G.I.R.D In My 3 Month Old.,

My son had a similar problem at around 3 ore 4 months. His pediatrician recommended that we can his formula to enfamil AR. It is a little heavier than the regular formular and it helped a lot.

Is she getting a cow's milk formula? If so, it could be a dairy reaction. Would you be open to trying a goat's milk formula, which is very similar to mother's milk? My 2nd had reflux and I was told by may AMAZING pediatrician to not eat dairy (I nurse). Once, I cut out dairy, the reflux disappeared INSTANTLY! Best of luck.

Hold her up for about 15 minutes after she eats vs. laying her right down. Another option is to raise the head of her crib or wherever she sleeps. We used a glider that had a gentle recline to it. That seemed to help our son. Friends used to put their children in the swing or car seat but our doctor was adamant that that can make things worse and actually cause them stomach pain in addition to the reflux. What you want to avoid is that "bent" formation at the waist.

Make sure you hold her in an upright position when feeding her. You dont eat laying down, but it seems most babies are fed in a prone position. This causes the air to get trapped in her stomach and she needs to be burped more and often all the air doesnt come up. In an upright position the heavier milk/formula forces the air out at the same time and there is little or no burping. Reflux is caused by air pushing the milk back up.

My son is now 5months old and seems to be fine now. He had reflux since he was about 1month old which pediatrician had recommended rice cereal to be mixed in breastmilk or formula.however a doctor friend who works in a childrens hospital advised against giving newborns cereal because it may raise chance of diabetes later in life. So we found that the Dr. Brown's bottle worked sooooo well that it eliminated all the nonconsolable crying and most of the vomiting. There are still little spitup now and then. We always feed him on a 30degree angle and also have a slight incline to his bed. Also burped him halfway during drinking and at end of feeding. I still only use the Dr. Brown's bottles to feed him. (Expensive bottle and takes a little more time to clean BUT worth every penny!) I fed my baby 4 1/2 ounces when he was around 3months old. Every baby is different but babies generally stop eating when they are full.
I also want to say that I avoided eating all gassy foods/vegetables since I am breastfeeding.(Such as broccoli, milk etc)

Totally agree with Lynsey below!! I would try the Similac Sensitive with RS that has Rice Starch in it. It thickens in the babies belly and baby does not spit up as much. Maybe this will take care of problem without meds?
My 2 cents...

You have to hold her in an upright postion. She has to be almost sitting up to eat and held upright after feeding for at least 1/2 hour. We used to sit our son on our lap in a straight backed rocking chair, so the 1/2 hour extra didn't seem too long for him. We'd entertain him by rocking, talking, singing, and clapping his hands.

Hi,
Both of my children were diagnosed with GERD by one month of age. They would not only spit up, but projectile vomit across the room, scream and arch their backs while trying to eat, and would continue to scream after eating. So the response below that "its unusual for babies to have GERD at that age" is NOT true. Both of my children (son is now 2.5 years old, baby is 5 months) suffered from it tremendously.

With my son, it was easily treatable with prevacid. We just dissolved a little tablet on a spoonful of water and fed it to him once a day. It cured him and made him a completely different baby. My daughters case was much worse....we had her on prevacid and another kind of med (can't remember the name right now), and had to add cereal to her bottles at just 12 weeks old. The cereal did the trick though because after a few weeks of adding it, we were able to take her off both meds.

I would recommend talking to your dr. about adding a little cereal to her formula/breastmilk. I'm telling you, my daughter hasn't spit up or had any trouble eating in 2 months, since we started doing that.

By the way, don't listen to people on here that are not pediatricians, or even more so, pediatric GI doctors. Both of my children were on meds for this and they are perfectly fine. Always discuss with your dr. first, don't rely on any specific information from this board. Too many women think they know everything.

Good luck to you.
Lynsey

my daughter was dianosed with GERD at 4 weeks old she had a berium upper GI done and i watch as the berium came back up it was kind of frightening. her pedi put her on baby zantac which help with the reflux part but she did still spit up.
we had her on Nestle Good Start mixed with cereal to help thicken it up a bit which helped keep it down and she also nursed. She never lost weight but she did have a ton of onesis changes and bibs and burps.
We used clothe diapers as burps they are super absorbent which is helpful. We had to keep her elevated and she slept at an incline. also be careful not to have her bent while holding her it puts pressure on her tummy. if it is GERD it will pass at about 5 months old.

The neonatologist @ the NICU put my baby on 1 teaspoon of rice cereal per ounce of Similac. He's 6 months old now & all has passed & is well! The cereal seemed to help him hold everything down & now he still likes his formula w/ cereal. To give him variety I switch between oatmeal, rice & multi grain (Beech Nut) HTH!

Are you bottle feeding? Breastmilk digests faster, so looking at what's in the bottle is a good idea. Also, babies with GIRD often do best with smaller feedings more often. If you find she's spitting up a lot, you might feed her 2 1/2 ounces every 2 1/2 hours (you get the idea). Less food more often so her tummy has less to empty.

My sister had a horrible case of this as a baby. Turned out she was allergic to wheat and milk and had to avoid anything with derivatives of either to reduce the problem.

With my sister, she would range between spitting up and sometimes projectile vomiting. It just took continuing to try, keeping her upright longer, and eventually figuring out what she was so sensitive to in her and my mother's diets.

My 2nd baby went through this, it was awful (they thought she had pyloric stenosis, ugh)... Try feeding her in as much of an upright position as possible, this will work wonders. If you're using formula, ask your pediatrician to recommend on specifically for babies with GERD and reflux. And ask the doc about putting mylanta in your daughters bottle, we had started my daughter with small doses around 6 months old and that helped as well. Keeping her upright will help the most! Best wishes!

Most babies spit up a bit at that age!! That's totally normal. You are burping her, right? If you aren't, just make sure you burp her after she eats. She will grow out of it when she is older.

I would be really suspicious of a diagnosis of GERD at this age (and I definitely would not be giving my 3-mo-old any meds for it. If your pediatrician recommends any meds, I would highly suggest getting a second opinion).

As far as how much she is eating, you should feed her as much as she wants at this age. If she is hungry, she needs to eat. Babies are growing at such an incredible rate. Don't worry!!

By the way it's GERD, (Gastro Esophageal Reflux Disease). And actually smaller amounts more often is not a bad thing. It keeps less in the stomach at one time. Also you'll want to keep her elevated for at least a half hour after each feeding. My son had very severe reflux when he was an infant and was switched to Enfamil AR formula which has rice cereal added to it and really helps keep it down in the stomach because it's heavier. Good luck.