Need Help for 6 Month old…

[Anonymous]

My Son is 6 months old and spits up all the time (has since birth). He is on the Enfamil AR (added rice starch) formula. He is a thriving and generally happy baby but has very frequent crying spells and will not sleep greater then about an hour and half around the clock. He pulls his legs toward his stomach and arches his back when crying as if something hurts. His is also very gassy and takes Mylicon on a regular basis. We had him tested for allergies but the test came back negative.

I have felt like something was just not right with him since birth. When he was two days old I notice a constant rapid respiratory rate (70-90 breaths per minute). We had all types of test done (chest x-ray, sonogram, ENT visit, blood work) but all come back normal. The rapid breathing continues today and I am not sure if it could be related to GERD.

I am not getting a whole lot of help from his doctor. A friend suggested to give him Maalox but I was unsure how to give it to him. Any suggestions or input would be appreciated! Thank you!

[Anonymous]

cherry flavored mylanta supreme is safe to give, i will let the other ladied tell you how much, but i usually give 1ml with a feeding and welcome

[Anonymous]

I don’t want to sound stupid but do you mix it in the bottle or give it in a medicine dropper? After the feeding or before?

[Anonymous]

Check out my post….new and in tears…

[Anonymous]

i would not mix it in the bottle cause they may not take all of the bottle. give it in a dropper. i give it before and after sometimes

[Anonymous]

Hi and welcome!

I’m sorry about the problems you’ve been having with your baby. Is he on any medication for the reflux?? It sounds like he’s pretty uncomfortable & in some pain from it. Have you tried a PPI medicine like Prevacid??

Also, does the Mylicon seem to be helping his gas? Because I’ve heard that because it’s more for tummy gas (like to aid in burping), it can make intestinal gas worse and make their tummies cramp.

Good luck with everything. I hope you can find something to help him soon.

[hellbennt]

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~laura

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the replies…I have been searching for answers for the past six months and now feel like everything is moving pretty fast thanks to this site!

The Mylicon seems to work for his gas issues…at least I think it provides some relief. Although, sometime I feel that he just likes the taste of it. As soon as I pick-up the bottle Anthony opens his mouth waiting for it and stops crying before he even swallows it! 🙂

I just got a prescription for zantac (1.6 ML 2x a day). Anthony is 18.4 pounds. I have searched through the previous postings to try to figure out if we have the correct dosage but still am unsure. Does anyone know if this sounds like an appropriate dosage?

We have our first appointment with the specialist next Thursday. His symptoms have spiraled out of control from 4 to 6 months old…I hope this is the answer to his problems and we can get things moving in the right direction.

Thanks again – Liza

[Anonymous]

4 to 7 months was the worst for Dylan! After that, things seemed to get under control pretty quickly. He was on meds for quite a while after but everything was way under control around 7 months, so hopefully you are at the end of the worst of it!!!!

[Anonymous]

okay you should go to marc-kids.com there is a dosing calculater there that is very handy. i was reading youre earlier posts about the RRR babies normally have a faster rr than anyone else. THer are things called sternal retractions and nasal flaring. this is when the rib cage sucks in from sob, and the nose flares. if he is doing this i would deffinitly go to a doc. also sob while he is eating would cause a concern with me. like everyone is saying, you are the best advocate for your son. you are with him and know when something is wrong.i am not writing this to say bad things about doctors…some are excelllent but being in the health care field i have called doctors about there patients and the doctors sometimes don’t even know who i am talking about it makes me mad b/c some of them only take new patients to make money. but like i said some docs are great and we all need to find that one doctor. life is to short to pay someone tons of money to care for you and they are not doing it properly!!!especially when it comes to babies; our future

[Anonymous]

Hello and welcome.

4-7 months were the worst for Myles as well.

I’d recommend asking the specialist for a PPI medication like Prevacid or Zegerid. Most of us have not had lasting success with Zantac because it is so weight sensitive….babies quickly outgrow their dose and then plateau on it.

http://www.marci-kids.com is a good site to read about current research into infant reflux and PPI meds for babies. Many of us have printed the information and taken it along to doctor’s visits since many doctors are not up on the current research.

As for Mylanta I used to give Myles 2 mls before feedings (by spoon or syringe). It did help some, but what really turned things around for him was the correct dose of Prevacid.

Good luck and glad you found us.

Is Liza your actual name? As you can see I love the name as that is what I named my firstborn.

[Anonymous]

I went to http://www.marci-kids.com but could only find info on PPI meds and nothing on Zantac. I plan to try the Zantac until we visit the specialist next week.

Any suggestions on how to give the Zantac…i.e. before or after meals, mix in bottle or directly from the dropper? I actually gave him his first dose before his bottle from the dropper. It seemed like maybe it was uncomfortable to swallow. He also had a large spit-up so I am not sure if he even kept any down.

Chrsitine: Yes…Liza is my “real” name! You don’t find to many people named Liza. 🙂

Eileen: You mentioned RRR babies…I am just starting with this so could you tell me what RRR means. I noticed Anthony’s rapid resp. rate at two days old…the nurses at the hospital never even noted it. The doctor at the hosp. was great and ran all kinds of test but to ensure that he did not have an infection or heart problem. Do you think his resp. rate could be effected by reflux at that early age? In six months nothing has improved…in fact in worsened. Still a fast breather, sometimes sounds like he is wheezing, sounds of congestion started at 3 months. He will sometime look like he is “panting” while on his back. Like some of the other moms, I was never able to get him to sleep on his back and we gave it and put him on his belly.

[Anonymous]

sorry RRR is just short for rapid resp. rate. watch his chest when he is breathing you will be able to tell by his rib cage if he is having sternal retractions. my dd is constantly making wheezing sounds. sometimes when she is refluxing she has very rapid scary sob sounds. (sorry that’s short for sob!!) i think when the milk comes up it will deff cause anyone to become sob because the whole resp system is connected. i hope i am making some sort of sense. if you are concerned about his lung sounds i would take him to the doctor to see if he is wheezing, stridor, or any other abnormal l/s. good luck

[Anonymous]

Thanks!

I have watched his rib cage in the past…no signs of distress and also his nostrils do not “flare”…he is just a fast breather as his doctor claims! However, he is not always this way which is why I am not convinced that it is unrelated to pain.

I took Anthony to the ENT about a month ago but feel that she did not take us seriously and did not give him a very good exam. She did say that his nostrils looked clear and he was not a “true” noisy breather compared to other babies that she has seen.

The breathing has always worried me but it seems like his other symptoms are at the forefront these days. I am having a hard time getting him to finish his bottles and he cries / fusses a lot when it is feeding or bedtime. He also wakes a lot during nap and bedtime. The doctor claims that she feels it is behavioral but I feel or observe that he looks like he is in pain when he wakes. He will even cry in his sleep when I am holding him in bed. I know that we do not have days as bad some some do but I could go on and on with his symptoms!

[Anonymous]

hi there, i agree with christine. my son was on zantac. it did nothing for him. plus the taste and smell are horrendous and it contains alcohol. i remember the smell made me want to vomit. Trace would scream when i gave it to him. anyway, he got no relief on that and we are now on a PPI and he is so much better!~

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