why is he still struggling with burps

[Anonymous]

ds has been on 30 mg prevacid and 10 mg pepcid and aloe vera given before breastfeeds for a month now and is still battling the breastfeeds with trapped burps, and waking multiple times at night with needing to burp! Surely this can’t still be reflux!

I would think it might be my diet but it’s so limited there’s nothing left-oatmeal or raisin bran for breakfast, salad for lunch, and vegetables for supper with fruits as snacks and there seem to be no correlations. I have only occasional soy but first son tolerates soy although I know that doesn’t mean second one will. His solids are bananas and pears only-no grains and no legumes or orange foods which all seem to cause gas or facial rashes. I did have overactive letdown but it seems to be stabilizing a little more with out trying to pump and bottle feed but then maybe my supply has completely down-Bottle feeding him just seemed to make the trapped burp problem worse!

The main issues are still gulping at the breast or bottle(worse at the bottle but at breast it hurts supply), trapped air, painful spit ups, impossible to burp unless he relaxes and does it himself. also worse of all he seems to be hungry some of those night wakings because my breast milk supply suffers when he pulls on and off the way he does at every feed-he’s still twisting away even on all those meds! Thinking partially the problem is hunger, we started to supplement with isomil which he doesn’t seem to have a problem with (judging from gas and poops) and because of his gulps he is still waking at night needing to burp.

Please somebody help me- I am losing my mind. Can this problem be due to a hernia or some other physical defect? I just can’t seem to get a hold of this and because his weight is fine the docs don’t seem worried…but they don’t have to battle a nursing baby every 3 hours (he’s 8 mos old today).

[Anonymous]

I had the same problem with Myles. Even after he was medicated and pain free. He was impossible to burp and he would get full very quickly and not want to eat until he did burp. What I found that worked for him was to give him a full dropper of Mylicon (which is more than recommended but I’ve read it’s a very safe drug that doesn’t even get absorbed into the bloodstream) before every feeding. It only worked if I gave it to him right before he started eating. I’m quite sure it helped because when I forgot (which was rare) he had a hard time with being unable to burp and he didn’t eat as well.

I’m sure this burping problem was reflux related with him because shortly after he outgrew his reflux he began letting out a huge burp on his own after each feeding without any Mylicon drops. I don’t understand the connection between reflux and burping problems but it certainly does seem to exist. Ellie was the same way. Many nights I’d pick her up in the middle of the night and she’d burp…hours after a feeding…and she was impossible to burp during feedings as well.

I hope it gets better. I know how frustrating it is because I went through it with two of my babies.

[Anonymous]

We have the same problem too, and I also struggle with OAL. One thing that really helped was to take him off the breast once my milk lets down. I just let it shoot out into a burp cloth until it stops, and then I put him back on. He HATES this, but at least he isn’t gulping as much. He still will cough and gulp a little, but it’s not nearly as bad as before. I thought about pumping, but that only increases your supply. This way it’s not coming out so fast, and he can settle down and really latch on well. I also usually nurse him on one side per feeding … only moving to the second if he really seems hungry. This cuts down on the oversupply, but also gets him sucking enough on one side to encourage more milk supply too. Christine’s idea about the Mylicon sounds like a good one to me, and I’m going to try it. We go through about a bottle of that stuff every week around here. One thing I do is give him Mylicon before I lay him down for a nap. Right now, I am still pretty much rocking him to sleep, so I give him the Mylicon, and rock and pat and rub his back as much I can to encourage and burps to come up. It doesn’t always work, but I can usually tell if he has one in there.. .he wiggles around and stuff.

[Anonymous]

Christine,

Oh thank you. I’m so glad I’m not the only one with this-it’s been puzzling to me as other reflux moms I know stopped seeing the burp problem on the high meds. When did you take them off the meds? I really don’t think they’ve helped us at all because the burp is still happening. Do you think at 8 mos of age I could wean off prevacid and go to mylicon at each feed and get better results?

Also, did you have an overactive letdown or a “gulper” baby at feeds?

I forgot to mention that there is a “spot” to rub to encourage a burp to come up-it’s harder to use as they get older and won’t sit still but I find it worked well and does on other children that are still young. It’s the between the left shoulder and the spine-just massage a circle in that general area. When the burp comes up it feels forced so I think this might be a little bit of reflexology. We happened on it by accident but it worked until he got old enough to squirm away from me. ;-(

JamesonMom2006-12-1 15:23:16

[Anonymous]

I was not able to nurse Myles due to his severe reflux and a latch problem so I pumped and bottle fed him.

As for when to wean, with Myles it was easy to determine when his refluxed had passed because he was not a silent refluxer; he threw up constantly. When he stopped throwing up (around 9 months) I assumed his reflux had passed, so I waited another month to be on the safe side and weaned him from his meds at 10 months.

I guess you just have to use your mother’s intuition to decide when to wean. From reading here these last 10 months I’d say that most babies don’t outgrow it until at least 9 months, most between 9 & 12 months, so I personally would probably wait a little longer.

The meds never helped Myles with his burping problem either, but it did stop when he outgrew his reflux. The meds did keep his pain at bay and allowed him to eat and sleep comfortably.

Good luck and I hope you are at the very end of this reflux journey.

