For those who have dealt or are dealing with Reflux in a 3 month old

Okay, sorry for all these questions, I am just at a lost of what to do.

My DD is 3 months old and is on Zantac for reflux. She is also on Similac Alimentum. Per the pedi, I put rice cereal in her bottle at night (usually around 7pm or so). She just has these screaming fits, at first only at night for 2-3 hours until the rice cereal has curbed that down to 30 minutes a night. But now she is acting up during the day! I just hate to see her in discomfort like that. She hasn't gained any weight in the past month because of her reluctancy to eat full bottles but we didn't know it was from reflux. The pedi thought she was just going through a phase and switched her from Similac Advanced to Similac Soy and now the Alimentum. We tried the Nestle Good Start inbetween and that made her worse.

Here are my questions:

Did your baby grow out of this? If so, when?
What did you do to comfort him/her when they would have crying fits and nothing would work?
Did you think the Zantac really helped? If not, did you switch meds?
Did you think it was the formula? If so, what one were you on and/or switched to that made a difference?

I feel terribly guilty that I am no longer bf because I developed psiorasis on my bb's. I want to buy the breast shields but I am afraid that the babies won't nurse anymore since it has been so long (1 month).

Now I am getting her to sleep before 10pm which is a start but I feel like she is still not eating enough.

 

I didnt think the zantac was working at first but they were growing so quickly that I just had to keep bringing them in for weight checks and getting the dosage adjusted. They have been much better for about a month now (they were not puking anymore either until these past few days).
My Maia has crying fits occassionally and I just sit her up either in my lap or on my shoulder and just keep patting and rubbing her back like she has a burp and eventually she calms down (I have no idea if I am actually doing anything to help her or not but it seems like a good idea )
I know that doing more frequent smaller meals helps. Also you could try breaking the zantac dosage into 3x a day if it gets worse in the afternoon. My pedi had said I could do 1ml 2x/day or .7ml 3x/day. They hate it so much I just do the 2x a day and it does the trick.
They are also getting zantac in my milk though, I have pretty bad reflux and my doc switched me to zantac to keep it in the family.

I'm probably no help whatsoever....
I hope she feels better! Its so tough seeing them uncomfortable! Good luck!

 

My DD was on Zantac also (starting around 4 weeks). Yes I think it helped with the spitting up, but the biggest help to us was switching to Enfamil Nutramigen, which we did at 6 weeks after a particularly rough weekend. She became a different baby about 4-6 hours after we switched her. It is expensive, but it worked for us. Around 4 months we tried switching her to the Enfamil Gentlease and it was a disaster. About 6 months we tried Good Start with her and it has been smooth sailing since then. We stopped giving her Zantac around 8 months and haven't had problems. We tried putting rice in her bottle before switching formula and that did not work for us. She screamed even louder.

Another thing that worked for us was sleeping her on her tummy. I know it is not recommended, but that was the only way she was comfortable and she actually slept that way. Up until that point she would only sleep while laying on our chest. Sometimes we could transfer her to her crib, but not usually. Ped said if she was content that way, he wouldn't force her to try and sleep on her back.

I hope she feels better soon!

 

Hi,

Zantac worked for one of my daughters but not for the other. We switched her to Prevacid and then to Prilosec, and that finally worked. When I stopped breastfeeding I tried a milk formula, then soy, but the screaming and not eating came back so both of my girls are on Nutramigen now. Between the Prilosec and the Nutramigen, there's no crying or fighting eating.

Honestly, that's the way that medicine (and the right formula) should work for your baby. It sounds like the Zantac isn't the right medicine for your daughter. Or maybe she needs a higher dosage. Do you have her sleep with her head elevated? We did that until the girls were six months old and it definately helped.

Good luck!

 

I agree with Trish that you may need to switch meds. We were on Zantac for about a month when it stopped working. We switched to Prevacid and have had better results with that. My boys still have flare-ups (they're having one right now ) and we regularly have to call the ped to increase their dosage. We also do A LOT of other things to try and keep it under control...

Burp frequently throughout the bottle (every 2-3 ounces), keep them in an upright position for an hour after eating, elevate their mattress (they sleep on their stomachs), put rice cereal in every bottle (1tsp per ounce), avoid tight fighting diapers and clothing, and keep their heads raised when changing diapers. When mine were 3 months old we gave Mylicon after every bottle to help with gas that can aggravate the reflux. Our ped said we could give Mylanta if they seemed really uncomfortable after a bottle... we did that a few times.

Good luck, I'm so sorry you're going through this. Reflux is such a pain in the a**! But, most babies outgrow it between 4-6 months so hang in there!

- Carrie

 

I just wondered on the breastfeeding question...can you pump? I know breast milk is really much easier on reflux babies, but it's not always possible and formula is really good these days. Since you mentioned wanting to breast feed, I'm wondering if pumping will work because then they get the breast milk via bottle if that's their preference. Also, I don't think you should feel guilty! I'm sorry she's not feeling well. My DD has reflux and has shown marked improvement in the past 3 weeks. Hang in there.

 

I totally remember those days... Zach had it worse than Josh. The Zantac helped Josh in combination with the soy formula/ cereal mix. But for Zach the cereal made him gassy or something made him cry a lot. I switched him to the Neutramagen with cereal sometimes and without sometimes. And that helped him a lot. They both started getting over it when they were about 9 months old eating more solids... it felt like forever. After they were about 7 months old I also stopped the Zantac on Josh and he was fine but with the soy formula/ cereal mix until 12 months when I started whole milk. A couple times a week in BOTH of their bottles, I would put a drop or 2 of vitamins by Gerber because I was worried about getting enough. Do not know whenther that helped or not. But it made me feel better. good luck

 

First :hug99: to you. It is so so hard to see our babies in this much pain. My little girl had to deal with it for 2 months straight. We were on Pepcid...it really didn't work. I was at the doctors every 2 or calling every week. They were constantluy upping the dosage. I kept asking for Prevacid until finally after seeing the GI specialist they prescribed it. It took about 2 weeks to work for us, but some it works instantly. She is almost a new baby now. I just wish they would've given it to her alot sooner. I missed having such a sweet happy baby. She was so unhappy all the time. Call your ped and ask for the Prevacid and don't stop asking until they can give you a good answer to why not. Good luck!