New here! Need help!

[Anonymous]

Hello! Glad to have found you! My 5 week old son, Riley, was diagnosed with acid reflux last week. He only had a little spitting up, but he was “arching”, fussy/crying while eating, difficult to burp and had “wet burps” when he did burp, hiccups frequently and lasting 30 minutes or more. I was breast feeding but due to a nasty case of post patum deprression I had to switch to bottle feeding cause the meds I was put on weren’t compatible with breast feeding. Riley started out on Enfamil with lipil but we changed to Enfamil Gentle Ease with Lipil when he started having these problems. His doc put him on Axid last week and we saw some improvement for a few days and thought we were on the road to recovery but now he’s seemed to relapse. Feeding him is awful—-he tries to drink from his bottle but he seems have difficulty swallowing or something, and he gags and chokes and starts to cry–it takes an hour for him to drink 4 oz and he takes 3 sips of his formula, and then his eyes get wide and he swallows really hard and then bursts into tears….over and over this happens. He currently uses Dr. Browns bottles, we’ve tried different nipple sizes–that didn’t work. Switched to Playtex Ventair for a few feedings–that didn’t help. Tried feeding formula at a variety of temps–no difference. Friends of ours who had a baby with reflux used Mylanta with their presciption meds(don’t know what kind) and said it was a life saver, but their baby was a few months old when they were going through this. I asked my doc about Mylanta and he said it wouldn’t help. We’re so frustrated we’re ready to try it on our own but we don’t know what dosage to use for a 5 week old, and if it’s safe to take with axid, or even safe for a baby his age. I’m bringing him back to his doc tomorrow, cause as I said, all weekend he could barely eat. He sleeps in his car seat to help with the reflux. OH! and the other symptom he has that’s really annoying is chronic nasal congestion, yet I don’t think it’s a cold cause his nose is never “running” it’s like this deep congestion thats hard to even suction out with the bulb syringe/nasal drops. And sometimes I wonder if that’s interfering with his eating. I’ve heard reflux can cause congestion, but this is crazy! Does anyone have any ideas? Does this sound like acid reflux or something else? What about the mylanta? Thanks in advance for help!

[hellbennt]

hi & welcome!

I have a LOT to say & (most of) it’s here:

J

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

yes you can use mylanta- get mylanta cherry supreme as this particular kind does not have any aluminum- give in 1ml syringe- give any time- there is no over dosing- if you see loose stools you’ve given too much- you most likely will be fine giving up to 5mls a day- spread out over the day-

I don’t know axid dosing, but go to your pharmacist and ask pharmacist to please ‘humour you’ and to please consult her/his ‘ipharmacist’ & tell you the pediatric dosing for babies w/ GERD- see this link to help you know what to ask the pharmacist:

Zantac dosing- my/other’s question: https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9539&PID=82914#82914

as for the congestion- try saline nasal spray- no need to buy ‘little noses;’ the store brand adult kind is the exact same thing (check the ingredients to see for yourself)- just spray & don’t suction- just let gravity do it’s thing

check out http://www.marci-kids.com there is great illustrations of how reflux makes them congested, etc & aside from this, the site will tell you all about PPIs and ‘proper’ dosing- the link I gave you (groupie intro) above will also help with this- look for ‘Prevacid 101’ to learn more

as for the formula, if baby is constipated or you see excema or rashes or if stools are always loose or there’s excvessive gas, you might want ot research MSPI- again, there’s a link from groupie intro

so glad you found us!

~laura

[Anonymous]

Reading your post reminds me of my little fella when he was younger. He’s almost seven months old and we’re still trying to figure things out. He had the nasal thing going on. Eventually he grew out of it. I remember asking the dr and she said that it is common among reflux babies. Most often my ds would wake up and sound almost like he had fluid in his nose and mouth. It was horrible. I also remember the heck we went through trying to feed him. I hated sitting down and feeding him. Like you said, it would take him an hour to maybe drink four ounces. During that time he would get choked and gasp for air. It scared me to death. We tried the gentlease for a while, but have ended up using Enfamil AR. It seems to be the only formula that he doesn’t choke on. The only bad thing is he is still hungry after eating it. With this formula we use the Dr. Brown bottles with number 2 nipples. It is a little thicker so it doesn’t seem to flow as fast out of the bottle. My ds screamed in pain for the first two months of life. I prayed for the day that he outgrew reflux. We haven’t gotten there so far, but he doesn’t scream in pain anymore. Now he just spits up A LOT! I’m sending you a huge hug. It is a tough thing to deal with because it is awful to see your baby in so much pain! I’d go out and by the Mylanta. It should help to make your babies throat feel better. I wish I had more answers, but we’re still trying to figure this out. Hugs!

