15 Month Reflux baby, possible MSPI

[LizzieN]

Hi lovely ladies,
I've just been back to the paediatrician with my 15 month old DS.  He has had reflux for his whole life, the vomiting started a bit before 6 weeks and carried on until 6 months.  We started medicating him by 10 months with Zantac, which did absolutely nothing...then finally at about 12 months he was put onto Zoton...which was an amazing difference.  Finally when he woke at night screaming, we could comfort him and get him back to sleep, it wasn't taking hours anymore.

But as we have gone along, and molars have started and he has been sick things have been so hard.  He has been waking in pain at least once a night, usually more (we have only had him sleep through a handful of times in his whole life) and has been really difficult to re-settle.

Apart from the reflux, Dyllan has a bit of a rash on his arms, which never seems to change and a bit of a rash on his cheeks which gets really red, then settles back down again. Our child health nurse told me that his rash was in the range of normal...I'm just wondering if anyone else has had MSPI in their LOs with only these symptoms or if usually there are more indicators.  Dyllan is very affected by his bms, but doesn't have bloody stools or loose ones or anything like that (sorry), but if he has a shortened nap (under an hour) I know there is one on the way, but it can take hours before it comes...He cries when he farts at night time, and refluxes until the wind is gone. Does this ring a bell with anyone?

Our paediatrician has put us onto a two week trial with no dairy or soy...me too as I am still breast feeding (sigh, I love my dairy) and has provided us with an elemental formula, which Dyllan actually drank this morning (I'm so proud of him, it smells yucky).  I have printed out all the recepies from the MSPI thread, thank you so much mums I SO needed that!!!  I just hope this helps, I really do.  I can't stand to hear my little man in pain anymore, it has gone on WAY too long.  He is such a joyful little wonderful bright boy and I just want him well....

Thanks lovely mums
xx Lizzie

[KathrynK]

Hi Lizzie
has he always had the rashes or just since he started on solids?
Alex has reflux and since solids he has had "the rash"- we have just discovered he is allergic to tomatoes. Just wondered how to narrow down the possibilities?
xx

[LizzieN]

He has always had a bit of a rash, but the one on his arms got worse in about Feb....He has been eating everything we do for ages and ages, so I can't pinpoint anything in particular that would have caused it.....Because he was a reflux bub, every new food I introduced I tried to work out if it made him worse....honestly mostly I just couldn't tell because he is ALWAYS gassy and refluxy too....makes me think perhaps it is something that has been there from the beginning, like dairy...

It will be interesting to see if things start to get better over the next couple of weeks, even if I will be missing cheese and milk and nice cups of tea and coffee and....cry...only kidding, I'd do anything to help him

I have noticed that he often gets a nastier bm after fish, so I've been treading a little carefully with that...too much egg also affects him, but doesn't seem to make it worse if he has a little in things..just if I give him scrambled eggs or something.  Also I don't really think it makes the reflux worse, just makes his poos different and a bit yuck...

Hmm...great that you were able to notice tomato causing problems, clever!!!

Hugs
Lizzie

[KathrynK]

I have noticed that he often gets a nastier bm after fish, so I've been treading a little carefully with that...

OMG, that's so bizarre, last night I gave the kids fish pie for tea and this morning between 6.30 and 8.30 Alex did not 1, not 2, but 3 of THE most disgusting poos I have ever seen/ smelt in my entire life. Mind you, I changed him to the "ordinary" follow on formula yesterday so that might be doing it too. (He's been on Aptamil Easy Digest until now, as it's thickened to stay down)

Long story about the tomatoes, but basically I suspected they were the cause so (and don't judge me here) I gave the kids bolognaise for tea and as I fed him the first spoonful and wiped the spoon across his mouth, his face went scarlet and blistered in front of my eyes. Dr said to cut them out for 3 weeks and then try again- the same thing happened so now we have to wait 6 months and then try again.
I am convinced there's something else though. My HV says tomatoes are really acidic and it's not uncommon for a reflux baby to react badly to acidic foods on weaning, as they are already sensitive to the stomach acid coming back up. I think he's also reacting to pineapple, strawberries and apricots so we are cutting those out too.

"Luckily" I'm not bf so don't have to worry about my diet (although have recently been diagnosed MSPI myself  and eggs too, so am cutting them out anyway  )
xx

[LizzieN]

My MIL gave my LO pineapple without asking me and gave me a dirty look when I asked her not to, but two seconds later DS vomited.....

Strawberries are a common badie for allergies too apparently, they are not recommended before 12 months, not sure if it's worse with reflux babies.

With the apricots do you mean fresh or dried, 'cause your LO may be reacting to the sulfites (I'm sure you realise that).

I've never had any reaction like you said with our LO (thankfully, that must have been a huge shock to you) our main issues are and have always been reflux and huge amounts of wind...I so so so so hope that this works.

xx Lizzie

[Spectra]

I know my son's mspi symptoms was the eczema and runny nose.  The symptoms vary and to different degrees, so I'd say it's possible.  I'd definitely be curious to see how he makes out over the next two weeks without dairy and soy, that really is the best indicator.  Hopefully you'll get some answers. 

[LizzieN]

Thanks ladies, I was wondering if the diagnosis had enough symptoms to go on, but tbh I would try pretty much anything at this point and although it is a little inconvenient (if it isn't the problem) I am thankful he hasn't needed invasive tests or anything and I think we will get the hang of dairy/soy free (esp with all those wonderful recepies)!!

The last two nights after he has had his formula he has vomited...and proper adult type vomiting, not spill..He is on an elemental formula now...(smells gross, I'm so proud of him for taking it)...but I think the problem may have been dinner.  He absolutely goes crazy about dinner, eats really fast.  We had mince meatball type things, I suspect that there is a bit much onion in them for him (coupled with the fast eating) which caused him to chuck, but we will see in the next couple of days!

We are still up with him at least once a night.  Couldn't get him down last night, he was really tired but just couldn't sleep so in the end I got him back up and let him zoom around the floor for a while (he farted a lot) then put him to bed with the dummy (which we rarely have to do) a bit before 9pm...he went down then woke at 11:30pm crying and refluxing (I think that was an OT thing too).  I held him for about an hour then put him down (once he stopped jolting around and crying) and he slept till 6:30am.

We shall see...I suspect we are going through the 2 to 1 transition too because his naps are a bit strange at the moment (not that they have ever been great because of the reflux)...I just SO hope this is the answer. I go through stages where I think I MUST BE CRAZY, it's not him at all, it's me!  But the crying is real, the funny noise in his throat is real, the waking several times a night is real and all the wind is real....so I guess we just have a more complicated case than anyone initially thought.  I had hoped he would be showing signs of getting better by now, but he isn't. I am so thankful that we have a paediatrician who listens   In the early days when I asked about his excessive wind, the paed told me to feed him more upright and he would be fine....I guess it's taken us all a while to realise that there was a lot more than that going on!

Thanks again ladies, it's a wait and see game I guess but then we have been waiting and seeing for a LONG time now, so a few more weeks won't break us

Hugs
Lizzie