Reflux and EASESY!????!

[* Paula *]

Kate, is your lo purely bottle fed ?  I would not worry too much if your lo has not gained any weight, the main thing is that he has not lost any.  That is where the concerns usually lie.  My DS went through phases where he did not gain weight and then the next week he would gain 8oz 

The possiblitlies sound like it could be an allergy to the milk.  Have you popped on to our allergy boards and posted there?  It might be worth looking at the  boards to see if there is any info in there that you could take with you to your docs.  Here is a link:-

https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?board=62.0

HTH's, Please let us know how you get on at the docs 

I know what you mean about the accents.  Although I don't think I have lost my accent, my sister always mocks me on the phone when she is talking to me saying that I am putting on a voice    It can't be helped picking up the lingo 

[Kate72]

Hi Paula,

I breastfed till about a month ago when I got a tummy bug, couldn't eat for a day and ended up having to supplement (DS was VERY hungry, poor boy!) since then I've tried to give him about 1-2 bottles a day just to keep him used to it, so it'll be easier to wean him, otherwise I breasfeed the rest of the time. Maybe he has an allergy and that's why everything's mysteriously got worse the last month - maybe I need a lactose/milk free formula..? will see what the doc says.

He has lost 1.4oz in the last 2 weeks, usually he gains at least 8oz per week so it is a little worrying... the sister at the clinic didn't seem phased, though she did tell me he should weigh almost 15 pounds by now (hope I am working this out right, I'm used to working in ml and kg, not oz and pounds!) but at the moment he weighs just over 14 pounds. I'm not too worried about that as he was only 6 pounds 3 oz at birth which is below avg, where I think the 15 pounds target is for babies born over 7 pounds...

lol, my sister picks up accents really quickly - her DH's family moved here from england and they have really strong accents, if she went to visit them for a weekend she'd come back with an accent, so it wasn't long before she lost the south-african accent completely once she'd immigrated!

Will come update again once I've seen the doc, hopefully we can work out what's going on!!!fingers crossed

Thanks for the ling to the allergy boards, going to lurk there for a while...
Kate

[* Paula *]

Hugs, from what you are saying, it could very well be the formula.  I may not be an allergy per say, but could just be that the formula is not aqgreeing with him.  Some of the formula's can be very hard on a lo's tummy.

Sounds like your lo has gained weight well in the past, so you are probably right that when you were not well and when you started supplementing with formula this is where the problem lies.

Please let us know how you get on at the doctors.

[babykylesmum]

hey kate,

fingers crossed for your little one. mine hasn't even been weighed in a couple of weeks but as long as they seem happy and keep eating, maybe that is a good omen. surely they'll be able to sort anything out that needs fixing for the long term, so you know he'll be alright in the end!

napping is going very well. last night we skipped the dream feed but baby woke early probably due to constipation. i gave him 1 ml gaviscon around 4 pm and 1 am he was pushing so hard he was really upset. after done pooing he settled down at woke again and 3:30 for food, so pretty normal. def not giving any more gaviscon!

let us know what doc says! all the best, kim

[* Paula *]

Hugs, it is so hard to watch your lo when they are constipated.  Our DS was hospitalised at 6 months old due to constipation.

If you find that the meds are really constipating your lo, I would take to the doctor to see if they could change them.

Please let us know how you get on.

[katsunflw]

hi Kate,
   I have a preemie that has reflux... we did the barium swallow on the 9th of Jan, and she is still pooping in out... had I known it was such a painful procedure I don't think I would have had them do it, they can do an u/s instead.... anyway we are on Zantac and have been for three weeks, it is weight sensitive so onece it works remember to keep up on the dose. we thought it stopped working and went back to the doc, where we are now on Pepcid... so actually who knows but our lo is now keeping food down, but the past two days have been really rough for me.

[NKmommy]

katsunflw - Hugs.  I hope the Pepcid helps!  Can I ask you why the Barium Swallow was painful?  It should be a pain-free procedure. 

[Kate72]

Hi Everyone!

Sorry it's taken me so long to reply, have had loads of trouble getting the site to load...

Went to the paed Fri and she was really great. She's my cousin's wife - don't see them much, but with her being family I was more relaxed and managed to ask all the questions I'd wanted to.

