Overwhelmed

[Anonymous]

I was going to suggest a syringe. I don’t know anything about the aspirating though. I have read somewhere, I think on the breastfeeding reflux yahoo group. A mom would not do the bottle and requested they use a syringe. I would even call a day before and have them have a syringe ready for you. I would not suggest doing formula. From my experience with my first son, he stopped bf once formula was introduced. At first the formula will hold down better and they will start to think it is your bm that is hurting them. Also a bottle is much easier to drink from and that feels better to them. Breastmilk is absolutly the best for your reflux baby. It has enzymes in it that help. It is all your choice though. I am just throwing that out there. I am so pro breastfeeding. Also, all babies are different and you may find that your baby doesn’t do what mine did. I think though they should accomidate you if you don’t want to do the bottle. This being my second child, I don’t let anyone push me around about using a bottle. Of course, I don’t hide when I bf this time around either. I use a blanket, but I won’t go hide. I think it is wrong to feel you have to. Okay, off my soap box. No matter what you decide to do, please let us know what happens. Oh, after the swallow I think your supposed to do some water. My son got really constipated. It was worse than the reflux. Am I wrong about that ladies? I think I heard someone say that before.

[Anonymous]

Yes, about the water. The barium can constipate them. Giving them some water after the test can help with that, but that may be difficult if she won’t take a bottle. Maybe nursing right afterwards will help as well.

[Anonymous]

Hi Tina- I’m so sorry for what you are going through. My little one is now 9 weeks, but at about 5 weeks she started her reflux symptoms- It was different, as she was on bottle by then (I couldn’t produce enough milk for some reason), so we thought it was the formula that was making her scream at first- And, my doctor just said “it’s colic” until she got so bad that she was up for 24 hours straight! I mean, come on, babies will eventually sleep if they are not in pain! So, finally, we brought her in and they diagnosed Reflux and put her on liquid Zantac 2x day- Even though the doctor said it would only take 3 days, it took much longer to see results- at least a week- Then, all of a sudden, she started sleeping better, and didn’t scream in pain anymore- So, I would stick with the meds and see if more time will help. Sadie was just like your little one, and once the Zantac kicked in, at least for now, she is great. She also had tons of gas that would make her squirm, but that was a result of the formula- I agree with the other post that you should breastfeed as long as you can, as it is much better for relfuxers for a ton of reasons- I wish I could have kep doing it! My Sadie had a scintiscan that showed that her stomach doesn’t digest fast enough, which was causing the reflux- so, you never know what you will find out-

I hope this works for you, and believe me, I know what it is like to have such a young baby screaming in pain! It’s hard! I hope the test goes okay- As far as the bottle issue, I was lucky- Sadie took bottle and breast, at the same time, no problem, when I was doing both and transitioning- it all depends on your child- she would eat either way, and really didn’t refuse the breast after eating from a bottle- I was lucky though-

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

I’m so sorry to hear that you’re going through this. It sounds like the nightmare we went through with Hailey in the beggining. The good news is that once her pain is relieved, you should have a whole new baby on your hands. We tried lots of different meds with Hailey, and the only thing that helped was getting her on a decent dose of PPI. Until then, things were horrific. If your doctor won’t consider giving her a PPI, or won’t prescribe a good dose (something near the marci-kids range) then tell us where you live, and maybe we can help you find a doc that will help you. Given your daughter’s symptoms- the arching, screaming etc, I’d say that zantac probably isn’t enough to see the pain. Our ped told us that if zantac is going to do the trick, then you should see an improvement in less than a week. If she’s still arching, then her pain isn’t being well controlled.

As for the bottle, I’m not sure why you need to have her bottle feeding if you’re breastfeeding. They can feed the barium from a syringe like others have said. This is what they did for my daughter b/c she had a feeding aversion and wouldn’t take the bottle.

