the cereal in it.

I used to pump (just started weaning kendra) and thicken my breastmilk with a bevarage thickener called Hydra-Aid. it worked well to thicken breastmilk. i used the medela original pump in style breastpum ($240.0 at target). i pumped about 5 times a day for a while then 4 times a day for 10 to 15 minutes.the pump was very efficient. i felt comfortable with it once i figured out a setting that worked good for me.

That said, it is a personal decision indeed. Although i pumped for kendra, it was so overwhelming and tiring. i did not have any support, maybe somebody can help you with laura while you pump, from time to time. no matter what you decide, just don’t look back.

good luck

[Anonymous]

DD does not have DGE. She is gaining weight.

I do not have overactive let down. I just researched it this morning to make sure. I’m sure I do not.

I’ve tried different diets…esp. no dairy for weeks. Just the other day I went back to eating dairy and she seems the exact same. She doesn’t seem to be in pain. I am assuming she is waking up because she’s refluxing and spitting up. She wakes up, fusses, spits up, I clean her up and she goes back to sleep…usually. Actually that’s on a good day. I guess I am just concerned about her lack of sleep. She goes in for her 3 mo appt soon, so I’ll have a big talk with the doc. If the doc doesn’t offer help, I’ll go elsewhere.

In the mean time, I decided to stay with breast feeding. I’m taking this day to day and week to week. Maybe I’ll change my mind next week but for now, I’ll stick with breast feeding!

Thanks so much!

[Anonymous]

Also, if you are going to pump, we got to use (Nicu babies) the hospital grade pumps and they are very efficient. I think anyone can rent them from your local hospital and it really did work well for as long as I could pump……

[hellbennt]

maybe she could get more sleep if she napped in a swing?

and/or you might want to try tummy sleeping?

This is from the American Academy of Pediatrics & how they recommend that tummy sleeping is best for GERD babies. http://www.aap.org/new/sids/question.htm (thanks Sherry & Christine!)

There’s a monitor that you can use called the Angel Care Monitor that many of the parents on this board have had great success with. Jonah was sent home with a monitor from the hospital, so I don’t know firsthand about the Angel Care monitor, but here’s all about it: https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/search.asp?KW=angelcare&am p;SM=2&SI=TC&FM=0&OB=2

BEANIE BABY: for day time naps I suggest this: Try putting her on her tummy & put a beanie baby on her back for 2 reasons- to see that she’s breathing (the beanie baby will go up & down )

& for the weight- put your hand on her back & then slowly leave it & the beanie baby is there instead…

For sleeping, there’s also the Tucker Sling that people rave about: https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/search.asp?KW=tucker&S M=1&SI=TC&FM=0&OB=2

as well as the Amby Hammock: https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/search.asp?KW=amby&SM= 1&SI=TC&FM=0&OB=2

also to keep her upright, she can nap on you: Babywearing: https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1044&a mp;PN=1

[Author]

Posts