food thickener

[mumofone]

Hi

My DD2 was diagnosed with reflux when she was three weeks old ( now 14 weeks). The zantac seemed to make her worse, so we stopped it and weaned back off the gaviscon. We have been using a herbal remedy called rhuger which has been great. She has been great for quite a few weeks but the vomitting has returned and distresses her sometimes.
The thickened formula was unsuccessful but I wondered if used the food thickener to thicken slightly would be helpful ?

Any advice would be gratefully received


thanks

[RISA]

Hi,

Thanks for contacting our organisation. Have you spoken with the doctor about the fact that she is sometimes distressed with her vomiting? I would recommend you speak with them, to let them know what is going on, and also so they can review her and make sure there are no other problems. Sometimes a child with an infection of some kind can present very similarly to reflux flares, or there may be some other issue, so it is best to make sure all is okay.

Do you use the Gaviscon at times when she is distressed now, or have you chosen not to use it at all? I haven’t heard about rhuger, but it sounds interesting. Are you able to use both at the same time? How does it work?

Perhaps, given the fact that she is probably more active (but cant yet sit up on her own), and the weather is so hot and sticky at the moment, her reflux has worsened? (quite normal to flare at those times). Even if the rhuger on its own was enough before, it may not be enough now. It sounds like this is what you suspect as well, so you may need to consider trialling something else, to help her.

One of the most difficult things about reflux is that it can be a matter of trial and error. What works for one child may not work for another, and it can be very confusing trying to figure it all out. A food thickener may be worth trying if the doctor believes the problem is still reflux. Just because thickened formula didn’t work previously, doesn’t mean it won’t work in the future, or that food thickener won’t work. Nobody can say for sure if it will or not, so if it is something you would like to try, then it may be worth doing so. Perhaps the thickness of the formula wasn’t suitable when you tried it, or the timing wasn’t quite right- but either way, you won’t know until you try this time.

If that doesn’t help, then perhaps some other options may help. Is she feeding and sleeping well, or is that disturbed too? Does she have any other complications? How is her weight gain? If there are other issues, then regular medication might also be worth considering once again. Even though Zantac wasn’t successful, there are other medications that are commonly used to treat reflux babies, which might also be worth trying.

I firmly believe it is important to trust your own instincts, which you seem to be doing. As she seems to be uncomfortable, and you have concerns about that, then it does sound like you need to find something else to help her.

I hope that helps
Glenda

[mumofone]

Hi

Thanks for your help, thinking about it, the vomitting does seem worse on the hot days. She seems healthy and happy otherwise, weight gain is at a rate of knots ! and sleeping through at night.

Rhuger is a natural rhubarb and ginger mixture for infants to 1 year.
indications for use are:
colic pain, griping, babies with difficulty winding, slow feeding babies, spilling, reflux and constipation at weaning.
it is available from a pharmacy in Dunedin in NZ.

We are due to see the paed in a couple of weeks but i might try a slight thickener on hot days.
'
thanks for your help

[RISA]

Hi,
I found that if I could figure out why things had deteriorated, it at least made a bit more sense, and I could deal with it better. Even if they were teething, and I couldnt change that, I felt better knowing why!

Thanks for the information on rhuger- sounds more interesting now, and all the best with your appt at the paed soon. I hope the thickening on the hot days helps- it will be interesting to see how that goes, so if you could let me know, I would really appreciate it,

Glenda

[mumofone]

the next 2 days are suppose to be scorching here. so will let you know

thanks very much.

If you need more info on the rhuger, the pharmacy has a website. they are in NZ, but happily post it over here.

:)