Reflux in 4 year old?

[Anonymous]

My daughter (4 1/2) has just started taking Zantac in an effort to combat severe burping and nightwaking.

She has multiple food allegies — I bf her for the first 4 years with me on an elimination diet. For the first two years she got alomost all her calories from breastmilk. Around two a nutritionist calculated she was eating about 100 calories a day from solid food (mostly organic cheerios, still a major source of her calorie intake) and the rest was breastmilk.

She no longer tests poritive for some of her allergens, though will still have reactions — not anaphalyctic, but more long-term — 3 days of screaming, serious nightwaking for hours, rashes around both ends of the digestive system, etc.

We had her scoped at 2 1/2 and had an acid probe test, as well as a barium swallow test, and the Ped. GI we saw at that time did not find any problems. Despite the family history of reflux, no doctor has ever thought that it was her problem. However, we have noticed problem when she eating anything acidic — we always give her a Tums if she has tomato sauce. She’s extemely picky and only eats about 10 foods.

Now suddenly, at 4 1/2 she starts waking for hours every night with no change in diet, and she is burping all the time and compaining of pain in her throat. How could this happen so suddenly?

Or was it there all the time, and the breastfeeding was just treating the symptoms? (She has been weaned for 6 months. The burping started 3 weeks ago)

[Anonymous]

Wow, we have very simiar situations. My DD weaned a few months ago, at 4 yrs, too. I was eliminating a long list of foods throughout as well. DD also only eats about 10 foods now, if that, very picky. Her reflux as a baby was treated with diet changes (mine, as she was EBF), and with meds (Zantac didn’t help, Losec/Prilosec did). We took her off meds at 2 yrs old, and have been able to manage the reflux through diet alone since. She still reacts to a long list of foods, and reflux is one of her early symptoms (tummy aches, rashes and wild behaviour all follow, for days, sometimes weeks).

Since weaning, is your DD eating MORE of any particular food, even if it’s not different food? I’m sure you’re an expert at reading labels, everytime, by now. Could she be reacting to something at school? Either the snacks she has there, or snacks other kids have? Cleaning supplies at school? Craft supplies? New soap, shampoo, lotion? It’s very possible that something environmental (natural or not) could be causing the sudden symptoms (or worsening a pre-existing one).

Or, she could be reacting now to something she’s been fine with in the past. This is an amazing group for reflux support. There is another group called “Foodlab” that is really helpful and supportive for food intolerances and allergies (and managing them, recipes, etc.), here:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/foodlab/

Lots of extended breastfeeding moms, coping with little ones’ issues.

Has the Zantac made any difference yet? What is the dosage your Dr. Rx’d? When DD was Rx’d Zantac, the dose was ridiculously low, and was probably why it had no effect.

Take care,

[Anonymous]

Wow. That is pretty amazing, how similar our kids’ situations are.

DD is taking one adult Zantac, split in half — 1/2 in the morning and 1/2 in the afternoon. I have no idea if this is low or not.

(DD is allergic to dyes and flavorings that are in kids’ medicines)

So, we’re at two weeks now and sleeping has improved, but she is still burping roadkill and complaining about pain. And she has been so fussy lately!

I think we’re going to look for a specialist.

J

[hellbennt]

Zantac dosing- my/other’s question (has axid & pepcid dose, too): https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9539&PID=82914#82914

[Anonymous]

First of all I want to say how fabulous both you mamas are… extended bf’ing & with such a limited diet. Hats off to you!

Unfortunately I don’t have any other advice to offer that Julie didn’t already mention.

Thanks Julie for the yahoo group link. I will check it out b/c my ds has a million & one intolerances ;).

ETA: I think looking for a specialist is certainly the way to go. If your dd is complaining of throat pain that much then maybe they will want to scope again?! & maybe consider a PPI now (like Prevacid) if it seems like her reflux is still causing her so much pain.erinntx2009-02-03 20:44:15

[Anonymous]

Wow, I also really respect your efforts with nursing and diet in order to make things better for your children! I just wanted to ALSO support the idea of using a ppi drug. Pain in the throat and the nightwaking *could* be that things are getting raw and she actually needs something much stronger than the zantac. I would think that zantac might not do it for this sort of severe reaction that she’s having. And seeing a specialist is a GREAT idea, often the peds don’t know that much about reflux and usually always try zantac and reglan before going to the more effective drugs like prevacid/prilosec/zegerid (this is just my opinion). Also, you don’t want to mess around wondering if the zantac will work or is strong enough when she has these other issues in addition with diet, etc. It’s a delicate balance when they have the intolerances/allergies and reflux issues. I really sympathize with you!!! My son had severe night wakings until we removed gluten from his diet, we had already removed dairy, soy and beef, and he was on strong reflux meds and those things all helped, but it was taking out an additional food that helped our situation in the end. What did the ph probe show with your daughter? We knew that our son was refluxing about every ten minutes from his results and that helped us decide how to handle things. Is her voice getting raspy? Is she coughing more? Is her appetite less? These are all possible indications of reflux that isn’t being properly treated. When we tried to cut my sons dosage in half last fall, his appetite became about half of what it was, he got the raspy voice and coughed more. When we upped the meds again, those things all went away. Hang in there.

[Anonymous]

The Ph probe was negative. That was two years ago now, though. And it wasn’t a “clean” test — we were unable to only feed her 3 times that day. She hasn’t eaten in two days, had had dental surgery as well as scoped from both ends, and I just didn’t have it in me to deny her nursing when she was really hungry and feeling awful. I tried to minimize it, but she ended up eating about 8 times in the 24 hours. I saw the results, and they were borderline — her reflux when it happened was severe, but it didn’t happen very often. I can’t remember what the cutoff score is, but I remember her score was one point under it.

Anyway, watching the numbers on the scope, I could tell she was asking to nurse when she was refluxing. But the Ped GI we had then thought it was normal.

She’s been weaned for 7 months now, and this crazy burping and roadkill breath just started about 3 – 4 weeks ago.

It’s possible that she has developed some new food intolerance, but she eats such a limited diet that I sure hope not.

J

[Author]

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