Help for my Happy Chucker!!! Mum is not happy.

[Mixi]

Hi All,

I am a first time user so hope this works ok.

I have a little girl who is almost 6 months old and is a HUGE happy chucker. I have read so much about reflux but mostly the advice is for babies who have the acid reflux and need help with the burning in their throat etc. My baby does about 50 decent vomits a day but I don't think she even knows she's doing it. (unless she picks up on my distress of the messshe is creating?).

I breast fed for 3 months and she started loosing weight so I now express 3-4 times a day and she is bottle fed my milk with a thickener added to it. I am hoping to go back to breast feeding when the vomiting stops....which is the million dollar question...WHEN?????

I was wondering if anyone can specifically help me with advice on happy chuckers reflux (leaky valve). I have tried all the positions during and after feeding which make no difference at all. We started solids but she chucks that too.

I saw an Osteopath today but am a bit sceptical as to what it will do.

Would love to hear that others are experiencing similar to me.

Just going to put on ANOTHER load of washing.

Thanks :)

[Nowhere]

have the drs spoke to you about motility meds like domperadone or maxalon (domperadone being the safer one) they speed up gastric emptying to atempt to reduce the vomit, doenst always work but maybe worth a try

My DD was a huge puker as well as a silent reflux, she has an anti reflux operation done ( fundoplication ) but she undid it, she now has a drain into her tummy 24 7 to drain out all the tummy secretions and she feeds into her bowels so she doesnt do huge pukes any more but stil does lots of little ones she is neally 3

[Mixi]

Hi. Thanks for the reply. Gosh I am sorry to hear of your daughters troubles. That sounds horrible.

No i haven't spoken about the meds you mention. I have made a note for my next dr appt. Thanks again and all the best with your DD.

[Pixie]

It's a nightmare isn't it!

My DD spewed every single feed she every had until around 6 months when it just stopped like someone flicked a switch. I did take her to the DR but they said it was normal it was so tiring as I demand fed her and she was feeding ALL the time as she was spewing ALL the time.

So for us we just waited and she grew out of it. I think it has something to do with that flappy bit of skin in the throat which helps keep things down. I think don't quote me here lol

[tootiredtosleep]

DD2 is 5 months old and chucks all day.. I don't really notice now until someone tells me I have vomit on my shoulder or running down my back.
We go through about 10 terry flats a day, because a bib just doesn't catch it all!

She's still gaining weight and almost sleeping through, so I'm not too worried.

I hear you about the washing ... we just got a 9kg machine and I pretty much do a load a day.

[reAllytee]

I am hearing ya :hugs:

My little guy was a power spewer !

He could vomit across rooms, up walls etc was revolting !

His sadly was combined with the acid so needed & still needs meds to help with it all.

Its only been of late that things have settled down at 16mths but if he gags there is no stopping it. So he is obviously still sensitive.

Most babies get better around the 3-6mth mark but some take longer until they are more mobile to see things settle down.

Im hoping for your bubs its only a matter of weeks now for things to settle otherwise I would be speaking to someone if you feel something isnt right iykwim.

You can actually use the thickener before a feed by syringing it into your littlies mouth & then waiting say 10mins then b/f her rather than messing with pumping & all the bottles.

Another option to look at is to see whether there is something in your diet that is accerbating the vomitting as this can often be the reason a bub spews !

[Lil07]

I too have a super spewey baby.

Pretty much the same senario as you Mixi. Bub is 6 months old. Breast fed till around 3 months then she stopped putting on weight. We popped her on S26AR though and she started putting on the weight again. She's now in the healthy 75th percentile for weight.

Ella was diagnosed with reflux & silent reflux but we had the pain under control within a few weeks of starting her on Zantac. It doesn't help the vommies though, so she's still a chucker.

I spoke to my paed last week when I took Ella for her check up and the paed told me that if she's stilll vomiting now, after starting solids and sitting upright unassisted, then she'll probably keep vomiting till she's walking...Aggghhhhhh :hair:

I'm the same. I keep her up as much as poss, but now that she's on the verge of crawling, she's impossible to keep up for more than about 3 minutes after a feed.

I bought a foam play mat because I got sick of doing 5 loads of washing each day to clean up her play rugs. I can just wipe up the vommies now so it's a bit easier. Once she's mobile though, it'll be a whole new ball game :(.

Good luck! I know what you're going through! ;)

[Sheer Bliss]

:hugs: DS was/is a happy chucker, but he was such a piggy, he didn't loose any weight. For me, the mess was annoying, but as it wasn't causing him pain or to loose weight, we didn't want to medicate. Thickner didn't seem to help, so i kept him on the boob, and tried to keep acidic things from my diet. f you are still expressing, try and avoid things like tomato, orange juice and other acidic foods. Have you considered an elimination diet yourself, to see if the culprit is something you are eating? I'd also notice that when i ate chocolate it seemed to make DS worse :crying:.

I'd keep going to see the oesteo, we took DS to a chiro from when he was about 6months old, and it improved dramatically. He is 21months now, and will have the occassional chuck, but only every few days. It still doesn't bother him in the slightest.....but it does bother his poor mummy with MS!!

[monkeytoes]

DD2 is a happy reflux chucker. She's 10 months now and still chucking heaps. She was underweight at 6 months and was BF. I ended up putting her on formula which helped with her weight gain. She's extremely chucky right now because she's teething. I guess she will eventually grow out of it.
She's not crawling yet and doesn't like tummy time that much. She prefers sitting upright, so I guess that is the most comfortable position for her little tummy.

[Mixi]

Hi All. Thanks so much for your replies. As much as I hate to think other Mums (and Dads) are going through this, it's kinda relieving that we aren't alone!

I am hoping that my DD will stop like Pixies DD - she mentioned it stopped like a switch at 6 months. That's next week for my DD so my fingers and toes are crossed!

Lil07 - thanks, after xmas tree comes down, that will be the designated spot for playpen with FOAM matress. I have the alphabet ones that puzzle together. Good tip!

Charis-Mum - a few of you mentioned diet. That seems so hard to work out but I do eat alot of chocolate so should def cut back on that. The acidy foos I wasn't aware of so i will pay more attention. Thanks. Yeah I will give the Osteo at least 2-3 more goes.

monkeytoes - my little one has ok weight gain but still thinking about going on a AR formula. What formula did you use?

Thanks again for your help.

xoxoxo

reAllyTee - I think i will try your suggestion and do the thickener in the syringe and try BF again. I tried that at about 3 mths old but she had no idea how to eat and just ended up on her bibs. Now you has solids she might have more idea of swallowing the food type consistency.



Tootiredtosleep - we have a large washing machine too and I about 40 odd terry towel nappies. When i BF and the vomiting was worse I had to wash most nights otherwise i'd run out by the end of the next day. I sympathise. xx

[Amara]

I have a happy chucker. I found that keeping bub upright for about 20-30 mins after a feed helped somewhat. Still chucked but not as much or as often.

I did see a major improvement when solids were started. We only see tiny chucks these days so the washing has decreased significantly.