You’ll find in this group we seem

opinionated. We are.

Our opinions are based on FACTS.

This is because we’re in this field (me: 21 (!!) years [2024] !)

a long time & have helped 1,000s of babies.

We know what needs to be addressed:

diet & medication.

We seem like med-pushers:

our aim/main goal is triage– to address the pain and help you find the

root cause of your baby’s reflux.

So, the reality is:

finding a doctor who addresses these critical issues can be an exasperatingly difficult task!

We’re not doctors.

Ideally you should find a doctor/medical professional who can help your baby be pain free!

When you find them, you will have a Plan to share.

You must have a solid understanding of your Plan;

this is why reading all the links we provide you is imperative.

We work with you to discover root cause(s) of your baby’s reflux,

using your baby’s symptoms, history, and also baby’s poop, to guide us.

Medication addresses the pain, as dietary changes are made.

We realize it’s confusing, but when it comes to getting reflux under control we have to look at treatment (diet & meds) as a whole. We cannot view them separately.

First and foremost, you need to understand what causes infant reflux:

Since reflux is most often caused by

¹an immature LES (lower esophageal sphincter) which allows stomach contents to reflux out;

²diet; exposure to ‘offending proteins’ exacerbate/worsen reflux pain & symptoms;

³ Ties; or

⁴ structural abnormalities, for example a hernia

The goal, aside from getting baby out of pain, is to get to the root cause of baby’s reflux.

This is how you will effectively manage it for the next 12-18 months until your baby outgrows it.

The Root Cause of your baby’s reflux may be any one of the above listed root causes or, a combination of them.

My son was not very affected by diet. The root cause of his reflux was more related to an immature LES and I believe he produced a lot of acid.

Other babies in the group are greatly affected by diet and others may have a combination of issues, for example: ties, diet and a hernia.

It’s impossible to know what exactly the root cause is and that’s why we advise addressing diet & meds first.

Medication is necessary to address the pain, as it takes time to figure out diet/offending proteins, to get ties assessed, revised & healed.

Medicating Properly is a way to ensure baby doesn’t remain in pain while you work to discover Root Cause.

In addition to medicating properly, in order to get pain & symptoms under control, it is also important to address:

¹diet- to remove any potential offending proteins in diet, because continued exposure to them will exacerbate reflux &

² evaluate whether it may be necessary to add or increase medication- to ensure baby isn’t in pain & is comfortable as you are working to get to the root cause.

You will learn how your baby’s diet affects not only reflux, but weight gain as well. If baby is ingesting an ‘offending protein,’ then baby won’t gain weight properly; there’s no need to fortify feeds.

You will learn how Proton Pump Inhibitors (ppis) work; they are pro drugs and they shut off some of the pumps that create acid.

The great thing about PPIs is that they are a pro-drug, which means they only affect the acid producing cells, so there’s no reason NOT to get your baby properly medicated & out of pain while you work on diet.

As you search for a medical professional (how to search for one is located further along in this post),

we’re here to help you research, so that you have a framework of understanding, and, with your research, along with our help & guidance, you can formulate a Plan, which you will present to whomever it is who will listen to you, as you advocate for your baby.

Take notes. Print out information. Highlight pertinent facts.

• Most drs start a baby off on a H2 Blocker

This is a med like pepcid, axid, and zantac.

Most babies seem to ‘pleateau’ on this kind of med.

Then they seem to ‘move on’ to a PPI

(infantreflux.org/treating-gerd-with-ppis/).

At this point, the time of starting a PPI, the damage has left it’s mark & the PPI can take up to 14 days to show it’s full healing affect.

If caught early enough, a PPI can help in as short a time as 48 hrs.

Sadly, this is NOT the case with most of our reflux babies, because drs want to start with H2 Blockers.

Now, some babies absolutely respond to H2 Blockers and that’s that.

You’ll find that the majority of babies here do NOT ‘only’ need H2 Blockers, because these cases are more severe, more intense, more complicated & desperate mothers (& some fathers) have therefore ‘found’ us & groups like this one.

So, when starting a PPI, your baby needs to remain with the H2 blocker because, until you see that the PPI is ‘working,’ then it’s as if your baby isn’t medicated at ALL.

You must space the two kinds of meds 4hrs from one another.

Focus on proper dosing of ppis (infantreflux.org/ppi-dosing).

Then address what form of PPI to choose and next, how to administer the PPI correctly

(https://www.infantreflux.org/dosing-administration-of-medicines-ppis/).

Read this, too:

How to find a doctor

All I ask in return is for you to pay it forward by writing doctor- reviews here:

infantreflux.org/directory-access-packages/ (there’s a nominal charge for this; all monies collected maintain the website. Message me on facebook with any technical difficulties)

Eight Steps so you feel/know you’re Doing something