Excessive Spit Up – Any Suggestions?

[Anonymous]

My 12 week old daughter (Ashlyn) has reflux and is taking prevacid (15mg once a day in the evening). According to my pediatrician, spit up is normal. I have talked with my babysitter and she agrees with me that Ashlyn’s spit up is accessive. Many times she will spit up hours after her feeding and it isn’t cottled or anyting. It doesn’t seem like she is processing the formula.

Her doctor suggested that she be in an upright position for 20min after she eats and she should be ok after that. We do that every time, but she still spits up alot. Most of the time it is a large amount of spit up.

I have a hard time doing anything with her that is physical. I am always afraid she is going to spit up. She does not get alot of exercise because every time I do anything other than let her sit on my lap she spits up.

I am ordering a tucker sling today because I am having trouble with her sleeping. She gets congested and it sounds like her head is full of mucus. When we suck out her nose, I don’t get much. Is that part of reflux too? It almost seems like she has a head cold, but this is the second time it has been really bad in 12 weeks.

I would appreciate any help I can get, my doctor seems to think this will all work itself out but I am a new mother and I feel like I should be doing someting more.

[Anonymous]

With reflux she is going to spit more than usual. That is just part of the reflux. Cooper will spit up to 2.5hrs after he has eaten, usually it is clear but that is b/c of the formula we are on. The congestion goes along with the reflux as well there isn’t much that I know of that you can do about that. Don’t be afraid to be physical, I change my clothes and his about 3-4 times each day and well I do laundry on a daily basis. I have found that he doesn’t spit any more or less than if I just let him lay around. Hopefully others will chime in as well.

[Anonymous]

sylvia spit up no matter what we did. i always made sure she was facing me when we were in a clothing store!!LOL!! spitting up is normal in babies—even if they don’t have acid reflux. sylvia couldn’t keep enough down to gain weight properly, but my oldest daughter, dasiy jane, spit up tons and was roly poly.

[Anonymous]

Myles was a huge spitter too. There just wasn’t anything that worked for him. The Prevacid helped with his pain, but did nothing to stop him from spitting up huge amounts all day long. This is typical of reflux babies and nothing to worry about unless she is having problems with weight gain. If her weight gain is on track and she is realtively happy and pain free, then it’s just a matter of waiting for her to outgrow it.

I’m not sure about the head cold/congestion. Myles didn’t have that. My first refluxer did have frequent nasal congestion but for her it was usually due to a bacterial infection and it did clear up with some antibiotics. What does her doc say about her congestion? Have you tried saline drops? Some moms swear by them.

[Anonymous]

Christine,

Her doc really kind of puts it off and acts like it is nothing. He says that congestion and snorting kinds of sounds are common for reflux babies. I’m not sure how I feel about him. She had an exema rash that I pointed out to him and he put it off as baby acne until I came to him again b/c the rash kept getting worse. He may have just missed that, but I don’t know.

No I haven’t tried saline drops, hadn’t heard about them until I was reading some of these messages.

[Anonymous]

Uggg. Some docs just drive you nuts. I’m not sure about congestion and snorting being common for reflux babies. Maybe some of the other moms on the board can comment on that.

As for the eczema, my babies were prone to it as well. For them it was definitely dariy that brought it on. How is her eczema now?

[Anonymous]

Eczema is better, but still shows up as rough patches on her skin from time to time. It looks much better than the first time b/c she had eczema and baby acne at the same time. I still use vanicream soap and lotion on her, but she hates to have it put on, so I tend to not make her as often as I should. I don’t know what brought hers on, the doctor just gave me the lotion and I have been using it. Should I be trying to find out what she had the rash from?

[Anonymous]

sounding congested is fairly normal for a reflux baby. as far as rashes—-babies get so many rashes for no apparent reason—-so trying to find the cause of it might be extremely difficult. if it doesn’t seem to be bothering her much, don’t make your self crazy trying to figure it out—–just keep an eye out to make sure it doesn’t get worse. i have had rashes for most of my life. i have atopic dermatitis. i have almost always had a rash on my body for at least the last 35 years—-before that i may have had rashes also, i just don’t remember.

[Anonymous]

Just wanted to chime in about the spitting! Kate spits CONSTANTLY no matter what. For her it also doesn’t matter what we do or if I keep her upright for 5 min or 20. She just happily smiles as it rolls or shoots out of her mouth. Some days I change her outfit once,sometimes 4 times but she’s pretty happy so oh well. My husband usually has to remind me to change my shirt if we go out but it dooesn’t bother me that much anymore. I would do whatever kind of activity you want with her. It might take awhile to grow out of this and you wouldn’t want her to miss out on having fun!! I get where you’re coming from though

[Anonymous]

I wouldn’t worry about the eczema unless it’s severe. My babies had it really bad. At one point their faces were just one giant red patch with nothing but eyes, nose, and lips unaffected. Really gross and really scary! So for them it was essential to find the cause and eliminate it, but if your daughter’s eczema is mild I wouldn’t worry too much. My kids still get minor outbreaks from time to time as does my dh. I guess it’s hereditary. The reflux comes from his side of the family as well.

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