Please Help Its Ergent!!!

I had the same problem with my baby and tried putting a little Mylanta in her bottle at the PCP's suggestion. It did help but didn't take it totally away so he had to prescribe her medicing.

I have a friend who for the first year of her daughter's life about every two weeks to a month they had to switch her formula. She couldn't keep ANYTHING down. You're just going to have to try to find him some formula that works with his tummy.

I am sorry to hear the trouble you and your little guy are going through. I have read the answers and just wanted to throw in my experience as it was a different out come from the others. Both of my sons had the vomiting every meal, at first the doc thought he was lactose intolerant, but I was breast feeding so he sent me on to a specialist. She told me that it is not the lactose but the milk protein that most babies these days can not tolerate. It is called Casein, and it is in almost ALL formulas. Even though the formula says it is lactose free it still has Casein in it a milk product. Even soy and rice formulas have it.
Both my boys had it and once they reached the age of three to four months the developed polyps in their colon that would burst and they had small amounts of blood in the stool. This is a intolerance not an allergy, what happened to my boys is that their little bodies thought that the milk protein(Casein) was a bacteria, or foreign body so their good cells would attach it. As a way for their bodies to fight this strange thing they would have sever tummy trouble(my oldest cried ALL waking hours, either from cramps or hunger), they would vomit to get reid of it and when it made it through it would fight with it in the bowls and cause the soars in the colon and rectum. After I got myself on a totally Casein free diet they where completely different kids with in two weeks.
The Alimentum is one of the formulas that I do believe does not have the Casein protein. (may be why the one mother had success with her child) http://similac.com/baby-formula/similac-expert-care-alime...
Casein is used as a natural preservative so it is in a LOT of our foods. I encourage you to google Casein, see these web site for more info:
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-casein.htm
http://www.americancasein.com/

The GREAT news is that as their little bodies maturate it begins to realize that this is not a bad thing and they become tolerant around the age of one year. However if it is this they may still get mild tummy troubles with large amounts of milk their entire life.
Oh.. another thing you may check into if this is your babies problem is that one of my friends who had this issue with her son was able to get her insurance company to pay the difference of the price from normal formula since this is a very expensive formula.

I wish you the best of luck and a Doctor who will listen to you and who will help you find the true problem so that you and your baby may have a long blessed life together.

J. E Miller

I agree with Joan. You need to get him off of all milk and soy, not just lactose. My nephew was the same way and he was tested as a young baby and found to be allergic to milk. In fact, his allergist wants him to be admitted to the hospital when he actually tries to drink milk for the first time. Nutramigen and allimentum are the 2 milk-free formulas. None of the others will work if it's a milk protein problem (not lactose...lactose is a sugar, not a protein). Lactose intolerance is actually VERY rare in a baby. These formulas taste and smell bad and are very expensive, but most insurance and even WIC can help, but it may take a while. I would call the Dr. again as soon as possible and let them know what's happening. You can always request to see a specialist.

First, calm down, i'm by no means an expert, but have had several years of experience with this. my daughter in the end had to have surgery to correct this when she was 2, but thats not the standard.
At this age im guessing he is eating about 3-5oz of formula. The sphicter muscle has not finished developing and therefore until it does, the formula will come back up. Most kids will stop this after a month or so.
Until then I had to feed less, but more often. EX: 2oz every 2 hours, after he eats keep him upright for at least 30 min. Try to avoid bouncing or up and down motion or laying and swinging motion. It will send the formula right back up. Picture a full baby bottle with no top on it...that is your babies esphoagus. now shake it up and down..what happens? Exactly...the sphinter/lid is what keeps the formula in the tummy/bottle and when it doesnt work right you have reflux.
And when it comes up its like vomit to us. it burns the throat. My 1st child went through at least 5 to 6 outfits a day and numerouse bibs. Adding a bit of cereal may or may not help. Its thickens it, helps him stay fuller longer and may keep it from sloshing back up.
Hope this helps.

Ask an urgent care place if they have a pediatrician on staff. I'd get a second opinion and quick. My little girl had walking pneumonia once at 5 years old and she couldn't hold down water or her pills. Stupid doctor wouldn't do anything. I pressured him into giving me something for the nausea (not by mouth) so she could get the meds to start working and not get dehydrated. One big thing to fear is dehydration and all the symptoms that go with that. See if teh doctor can tell if he's dehydrated from all this but seek help. Don't wait til Monday!

Your infant is very young, only 5 weeks old,... you are worried and I would be too.

Make sure, since your baby is vomiting so much.. that he does not get Dehydrated. Infants, can become dehydrated very quickly....
and if his intake is not adequate, and it is impaired because of his vomiting, then you need to watch out for that.
Look online for 'dehydration symptoms in infants."
I would think, your Doctor would have mentioned that.

next, if his intake is not adequate.... then he will not be getting proper intake/calories/nutrition... and as you said, he is HUNGRY after vomiting because all his intake is being thrown up. After.

If need be, take him to the ER.
Listen to your Mommy radar, and gut instincts....

IF it is an option... can you breastfeed? Has any milk come in? Have you tried that??? Sometimes, if you put baby to breast... the stimulation will encourage milk to come in. I know your baby is already 5 weeks. But it may take time. I have heard of some women doing that. In the meanwhile, your baby needs intake... feedings, on-demand.