Breastfeeding a refluxer can be very challenging, especially when they pull off and arch the way you describe. If you need help (and want to keep breastfeeding… I’m very pro-choice, so I hope this sounds okay) there are some great LC’s out there, but make sure to find one who understands reflux and the special challenges that come with breastfeeding a baby with reflux. In the end with Hailey, I couldn’t take it anymore- and I did go for pumping so that my husband could bottle feed her some EBM at night while I got a break.

Anyhow, good luck. I hope that you can get a PPI and that it turns things around for you.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all your help. The x-ray was not helpful, as she was not having reflux at the time. I did find out, however, that she has a slow esophagus, too. In the meantime, things haven’t gotten better. Just this week, the doctor increased her zantac (to correspond with her weight gain) and has me mixing cereal in her bottle (to help keep it down). Nevertheless, she’s still clearly uncomfortable, crying, spitting up, having violent episodes of hiccups, etc. I’ve pretty much given up on breastfeeding because I’m no longer producing milk since I am not eating, drinking, or sleeping. She is also not sleeping; I’m lucky if I get 8 hours total in a 24 hour period. The other day, she was up from 11:30 in the morning until 4:30 the next morning, crying the whole time. The only way to quiet her is to give her a bottle, which she sucks and chews on (but doesn’t eat). I am going back to work in 2 weeks, and I was hoping she’d be feeling better by then. What can I do to make this more bearable for both of us?

[Anonymous]

From the date that this was posted, it looks like you’re already back to work. I hope that is going okay but I understand how you feel. My son would only eat in his sleep when he started daycare and I was petrified that they would not be able to get him to eat. He was diagnosed with reflux at 8 weeks. I tried very hard to breastfeed him but the constant arching and pulling off due to acid pain made it difficult for both of us. I pumped around the clock and it seemed like he was either on me, with a bottle in his mouth, or I was pumping. Getting 5-6 hours of sleep in 24hours was GREAT! Luckily he wasn’t a crying baby except for when he was attempting to eat.

For my son, Zantac (H-2 blocker) didn’t do anything to help him. We started him on Prevacid and it took 2 weeks to work. Then it worked for 2 weeks and he ate so much that he grew out of his dose. So then we upped his dose and it worked again for 2 weeks and then stopped working. This is pretty normal from what I’ve heard. When you notice that the meds aren’t working as effectively anymore then you need to call your Ped GI ASAP and get them to up the dose. If they won’t then you need to find a new Ped GI. You are your child’s only advocate and you are the only one that can help them get the dose that they need. I’d contact the marci-kids site and see if they can assist you on finding a local doctor that can help your baby.

You have to know that things WILL get better. Being a new parent, I understand that you want to know WHEN…WHEN will my child get better. You may not know that now and that has to be okay. Understand that you and your husband are doing EVERYTHING that you possibly can for your baby and that’s what matters. It’s a roller coaster and some days will be good and others not so much. This isn’t your fault and you didn’t cause this. Don’t beat yourself up. I’ve beat myself up so many times because I couldn’t continue to breastfeed. I felt like a failure and that I somehow caused my son pain because we switched him to formula. Truth is that he did better with formula and it’s what helped him get back to his birth weight when he needed it so badly.

You’re doing the BEST that you can. Hang in there. There is a light at the end of the reflux roller coaster. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

My son has been dealing with GERD since he was 2 weeks old. He was doing everything your daughter is doing. And I hate to say it he still acts that way though not quite as severe. Im still working on getting his medicine regulated and formula working well. Its so hard when we know they are in pain but we just cant help them. Is she having an Upper GI done? That would be my first recommendation. My son had his at about 2 months old and it showed severe reflux. I was told for the longest time it was colic–he will grow out of it. Well now at 7 months he is still having sleeping/eating issues. Dont give up. You know your child you are with them dont let the dr’s tell you there is nothing wrong. If you dont get an answer from one go to another. I switched 3 pediatricians until I found one that would do testing to figure out what was going on. And ended up switching GI specialists once too. Its exhausting and frustrating but it will get easier in time. I know you dont want to hear that–everytime someone said that to me I wanted to scream..I couldnt hear it from one more person (it will get better) AHHH..but hang in there..and vent here it will help!!! Let us know what the results are!

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