Baby with reflux

[oliversmum]

Hi,

I have a 5 month old son Oliver, which has suffered with reflux from the time we brought him home. It was not diagnosed properly until 2 weeks ago. After several visits to the local clinic, the Paediatrician, my GP, and finally a Paed. Gastroenterologist they finally confirmed that he has moderate reflux. From 6 weeks I tried him on Marinas natural wind drops, thickened formula, Gastrogel, Zantac, Losec, and lastly Zoton. Initially I found the Zantac to be the most helpful, however he would still have screaming spurts and problems settling & sleeping. I also noticed that he would still regurgitate his feed right up until the next feed. Then I took him to Riverton (a sleep clinic in Brisbane) and another Paed. suggested putting him on Losec, hoping this would solve all my problems. The Losec made him worse and I found that he was sicking up twice as more as usual and it was quite upsetting for him. So I took him off all medication all together, it was just getting too hard to manage and seeing him go up & down after 2 lots of medication was really draining. After being on no medication I thought he was improving, until we started having a couple of bad days in a week and at times when I would go out he would just scream in the car the whole way and he wouldn't sit in his pram, his only comfort would be me holding onto him. So the local nurse suggested that I take him to a Gastroenterologist to confirm, if anything for my own piece of mind, if he had reflux or something else by doing an Endoscopy. It was a huge decision as I was not keen on intervention at his age, but I was going out of my mind and needed answers. Following the endoscopy he was prescribed Zoton, after being on it for 4 days he was worse again, sicking up and very unsettled, so I took him off it. Oliver is now back on the Zantac, 3mls 3 times a day, and he seems to be better. He stills sicks up, but generally he seems to be happier. The only problem is he hates taking it, it's a fight every time and he breaks out in a rash on his face. He has rice cereal in the mornings and veges at night, this doesn't seem to be making a difference to the sicking up. I would love to hear from mums out there that have experienced similar problems and how they are coping now. I'm hopeful that now that he is sitting up he will be much happier.

It's hard to imagine that there’s light at the end of the tunnel!

[Rell]

Both my kids were on Zantac and I found it helped a lot with the pain. With Nathan it did seam as if he would throw up more once he was put on Zantac but I think this was only becouse he wasn't drinking much before that.
Nathan like your son HATED having the Zantac, sometimes it would take the two of us to get it into him but after about 2 months he was fine taking it. Hopefully Oliver will be the same.
As far as the throwing up goes the bad news is it will probebly continue until he is walking, Jacinta (now 3 ) still very occasionly chucks a bit up. The good news is a found it get a little better at around 8mths when they are standing and sitting a lot.
With Jacinta I was told putting her on solids might help but it didn't, instead she would throw up different colours :eek:
Nathan is now 9mths and has been off the Zantac for about 6 weeks, he still chucks a bit but it doesn't seam to bother him any more.
I hope Oliver starts to improve soon and have fun with all the extra washing :p

[logan's mum]

Hi I'm new to this forum, but I must say that it is nice to know that we are not the only ones. Sorry but it's true - misery likes company...

Logan has had reflux since he was born, but not diagnosed until he was 3 weeks (now 15 weeks). At this point his GP started him on Zantac which was brilliant - for about two weeks. Then the screaming, fussing at the breast and sleeplessness began all over again (the puking has never improved). At this point the GP put him on Losec at a very low dose - 2mg/day. This did squat. After about 2 days I rang the GP in tears and we doubled it to 2mg twice a day. He was great - for one day than it started all over again (my guess is he was just exhausted). My hubby dragged a teary mum and screaming baby back to the GP at 6pm one night and as usual Logan was a complete angel at the docs office! No screaming, crying, vomiting or anything. I thought I was going mad! Fortunately the GP believed the haggardedness of my face and upped the Losec to 4mg twice a day. For about 6weeks Logan was excellent. He was all smiles and no crying. When he was about 11 weeks the old patturn started to emerge once more. The GP upped the Losec to 10mg/day and gave us a referral to a Paediatrician. Things were on the improve again.

The Pead decided (without hearing the whole story) that he thought the dose was too high and that the formula the pharmacist was using must not have been delivering accurate dosage for him to be needing so much. He wanted me to get another solution of Losec from his mate and drop the dosage to 7mg/day, in one dose. Well the first solution turned from white to purple over night. The reflux returned. The pharmacist couldn't explain why it changed colour so made up another solution (this is after a week of screaming, refusing to feed and waking every hour and a half overnight) which also went purple but i think the drug still worked some what but not well. I rang the paed and said i felt that he really did need the 10mg but he insisted that I try the new solution at 7mg first. I lasted 2 days and upped it myself back to 10mg in two doses a day - and woe and behold it's working. I am now waiting for the paed to call me back so I can tell him "thankyou for wasting my time and money and causing my baby and family unnecessary pain and stress". Well maybe not but that is what i feel like saying.

I feel like a terrible mother - i should have trusted my gut instinct and refused to muck with the dose in the first place. Sorry I have written such a novel but I really needed to vent. I now need to work out the best way to give the Losec - made up solution by the pharmacist or disolve a tab in water myself... what do others do?

Thanks for listening,
Bec.

[channy]

Hi Kylie - my son also has reflux and was put onto Zantac at 2 1/2mths old. They say you should notice a difference within a few days. I sure noticed a difference, he was vomiting more and getting a red rash down his face whenever I gave it to him. I rang the paed and she said take him off it straight away and she said I could pick up a script for Losec. (the red rash and excess vomiting was a side effect/reaction to the zantac). It took a couple of weeks to notice a difference with the losec but now 2mths later he still sicks up about the same but I can lay him down without him silent refluxing and choking. He is still unsettled at night and the cot is still raised.

