reflux or gas issues

i hear such contradictive things about diet and BFing.

for the past couple of days my LO has been spitting up a lot. especially at night and it's difficult to put her down. she likes to be completely vertical.

she's VERY gassy; i can almost feel the bubbles on her left side when I'm feeding her.
however, she spits up a lot as well. just about 3 times in a feeding so i am really not sure if the gas is the issue or if it's reflux.

my twins had reflux and some things are the same...
he looks like somethings coming up, will make a sour face, etc. on occasion she'll let out a scream, then be fine.

not sure?

does diet effect any of this? do you think it's gas or reflux?
i called my pedi and she called in a script for zantac.

 

Sounds like reflux to me, especially with her liking to be vertical and making "sour" faces.

 

It sounds like reflux to me too. Wanting to be vertical is a big sign. You could try eliminating dairy from your diet, raising the head of her crib, and keeping her upright for 30 minutes after every feeding. Those are three of the big things that might help. Zantac may help with the pain but it won't reduce the spitting (just FYI).

Good luck - reflux stinks!

PS. If the reflux continues, I highly recommend finding a pediatric chiropractor. We waited until Piper was four to give it a try and I so wish we'd done it sooner.

 

Something else to throw out there... I know you were/are concerned about foremilk/hindmilk imbalance. I had that issue and my son was very gassy and fussy until my milk supply settled down (around 7 weeks). The foremilk has more lactose than the hindmilk, causing upset tummies. I used to give him 1/4 tsp Mylanta 3x a day, gas drops after eating, and I single-side fed him. That seemed to help.

 

I don't have any personal experience with reflux so can't really speak to it, but here's some info from Kellymom that you may find helpful.

 

we got 3 hours of sleep last night

omg.
she didn't cry at all; just so fussy and unable to sleep.
I'm really not sure what to do. I'm willing to change my diet but only if i have to. i really don't want to eliminate milk for 2 weeks to 'see' whats happening if i have to.
KWIM?

im not sure if it's my diet or if its the gas/reflux.

my pedi gave us a script for zantac.

 

Are you swaddling her & using white noise for sleep times? If not, I'd suggest adding that into your sleep routine. As you know, newborns have a hard time settling themselves to sleep so anything you can do to make her sleep environment more "womb-like" will help with any non-gas related fussiness.

Also, she's only a couple of weeks old right? It's possible she's got her days & nights mixed up. Does she sleep well/a lot during the day but then up all night? If so, try exposing her to bright light during the day & keeping her environment dark/dim at night, even for night feedings & diaper changes. Also, don't let her go more than 3 - 4 hours from start of feed to start of feed during the day - even if you have to gently wake her, you want her to start taking her "long" stretch of sleep at night time (at this age, that's usually only about 4 hours at the most).

Just trying to think outside the box here a bit - when babes are fussy we tend to think it's food related, but that's not necessarily the case. Sometimes there's a lot of other stuff going on. Hang in there! The early weeks are hard but they'll be over before you know it & she'll be into a lovely, predictable routine. :hug:

 

thank-you for your help.
she does sleep a lot during the day; last night was nuts. we've never had a night like this. she's a little over a week old, yes.

 

Ugh- the days/nights mixup was bad around here with the boys. It was bad enough that I put them in bouncy seats in the walk in closet at night with the overhead light on. :laughing: fortunately it didn't last too long.