Spew

[leebee]

ok. i know we don't have it so bad these days so I don't want to sound like a whinger. BUT...when will the spew ever end???

Our 8 months odl was diagnosed with reflux when he was 6wks old, and was put on losec. it stopped the screaming, worked a treat. He stayed on that for a few months, until I thought I would see how he went without it. he had stopped the screaming after feeds, and the fussing on the breast...but he still spewed. Everyone has said, oh when he moves on to solids it will probably lessen.

Nope. He eats 3 solid meals a day. he spews and spews and spews. we have bucket loads of washing every day because everything is just covered in vomit. He is still thriving and gaining weight, so we know he is healthy...but we are so sick of the vomit. we smell like spew, he smells like spew, everything smells like spew. we took him over to visit some friends yesterday and he threw up on their carpet at least 12 times, oh, sorry, more like at least 2o times. all kinds of spew, projectile, little blurps, face plant spew. It just got to the point that had to leave, he had ruined their carpet! We took old nappies and wipes and bibs and spare clothes etc but once we had gone through all our spares, it was time to leave.

The truth is, it gets us down and we just want a light at the end of the tunnel. is there ANYTHING we can do to stop the spewing. He spews if he is sitting or standing upright, he just spews all the time.

[RISA]

Hi,
and wow, he sounds like a champion spewer!!! Please don't feel bad for 'whinging' about it, when you are still appreciating that it could be so much worse!! Dealing with that volume of vomiting would get anyone down, I'm sure, and I'm not surprised you find it difficult to deal with!!

Is he still on the Losec? Is he happy and content, despite all the vomiting? That's important too, and may influence how it's treated. Does he always vomit that much, or has it increased recently for some reason? If so, it might be worth having him checked by the doctor, as he could also have some kind of underlying problem, on top of the reflux (e.g. urinary tract infection). It might be worth checking anyway.

If that's all clear, there is quite possibly not a lot you can do to stop the vomiting, but the things that I wonder would be worth trying are
- to thicken ALL feeds (is he breast or bottle fed?- breastfed babies can still have some thickened milk/solids after a feed). It may not help, but it may be worth trying
- to trial taking all dairy out of his diet, and see if that has any impact on his vomiting. (if you are breastfeeding, that means you taking all dairy out of your diet too, even trace amounts)

Other than that, I think it is then a matter of managing the vomiting until it stops. If he is happy and content the doctors aren't likely to take a lot of notice, and it's fantastic that despite all the vomiting his weight is great (just goes to show what a great job you are doing, by the way)
You have probably already figured out lots of different ways of reducing the washing, but just in case you hadn't thought of these, I thought I'd run through a few things-
• Keep an ice-cream/margarine container handy to catch vomit. Some parents manage to do this quite well, and it can really reduce the amount of washing you have.
• A large square of material with plastic/waterproof backing is a good puddle mat to lay him on at home or when visiting. Place it on your lap whilst feeding as personal protection. If this isn’t available, use towels.
• A cloth/sheet over the feeding chair can save extra cleaning of upholstery and carpets.
• Make the cot up with several layers of sheets, separated by protective sheets. When you change them because of vomit, it’s quicker and easier just to take the top layer off.
• Less stress is caused if you only feed on a cleanable floor, plastic sheet, or outside on the grass, and try to make his environment easy to clean (toys and equipment are easy to wipe over or wash)
• Try using a hard plastic bib with a trough to catch spills.

I hope that gives you a few ideas. I wish there was an easy answer for you, but it may unfortunately just be a matter of trying to manage it as best you can. While most people may not understand how stressful it is for you, to deal with so much vomit, it is difficult, and you have every right to feel overwhelmed by it all. I'm sure anyone would!! Some learn to run to the toilet to vomit too, which is a big help. (oh, and I wish I could tell you when it will end. It's hard to deal with the usual milestones if your bub doesn't improve by those times. Generally, refluxers improve either when they are able to sit up and are on solids; when they are upright and walking; or sometime before the age of 2 yrs, so it is a HUGE range. They are all different, and you may not be able to predict when, sorry. It may also help to know that they can worsen at times when they are crawling/learning to crawl, teething, are ill, out of routine, overtired or have had vaccinations.

Glenda

[leebee]

that is a fantastic start for us to see where we go!

The answer to the Losec is no, he is no longe ron it because I felt without the screaming he is obviously dealing with it alot better than he was, or it is not hurting as much. Who knows, but I would rather he not be on medication if we can help it.

He is still breast fed and admittedly chucks up an awful lot after a milk feed. How do I go about this 'thickening' up if I am still BFing?

The dairy free thing is interseting and maybe that would be a good experiment. Do you know how long before all dairy is out of my system and how soon we would expect to notice a change?

Re the other suggestions...I like some of those. We have sheets over all the furniture and the rugs now so we can change them at the end of the day. There are hundreds of old nappies lying around the place fresh every day to use as wipers...it is really gross espcially with the introduction of solids!

He hardly spews whe I am feeding him his solids, it is just afterwards and continuing on throughout the day. He also rarely every spews in bed these days, so during the night we are free from spew!!!

Really appreciate your advice and if you knw any answers to my above questions I would be really grateful.
thx

[RISA]

Hi,
We're happy to help :)

Re how to thicken up the milk after a breastfeed, there are several ways of doing it. What I did, was just use a few spoonfuls of thickened formula after a breastfeed. It didn't stop my son from refluxing, but it did seem to help, so may be worth trying. If you don't want to use thickened formula, you could try thickening your milk with rice cereal, karicare food thickener, cornflour,or even infant gaviscon. Just a little bit after a feed might be enough to keep the amount of vomiting under control at least.

Re the dairy thing- some parents notice an improvement almost straight away, while others don't notice a big change for several weeks. I wish there was an easy answer, and a standard response, but they are all different. Generally though, if it is going to make a difference, I think you'd probably notice something in the first week, so long as both of you were off dairy completely. It means reading labels and making sure there are no traces of any of the components of milk (such as whey, casein, caseinate, milk solids,lactose, lactalbumin, cheese, curds, butter, buttermilk, etc). It can be really complicated trying to work out diet, and even more so, as if cows milk protein is a problem, quite often, so is soy protein.
It's always best to seek medical advice where diet is concerned, so if you do notice a difference, (or even if you don't) then please talk with your dr or a dietitian.

These sites might help too-

www.disability.vic.gov.au/dsonline/dsarticles.nsf/pages/Food_allergy_and_intolerance?opendocument

www.cyh.com/HealthTopics/HealthTopicDetails.aspx?p=114&np=302&id=1445

I'd love to hear how everything goes, and what you do find helps (or if it is simply a matter of time)

Glenda