Baby with reflux

[suejean17]

My 7 week old son was recently diagnosed with reflux and was initially on gastrogel and food thickner
today, the doctor prescribed zantac

i was wondering if anyone can tell me how they went with these medications and also is there an easier way of giving the food thickner (i'm breastfeeding and so i have to give it to him mixed in a little bit of expressed milk before every feed and i end up getting more of it on his front shirt than in his mouth...)

[Rell]

Hi there
Both my kids had reflux and both used Zantac. The Zantac I found realy easy to administer through a syringe although my son did try to spit but he eventual got use to it. I bottle feed both so I dont have any suggestions on the thickner. I know the thickner made no difference with my son so we just stopped using it. Here are some other tips that may help (some worked with both some with just one.)
Place a folded up blanket under the babys mattress at one end of the cot. This way their head is raised slightly

Put your baby in a rocker or bouncer for 15 min after a feed

Wait for 20 min after a feed before changing their nappy or change them before

Place them on their side to sleep with a towel either side to prevent them rolling onto their tummy

Never leave home without what we call "spew rags" ie. cloth nappies and a few sets of clothes

Good luck and happy washing :)

[weisje]

hi suejean17,
my liitle girl has reflux too. a tip i was given was try not to feed when baby is too tired as giveing thickener turns into night mare. we follow a routine of feed play sleep. and when the reflux was playing up, we did feed play feed sleep, i found this has helped latter on by not geting into too many bad habits that can't be broken, i also found that the thicker did help, but she got contsipated so i ended up giving her thicker in boiled water, i did that for a while then ened up expressing for about 3month and feeding with a bottle,and a slow flow teat, i then got on to solids a little early and put it in puree apple. we are not useing zantac we use losec. good luck

[suejean17]

thanks for the tips
btw, weisje, after expressing and feeding from a bottle for so long, did your baby still return to the breast later on? or did you go to formula?

[mich80]

my Dr prescribed Zantac for my son and it works wonders, although i mainly bottlefeed him, i have no problems with him breastfeeding. I found the AR(thickner) formula is the best.

hope this helps

michelle

[suejean17]

michelle, when you said you mainly bottlefed, do you mean you expressed and fed him or got him on formula??

also, does anyone have any settling techniques? before eddy was diagnosed with reflux he was so unsettled, i slept him in my arms for about a week and now everytime i try to put him down to sleep in his own cot, he cries the house down

sue-jean

[mich80]

hi suejean,

I express breastmilk and formula feed him at the moment as im working partime and cant express enough out and im also pregnant, with bad morning sickness so my milk supply is really low. I got into the habit of holding my baby till he eventually fell asleep, in the i just let him play on his mat till he went to sleep on his own and when it came to bedtime i would let him cry it out for 5 -10min in his cot and he went of to sleep for the night, he knows now that when its time to go into the cot he has to go to sleep on his own!! also try to elevate his cot by sticking a pillow under the matress this helps witht he reflux!!

michelle

[weisje]

suejean17 hi again,
I stoped around that time and went to formula as the thickener became expensive and teeth were started poping up.Alot of people do feed both ways successfully some babies don't mind. i think it has to do with the flow more than anything. i found it very difficult to stop breast feeding and go to the bottle there are alot of judgemental people out there. although it did give me alot of joy and happiness when i watched my husband feed our daughter. also a friend told me that every baby does eventually wean from their mother which made me feel a little at ease. also formulas that are made these days are pretty good nutritionaly.

Sleeping & settleing we also have had diffcutties with it now, no where as bad, we do a type of controlled crying, & a good routine. same time for sleep each day. feed play sleep it sort of happens the around the same time. i have also used a swing to calm & get sleepy in upright then slip in to bed,also a exercise ball calms there crying. I went a to a heath nurse and did a day stay.we do a type of controll crying. i still respond to her ,the hardest thing is doing it every time wherever you go. people can be nasty. but you have to do whatever works. my little girl is 1yr and she has 2-4hrs during day sleep and 10 hrs at night, which i'm so thank full for.