Reflux issues...HELP!

belinda · 08-05-2007, 01:31 PM

Austin has been suffering from reflux since about 2 weeks old. The doc told me to give him zantac twice a day until we get him in for an upper GI on the 16th to be confirmed that is what it is.

Help though. What can I do about the continious spitting up?! It's insane the amount that will come out of this boy. I feed him 5 oz of formula and I swear he is spitting up at least an ounce or more. It's ridiculous. I go through about 20 burp cloths and 10 outfits a DAY. I've tried AR by Enfimil and it worked to some degree but is just tooo expensive.

Has anyone else had an issue with their little ones and AR? I think Donna has. What did you do? Also, I've heard and read that instead of buying the expensive AR formula, I can just thicken the formula myself with rice cereal (since the AR formula is made from rice starch). Any idea how much though? I added 1 tsp to a 5 oz bottle and it helped, but, was still bad. I'm wondering how much I can add and what to do about the nipple. I'm currently using the Breastflow bottles by The First Years and Upped the nipple size to the next size (they only have two sizes, slow and med/fast).

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. My poor guy is suffering. Unfortunately, this is also making me decide to slow down on the BF as well. I haven't been pumping at all...just letting him nurse when he is hungry and then topping him off with the bottle and nursing him in the AM and PM. His reflux is so bad that I just can't do a normal breast milk or formula.

Help! I've had to clean my carpet a million times because he spits up and it misses the burp cloth, hits me and then lands right on the carpet! YUCK! It's insane the amount of formula that comes up! Zach never had this issue!

Emma · 08-05-2007, 03:52 PM

We had a little bit of reflux with Lauryn and I gave her the Zantac, which helped some and then she outgrew it. We never had it to the degree that you are though. Maybe they need to up the Zantac dose or switch him to Prevacid or Prilosec. I'm not really sure how much cereal to add to the formula to get the same mix that's in the AR formula. I'm sorry hun, I know AR really sucks.

jillian1527 · 08-05-2007, 05:06 PM

Tyler's reflux sounds like Austin's. The Dr. gave us Zantac and we tried the Previcid too. The Dr told us that the meds would only help his discomfort with the reflux and the spit up, massive amounts of spit, up couldn't be controlled. we used the Dr. Brown bottles along with keeping him upright for 20/30 mins after bottles.
I feel your pain. Ty will still spit up some things that dont agree with his stomach. very gross!

DKGirl · 08-05-2007, 06:19 PM

With both boys we never had those issues but just wanted to send you and Austin some

I hope it can get straightened out quickly.

Lisa · 08-05-2007, 10:38 PM

We went through this massively as well. She was on the highest dose possible of Zantac, I added 2 teaspoons of cereal to a 4oz bottle and gave that to her once a day. It helped a little but truthfully there is not much you can do, Kaitlyn had to sleep in her swing at all times becuase any laying flat made it worse. The best thing you can do is BF him right now because that is much easier on the tummy than formula. I just had to cutout a bunch of things in my diet and that helped immensly....no tomato based products, no milk products, no caffeine at all(including chocolate) no broccoli, cauliflower, and corn. The dr told me to absolutely not switch her to formula because Bm is so much easier to digest, maybe you should look into a soy based formula, because maybe he has some milk allergy that is making this worse. Kaitlyn did get better around about 6 months old, but part of her reflux issue was from the anti seizure meds and at that age she started to tolerate it more. I have reflux myself and Zantac doesnt do anything for me, I have been on prilosec for many years and was on prevacid my entire pgcy...hope you find something that works for him.

Val · 08-05-2007, 11:04 PM

I sure can appreciate your problems with reflux!

Noah had serious problems from birth due to his prematurity. He still suffers from it. I remember the time when I changed his clothes at least 8-10 times per day.

He had been on Zantac up until 2 weeks ago, and that really didn't help much. He's now on Prevacid, and it's been a miracle drug. We hope it lasts!

He had the reflux both with my bf'ing (and on a strict diet), and on formula, including regular formula and soy. He just has it, and there's not a lot you can do. It's especially gross when they get older and are eating solids...ugh. Still, it has improved greatly with age.

One of the best things you can do is keep in his swing, and keep him elevated after feeding him. It's tough to do all of the time, but really works.

Let us know what the Dr. says!

RetromamaJess · 08-06-2007, 06:42 AM

I agree with what a lot of the women said. We had it really bad too, but I woudn't let them do the GI on him. I did the cereal in the formula, and made it thick enough to get it through the nipple which i nelarged with a needle. We switched to Dr. Brown's bottles, and that helped a lot. Mike was in his swing a lot too, since the semi upright seemed to keep things down. We also discovered a milk allergy, and then a soy allergy, so we were on Nutramagin (hypoallergenic) It's very exspensive, but it did the trick...I know Donna used it too. When it comes up it stinks really badly, and it dosen't come out (i can still smell it )

My ped told me to keep him upright for as long as i could after feeding, 45-60 minutes was optimal. I know it's really hard, but it helped too. And Mike wouldn't take the cereal formual from the bottle, so we just started spoon feeding it, and that helped...but i think he was a little older...maybe 3-4 months.

I feel for you, and i really hope things start to get better