[Anonymous]

My daughter has the same burp problem still and she is almost a year…she does seem to burp some on her own, but it seems like everytime I put her down for a nap, you can just feel the tension in her chest from where the air is. I rock her to sleep too (I tried CIO and she still slept the same amount of time, so I figured why bother.) It has gotten somewhat better as the burps don’t wake her up at night. I never thought to give her a higher dose of mylicon, but I might try that…it couldn’t hurt. Something I have found that does help is that I put Brianna up against my shoulder and we do squats. 🙂 I swear, she burps more doing that than any other way….and I get my exercise in as a bonus

[Anonymous]

The squats used to help often with Myles as well. Not fun, be we moms will do anything to help our babies feel better.

[Anonymous]

Hi Amanda,

I really sympathize with you!! I have some thoughts on your situation….just thinking out loud– I would say yes, definitely this can still be reflux. Some kids really have trouble with reflux for much longer than 8-12 mos and also have physical issues that cause the burping types of behaviors and other things even when they are maxed out on meds. My son was maxed out on zegerid and still woke screaming multiple times a night until nearly age 2 (it was horrible, I’ll leave it at that) and had other issues.

We ended up trying the food thing….eliminating foods from my diet (( bfed until 24 mos) to see if it helped. Dairy, soy, beef, and gluten were the things that helped the most after they were removed. After taking out all dairy, even hidden dairy, he spit up much less. Soy helped too. He never tolerated beef. Gluten was something we tried when he was 17 mos old nad still miserable and I was going crazy. Docs recognize the value of removing wheat, and gluten is just a step beyond wheat (it’s the stuff that gives wheat flour products elasticity).

Another thought I have is that if this issue of reflux is physical, like an immature LES, or something with his esophageal muscles/entrance into the stomach or with a slight hiatal hernia or something…prevacid would not stop the problem, it will only lower the acid levels. So, for my son with his hiatal hernia, the zegerid made the stomach environment less acidic so it didn’t hurt as much when things came back up again, but things still came (and continue to) back up. Honestly the things that helped us hte most were the meds, elimination diet, testing (which found h. hernia, etc.), and AGE. Getting older, bigger, walking, standing up most of the day, this really helped my guy, but it took much longer than the average refluxer.

I hope something in here helps you feel a wee bit better. My son also gained weight well, so docs didn’t take us as seriously. It’s very frustrating. I hope things improve soon!

[Anonymous]

great ideas and suggestions…it’s such a busy time of year-thanks for taking the time to write…I have to share a development and get your input again…

I feel like the spit up usually revolves around the trapped air. If he burps he doesn’t spit up at all. If he spits up, it’s usually a small amount never a vomiting or even a heavy amount.

I do wonder about the hernia issue…he did have a inguinial hernia repaired…

The only dietary issue I’ve noticed with him is that things with beta carotine seem to bother him in terms of facial rash. I had eliminated that from his baby food choices to avoid this rash. In my own diet, I eat all allergens in minimal amounts including wheat, corn, nuts, dairy, soy, shrimp, etc. I just have no way of knowing what will bother him and I don’t want any of it in my system so much that he develops a problem with it. I stick to fruits, veggies, and minimal grains.

I have noticed another red rash around his mouth. I changed from the prevacid capsules to the solutabs about 8 days ago …Is this possibly the solutabs? Do they have a beta carotine ingredient in them or maybe some type of dye or citrus? I have looked on the box and the insert and can’t find it anywhere…Man, I sure do love how easy they are to give!

In the meantime thinking the solutab might be part of the problem, I started back to our old regimine of 3 ml aloe vera mixed with 3 ml mylanta before each feeding and he seems to be doing even better on this than on prevacid. I even noticed an ease of constipation which was occuring with the solutabs-he sort of cleaned out his system in the two days he’s been off the solutab. This may be short lived relief as I know prevacid might slip out of his system but in the meantime I can see if the rash clears and will know to go back to capsules rather than the solutabs.

One thing is for sure, he burps a lot easier on mylanta and aloe vera than getting 15 prevacid 2x day and pepcid 10 mg at night given under exact spacing and stomach conditions. I am finding that extraordinary. Has anyone also had this experience or problem with the solutabs?

by the way, dh was holding ds and doing squats when he fell over and while laughing at himself said “this is what those girls on that site had in mind when they suggested squats to burp a baby!” lol I thoroughly enjoyed the whole episode!

[Anonymous]

What a great dh you have!!

Yes, I did find the timing of the solutabs around meals to be terribly frustrating and a real PITA! But it was well worth it for us because Myles did so well on them and like you said they are very easy to give.

[Anonymous]

just to add an update to this topic…

after being off the solutab for a few days the rash around his mouth cleared-perhaps a strawberry sensitivity or a lactose issue? Not sure but I guess we are back to capsules because the mylanta and aloe are not enough to keep him comfortable and on the breast as he was before. Seems like prev helps with nursing but mylanta helps with burps. Considering the spacing you have to do with these 2 meds, I’d say we’re (*&*%^*%!! Oh well.

[Anonymous]

I am so glad that the squats were good, not only for burps, but for a few good laughs with your husband.

[Anonymous]

I agree with you re the whole spacing thing. Really, it never works out with Alana- she is always fed pretty soon after her zoton and I give the zantac within 3 hours. I guess at the end of the day we have to give it the best we can. Also, it is worth remembering (as I try to do constantly) that the drugs don’t cancel each other out, and the eating to soon doesn’t cancel the drug out. It all is just less effective. Alana has improved out of site on the Zoton (preva) and I have never given it “properly“. Maybe I could give her less if I spaced, but she would definately not be a happy chappy the 30 minutes she was waiting……

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