Hello all!

[Anonymous]

New to this forum. Glad to see there’s a place to go speak with other moms (or dads).

I have a daughter who is now almost 7 months old and was born premature at 32 weeks. She has been diagnosed with reflux and is now on Neocate and Prevacid. The doc gave us the okay to introduce solids at 4 months corrected. She has hated her bottle since she was 3.5 months actual and it is very difficult to feed. She seems to like solids but now refuses her bottle even more so. I’m now mixing her formula with solids and spoon feeding whatever she is willing to take.

Sigh…when I see other babies gulping sown their milk, I get so jealous. Will this ever end?

[Anonymous]

Hello…. welcome to this site!!! Beings it is late and my eyes want to close and I doubt I’ll be on the computer much over the weekend…… For now I’ll recommend you read a couple of other mom’s stories about getting their difficult to feed children to eat better. These are on my blog. http://help4acidreflux.wordpress.com/lorraines-story/and http://help4acidreflux.wordpress.com/federicas-story/

[hellbennt]

Hi & welcome! I have a lot to say and most of it’s here:

Groupie Intro: my intro: https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=853&am p;PN=1&TPN=1

Babywearing: https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1044&a mp;PN=1

Prevacid* 101(last post on the page): https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1936&a mp;PN=0&TPN=1

*this includes info about other PPIs, too!* & how/when to administer PPIs & MORE

Sandifer Info, MSPI info, Breastfeeding info (including ELIMINATION DIET INFO) call all be found from main welcome/intro page…as can: finding an GI, reflux & ear infections, Fighting Insurance!, the importance of routine, starting solids, finger foods, YOU NAME IT

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

[Anonymous]

Hi – I’m new here! When my son was about 6 weeks old, he was having sever stuffy nose but no cold, no mucus. took him to a specialist ENT and they told me he had slightly enlarged adenoids (about 25% blockage) and what looked like acid reflux. doc gave me a series of things to try like cereal in milk, keeping him upright during feedings and afterwards etc. here we are at 7 months old and things have gotten worst. Took him in yesterday to the ENT and his adenoids are at about 80% blockage now 🙁 . Doc prescribed steroids for 5 days and Zantac for the reflux. Said we might have to do surgery for the adenoids and he’ll be on acid reflux meds probably for good.

Has anyone had such a young baby do adenoids surgery due to acid reflux??

[Anonymous]

Refluxmomma… I’m sorry I never got back on here to help you more. I guess I’ve just been busy. How is your little girl doing by now?

kenisap… Welcome here!! This is a great place to get information!

Just last weekend I attended a seminar by Dianne Craft who works with children with learning diasabilities. (She said that children that have digestive problems when young can possibly suffer from learning problems in school) She was talking about how sometimes children that have a milk intolerance/reflux also have stuffy nose and problems with their adenoids swelling. She said that this swelling can be caused from a milk intolerance.

Often times children that have reflux also have problems properly breaking down milk. What kind of formula and cereal are you using?

My sister also attended this seminar and her 9 year old girl just had adenoid surgery. Now she wonders if maybe her girl has a problem with digesting milk and that is why her adenoids were always swollen.

It is interesting to me how a milk intolerance can cause so many different types of symptoms. I would certainly look into a milk intolerance before considering surgery. Happy Mom2012-10-26 14:52:34

[Anonymous]

Docs changed his regular formula to Similac Sensitive when he was just 3 weeks old because of colic and fussiness and spit up. Similac Sensitive has been a blessing along with Doc Brown’s bottles so far. They have helped significantly. I’ll have to do some research into the milk intolerance point. He seems to hold down this milk and burp normal – no spit up so I’m wondering what the symptoms of milk intolerance are.

Thanks for the post – I’ll keep researching and reading the forums. Its comforting to know I’m not the only parent going through this “weird” situation.

[Anonymous]

There is a such a thing as silent reflux. Maybe that is what your little one has.I don’t know much about it because my children were FAR from silent. They puked everywhere all the time and screamed for many hours in pain. If you use the search button at the top right hand corner of this page I’m sure you can find more about silent reflux.

I used Dr. Browns bottles with my second child and I really liked them too except they were a pain to wash. I use cheap ones now with my little girl because she doesn’t suffer from digestive problems like my boys did. But they are kind of pain too cuz you have to loosen the nipple to the point of almost leaking so that the nipple doesn’t collapse. 🙁

Symptoms of milk intolerance? I will write another post shortly with the answer to my thoughts on that.

[hellbennt]

yes, this does occur. i’ll email christine & she can post what happened w/ her daughter. but really it’s a good idea to have them removed…you can do a search ,too- upper right-hand corner of this page- just make sure to go back one year & OLDER

[Anonymous]

Sorry my “shortly” wasn’t so short. I got busy.

