REFLUX

one of the boys has reflux (we think, we see the dr tomarrow). If I feed him over 2 oz. he gets sick within a half hour, and everything comes back up through his nose & mouth, and he chokes. It scares the crap out of me! Anyway, so, I've been only feeding him the 2 oz at a time, but he's still hungry! He'll stay up and cry! I've been feeding him every hour to an hour and a half, but now thats wearing me out! What should I do? Is there anyway I can feed him more, and get him to keep it all down? Someone please help me! :unsure:

 

My youngest has reflux, the last four have had it in varying degrees. This little one started on regular Enfamil, then we went to Enfamil AR, then we tried Axid until he was a month old and could change to Prevacid. The meds helped with the screaming from pain. We then added Thick-it to his bottles and that made a world of difference. It thickens the formula to a nectar consistancy, you can also make it thicker but that works for us. We still use the Enfamil AR with the thick-it and he is growing like a weed and very proportional with his last check-up. Weight and height were in the same percentile at his two month check up yesterday. We also have the go ahead to add a small amount of cereal to his bottles just because the peds wants to make sure he isn't taking to much formula. I am also a big believer in the Dr. Brown's bottles. We switched from Avent with my last son and the have helped with this little guy as well. Just so you know my peds was on board with all of the above and was the one who recommended the thick-it with this lttle guy. He said they are using that now because it is digested as a fruit instead of a starch and doesn't bind so it doesn't bulk them up or bind them up like the cereal in large amounts can in some babies. Hope that helps and best of luck, this one still sleeps in a Fisher-Price chair because of the reflux and can only spend time on his back on a wedge, and he still spits up after. LOL. I'm sure he will outgrow it with all the rest. The peds smiled and said, "you do what you gotta do" when the nurse gave me a funny look about the chair. I know he won't be a toddler and sleeping in the chair so ...

 

It is so hard to watch them suffer like that! I know how you feel. One of my boys was in agony forever until I yelled at the pedi to give him something. Every feeding was a nightmare. Are you bottle feeding? If so, I found that feeding James propped up in a Boppy worked sometimes, but it would still take forever to get him to finish a bottle because he would drink, then arch back and scream, try and drink some more and so on. We got him on Zantac and after his first dose, he drank a 5 oz. bottle. I was speechless. I know it's tough and I am glad you are getting him to the dr. now. Good luck!

 

First off, :hug99: I'm sorry you have to experience seeing him in pain. It's horrible. Especially when they choke on it. :hug99: My ds had reflux too, and it was severe. Some things that we did to get him to eat and keep it down were: mixing cereal in his bottle with the formula, having him eat in his bouncy chair {in the upright position, not laying down}, then we had him sit in there for about thirty minutes after his bottle...for night time, we elevated his crib on the side his head was, and meds. I'm happy you are going to see your doctor tomorrow, and don't let him tell you otherwise about what this could be. My docs didn't take me seriously until I put my foot down and once we started with medicine, my little boy wasn't suffering {as much}. Keep us updated on tomorrows appointment, and good luck. :hug99:

 

thanks everyone! I'll let you know...

 

Aww, I know your pain oh too well....

My boys had severe reflux. We went to a GI dr to deal with the issue. She basically said there are 3 different reasons you could be concerned:
~They turn blue when they puke
~They aren't gaining weight
~They are uncomfortable but seem ok....


Mine were pretty much in the last category. It was frustrating, the mess, the different tries on formulas. We wound up on Alimentum, and they had Zantac (I think? Its been sooo long!) in their Dr. Brown's bottles. It all didn't help much, but started to slowly go away once they started to crawl and then walk. Hang in there!!!

 

The only thing I was told was to try and burp every 1/2 oz or every ounce to get out any air bubbles that may be bringing it back up. It was hard and sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't. Sorry, that's all I have to offer. I hope it gets better soon. Keep us updated on his ped appt tomorrow. I hope he doesn't have reflux. Poor little guy.

 

Back from dr. They put him on zantac---- he took 3 oz at last feeding and did get sick a little, but not a choking fearful fit that has been for the last few days. I think we'll see improvement over the next few days! YAY! :a_smil09:

 

The zantac works pretty well for my girls. I have to bring them in frequently for weight checks to get their dosage adjusted but it does help some. One of my girls does the puking out the nose thing and that scares me as well because there is no warning, no noise and sometimes its well over an hour after she's eaten!
My pedi just today had me start giving her some rice cereal to see if that might help as well.

Definitely burp him often, keep him sitting up for 20-30 min after eating and get his weight checked and dosage adjusted if you notice it worsening again.

Poor little guy! Good luck!

 

I have one with reflux and both of mine are bf. She is on Zantac. The thing that made a huge difference for us is when the Dr. finally said to add the cereal. I have to pump for EVERY feeding and add cereal to it for her to keep anything down. There are still days though, like today, where she still can't keep it all down, but most days she does really good because of the cereal.

The Dr. said keeping them at a 45 degree angle really helps, so she sleeps in her bouncy seat. (8-10 hours YEAH!!!!!!) (before we got the reflux fixed she could not go more than 3 hours because she was starving)

 

Thanks! Everyones had really helpful advice! Thanks again