Is it Colic or reflux??

[melbryan]

I am confused, Baby has been vomitty( not alot but it is half digested 2-3 vomits during a feed) but fails to bring up wind at the end of a feed. He is failing to feed as long as usually did. He is arching his back and crying while kicking his legs. I then give up trying to feed so he cries cause he is still hungry.
After I put him down after one hour he is screaming and no matter how much i pat his back no wind.
The Paed prescribed me zantac and Ar thickener, I am reluctant as my BF supplies might drop.
I will try what the paed prescribed, can you give zantac without thickener???
Has anyone had similiar experiences????
Anything to help with wind I use Brauers but doesn't make much difference.
Any help would be appreciated.

[mumofyaz]

Howdy, my baby had reflux for twelve months so I've been through all sorts of drugs. When the highest level of Losec (stronger or more effective than Zantac, but many paeds try Zantac first 'cause it is a bit hard to diagnose when they're so small...many times just a matter of trying the drugs to see if they make a difference) didn't work, I went to see a paediatric gastroenterologist who told me to feed on demand. I had a problem with mastitis (11 times in the end) so that left me in tears. But if you can demand feed (ie everytime bub screams, feed), then you will end up with a potentially happier bub 'cause it will soothe the burning in the throat, but you may or may not get more sleep. You could also try a tiny bit of Mylanta, just the regular one and ask a pharmasist about dosage. That can help to tie the baby over between Zantac. It can also take a little while for the drugs to kick in. Also try elevating everything - cot, change table, prop up in pram on the floor etc. And try carrying the baby around along your arm with the left side down as the stomach is a u shape and that will help the contents stay down. You've got to use gravity wherever you can. Don't worry about getting wind up, if it's there, it'll come by itself. Trying to burp a reflux baby can make things worse and force the stomach contents up more than it was already. See www.disa.com.au (http://www.disa.com.au) which has some great info on reflux - there's a lot of misinformation around. Thickener (you can thicken your expressed breastmilk), in my experience, just leads to thicker spew and in more severe cases of reflux, can make things worse. Hope this helps. Good luck!

[Rell]

Yes you can give Zantac without the thickner. Both my kids also had reflux for 12mths and both were on zantac. DD had thickned feeds wich helped a little but DS refused to drink and milk that was thickned. I know some people will thicken a small amount of breast milk and feed it to their baby before a feed. Not sure how much it help though.

Good luck I hope your little boy settles down soon

[scarlet]

Hi there, you don't have to thicken feeds to give zantac. I breastfed my son and never thickened feeds. Try and feed as upright as possible, and he may feed for longer, keeping him upright or in a baby sling may even force the wind up.

If he never burps then wind could be compounding the issue, have you tried some infacol before feeds to try and eliminate the gas?

If the zantac starts working then you can pretty much say that your child is suffering from reflux and not colic as zantac will only work in decreasing the acid only so in turn only helping reflux.