She's not concerned about DS's weight as she says it's not far below average and it's still in proportion, plus he had picked up a little... She also said lo's sometimes lose a little weight between 4-6months and then it's a sign it's time to start solids - milk is no longer enough.

She's had me put DS on a soya formula as she wants to see if that doesn't help him before we try him on any meds. As I had a milk allergy/intolerance as a baby she thought it likely that he might have the same thing. He's been much better since I started him on the soya, spitting up a LOT less... its kind of depressing when I b/feed him as then he spits everything up which is sad as I'd have liked to b/f till 6months, but as it's not doing him any good I've decided to slowly give it up... 

katsunflw, please let us know why the barium swallow was painful? DS didn't react at all, seemed absolutely painless, would like to hear what happened with you lo's...

Anyway, thanks so much to you all for your support... you guys are really great!!!
Kate

[* Paula *]

Kate that is great news that DS is doing so much better on the Soya formula.  Keep us posted on how he gets on with this.

[Pacified]

Just a thought... my doctor suggested putting a couple of thick hard cover books (Encyclopedia Brittanica... etc.) under one end of the mattress in my lo's crib to help ease the reflux. He also suggested she sleep on her tummy, which surprised me, but it has done wonders helping her to sleep better. If you can't find the wedge, just use some books!

[babykylesmum]

hey kate - so happy that soya is looking like good news for baby!!

i know you might be bummed about giving up BFing but just think of all the sleep you're going to get!   

today i'm experimenting with milk of magnesia - suppoed to be antacid and maxative so we'll see how it goes. yesterday sucked b/c baby couldn't sleep so was totally, loudly overtired. hopefully today will be better!!

good luck, kim

[katsunflw]

She swallowed it fine, it sort of cements up in the intestines..... not a good thing!

[babykylesmum]

hey guys,

well, the milk of magnesia i was giving my LO works really well for his reflux but constipation did get worse. bummer b/c it says on the bottle it can be used as a laxative too. i'm seeing the gp on monday so baby is off everything until then. poor little thing. hope you're all doing well, kim

[MargaretC]

Hi guys, thought i'd jump in here with my story - hope that it's ok to do that and it helps! My DD started out in NICU and came home cranky and constantly crying ( so did I  ) All the medicals ( health visitors etc) said she was just grouchy, but we thought it had to be more than that and in reading the BW figured it might be reflux. Did everything Tracey suggested and it did help ( raising ALL surfaces, rubbing back for burps for 3-5 mins - no patting and no jigging etc!) She dropped in weight from the 99.8th to the 60th percentile and after SEVERAL overnight stays in hospital they diagnosed reflux. Gaviscon didn't work - constipation city ( didn't help that we had been given the wrong dosage and had given her twice as much as necessary... heads rolled for that one) so we ended up on Ranitidine and Domperidone. They ROCKED  ! Between the medication and Baby Whisperer we got our smiley, happy content baby girl who is now at 7 mo and weaned off the meds very easily. She now spits up a little occasionally but not after every feed and it's really only a posset. We didn't start solids til 6mo either as part of her initial problems had been kidneys and I wasn't putting any more strain on those with early weaning (she was more than happy on the milk and put on weight easily - at 6 mo she was 20lb 5oz !!!) We actually woke DD for the DF - I needed my sleep!! - and she went back to sleep fine afterwards til her 7am wakeup. Now we are cranking down the DF we do try and do it as an actual DF without waking her, and we're getting there. As an aside, we did virtually no tummy time until the last 2 mo and she is absolutely fine developmentally - rolling, sitting up, scooting round on her tummy and desperate to crawl! Hope that helps and gives you encouragement - it's so awful when your dlo is ill and the medico's aren't getting it.
Kate - I know exactly how you feel about the BF. It was the one thing I really wanted to do as a Mum and we had to give it up v early on due to DD reflux. I don't know about SA but there is quite a militant drive here (UK) about BF, to the extent that I got no support despite not being a "lifestyle choice" and, although DD was clearly starving, no medico would come out and say that she needed more than I could do. The only positive thing I got was from a Health Visitor who told me that some Prof had documented that BF was being pushed at the expense of brain and physical development. It helped me to hear that because by that point I was feeling a real failure !
Good luck ladies - take care of yourselves as well as your dlo because you are very important too! xx

[* Paula *]

Hi MargaretC,

Thank you so much for sharing your story.  I am so pleased that your lo is doing so well and that she is weaned off her meds.