Still Refluxing

[Anonymous]

I know I have posted before about this but I just really need some encouragement today… Seth has been having BAD reflux episodes almost every night for the last week or so. He will go to sleep and wake up about 1 hour later screaming. You can hear him swallowing and reswallowing and he has the sour breath and is arching. We are giving him Mylanta and it seems to help some but he is still obviously uncomfortable. Last night was a little better but Sunday we were up from 1-4 with him. This coupled with the time change is killing us.

If these episodes are food related (he is eating a lot of new things), wouldn’t it bother him during the day too? He is also teething and has so much drool, we sometimes have to change his shirt- could this be it? Please help. If it continues, we are going to call the GI back and possibly do testing.

Mom2Seth2006-4-4 9:53:30

[Anonymous]

Hi Tiffany –

I’m so sorry to hear about this – I’m sure it’s really frustrating. Strangely enough, Owen’s been waking up a bunch in the night lately too – I think I mentioned that to you lately. Last night he went to bed at 7:30 and wimpered for about a 1/2 hour (I think from the time change more than anything) and then woke up at 9pm and again at 10:30, then luckily fell back to sleep on his own. The night before I was up with him from 1am-2am.

Do you think that the drool could be causing the reflux to be worse? I know whenever Owen is teething he just generally seems so much more unhappy, particularly at night. Have you tried benedryl? I know that people have said that helps a lot with teething and we have used it on limited occasions and have had good luck with it.

Could it also be something developmental, like separation anxiety or something? I’m sure you’ve thought of all of these things already but I know my mind always comes up with about 800 possibilities whenever we start having one of these periods. Has this corresponded with the new dairy foods that you’ve been trying? I know my GI doc always says that kids with MSPI often have reflux as a symptom of the food intolerance, more than just having reflux on its own. Maybe it’s his way of reacting to the foods but during the day he’s just distracted by other things so it doesn’t bother him as much?

Sorry, I know I’ve rambled and I’m not sure if that’s helpful or not. Good luck, I’ll be thinking of you guys!

[Anonymous]

Hi Laura, sorry I am just now responding. Sounds like you have had a rough go of it too lately. I did see your other post about how Owen wanted to play when you put him in the bed with you and DH and actually thought of you guys when Seth was up half the night! Maybe part of it is developmental. I am just amazed that Seth still has so much energy during the day after such restless nights….

I do think some of this could be food related. We have cut out dairy except in the hidden form to see if it makes a difference and I am tempted to halt all dairy/soy too if it continues although it will sure be hard to go back.

The good news is he did sleep better last night. We gave a teaspoon of Mylanta before bed and let him go to sleep while watching Baby Einstein and then we keep holding him up about an hour after that so I think that helped too. We have also eliminated his bedtime bottle because he is eating a very good dinner and GI nurse said maybe the bottle was just too much food on top of that.

We do use Benedryl for teething and it does seem to help. I wanted to tell you that I just bought the new Fastmelt kind and they are great! I always had a hard time getting Seth to take the full amount of the liquid.

Anyway, sorry so long but thanks for responding. I am always curious to know how Owen is doing since they are so close in age.

[Anonymous]

Hi Tiffany –

Sorry that it took me so long to see this – I had to travel for work yesterday and that always throws me off! How did Seth do last night? I’m glad to see that he slept better a couple of nights ago. Owen slept last night but the night before he was up – ugh. We used benadryl before bed last night and as much as I hate to feel like we’re drugging him to get him to sleep, he slept through the night so much better – not a single peep out of him from 7:30pm – 6:15am – so I think we’ll continue using it if we have to. I’m afraid his may be food related too but I really don’t want to remove the soy from his diet because some days that’s all he’ll eat!

I hope things are getting better for you anyway. We have Owen’s 15 month appointment tomorrow – I’m really nervous that he’ll have lost weight since he hasn’t been eating well and had that diarreah for so long – but I’ll let you know how it goes!

[Anonymous]

Tiffany, I don’t have any real advice. I just wanted to offer my sympathy. I certainly how awful it is when they’re up refluxing all night- we’re going through it as well and it just wipes you out. I really hope that Seth gets some relief, and that you get some sleep, soon. Hang in there.

Laura, good luck at Owen’s appointment tomorrow. Please keep us posted.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the support Lori! I hope things improve with Hailey soon too!

Laura, he had a minor episode last night but did so while DH was holding him upright which he usually doesn’t do. I also took him to church last night and he was fussy and did not want to get in his car seat when we left. He kept sliding down and stretching out so I am thinking something was bothering him prior to that. Hope Owen’s appt. goes well.

[Anonymous]

Oh my god – Owen did the exact same thing with the car seat this morning. I thought we weren’t going to make it to day care!!! What is up with these guys? I thought it was just a random thing but the fact that Seth did it too makes me wonder…

[Anonymous]

OMG- that is weird! Have you ever wondered if maybe they are having growing pains? I swear Seth looks longer every morning. I’m sure a lot of it is probably food related but I think I just keep hoping it will be something else.. It is strange they are both doing it though because Seth has never acted that way before.

[Anonymous]

Owen too – he did that one other time a couple of weeks ago but other than that this was only the second time he reacted like that. He loves the car and is really used to it and doesn’t usually care about getting into it at all.

I just asked my husband about the growing pains thing this week. Owen is really really tall – I’ll find out how tall he is at his appointment tomorrow but at his one year he was 32″ or 33″ I think. He’s always been off the charts at every appointment with height and he has gotten much taller just within the past couple of weeks. There’s a girl in his daycare who is just about his age and he is literally a head above her – she comes up to his shoulder. If I’m remembering correctly I think Seth is pretty tall too – maybe we’re on to something!

Who knows – I feel like so much of it is a guessing game. I’m going to ask his doc tomorrow what he thinks but I don’t know if he’ll have much wisdom for me. Good luck – I hope tonight is better for you guys!

[Anonymous]

yeah, Seth is tall too. 32 inches and growing at his twelve month. He is also a head taller than anyone in his class. One of the teachers told me that even a parent of a girl in there his age remarked on how tall he was. I think he is the height of the average two year old. I am tall (almost 5’9″) as is my dad but DH is average height (5’11”) so we think Seth is going to be all arms and legs like me. Mom2Seth2006-4-6 13:1:2

[Anonymous]

I just thought I’d pipe in about the stretching out and sliding down to avoid getting into the car seat…. My older non-refluxer does this all the time. It’s their way of trying not to get into the car seat, and it can be annoying as he** when it’s freezing cold in the winter and all you want to do is strap them in and move on. That, and making themselves like Jello so you can’t pick them up off the ground are my personal favourites (well at least they used to be until Hailey raised the bar with her own repetoire). Oh, the things toddlers do…. s&h’s mum2006-4-7 10:11:26

[Anonymous]

Thank you Lori for sharing, that makes me feel better. It’s so hard to tell (especially for us first-timers) what is reflux and what is normal toddler behavior. Seth has totally been doing the jello thing too!! He usually pulls that when he is outside and does not want to come in.

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