Reflux - 9 month old

[furkids]

Hi Glenda,

My DS is 9 months old and has been on 10mg Losec since 5 months old, but diagnosed with reflux since 6 weeks. Last time we saw his paed gastro he said that he didnt need to see us again and that we should take bubs off Losec at 10 months as things were going well.

BUT I think his reflux has flared again to the point it is as bad as when he was younger. He is clingy, irritable, vomitting again, comfort feeding like crazy (every 2 hours, sometimes 20 mins), you can here the wet hiccups and vomitting into his mouth and he has taken to screaming during the evenings again and waking screaming from sleep.

Can reflux flare again at this late stage? Would the drugs stop working / lose their effectiveness after working for 4 months??

[RISA]

Hi there

I'm glad your baby was diagnosed at such a young age, and that you are able to recognise that he is flaring again. Have you spoken to your doctor about the flare? If not, it may help to take him back to the gastro paed and have him reassessed, or phone him and see what he wants to do. It may pay to make sure there is no underlying infection, as many refluxers can be prone to issues like ear infections and chest infections.

Sometimes a child can progress so well on the medication that it seems like you can wean them off the medications, and as soon as you try, it all flares up again. It maybe that he is just not ready for the moment to come off the medication, putting him back onto it for the time being and trying again in a few months is what a lot of reflux mums have to do, its all trial and error.

There can be lots of reasons for a bub to flare, even if you haven't tried weaning the medication yet- and I always found that if I could understand what was happening, if it made a bit more sense to me, I could cope better emotionally as well. The kinds of things that can flare reflux are things like teething, immunization, illness (even just a cold can be enough), a change in routine, being overtired, a change in weather, crawling or learning to crawl and even constipation. Perhaps if he has one or more of these things happening (especially given his age), it might explain what is going on. It may help to know that it is quite common as well- and there are a lot of bubs who still require medication when older.

Also, it may help to know that some reflux children have sensitivities to foods such as dairy, soy, and other foods which make reflux worse, like citrus, tomatoes, onions, gassy vegetables, fatty foods etc.

I hope everything settles down for you and you are able to get back to where you were before the flare started.

good luck

Marie