Does my baby have reflux or a food intolerance?

[Anonymous]

Hello all,

My son is 14 weeks old, and almost since the day he was born, has been crying and screaming every single day. He usually starts crying about twenty minutes after his morning feed. He’s totally breastfed. When he screams, I hear a gurgling noise in his throat. His dirty diapers have almost always been completely liquid. After he is done screaming, he seems to “shudder” a few times.

During the day, he takes naps in his vibrating chair for 20-30 minutes at a time. He almost always wakes up suddenly, screaming, for no apparent reason.

His other symptoms include hiccuping, drooling and the occasional massive spit-up. During his fits, his belly feels very hard, and it feels like something is moving inside him. In the mornings, he coughs a lot and sounds very congested. Oddly enough, he sleeps almost through the night, waking once or twice to eat.

His pedi, a few days ago, finally decided he might have reflux, and put him on Prevacid. However, it’s a compound that’s been flavored, and the recommended dose is just 1 ml a day. As I thought, such as small dose seems to be useless. If anything, he seems worse.

Things that do calm him down:
*Nursing. Much of the time, he’ll calm down quickly if he can eat. I know he can’t be hungry, since he pretty much eats all day long. After eating, he seems ok for a while, and sometimes falls asleep.

*Bouncing. At first, just walking him around and bouncing him a little helped. Now I have to sit on the edge of the bed and bounce up and down with him for it to help. After about 5-10 minutes of bouncing, the crying might stop.

Does this sound like reflux, or maybe a food intolerance? What should I do about the low dose of Prevacid? The pedi said to call back if it’s not working, and I sure plan to.

Thanks for any help!

[hellbennt]

Welcome!

I have a LOT to say, & most of it is here, in a link called

Groupie Intro:

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

this is looong, but please read/scroll/skim through it and refer back to it often, as it TRULY will help you.

there is info about WHY a baby might get reflux, about reflux and how it might be related to diet/allergies/intolerances (these are to PROTEINS in breastmilk or formula, proteins such as milk and/or soy)…

there is a link to finding a ped GI

there is a link called ‘Prevacid 101’ – read this as it tells about zantac dosing, too and also prilosec…

basically, there is a LOT of info to help you & we’re here, too!

hang in there & so glad you found us!

I would TELL dr you want zantac.

I’d calculate the highest dose for weight- this is explained here:

https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=8288&PN=1

Then I wouldn’t ask, I’d TELL dr the dose you need, using the information from the link above…

Then I would check out http://www.marci-kids.com and figure out the PROPER dose for your baby

& then I would check out

Prevacid 101 (last post on the page) and read all about PPIs (prilosec, prevacid):

https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1936&PN=0&TPN=1

then I would decide what FORM of prevacid (or prilosec) to try.

Personally, I would go for (& did go for) Bufferbabies (it’s explained in prevacid 101)…

once you start w/ a PPI, I’d make sure to give the zantac, too, making sure to give it 4hrs seperate from the prilosec/prevacid/PPI.

THEN I would address diet, too, if needed- lots of info from Groupie Info…

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