Help... horrible spit up episode at 6 months~

I'm beside myself tonight. Earlier this evening I was feeding my DD and DS formula bottles in their bouncy seats as I always do. DD was eating as usual, when all of the sudden her eyes got really big, she made this awful gurgling sound and then started to reflux- REALLY bad. It was projectile out of her mouth and nose. So much liquid came out. It was awful. I picked her up and patted her back forcefully until she could breathe again. After a few minutes she was back to herself for the most part. I, however, was pretty darn upset.

DD is now 6-1/2 months old. At 2 months, DD was put on zantac. At the advice of our pedi, I took her off of it after a week or so. We ultimately decided that since she was a happy spitter when she did spit, which was often not every time, it would be best not to medicate. By 4 months the spitting up episodes were over. I honestly thought this was completely behind us until today.

So... any advice for me? Have any of you seen anything like this? What should I do now?

Thanks so much in advance for your help. I so appreciate the support here!

 

My boys were happy spitters. In fact, Annabella was too. Drove me crazy. And I am watching a friend's daughter-and yup-a happy spitter as well. I get no relief. :laughing:

There were two instances with Nicholas and spit up like you mentioned. He was younger though-no more than 2/3 months old. One time it was when he was in the PNP at bedtime. He had already eaten(and still sleeping in our room, so within first month). I happened to hear him, or looked over at him and the formula was flowing out of his mouth like an eruption. It totally freaked me out. I was so worried. But it didn't happen again(this was the premade bottles from the hospital).

And then, he was sitting in his carseat after a feed and he did it again. It made my heart drop, but I was glad I was there and saw it. And honestly, it didn't happen again. If you are still worried, it doesn't hurt to call the pedi's office for some reassurance. Not sure if they have weekend hours or not and could call, or you can call on Monday. In the meantime, just watch DD and see how she does. I hope it was a freak thing and not something that is going to continue to happen. :hug:

 

That happened with our boys a few times. The only time I got worried about it and called the pedi was when it happened several times in a few hours. If it happens more than once, especially in a short time period, I would call the pedi. They had us do pedialyte for a bit instead of formula and that seemed to help.

 

How did she do? Any more episodes? My guys were incredibly spitty and occasionally had a few projectile spits that were a bit scary. It won't be long before she's sitting up and moving around and hopefully it will get better after that. Sorry you had a scare!

 

Zantac doesn't stop the actual spit up, just the pain associated with stomach acid burns.

Maybe she had a gas bubble that was there and then drank a bottle on top of it? Like she had to burp really badly before she took the bottle? Did she do it again after? Could she have a stomach bug?

 

:hug: Mine were on Zantac from 3 weeks old until about 9 months. My one spitter continued to spit up (just didn't scream), and we had several occassions of it coming out her mouth and nose. I used to bring the nasal bulb every where the first year because I used it to clear her nose when that happened. So scary when your lil one can't breath! She finally stopped spitting up around 14 months old (gravity helps).:grouphug:

 

Hi ladies! Big hugs and thanks to all of you for writing. Here's a quick update...

I didn't have a chance to talk to our sitter until today, so I really didn't know what lead up to the reflux. I was literally gone for one hour Friday afternoon when our sitter was here. Our sitter gave Elle one bottle prior to her nap, but didn't get a burp out of her after trying for a bit. She then laid Elle down thinking she didn't need to burp. At your suggestions, I called the pedi first thing this morning and she thought it was the lack of burping that caused the problem. She doesn't think meds are needed at this time since it was isolated so far.

Of course, I've been beating myself this weekend wondering if this would have happened if I would have been home the entire day Friday. I know, these things just happen. Hopefully it won't again. Our pedi just wants me to call if Elle doesn't go back up to her normal bottle intake by Wednesday. Since the spitty up episode, Elle is down about 8 oz a day.

Again, thanks so much to each of you for helping me. It really means a lot to me. You'd think after having 3 kids I'd be a least a little bit more laid back!

 

This is just a thought...do you think it is possible she has a caught a virus and vomited? Just because you mentioned her not eating. Just throwing it out there because we had a couple of those kinds of episodes in the first year with my DDs and we didn't have reflux (well, Jude had silent reflux supposedly but it was dairy intolerance I am quite sure.) Both times they got sick they vomited 1 or 2 times violently, right after feedings. And when they were sick they did not eat and had fevers around 101.0 or so. Sorry if this seems totally off base. Regardless, hugs to you mama.

 

Thanks for your suggestion! I actually asked the pedi about this. Since DD did not have a fever, the virus was pretty much ruled out. Thankfully we are back up to normal fluid intake. Heck, I don't know. Maybe it was a combination of things that caused this epidsode. I hope it doesn't happen again!

Again, thanks so much!