My Silent Refluxer

[Anonymous]

Hello. My four month old daughter suffers from silent reflux. We have tried just about everything to make her comfortable but many days I feel we are coming up short. We have been reluctant to put her on medication because her weight is very good and she does not scream all day in pain. I am not comfortable with the side effects of the meds and it seems like she is often bothered by the physiological effect of the reflux and not just the acid. From what I’ve been told, the meds don’t get rid of the actual reflux. Nevertheless, we briefly tried Zantac and she did not tolerate it well – made her miserable and the reflux worse. We also recently tried Prevacid and again it only seemed to make her more uncomfortable – however, in reading suggested dosages I believe the dosage was too low, i.e., half a 15mg solutab once a day for a 3 1/2 month, almost 13 lb. baby. We have decided that we don’t want to try any more meds or increased dosages and just want to do our best to make her comfortable. Sleeping has been our biggest issue. She doesn’t sleep or nap well because the reflux wakes her up. We are also not sleeping well ugh. I suspect that she has MSPI but my pedi GI didn’t seem interested in trying to confirm. DD is EBF and I have been eliminating soy and dairy. I have no interest in trying formula as I believe the benefits of breast milk are too great. I joined this forum for emotional support as I’m finding infant reflux to be very stressful. I sometimes feel like it has robbed me of what is supposed to be happy times with my infant. I look forward to when reflux is a faded memory. I’ve read that reflux peaks at 4 months. Really hoping that this is as bad as it gets and that it will start getting better soon.

[hellbennt]

welcome! I understand you don’t want to medicate your baby! The medications address the pain, not spit up…I understand you want to look into the root cause of the reflux, as well you should! It might be a reaction to a protein in your breastmilk. Or, it might ‘just’ be an immature LES (lower esophogeal sphinctor). In my baby’s case it was an immature LES. How did I know this? Because I did the TED (total elimination diet) and because he really didn’t have any symptoms of MSPI (milk/soy protein intolerance). He didn’t have any poop issues or gas issues or skin issues…However, I did the TED bcse I was DESPERATE. And, I DID learn some things that I could not eat…

SO: you might want to looking into something ‘mild’ for bedtime, but you said you already tried zantac. maybe axid or tagament? ask your doctor. or don’t. I’m just trying to think of things to help you all get some sleep. one more medication to consider is carafate. this is NOT a long-term solution! it’s a coating for the esophagus. when my son’s reflux was at it’s worst (he shrieked/howled for so long he LOST HIS VOICE!), carafate helped him….
I get it if you just don’t want to try medication again…it’s rare for babies to be ok w/ only changes in diet and ‘natural’ methods, but rare does not mean never! I believe in everything!

as far as your diet goes, there is something you can try. it’s called the Dr. Sears Elimination Diet (TED). 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!

I did the diet. So, I *do* know it can be done

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

Something else you can do, that’s not medication, is for you (& baby) to try probiotics & digestive enzymes.

TED and success also using probiotics
https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=15293&PN=1

probiotics, brands used:
https://www.infantreflux.org/forums/topic/probiotics-70/

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

something else to try is slippery elm
(this doesn’t mention dosing- you’d have to search around – the link I had doesn’t work anymore) http://www.herbalencounter.com/2011/08/18/slippery-elm-ulmus-fulva-for-colitis-upset-stomach-food-poisoning-acid-reflux-and-other-gastrointestinal-problems/

here’s a link to a mams story about slipper elm; I can’t ‘vouch for this particular link

and also aloe vera juice (organic)

anne mentions this in her posts, I believe:

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

ok, that’s a lot for now!
so glad you found us!
laura hellbennt2013-06-22 17:31:11

[Anonymous]

WELCOME!! And (((HUGS))) to you!! Reflux is REALLY hard and yes, I have to agree that it does rob you of those supposed to be happy infant days. The first few months with my oldest son are truly the worst I think I have ever gone through in my life. Thus… my terrible fear of a second child. But… who wants an only child. Well… although the first few months of his life weren’t quite as bad as with my first, they were awful close. Not only did I have a screaming baby, I had a 2 year old that was still on Prevacid, still had digestive problems, and still woke up every night. My thoughts of a large family went down the drain very quickly.

I am very proud of you for choosing to stick with nursing and figuring out how to make your milk be something your baby can tolerate! I was so frustrated with my boys and although I cut out dairy and soy from my diet, I gave up nursing my oldest at 12 weeks and my second at 8 weeks.

As far as meds… I do believe that there are times when meds are not a choice but again I commend you on trying to stay away from them. My sons were on Prevacid till they were ages 1 and 3 years old. I didn’t like it but at that time I knew of nothing else to help them.

I too want to highly recommend that you try probiotics and digestive enzymes. They were life changing for my children. So much so that…. I had a 3rd child!!!! I decided that if they could help my boys so much, then maybe if I took them while pregnant and nursing I would have a normal, no reflux baby. AND IT WORKED!!! My little girl had no reflux, started sleeping through the night at 3 months old, and I nursed her till she was 8 months old and I didn’t avoid any foods!!!

Please go to my blog and read about how and why probiotics and enzymes can help. http://help4acidreflux.wordpress.com/ Also here is an article I found on the side effects of meds, and then there are numerous moms that comment on how they found probiotics and/or digestive enzymes to help. http://www.inspire.com/groups/preemie/discussion/for-those-with-babies-taking-ppis-prevacid-zantac-etc/

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