Acid Reflux - Park Rapids,MN

Hi A.,

The Wedges you can get from USA Baby, I believe they are about 15.00 for it. Other then that I would suggest the Snuggle Me Cushion. They run about 63.00, but they are really good for Acid Reflux, Colic, Tummy time, napping, and more. Let me know if you want more information on the cushion. Good Luck!

My 5 month old was officially diagnosed a month ago (after changing dr's). I know he's had it since birth, though. Here are his symptoms: a lot of spit up (way more than normal); crying almost all the time; hates to lay flat on back; spits up everytime he's on tummy; wants to be held a lot (to be upright); hiccups; he also spit up while sleeping (scary!!); he also sometimes chokes on his spit up, then screams out in pain; arches back while nursing; eats frequently (but small amounts). Most of that is better now that he's been on meds, but it's still not completely better.

The dr first put him on Zantac, which is an H2 blocker. Infants build a quick tolerance to this, and it helped with the amount of spit up, but not the pain. So dr put him on Prevacid Solutab (a PPI=proton pump inhibitor, these work much better!). It takes about 2 weeks to really start working, and we're on day 11. I can already tell a big difference! He's not having as many flareups.

Since he was born, I started propping up his bassinet mattress since he spit up so much in his sleep (he still sleeps in it right next to my bed). I just use a few paperback books underneath the mattress to prop it up. They do have wedges at BRU, but I'm not sure how much they are. When I put him in his crib, I'll be getting him one.

Here's a few websites to help answer more questions. The first is a blog with TONS of great info!! It helps you understand reflux, and also all the different meds that are commonly prescribed. www.refluxrebels.com

The next is a group on babycenter. It's got so many wonderful mama's who are full of info (from experience)! They can help answer any questions, or just offer support. http://community.babycenter.com/groups/a3937145/the_reflu...

If the link didn't work, under the community groups on babycenter.com, search reflux rebels and it should pop up.

It sucks having a baby with reflux, especially when you feel like there's not much you can do to ease the pain. I've cried along with my baby b/c I didn't know what else to do. My son doesn't even have it that bad compared to a lot of other babies, but I still feel so bad that he's basically been in pain since birth.

edited to add: Also, hold him upright for about 30 minutes after he eats. I know it's hard to do sometimes (especially middle of the night feedings), but it really does help!

You can also prop one end of the bed up on cinder blocks which you can often find somewhere locally for free. I would watch craigslist.

My sister had terrible acid reflux. It turned out later that it was caused by wheat and milk allergies, and she had to stop eating those things to stop having her esophagus eaten by stomach acid. Check for food sensitivities, too.

I read an interesting article about how Acid reflux is so common in infants anymore. It coincides with the on the back suggestion for sleeping. So basically to prevent sids you get acid reflux. Sucks but is true. Alot of people I know just put their babies on their tummies and it goes away. But I don't know if I'd do that for my son who is 5 months old but that is just me.

But they do have a few medicine options and of course you can go by the typical reflux rules but I've had it my whole life and those usually only work on occasional bouts of heartburn. Never helped me. Always had to go with the medicine. But I'd give all the suggestions a try before I did the medicine. I'd pry even try the stomach sleeping before I do the medicine because I know all too well that if you put something foreign into the body something will happen because of that. You usually end up taking medicines to treat the side effects of the other one and so forth and so on. So I try and not get on that ride.

I didn't read the other responses, so if I am repeating anything I apologize! Oh, and sorry this is so long!

First of all...hugs to you if your son does have acid reflux. It is terrible! Our first son had severe acid reflux. We knew he had reflux because he spit up a lot - which is typical of babies, but when he spit up it was followed by SCREAMING!!!!!! Poor baby cried about 80% of his awake time for the first several months.

As far as I know, the drs typically do not do any "testing" to diagnose. They make a diagnosis based on your account of what is happening. There is a test that they can do where they stick a camera down into babies belly to see if the muscle flap between the stomach and esophagus is functioning correctly. IMO - that is too invasive for something that can be controlled by medication and/or lifestyle changes (in most cases).

Some things that we did to control his acid reflux:
>Incline when sleeping, like you mentioned. We did not buy a wedge, we just stuck a few telephone books under the head of his mattress. But, he kept rolling off of it, so that didn't really work for us.
>Hold baby in a sitting position when feeding
>Hold baby upright for 20-30 mins after feeding

If those things don't work, you may need to do a few more things (obviously check with your dr first)
>Change formula - Alimentum/Nutramigen (sp?)
>Add cereal to the bottle to "weigh it down"
>Start medication. We used Prevacid - it was a blessing. It took about a week and a half to finally kick in, but when it did it was amazing. I've heard of people using Zantac or Mylanta as well...we didn't go that route

Best of luck to you and your LO!

Mandy

How old/big ( weight) is your baby? I have a TuckerSling Wedge I could send you, if you pay for shipping over paypal. Send me a private message on here and let me know if you are interested.

It is like this, but different fabric colors, it is the 6-16 lbs. one:
http://www.tuckersling.com/khxc/index.php?app=ccp0&ns...

My first baby used it from 2 months till about 4 months and it helped her reflus alot at night, she became a much better sleeper in it, too.

Jessie

my son had this when he was an infant and at 4 months was on previcid until his 1st birthday - the meds really worked for him.

Money is so hard for everyone these days, I here ya!! My son had this diagnosis and we put a blanket or pillow under the top part of the crib matress to elevate the head, this way there was no other device in the crib to possible cause a problem with positioning of the baby, and it was FREE! good luck!!!

Hi A.,

My daughter was diagnosed with reflux at 2 months. I had to take her to the dr's because everytime I would feed her formula she would spit up every ounce of it. There were times when she would just refuse to eat because it hurt so bad. She started to lose weight as well. Her pedi prescribed Zantac for her and it works really well. She's almost 7 months old now and she rarely spits up. She a happy baby now.

Her pedi suggested that we feed her with her head more elevated. Don't lay her flat to feed her. He also said to try to burp her more often during the feedings and keep her in an upright position for 20-30 mins after feedings.

I hope this helps! Good Luck!

What I did was set the crib mattress at an angle (uneven)...also, a lot times I would just put baby in the carseat in the crib, when they were very small. The other thing that seemed to help was when feeding baby I held him in a more upright position. More like he was sitting in a chair, rather than cradling, lying down. Lastly, I think it was helpful too, when I would feed very small amounts at a time and break for a few. Good luck...Hope it helps!

My daughter had this and the only thing that helped her was zantac. We tried the wedge too, but it didn't help. Although she would start out sleeping at the incline, eventually, she'd slide down and end up flat on her back anyways. If you wanted to try the incline, just put some blankets under the mattress at the head of your son's bed. My SIL had trouble with AR with her baby, and the pediatrician suggested putting rice in the formula, and that has helped tremendously. I know you're not supposed to put rice cereal in the formula, but it's helping their baby considerable. (Although they are buying the super expensive formula that already has the rice cereal in it.)

Good luck to you!

My daughter is 6 years old and has had it since birth. (a lot of children out grow it with in a year of birth though) Since age 2 she has been on prevacid. They can do an EDG with biopsy to find out for sure if it is Gastroesophageal reflux disease (G.E.R.D.) (google EDG w/biopsy and it will explain) As for tilting the mattress; it does work... dont buy one of those silly costly wedges. If your baby is small ennough put him in the car seat to sleep, or the swing. If you prefer the crib or if he is in a toddler bed use a large comforter under the mattress to tilt his position. But if you have a child like mine that "heliocpters" in bed, its not much use. Good luck!