Some but not too many babies will have a true allergy to milk. If allergy testing is done then only a true allergy will show up.

A milk intolerance is just the inability to properly break down milk. Sometimes babies will be lactose intolerant and that is referring to the inability to break down the sugars in milk. But most commonly when referring to a milk intolerance it referring to the inability to break down the proteins in milk. Many babies that have this will outgrow it by a year but for some it may take up to 2 or 3 years and for a some they may carry it through life.

When babies have a milk intolerance it is most often referred to as MSPI (Milk/Soy Protein Intolerance) or for some they may find they have MFPI (Multiple Food Protein Intolerance).

Here is a copy of something I just found (at http://refluxrebels.com/MSPI/MSPI_Symptoms.html) when looking for a list of milk intolerant symptoms…

MSPI (Milk and Soy Protein Intolerance)

Babies with intolerances to dairy react to the proteins in the milk.

If they are allergic, the body recognizes the protein as a foreign substance and when it’s ingested and triggers an immune system response (allergic reaction).

SYPMTOMS OF A DAIRY ALLERGY

Excess gassiness and bloating

Excess fussiness (long crying spells at all times of the day, irritability, lack of sleeping appropriately)

Severe reflux and/or vomiting

Constant congestion and/or wheezing

Constant runny stools often with mucous present, if severe, blood may also be observed

Eczema and/or unexplained skin rashes

Failure to gain weight well

If the allergy is very severe, a baby can have an anaphylactic reaction

Intolerance versus allergy

If the baby is dairy intolerant, his/her body doesn’t have an immune system response, but the baby is unable to digest the proteins. Therefore most of the symptoms for an intolerance are the same as with a true allergy. The major difference is that usually with an intolerance, the baby won’t have the eczema or skin rashes and may not have the congestion/wheezing, but will likely have most if not all of the other symptoms.

LACTOSE VS. PROTEIN INTOLERANCE

Lactose intolerance in babies is an extremely rare condition that requires immediate medical attention usually before a newborn ever leaves the hospital as the baby would be extremely sick and gain no weight at all. These babies have to be immediately put on a completely broken down formula with all lactose removed or they will not thrive. They are often diagnosed with failure to thrive (FTT) within days of being born. Almost all babies who are dairy intolerant are reacting to the proteins in the milk, not the lactose.

SYMPTOMS AND SIGNS OF MPSI

Blood, water or mucous in stools (occult or not)

Weight loss

Chronic congestion

Spitting up/vomiting or rumination (reflux)

Asthma

Eczema and/or skin rashes

Refusing to eat or comfort eating

Chronic irritability (colicky behavior)

I don’t agree with the statement that children with an intolerance won’t have the skin rashes and excema because my children had bad excema but did not have a true allergy to milk. So the same might be possible with the congestion and wheezing.

The pancreas is what makes enzymes and proteins take a LOT of enzymes to get them broken down. All foods have enzymes in them unless they are cooked or processed. Heat kills enzymes. So when a nursing mother cuts out dairy in her diet then often a baby with a milk intolerance will do much better. When the baby is formula fed and has a milk intolerance then they will often do better with a hypoallergenic formula which have been through some sort of process that breaks the proteins down.

When I googled Similac Sensitive just now, I see that is says it is for babies that are lactose sensitive. So it obviously must have the sugars in it more broken down than regular formula. Similac’s formulas with the proteins extensively broken down is called Alimentum. My boys drank Enfamil’s brand called Nutramigen. When they were ages 1 and 3 they were still not able to tolerate milk then we started giving them an enzymes supplement and that has made a huge difference for them.

Well, I’m sittin in the recliner with a sleeping boy on my lap and my eyes are starting to close so I better stop writing or else I might write strange things that don’t make sense. Maybe I’ll have time later to write a little more.

[Anonymous]

Hi concerned mommy–my daughter had severe reflux and was actually one of the few babies on that has to have a fundoplication. she was failure to thrive, refluxing almost 25% of the time, overall—she actually refluxed more when she was upright than when she was lying down—so much for holding them upright after feeds. she refluxed almost 29% of the time when she was upright.

she was born with a hiatal hernia–we did not know this until surgery, none of the tests picked it up. she had her fundo and hiatal hernia repair at a week shy of 10 months old.

She continued to be failure to thrive–but her reflux was gone. Two different times they talked about putting in a feeding tube, but I managed to get enough weight on her both time to avoid the tube. We went through a bout of esophageal reflux—she refused to eat or else she would chew her food and spit it out. a good course of diflucan took care of that.