[Anonymous]

My dd took Axid. She was 4 months old though, but her dosage was 1.3 ml. It worked for her for about 1 month but now we had to change to Prevacid.

We use AR formula like Jenn. We like it and in fact add more rice to the bottle to make it even thicker.

As for whether or not this is reflux….it certainly sounds like relux. I would encourage you to get to a pediatric gastro doc. They can help your son.

You might ask for ppi drug. Those help alot of babies.

[Anonymous]

I would use Cherry Mylanta Supreme. Try changing to Nutramigen or Alimentum as MSPI (milk/soy protein intolerance) is common in these lo’s. And I would push for a PPI like prevacid until you see a change. It is so hard. It took us until 4 months old to get it all right and I finally had a baby that would smile at me and now he smiles and laughs all the time, so it does get better.

[Anonymous]

Thank you so much to all of you for your support and advice. On top of everything else, my baby now has thrush as well and I took him to his doc today who said his feeding issues (pulling away/crying) are from the thrush and wouldn’t give me any different meds for the acid reflux. He said once thrush is gone, if he’s still having feeding issues then we can consider a different med for reflux. He also was a jerk about the cherry mylanta, saying he’d never heard of that for infant acid reflux. He said, “go ahead and give it to him, but I’ve never heard of that.” So I asked about dosage and he said, “I don’t know, I don’t usually tell people to use mylanta for that.” Time to find a new doc!!! So I bought the cherry mylanta and gave him 1ml so far today and he seemed a bit better. Whats the difference between cherry mylanta and cherry mylanta Supreme?? I couldn’t find the supreme kind so I just got the regular cherry mylanta–is that ok? Does anyone know if thrush would cause poor eating issues as well??

[Anonymous]

I don’t know enough about thrush, but would think it could affect eating. I don’t however think it would make your baby arch and have nasal congestion and all those things. Not sure if your doc still thinks it’s reflux and is just saying the eating issues are from the thrush. In any case, once the thrush is gone, if your baby is still having a hard time eating I would go to a good ppi. Also, take the marci-kids info to your doc and have them read it. I would imagine with your dr. you are going to get the reaction of he thinks your crazy. You may have to persist, but marci-kids helped us so much. I wish I could answer your question about the mylanta, but it has been awhile since my lo had reflux. Things will be better, but keep on pushing your dr. Your baby should not be in pain. I hope to hear so soon that things are much better for you guys.

[Anonymous]

I see that you went from Gentleease to the AR. I have been considering teh same change, but he had gas which is why i seitched to teh Gentleease. Does the gas get worse withteh AR? It seems like such a trade off for me, are you happier with the AR?

[hellbennt]

thrush most certainly can exacerbate the situation!

as for the mylanta, check the ingredients. the cherry supreme doesn’t contain aluminum. if what you have does have aluminum, don’ worry! just use it until you get the cherry supreme. I found ours at Walmart.

I would get a new dr as soon as possible…

I would also click here:

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

and look to read about MSPI

[Anonymous]

My doc still thinks he has reflux, but thinks the thrush is making it worse, thus he wants to treat the thrush first, before switching acid reflux medications, to see if there is any improvement once thrush is gone. I’ll look at walmart for cherry supreme mylanta–when is best time to give it to him? Before he eats? After he eats? Does it make any difference? Ugh, I’m so exhausted and my eyes are nearly swollen shut from crying. As I said before, I’m also dealing with a nasty case of post partum depression–I just feel so hopeless. Thanks again for your support!

[Anonymous]

gianna,

we switched from gentlease to ar and have not noticed any gas issues.

[Anonymous]

Does “AR” stand for “acid reflux”? I had Riley on regular Enfamil with lipil and then switched to Gentle Ease–is it bad to switch again? My friend swears by the Nestle Good Start with comfort proteins–anyone know anything about this? So glad I found you guys!!! Got some sleep last night–amazing what a good night’s sleep can do!

[Anonymous]

I am so sorry about the thrush. Bless your heart and your sweet babies heart. Hopefully she will feel better soon!

I’m not sure what the AR stands for, but we tried at least seven different formulas before we settled on the AR. If you go to the Enfamil website there is a coupon that you can print. If you take it to your dr. he should give you a free sample. Alston’s been on it for about two months (he’s seven months) and I haven’t noticed a gas problem. My daughter is 14 months and we used Good start with her. We were clueless parents with her, but when she was little, it caused her to have major gas and spit up. We just figured that’s what babies do. Now looking back, we should have tried something else.

**Just a side note…we were never suppose to be able to have children after three failed IVFs. We adopted Gracie when she was born. On her one month birthday we learned we were two months pregnant.

[Anonymous]

I think AR stands for “added rice” or something like that. The AR formula has added rice starch to make it thicker which helps some babies keep it down better.

[Author]

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