Not sure if my 5 week old has reflux…

[Anonymous]

Hello Everyone!

This is the first time I’ve been on this board, so hello!!

I’m not sure if my boy has reflux…he doesn’t show all of the symptoms, but enough of them. He arches when he’s nursing, he doesn’t sleep well at all (wakes up sometimes, within 10 mins of going down, screaming), he seems like he’s crying/screaming all the time, he always has the hiccups, he’s really gassy and fussy…

We’ve tried different formulas, and he seems to be ‘improving’ a tad bit, but he’s still just crying all the time. He doesn’t cry when he’s on his back, so much, just all the time, it seems.

We have an appt with his ped (his 2 month check up) in 2 weeks. Just seems so long to wait!!

I feel so awful because I feel he’s so unhappy! He’s just crying all the time and it’s really starting to wear on my husband and I (and even our 5 year old son). We’re all just exhausted and tired from the crying.

I’m a little nervous about putting my baby on medication, but do they really work (once diagnosed)? What are some of the side effects?

Thanks! I live in IL, in a suburb of Chicago. Hopefully, there’s a good GI(that my ped or any of you) can recommend!!

Pam

[Anonymous]

Hi and welcome to the site! Sorry to hear that your son is having a hard time.

Reading your description of his symptoms, it definitely sounds like a lot of reflux symptoms. My daughter rarely spit up at that age (unless we were in the car or she was crying), but she seemed to cry A LOT. Our doc passed it off as “colic”, and I didn’t know anything about reflux other than that I thought it meant a lot of vomitting. My dd used to arch her back so much, which was a big red flag for reflux- especially when you’re bottle feeding. Sometimes with BF if you have overactive letdown the baby can arch, and that’s what they told me was going on with our daughter, but it persisted even when she was bottle fed. I’m not sure if you’re nursing or bottle feeding at this point. If you’re nursing, hopefully Laura our moderator can you out a bit more in that department. There is an elimination diet that you can do to see if that helps. If you’re formula feeding and you think that it might be the formula, you can try alimentum or nutramigen and see if that helps.

Based on your description, it brings back a lot of memories. My daughter was diagnosed with “silent reflux” meaning that she didn’t vomit outright a lot, but that her stomach contents were coming back up into her mouth and that she was then swallowing them back down. There was a subtle gulping sound that you could often hear. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize what was going on until they had been persisting for quite a while.

I know that your well baby visit is not for another two weeks, but it sounds like too long to wait. I would make an appointment and tell your ped about the arching during the feedings. If you want to see a good GI, someone afiliated with marci-kids (midwest acid reflux children’s institute, you can check out their website at http://www.marci-kids.com) recommended someone in chicago and I’ll paste their recommendation below.

I know how you feel about medicine. No one wants their babies to be on medicine, but the effects of reflux can actually be quite difficult. My daughter developed a feeding aversion b/c it became too hard for her to eat due to the pain. That doesn’t happen to all babies with reflux, we’re definitely a minority, but my personal opinion is that given the relative safety of PPIs, it’s best to try to get things under control sooner rather than later.

I know how straining a contantly crying baby with reflux can be on everyone in the home. Maybe a good dose of PPI would help him. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

I agree with Lori that it does sound like reflux. Every baby is different. Cooper spit up all the time and still spits just not as much. We tried soy formula with improvement and then a decline after about 4 wks that is after breastfeeding without success (mainly lack of wt gain while I was bf). Then we tried Zantac and Nutramigen with some improvement and then had an upper GI which showed severe reflux (we were lucky most of the time this test isn’t a good indicator of reflux just structural problems) and so we started on Prevacid and Nutramigen. Turns out Cooper has MSPI (milk/soy protein intolerance) which many reflux babies have. After a few dose increases of the prevacid I had a happy baby, he was about 4months old when that happened. We still fight the spitting up and the poor sleep but things are so much better than they used to be. I would look into a med preferably a PPI like prevacid and possibly even a formula change to a hypoformula like nutramigen or alimentum to see if there is improvement. Glad you found us, this site saved me.

[Anonymous]

Hello and welcome,

My daughter was also a silent refluxer. She squirmed and fought during feedings and eventually quit nursing altogether. I thought it was a nursing issue so I went to pumping and bottle feeding, but soon she began to fight the bottle too. She was chronically irritable and slept poorly. I finally got the right diagnosis when she was about 3 months old but she was never properly medicated and she remained miserable until she outgrew her reflux at 9 months.

My son also had reflux, but his was not silent, he was a big spitter (so it can be reflux with or without spitting). He was also chronically miserable. I remember telling someone that if he was awake, he was crying. He id (fortunately) sleep fairly well, though. (Not all babies with reflux exhibit all of the symptoms). My son’s biggest problem was his chronic irritability and his feeding problems. He too would not nurse and soon he would not even take a bottle anymore. It got so bad I thought he’d end up on a feeding tube. Fortunately with some work and perserverance I got him on a good dose of Prevacid (solutabs) and finally things improved.

So, yes meds do work and fortunatelty for most babies the side effects are very minimal….maybe a little consitpation or diarrhea which passes with time for most of them. PPI’s are very safe meds and they are non toxic because they only work on the actual cells which produce acid. That’s why the side effects are so minimal. You can read about PPI meds for infant reflux at http://www.marci-kids.com

Also, check out the “finding a gi” forum. Maybe there’s someone in there for you. I vaguely remember someone posting a name in Chicago.

I agree with Lori….I would not wait two more weeks. Things can get really bad, really fast. My son ended up with a bottle/feeding aversion because he was not properly medicated until he was nearly five months old. I had to spoon feed him all of his breast milk and formula because even once he was pain free and comfortable he still associated the bottle with pain and misery. If only I had gotten it figured out sooner…

Anyway good luck and glad you found us. I hope we can help.

[hellbennt]

hi & welcome!

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

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

Looking for GI: https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=660

so glad you found us!

~laura

[Anonymous]

Hello Everyone!!

Thanks so much for your suggestions/comments/support!! I have an appt today at 330p for my little one at his ped’s office…I am SO hoping she’ll have answers for us!!

This morning was pretty difficult. He was arching like crazy and kept ‘falling off’ my breast, screaming and arching. I ‘gave up’ and tried to give him a bottle, but he kept refusing that, too. I think he finally got ‘tired’ and had some of the bottle, but then fell asleep.

My poor little guy…

I will let you know how things go! Thanks again!!

Pam

[Anonymous]

Good luck. Let us know how it goes.

[Anonymous]

Jason’s ped said that yes, because of the symptoms I described, he’s got reflux. She prescribed .6 mls of Zantac and said that by the end of the weekend, we should see some marked improvement (if nothing by Mon/Tues, then I should call her back).

I gave him his first dose tonite and he did NOT like it. Do you know if the pharmacy can add a ‘taste’ to it? He ended up spitting some out, but hopefully not a major amount…

I also ordered a Tucker Sling/Wedge today, too. In the meantime, I’ve got one side of his crib on ‘risers’ (6″), so hopefully that will help until the sling comes in. Have any of you had good luck with the sling/wedge?

I am SO ANXIOUS to see how Jason does on the Zantac…!!! I hope this will ‘do the trick’ and he will become a HAPPY BOY!!! 🙂

[hellbennt]

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

there is a link: Tips for Zantac & Mylanta: https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=149&KW=mylanta

and, here is a link to check the zantac dose- it’s my educated guess that there is room to increase it if the current dose doesn’t help-I have learned that peds dose differently than ped GIs:

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

[Author]

Posts