can reflux make my babies go hoarse?

my boys have reflux and are on prevacid 7.5mg disolutabs. i give it to them 20-30 minutes before their morning feeds. the reflux issue itself seems to have been getting better (better burps, less arching, less crying during feeds, less choking and gagging, etc.) but they have been spitting up A LOT. since yesterday i have noticed that both of them (one more so than the other) sounds very hoarse and i feel so bad for him because i feel like he needs a throat lozenge.

any tips/advice/experience???

thanks!

 

Yes, it can. Have you tried changing formula? Also, ask your ped if you can give them Mylanta.

 

Yes! Ryley was very hoarse due to reflux, crying and spitting up. What helped him was Zantac and reglan 2x day 30 mins before feeds. I also add cereal to his bottle.

 

Oh yes cereal! That is what helped the most with the amount of spit up for us. Jake, at age 3, still has a raspy sounding voice, and I wonder if it is due to the reflux that was not under control for the first few months.

 

what type of cereal should i add to their formula? i should mention that they aren't yet 2 months old..

 

I would talk to your ped, but we added about 2.5tsp of rice cereal per oz. It was thick, but got the job done. You do have to go up on nipple size. We used a size 3 Dr. Brown's. Rice cereal can cause constipation, so some add some baby oatmeal in to alleviate that(but beware, it can cause some major blowouts if you use too much!). I added cereal for reflux with all of my kids, the twins started at 2 weeks old.

Oh, IMO, the Beechnut brand dissolves better.

 

thanks becky

they are already constipated due to being on iron supplements for anemia. the pedi said prune juice i just don't know how much or how to give it to them.

we already use dr. brown's level 2 nipples. do you have to get the Y cut nipple or is a regular level 3 ok?

i'm waiting on a call back from the pedi still. i called this morning about this issue. the boys have been crying off and on all day and won't stop unless i hold them and i can't possibly hold them all day. i feel so bad for them! i want to cry with them!

 

We took one of our boys to the ped a few days ago because we suspected mild reflux (he would be starving but would pull away from nipple and cry, and he was hoarse, wet burps, cranky, etc). Our doctor recommended that we switch to Enfamil A.R. which has rice starch added and makes it thicker. We like the A.R. formula much better than trying to add cereal ourselves to the formula, and the A.R. formula works just fine with our level 2 Dr. Browns nipples. The ped said if he still had reflux problems that interfered with his eating that she would probably prescribe prevacid because it has fewer side effects than zantac. Our son has only been on Enfamil A.R. for about 5 days so I can't say for sure yet if that alone will keep his reflux under control, but so far so good.

Also, I started reading the book Colic Solved the other day, and it is written by a pediatric gastrologist (sp?). It got really good reviews on Amazon and when I read the 7 Signs Of Reflux chapter I could really identify a lot of those symptoms with my son. I would highly recommend this book since your child has reflux!

 

Poor babies! Yes, it definitely sounds that their reflux is not under control and is causing them pain. I would really push on the ped, maybe get a referral to a GI doc?

As far as the constipation. You could replace an oz or so of the water in their bottles with the juice. I'm not sure about prune juice, I would go with pear first.

I never had to use the Ycuts with the twins, but my other kids did.

Also, I have heard about probiotics helping kids with reflux, it comes in a powdered form, that you can add to their bottles, and you can buy it at a health food store. I didn't know about it at the time, but definitely would have given it a shot.

ETA....I just read my bottle of probiotics, it's called Kyo-dophilus and is safe for infants. We started using it last year when we all were so sick.

GL, reflux sucks! :hug:

 

my pedi won't let me change anything and is referring me to a specialist that is over an hour away from our house. i don't know when the appointment is going to be so i just have to wait for them to call me back and until then my little guys have to suffer

this is so cruel!

 

What kind of formula are they on right now?

 

ok i just got off the phone with the pedi, they gave the go ahead for 1tsp per ounce of formula in their food and 1oz prune juice mixed with 1oz water for constipation....here's what we did...

i just fed them their 5ounce bottle of similac early shield formula with 5ounces of gerber rice cereal and we got NO spit ups and very little "drippage", they each drank 4ounces out of each bottle. then they each had 1/2oz of apple prune juice mixed with water (that's all i could get them to take). so i am sure they are still constipated because they are crying now but not like before.

we see a GI specialist on friday.

hopefully i can get more prune juice in them and they poop soon. but no explosions please!

i also had to give them their iron supplements so i am sure that it is counteracting the joys of the prune.

 

That's great! I hope the cereal does the trick for them.

 

so far so good. do you think it will help them to sleep longer or should i still expect to get up every 4 hours for feedings? it would be awesome to think i might get a little extra zzz's out of this but somehow i have a feeling i won't. just curious.

 

In my experience, no, the rice doesn't help them sleep longer.

 

I am so glad that they are doing better with the cereal. We saw a GI Specialist as well and he gave me the best advice. Derek was such a bad spitter that we went from 1 tsp per ounce to 2 tsp per ounce of formula and it dramatically reduced the amount of fussing and spit up. It was heavenly. I hope the cereal does the trick for them. And in our experience as well, it did not help them sleep longer. We were still doing between 2-3 hours for feeds.