Reflux & refusal to feed

[bec 'n' twins]

I was wondering if anyone had any advice on children with reflux who "refuse to feed", ie. everytime I put him in the feeding position or the bottle near his mouth he screams and won't eat.

Cheers,
Bec n twins

[Rell]

Yes I had the same problem with my son I was lucky to get 50mls in him. The doctor put him on Zantac which has helped HEAPS. The Zantac will not stop them from throwing up but will ease the pain it causes. Even once on Zantac Nathan is still not a big milk drinker. He drinks 100 - 150ml when he should now be on about 250ml. He is putting on heaps of weight and eats lots of solid food so I can't complain. Are you bottle or Breast feeding? If you are bottle feading you can try sitting your bub upright to feed, this sometimes helps. How ould are your little ones?

Narelle

[weisje]

hi bec n twins,
My little girl has done this as well, (i tried mylanta,) your babies are very smart and are telling you that when they eat it hurts thats why they wont if it is in fact reflux. i alway check that it wasn't sore throat,ears,teeth, and rule the obvious. i found she would be a little different if it was a sore throat,ears,teeth, with out medication she would fuss the first 10ml have a break, have another 10ml fuss again have a break this would go on for the whole 200ml and every bottle, everyday.this is when i knew it was playing up again. Let them have a toy or some distraction play some music really loud or just soft & soothing too or sing or turn the shower on & feed them in bath room water is calming. I have tried alot of things I hope it helps

[bec 'n' twins]

Thanks for the advice & handy tips Narelle & weisje. Yes, I too was on Zantac but unfortunately it didn't seem to work for him. We were up to 3mls twice daily before we changed to Lotec. Have only been on the new medication for just under a week now and have mixed thoughts about whether it's working or not. What dosage of Zantac is your girl on Narelle? My boy (who is a 3 month old twin by the way with a sister who is good as gold in this department) luckily enough does not throw up, just brings up the acid so his baulks at the bottle and thrashing around is all I have to indicate whether the medication is working or not. He tends to have a good feed, then a bad feed, then a good feed again and so on. They are both still waking up once during the night (which I am trying to remedy) but this is when he seems to feed the best as he is not fully awake. I've been bottle feeding them since they were 3 weeks old. They both only just drink 100-150 mls too and should also be on much more but both are a healthy weight (especially my girl) so they must be getting enough. I will be trying to introduce him to solids as quickly as I can that's for sure. I tend to let him watch the tellie to distract him or walk around whilst feeding I find also helps.

[Rell]

Hi Bec'n'twins
My son is currantly on 2 ml 3 times a day of Zantac hes 6 1/2 mths. Im sorry to here the medication has not been working for you. Like your son Nathan has always had his best feed when he is half asleep. Starting him on solids early may not help, we tried this with my daughter (3 1/2 mths) and my son(4mths) and it didn't help either of them, they just threw up in different colours. By all means try this as I have heard of this working for some bubs.My daughter eventualy grew out of it at 12mths when she started walking . Have you tried the AR thickned formula? This helped my daughter a bit but not my son. He was just too lazy and refused to drink it. I know how hard it can be when feed time turns into a battle with baby refusing to feed. But some how my son continued to put on weight even when drinking 100ml at 5 mths. He seamed to know what the bare minimum was he needed to thrive and that was all he was going to drink. Good luck I hope things start to improve soon. :)

Narelle

[weisje]

hi,bec
when we tried losec, (1/2 a tablet dissolved in water then mixed with apple then went to 1/2 tablet once day)i found the same thing but it does take some time for their throat to heal. i kept with it then realised she wasn't waking at nite, then the days were better. I,m wondering if anyone has any ideas about what happens when you change to cows milk, just not working for us and she is 1yr doing fine with yougurt & cheese?

[Rell]

Hi Bec
Hows your little boy going?