Spitting up

I'm prob'ly being stupid or whatever, but I just don't know how much more I can take. At first Alex was the only one spitting up, and it was such a small amount that I wasn't as concerned b/c I know some babies just spit up. I had called the pedi's office to see if I should change formulas just for him (they are both on Emfamil Lipil w/Iron) and they said it wasn't necessary, not to worry about it. (Although we did have the Target brand at one time and he did seem to spit up a little less and have less gas with that, but now that doesn't even make a difference.) I even asked again at their 4 mo. appt, and same response. Well in the last week or two, they are both spitting up! It is still a small amount, but they will spit up like 3x before their next bottle, most times more so it adds up to a lot it seems. I try burping them as much as possible but it doesn't seem to help. I always try to sit them up for like and hour after feeding them also rather than laying them down, b/c if they are laid down they just turn over to their stomach immediately and spit up right away. I'm a new mother and I just feel like I'm doing something wrong. I know that I haven't tried absolutely everything yet i.e.: all the different formulas. Just so that I have as much info as I can in here, since I haven't been working since the boys were born, MIL has been buying the formula. She orders the 38oz cans from Costco to ship to us and she orders 6 at a time, so right now we still have a few more cans to use up, and I didn't get to mention to order something else to try the last time she ordered. I am so greatful that she has been helping out these past few months.

I'm sorry for the long post, and again, I know I'm being stupid and prob'ly overreacting, I'm just getting a little frustrated. It's getting to where I'm changing their clothes at least 6x a day, not to mention mine, and I don't have that many clothes!, and having to wash a load like every other day or so, and the water bill is starting to grow....(didn't mean to turn this into a financial thing, but I'm a little stressed about other things, cuz I just bounced our acct.)

Thanks for reading, and sorry for what turned into a vent. Any other advice is much appreciated!

 

You are allowed to overreact! You are a mommy! :hug99: That said, I don't think you are really overreacting! Have you asked your ped about adding some cereal to their bottles to help keep it down? I have done this with all of my refluxers from very early on...like at 2 weeks old! I think I would be inclined to give that a try first. Reflux is terrible, I am sorry you are having to deal with it. :hug99:

 

Mine were both BIG spitters as well. Sometimes it seemed nothing was staying down, especially with Luke. Even though it seemed to me it would be miserable for them, my doctor was hesitant to do anything about it since they were both gaining weight & growing as they should be. She said they would outgrow it most likely around the time they could start pulling up (stronger upper body muscles maybe?). I don't know but it seems she was right, I thought it would never end but now they spit up maybe once a day. Talk to your doctor next time you're there & get his/her opinion, there are things that can help if it is really bad. Oh, and it did get somewhat better when we switched from Enfamil to Nestle GoodStart & the liquid concentrate stayed down better than the powdered version for us. :hug99:

 

We gave them rice cereal for spit up issues, and that seemed to help tremendously. The pedi says spit up isn't anything to worry over AS long as they are growing and gaining weight. If they aren't, then you should worry.

 

I don't think you are overreacting at all, either! It's worrisome that they're spitting up and a pain to have to change them all the time. My James has a bit of a reflux issue, too and I sat him up for an hour or more after his bottles as well.

Our pedi told me:
1. Don't change the formula b/c he's gaining weight and doing ok.
2. Put rice cereal in the bottle. His formula was 1/2 tsp. for every 2 oz of formula.
3. Reflux tends to rear it's ugly head around 4 months and could take several months to go away.

The rice helped us, but James still spits up a bit. I hope you're able to find a good solution!

 

Ana spits up all.the.time!!! Seriously. It could be 4 hours after her bottle and we are getting ready to give her another and she spits up. Meara spits up too, but only occassionally. When she does though, man oh man, she spits up a lot! And always ALWAYS down my shirt! My sister commented on how she leans in to get the right angle so it goes right down the middle of my chest. Nice.

They both have reflux and are on Zantac (since 3 weeks old) and we do Mylicon drops in all their bottles. They are gaining weight really well so my pediatrician says the spit up is "only a laundry problem." This really helped ease my concern since I spent the first several weeks obsessed with how much they were taking in and spitting up. Now I'm more relaxed and we use bibs... and sometimes they stay in onesies that are a little moist. Oh well.

However, if you are concerned call your pediatrician again and have him/her evaluate the situation more thoroughly. I have to say after the girls started Zantac they became 'happy spitters.' Pre-Zantac they would scream after spitting up.. poor pumpkins- acid coming up doesn't feel very good. Thankfully they only had 2 days of this before they started the Zantac. Now they spit up and barely miss a beat.

Good luck, Leighann

 

My first thought was, are they sitting up more during the day, propped in boppies or something? My girls started spitting up A LOT more when they started to move around more.

 

I was just at the Ped's office today, and we talked about spit up. My babies don't really spit up much--but I remember my ds was a HUGE spitter. Here's the guideline the Dr. just gave me. If they spit up 80% of the time, and large amounts it's something to be concerned about. They don't recommend putting rice cereal in the bottles anymore (he said they've found links to obesity or something). FF babies are just more likely to spit up anyways, so it's just a matter of what is considered "normal". If they are content after a feeding and not super fussy--it's probably nothing to worry about. I would definitely check with your Dr. just for peace of mind. Good luck!

Reyna