Questions re: Cereal in formula

DD has fairly bad reflux. She's on Zantac (1.4mL 2x/day) and her pediatrician recommended putting 1 tsp of rice cereal per oz. of formula. We tried it for three days and instead of spitting up real bad right after eating, she'd spit up about an hour later. She also just seemed generally cranky all the time and tightened up her tummy a lot and seemed like she was in pain, so we stopped.

Does it just take a while for her little body to get used to the cereal in her system and then she'll be fine or what? Should I try it again? Because now she's back to spitting up fairly forcefully (although not projectile by any means.) Her pediatrician told us that if it didn't work, to call back.. so I did and now they want me to come in for a weight check (I don't think she's spitting up enough to warrant a weight check, but that's just my opinion.) I'm honestly afraid that they're going to change her formula because we're on WIC and I just renewed both of our formula checks for the month.. WIC won't exchange formula for any reason once the check has been redeemed. We'd either have to find a way to make the Goodstart work with the cereal or not pay a bill in order to afford a different kind of formula for the month.

Any advice from reflux mommies who have been there would be SO appreciated! Thank you

 

Legally, if your kids doctor changes the formula WIC has to accomodate it if the doctor writes a perscription for it. They need to fax the new formula request from the docs office to the WIC office and they are to change it for the date the doc says to start. You take in the old formula and they are supposed to issue you new checks with the new formula. Thats what we had to do when Ethen was switched from Good Start to Nutramagin. If your local office says they cant they are mis informed. We fax orders over all the time for infants in our hospital that need to be on a different formula after discharge. Good Luck!

 

Seriously, this same thing just happened to me and my dds only a few days ago. The doctor signed a sheet that we have to give to WIC stating that they MUST change the babies formula until they are 6 months old. I didn't change their formula because we added the cereal which was our other option. We were told one tablespoon per ounce...a teaspoon per ounce is not enough. Since the cereal one of my girls no longer spits up but the other spits up maybe once and not handfuls like it was before. They are also on zantac (1 ml a day) and it seems to be working. It sounds like your LO is in pain from gas. The cereal does make them extra extra gassy and as someone else mentioned to me from this board it takes a bit more work to burp them and it's totally true! It takes me twice as long to burp them but I'm telling you it is so worth it. They aren't in pain screaming anymore from eating and then spitting up. It was hurting their throats and tummies so badly! Doc said it was definitely the acid reflux. I say give it another try adding more making it more thick because our doctor changed our formula from goodstart to enfamil ar lipil which is formula with rice starch in it. Instead of going through the ordeal of making an appointment (i know i won't get in for another month) i just started adding more cereal. The thicker the better in my opinion.

 

DD had reflux and the cereal in the formula did not work for us. It made it worse, but we could tell that right away. Maybe you just need to try again and take a few of the other suggestions and hopefully it will work for you.

 

I agree with getting the dr to write it has medically necessary and WIC having to change it. Bring back the formula you bought and the dr's form and they have to change it. You might have to fight it a bit but they will do it. As far as the tummy tightening sounds like gas. Extra burps all the time. The cereal didn't work for us and neither did the zantac. We finally switched to Alimentum and Prevacid and that helped. She still has gas problems although she has been done for 6 months with the reflux and formula. It is a long road, hang in there.

 

Our pedi told us rice cereal can be very constipating; that could be causing your LO's discomfort. I hope you can get the WIC office to work with you!

 

You can always try the oatmeal cereal too. I had better luck with that causing less GI issues. Sorry about the whole WIC confusion. If you are not already, keep her upright for at least 30 minutes after each feeding and have her sleep on an incline.