New mom with some questions

[Anonymous]

Our son that was born in July is having reflux problems and is throwing up after feedings. We are working through trying different things that might help and so far changing formulas seems to help.

My question(s) was this what does everybody do about the soiled clothes? Do you keep bibs on your kids? I was nervous to do this while they sleep as I thought it could be a choking hazard. I feel like I’m changing my little one all the time!

My second question is how common is baby reflux? None of my girlfriends have had this problem but I see a lot of people are on these message boards. I’d love to give my husband some numbers to help him cope with what we are going through. He/We are a little freaked out and overwhelmed by the whole thing.

Thank you in advance.

Ann

[Anonymous]

I am new to all of this too. From what I have read, reflux is pretty much different in each baby. I don’t keep bibs on Danni because she can take them off. We change clothes and do a lot of laundry. Hope things improve soon!

Cherie

[Anonymous]

Hi Ann and welcome!

Reflux is so awful, especially at first when you feel like you’re in the dark without a flashlight. I too had no idea what reflux was and unfortnately was told over and over again that it was colic, which in my humble opinion is a bogus diagnosis that peds give when they have no idea what else to say,so unfortunately dd went without meds for waaaay too long.

The good news is that there’s hope and you’ve found a great place for support and answers!!! Yay! First victory in the reflux battle.

As far as the spitting up goes, Kate varies from day to day how much she spits up. Sometimes we change 4 times, sometimes she stays in the same outfit all day!!(rarely) She does wear bibs almost all the time which is kinda sad because you can never really see her cutie pie outfit but it saves me laundry and she doesn’t seem to mind.

How common is reflux? I’m just 6mo. into it myself but from what I understand, pretty common. Bummer, I know. It really varies in severity with each kiddo which is great but hard too because you can never really compare your baby to another because their cases might be TOTALLY different.

I would encourage you to visit http://www.marci-kids.com. They are the leading source around here for everything having to do with meds. Also check out Laura’s(hellbennt) Groupie Intro in the introduce yourself part of the forum. It’s overwhelming at first(it’s looooong)but it’s jam-packed with incredible info about EVERYTHING.

Post anytime too. Happy or exhausted. This place and these moms are incredible and it really helps you get through a tough day when you don’t feel so alone. We’re here for you mama!!!

[Anonymous]

Agree with Kate’s mommy.

I can tell you that my firstborn (Kaden) had reflux and it was the spitting (puking actually) kind and soaked outfits all day long, however, it was a mild as far as pain goes for the most time, he only cried during 1-2 feedings a day and only 3-4 days a week, so for the longest time I just didn’t know WHAT was wrong and he was diagnosed over and over with colic….by the time someone mentioned “acid reflux” he was 5 months old and growing out of it. We gave him Maalox per his ped during those bad feedings and it helped…but again, he was growing out of it.

Now Landen– he’s a severe silent refluxer (swallows it back down) with apnea episodes at birth, sandifers symptoms that he outgrew, terrible mspi and now mfpi and he isn’t even close (that I can see) to outgrowing it. So both my kids had it and one was so mild that it was barely noticeable and seemed more like the “3-4 month colic thing”. So in my opinion, reflux is pretty common, it just depends on whether it’s really acidic/how bad it bothers baby/what symptoms they have as a result etc etc etc. I still consider myself incredibly lucky b/c I know in comparison to many babies on here, Landen could be much worse.

Welcome to the board by the way. Trust me, it DOES get better. And many of us never thought we could say that, as I am sure you are feeling right now!

[Anonymous]

We spit all day long and I change clothes (his and mine) 4-5x/day sometimes more now that we are teething and he is drooling as well as spitting. I use bibs during the day b/c he gets a rash on his neck/upperchest if I don’t and I don’t use them during sleep. I did when he was really little and didn’t move all over the place, just made sure it was a small one that didn’t have great velcro so that it would pop off if he pulled alittle. Reflux is different for all babies, many have MSPI like Jill said, but some just have a weak LES so it is a guessing game until you figure out what is causing the problem. Good Luck.

[Anonymous]

I don’t have numbers, but gastro-esophageal reflux (GER) is very common in babies b/c they have an immature LES that needs to strengthen. GERD (the d stands for disease) is less common. You can look up symptoms that distinguis the two, but basically GERD is when the reflux causes secondary problems like pain, esophagitis, slow growth/weight gain, developmental delays, sleep problems, feeding problems etc.

If your little one is growing and thriving and doesn’t seem to be in pain, I really wouldn’t worry about it too much. I personally wouldn’t put a bib on him at night- at that age they can’t take it off their face if it covers them. I’d just keep a large supply of clothes to change on hand. You can also try elevating the mattress at night to help keep things down.

If the vomitting really is excessive, you can talk to your doctor to see if they think that testing (upper GI/US to rule out pyloric stenosis) is warranted.

[Anonymous]

I don’t have any more to add as I think everyone else has covered it. But just wanted to say welcome. It does get better. My little guy spit all day all the time… huge amounts, and when he started crawling and eating baby food, our carpet paid the price… Good news though, he stopped spitting right around 8-9 months of age. He still refluxes silently, but at least he’s not in a bib all day and we don’t have to clean up after him all the time.

[Anonymous]

I don’t have much to add, except that we feel your pain! I would change myself and Dagney 3-4 times each day at the peak of it all, and even then we’d both be soaked again when my dh would get home from work. It was very stressful, discouraging, and exhausting, but it will get better, hang in there. I would suggest for nighttime rather than a bib, invest in “sheet savers” I always used them with Dagney before she was very mobile, you tie it to the sides of the crib, over the sheet, so that if your lo does spit up at night, normally it just goes on the sheet saver, and not the sheet, so you just can change that instead of the whole sheet, which is a pain and timely if you’re doing it at night.

[hellbennt]

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

[Anonymous]

All I can say is wow! I am blown away by how helpful everyone has been in replying to my post. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

We have started propping up the crib mattress at night, which I should have thought of myself and I’m going to get some of those crib sheets.

Thank you for the advice and for making me feel like I’m not on an island but surrounded by people that have already gone through this.

Ann

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