Bec - my 4mth old is on 5mg once a day with his reflux (not as bad as your little one obviously) but I find it easier to just disolve it myself. I just put a little boiled cooled water in (maybe 5-10ml) and stir and I use a dropper (one with a bigger opening than normal) and give it to him that way. It takes some practice to get all the little bits of granules but you get used to it.

Chantell
Malakai - 22 March 2005

[Rell]

Bec I had a sympathetic laugh when you said your son was an angel at the Dr, both my kids do that to me too and as for the terrible mother thing I can relate to that aswell. When Nathan was 2 weeks old and started to throw up we assumed it was reflux, we did the thickened formula thing but it kept getting worse (we would use 2 cloth nappies to catch the vomit) When we did take him to the Drs we found he had pyloric stanocis(?), a blockage in the stomach, boy did I feel bad. Thats the last diagnosis I will be doing. After the operation it turns out he did have reflux aswell.
one thing to all you ladies the second baby with reflux seams easyer to handle, I guess you just know what to expect.
Good luck to all

[dna13]

My DS had reflux when he was about 3 months old and i din't think too much of it as i thought all babies vomitted!! The Health Nurse told me to try Mylanta and see if that helped but i really didn't want to resort to any sort of medication so i just kept an eye on it and hoped it would get better.

I ended up taking him to a chiropractor as i thought i should get him checked over and i was told that he had a couple of knots or something similar in the middle of his back. She then told me that that is what is causing his reflux. She fixed him up and within a week, i had noticed a difference.

Now at 4.5 months, he has the occassional vomit if he has gorged himself of breast milk but that is it.

I hope this has helped and has given you another option (if you haven't already been to a chiropractor).

Best of Luck,
Angela

[logan's mum]

Thanks Angela, I'll keep that in mind. Unfortunately though Logan's reflux is a little more serious than a little bit of vomiting, and there is no way I could just keep an eye on it - he would end up with an ulcerated oesophagus if he was not on medication. If it was just vomiting I'd wrapped but the pain caused by the reflux of gastric acid is unbearable for him. That is why it was so distressing f or me to have the paed muck around with his meds for what turned out to be no reason at all. Now I have been trying to contact him for a week and can't. I'm seriously thinking about finding another one. Especially after the look on my nurse's face when I told her who I was seeing... she's not allowed to comment but the look of dread in her eyes and the momentarily held breath was enough for me! :mad:

[logan's mum]

oh, bye the way... did you need a referral for the chiropractor or can you just make an appointment?

[dna13]

This is probably a bit late now. I'm sorry!! I couldn't remember where i had posted. LOL

You don't need a referral to see a chiropractor. But it is best to find one that either specialises in children/babies or have someone recommend one that their child/ren have seen.

[oliversmum]

Hi Everyone,

Just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone that responded. I totally forgot where I had posted my message after a typical whirlwind night and talking to a girlfriend of mine she suggested this site, and I have been going out of my mind trying to remember how to get back here. it doesn't help that I don't have a lot of time, only when bub is sleeping.

The good news is that Oliver is doing extremely fine, all I can say is what a relief. He is a different baby. Thank you for the advice on a Chiropractor, I went to a fantastic Chiro in the early stages (probably about 10 sessions in total) who specialises in babies and he did find several things wrong and worked on them. He suggested lots of different things, such as taking off dairy, formula change, and prodophilus tablets to help with bacteria in his stomach, and as you all know at the end of the day you need to take all advice on board and make your own decisions, which is what I eventually did (after driving myself batty over all the advice we were getting!) I did notice a change, but not big enough to continue going for $40 a pop. Sometimes I would have to go twice a week.

I now have Oliver on 3mls of Zantac 3 times a day, still a struggle which use to take my husband and I but I think I'm starting to perfect it. So much easier when you start to see results! He is sitting up and on solids, and yes still chucking, sometimes worse than others, but generally a much happier baby. He sleeps right through from 6pm till 5ish in the morning, boy I feel like a new woman. And the good news for all new Mums out there is that I've forgotten already, I have started thinking about when the next one will come along! It's so rewarding when you start to see them smiling at you and turning into a little person.

Chantel - If it wasn't for you mentioning Malakai's name I probably wouldn't have remembered you, but I met you at Riverton. thank you for your kind words of advice also, hope your little twinies are doing fine.

Thank you again and looking forward to more positive news in the future. Take care and hopefully speak to you all soon. :)

[Supermum]

Reading all of these takes me back to a dark and lonely place. My son had severe reflux which wasn't diagnosed (not through the lack of trying) until about 12 weeks. Sometimes it was silent ... and other times he could projectile like a pro! At which time he already had an ulcerated gut and oesophagus and was promptly put onto Losec. It helped, but he still thrashed at the breast and never settled. He screamed day in and day out and I distinctly remember how very alone I felt. None of my friends knew what it was like ... no one could offer advice and many just told me I must have been stressed during pregnancy to create such a cranky baby.

My closest friend had a baby six weeks before me and her son never cried, smiled alot, loved being held and slept through at six weeks. BITE ME!

I so wish that I had known about this site then as there are so many women out there in the same boat, able to offer not only practical solutions but also a sympathetic ear and support. Sometimes just knowing that someone else is just like you is enough to get you through a day.

At 12 months - after he had been walking for 2 months or so, it started to settle down. At 2½ however, his gag reflex is very strong and he can easily make himself sick if he gets too out of control.

I really feel for all of you who are still going through it as it's sometimes a very hard road to travel. There is, however, light at the end of the tunnel however dim it may seem.