I noticed that her tonsils were huge–at one point in time I had thought that was why she would not eat–but it turned out to be the thrush. However, I started noticing that as soon as she would fall asleep, she would sound like she was struggling to breath—she sounded horrible–but it was only when she was asleep. We took her to a pediatric ENT and discovered that she had obstructive sleep apnea. She had huge tonsils and adenoids–this had developed over time and was causing her to continue to be failure to thrive. Because she could not breath well when she was asleep, she would partially wake and not get in to the deep stage of sleep. They produce growth hormone when they are in the deepest stage of sleep.

I do not know if her reflux was what caused her tonsils and adenoids to be so large at such a young age or not. All of my girls, except one, and myself, have had large tonsils and had to have them removed. I have noticed that my one daughter that had smaller tonsils, no longer has small tonsils–the older she gets, the larger they seem to get.

My reflux child with the fundo and obstructive sleep apnea ended up getting her tonsils and adenoids out a week after she turned two–she weighed 22 lbs at the time. The ENT told me that when they put her out her tonsils were touching and they were full of debris. My daughter had never had even a sore throat that we were aware of before she developed the obstructive sleep apnea.

A regular ENT will not take tonsils and adenoids out of children that young, usually. It is not a same day surgery for them. They have to be hospitalized and kept on an IV until they are taking enough fluids to keep from dehydrating.

I would HIGHLY recommend getting to a Pediatric ENT and having your child checked out.

I would also recommend that you see a ped gi if you have not already seen one—an ENT is not the best person to diagnose acid reflux in an infant—I can also tell you from personal experience (myself and my children) that zantac is usually worthless for severe reflux.

Just my personal opinion–but I don’t think an ENT has any business telling you that your child is going to have to be on zantac for good—especially without even doing ANY sort of testing and without trying a PPI. She told you it “looked” like reflux and gave you no medication, and told you to try the things they do for mild reflux that would only work with a child that REALLY DOES “only” have mild reflux and outgrows it within a few months.

I hope I don’t sound harsh–but from the info you have given us–it sounds like you need to see a different doctor–the one you are seeing is making assumptions without testing–and should have referred you to a ped gi if she suspected reflux.

Being on reflux med for good is not the best thing for a person–it will have negative side effects over time. Sometimes it is the best option–but it should not be a permanent solution.

I’m also speaking from personal experience with severe reflux. i had a set of twins almost 22 years ago and I’m pretty sure that is when I developed my hiatal hernia. 14 years ago my surgeon talked to me about having fundo surgery–I didn’t want to do it. He told me that as bad as my symptoms were and as young as I was, that it was just a matter of time and I was going to have to have surgery.

My reflux has gotten progressively worse over the years–and i have a problem with taking the PPIs–and zantac dose not work for severe cases. i have trouble swallowing my food and it often gets stuck–that is pretty painful. I have had to have my esophagus dilated 3 times in the last 6 years. The l;ast time was 2 years ago–and I finally took the plunge and made an appt with a GI.

Pretty stupid of me to put it off so long–when I know the risks of not treating reflux–and it bothers me alot. i can’t even lean over enough to make my bed sometimes without stuff coming up. A couple of times I have woken during the night gasping because the reflux has come clear up my throat.

I have twice had a shatzky’s ring, and twice biopsies have shown eosinophils, which means i am probably dealing with more than just severe reflux and a hiatal hernia.

I can’t stress enough that I REALLY think you should get your child in to a pediatric GI and have some testing done.

Any more info you could give about your little one would help–weight, what kinds of symptoms is he having, any tests that may have been run on him.

I’m really sorry to sound negative, but with the little bit of info you gave—I don’t trust what your ENT is telling you–maybe there is more info you have and you were just trying to keep your post short—as you can see I have a hard time keeping mine short!!!LOL!!

tell us all you can—everyone wants to help–we’ve been there. My daughter with the severe reflux was my 9th child—and I knew next to nothing about reflux in an infant. After dealing with such a bad case of it, and knowing what I do now, I look back and I am sure that one of my children probably had MSPI and when they started the back-to-sleep program, I think that numbers 6, 7 & 8 probably had some mild reflux for the first 3 months of their life that cleared up.

Every baby refluxes–but not every baby has acid reflux.

[Anonymous]

Guess I should tell you–my daughter that had the fundo at 10 months and tonsils and adenoids removed at 2 is now 9 years old and doing great–no need for reflux meds and she hasn’t been failure to thrive since the tonsils and adenoids were removed and she started eating and sleeping.

Poor thing also had to have an inguinal hernia repaired at the same time they did her tonsils and adenoids–but that runs in our family—I’ve had 5 children and a husband with inguinal herias.

[Author]

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