New GER diagnosis- have questions…

[Anonymous]

Hi-
My 10 week old was just diagnosed with possible GER last week. Her symptoms are mild- some arching while eating, pulling off the breast, general fussiness and painful, stinky spitup. She’s still gaining and sleeping well at night (thank god!) I BF (don’t make enough) and use formula (just swiched to nutramigin per MD advice).

My questions are these:
1) In everyone else’s experience, do you think her symptoms will get worse? (just read about peaking at 4 and 7 months)

2) If I drink caffeine in any form will it cause her reflux to be worse?

3) Will she have to be on nutrimagin as long as she’s on formula?

[Anonymous]

1) it usually starts of “mild” and then progresses. the acid comes up and damages the esophogus and then baby may refuse to eat all together because it hurts. this is where PPI’s like prevacid and zegerid come in-they stop acid production and heal the esophogus. but its best to start treatment right away if your baby is in pain-before the acid has a chance to do damage.

2) i think it can aggrivate reflux

3) maybe. my son is a year and is still on neocate-he couldnt even handle nutrimagen because of the small amount of milk proteins in it. they generally say babies outgrow mspi at a year, but my son has not outgrown it yet.

all babes are different though!

[hellbennt]

hi there,

how do you know you don’t make enough? just curious if a lactation consultant told you or your dr told you or you just told you, lol?

anyway, I have a lot to say & it’s called ‘Groupie Intro’ it’s the 1st post in the Introduce yourself forum

[Anonymous]

I found out I don’t make enough because my 7# birthweight baby was only 6# 9 oz at her 2 week checkup. Ped told me to pump to see how much I was making and then feed that and top off with formula. I make between 1 and 2 oz from pumping both breasts at the same time for 10-15 min. Definately not enough for an almost 11# baby.

I read your info on the intro post, and unfortunately it just made me worry more… Is my baby’s GERD going to get worse? Is it something I’m eating? etc, etc…

[hellbennt]

I would like to tell you to please get to a international board certified lactation consultant & also your local La leche league–

pumping is not really a clear indication of the amount of milk you are making- the pump is no where as efficient as your baby at gettingthe milk out…

sorry to dump even more on you, but I have watched many mamas go down this path…

just my humble advice…

http://www.kellymom.com is an excellent resource

and there are herbs you can take to increase your supply if it’s a supply issue…

I’ve read on ‘the boards’ to take: fenugreek & blessed thistle

take 3 capsules of each, 3x/day &

don’t panic if you smell like syrup!

oatmeal should help too!

[Anonymous]

What would a lactation consultant do for me? I’ve already had her latch checked- good, my let-down is fine, what more is there? The pump may not be exactly accurate, but it should give a good sense of how much I’m making. Also, I feed her on both sides until I’m relatively sure I’m empty (I’ve pumped after to make sure) and then offer the bottle. She always drinks 2-3.5 oz. Seems like a good indicator she’s still hungry…

Tried the fenugreek- my little Ella turned into “Hella”. Tried the reglan- no increase.

So, that’s where I’m at. Also, we’re trying to decide if we need to take the “next step” (ie meds) with Ella. Right now we’re just doing the Nutramigin and Mylanta as needed, but she’s still having reflux symptoms, although sleeping fine through the night. I don’t want her reflux to get worse though. Any advice on that?

[Anonymous]

i would definitely do a PPI.

[Anonymous]

To protect her esophagus and to keep the condition from getting worse or mostly for controlling the symptoms?

[Anonymous]

all of the above.

PPI’s shut off acid pumps in the stomach. this will heal any damage in the esophogus. it will also make her eat comfortably. when my son started prevacid and was on a proper dose (very important) he stopped screaming during feedings, arching, etc. his sleep improved so much, because before that he was apparently having heartburn at night. also, before the prevacid he screamed literally 24/7.

[hellbennt]

if you want to know exactly what she’s getting from breastfeeding, you can ask to use the scale at the doctor’s office- go there, weigh her, feed her from one breast and then check her weight- then you can do the same from the other breast-that’s what they do in a lactation consultant’s office- then you can see what she’s taken in from you- it’s interesting at the very least..

as for caffeine affecting her- it takes about 3-5hrs for what you eat to go through your system into your milk- so if you try drinking caffeine and then see a reaction about 3hrs later & you see the same thing happen again the next day, then I’d say to stop the caffeine- it didn’t affect my refluxer or my non refluxer

[Anonymous]

The lacation consultant or LLL leader can give you better advice on breastfeeding. I am on my second child and second refluxer and both times I was told by a dr. that I needed to stop bfing. Basically Peds. get one day of class on breastfeeding and that is it. They really don’t know much about it. My understanding is any breastfeed baby will take a few oz of formula even after bfing. Can’t remember why though. I am telling you all this because it is very common for a dr to tell you that you are not producing enough milk. Also, the pump does not work exactly the same way a baby does so it doesn’t get all the milk. Justice is a year now and I can barely pump 2 oz. If you still feel like there is a supply problem then you can try getting oatmeal like Laura said and also there is something by motherlove called more milk plus that helps to increase the supply. I know it is all way confusing. That is why a LLL leader could help.

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