The KEY thing I would be worrying about... is DEHYDRATION in your newborn... your Pediatrician... should have told you this...
Again, Newborns can get Dehydrated VERY quickly...

all the best,
Susan

Give him less of the formula each feeding.

one thing that helped my baby was burping after every ounce or so.

My son had relux but no allergies. He spit up at most feedings (before getting on reflux meds) but not the full amount. If he spit up in the middle of a feeding we gave him a few minutes break and then offered him the rest of the feeding if he wanted it. Frequent burps, feeding more upright and putting him in a baby seat upright for 20 minutes after all helped. We also used Dr. Brown's bottles which meant less air was swallowed. I don't know that much about allergies. The hospital tried my son on Similac Allimentum which is soy based. another friend has all her babies on Nutramagen (supposed to be extra easy to digest) but it was pretty expensive if not covered by insurance. In our case the Allimentum made no difference (but smelled nasty) because the problem was reflux. It could take a few days to get the dairy out of his system but as everyone else has said, watch for signs of dehydration and enough wet diapers.

Burping more often seem to help with my cousins baby. When I would keep him, I would burp him about every 2 ounces. He was about 8 months old though when I keep him so you might want to burp every ounce.

My brother had acid reflux. My mom would make 2 bottles at a time. She would then drape him in a towel and wait. Also, make sure that he is sitting up when drinking, not laying down.

I had a vomiting (and i mean projectile) with every meal kid. We ended up trying every formula. Luckily the last one was the one that worked. It was alimentum (sp?) If I remember right it was Similacs product, It is very expensive, but did the trick.
Maybe get a second opinion too.

anxious to see answers as we are going thru same thing with our new grandsons (twins)....UGI reveals sever GI reflux and was put on med.

Your best indicator is the number of wet or soiled diapers you are changing per day. If your baby is not making waste, then he is not getting enough nourishment. It is very difficult to tell volume of vomit. (To me, it always looks like far more than it is.) Also, evaluate his feeding position. If he does have (even mild) reflux, you don't want him laying down to eat.

Make sure you have a count of his diaper activity. If you think it's too few, or his color is off, or his lips are chapped (another sign of dehydration) take him to the ER. It won't be pleasant, and they may have to give him an IV, but at least you know you weren't disregarding your instincts when it comes to your baby's health.

Best wishes.

Hi, Im sorry to hear about all the problems you are having. You may want to get a second opinion. My nephew had a similar problem. The doctors kept saying he had acid reflux and nothing else. He would projectile vomit after every feeding. After 3 or 4 ER visits they scoped him and found out he had Piloric Stenosis. It is very easily fixed now a days. Its when your flap to your stomach from your esophogus is going the wrong way. Back in the day they cut your stomach and fixed it. My 3 nephews who are triplets had to have it done that way. That was 17 years ago. My nephew who is 7 had it fixed with a tube down his throat. Just a suggestion. But dont freak out it could be just his body getting use to the new formula. But if he doesnt start improving Id in a day or so, get a second opinion! Good Luck!

This is going to be tough on you but I think what I would do is give him just a couple ounces and the wait and see how he does. Then try a couple more like maybe an hour later. Since he is on formula maybe you and hubby can take turns and just do like every hour to 1.5hrs a little at a time and each just sleep in three hour shifts of something. If his little body has been traumatized maybe it just can't take any large or even normal quantities of food. If he cannot even keep down a couple ounces, I would go to an urgent care or ER bc yeah dehydration is just not something to mess with. I think that is what I would do. I personally wouldn't try water or pedialyte or anything like that at his very young age, simply because I don't know what a baby that young can tolerate. My first had reflux really bad and spit up sooooo much but somehow managed to be a little chunk anyway. I am so surprised at the dr though, with all the baby has been through I would think he would want to do and upper GI image to see if whatever you give baby is coming back up. I wouldn't want to wait a week myself, so don't hesitate to get a second opinion and don't worry about being a pest you are the only advocate your child has. Hang in there:)

If your son is truly lactose intolerant then the vomitting could be from having so much dairy up to this point. Did the doctor tell you to get some pedialyte in him? I would try that so at least he can keep hydrated. If vomitting continues call the doctor, if you don't get satisfaction take your son to the ER.

Not to scare you but I have a little cousin who at about that same age started vomitting everytime he ate. He needed a surgery because the flap that keeps your food down wasn't closing. He had been perfectly healthy then all of a sudden failed to gain weight because of the vomitting. My point is that it could be the allergy, it could be acid reflux, it could be another condition. It could be so much it is hard to say with further testing.

Just a small suggestion...after talking w/ your pediatrician of course...try Soy Milk (formula). my so too was lactose intolerant and threw up after almost EVERY meal..so I can understand how frusterated and scared you are. He did fine on the soy milk and had no problem switching to regular cow milk. Good Luck and Congrats on the new baby!!

My son had a small problem with spitting up his formula. I would've just written it off as just baby spit up, but it seemed to hurt him. I found out about something called Gripe Water. It is suppose to work for cholic, reflux, hiccups, and gas. That pretty much covers almost any reason your baby would be crying, but you can't figure out which one. I called Wal-Mart, Target, and Rite Aid. Our Wal-Mart didn't carry it. Target said they did, but were out when I went. I finally went to Rite Aid and it was in the baby aisle there. That stuff seemed to work great. I'm not a big fan of perscriptions if I don't have to have them, so this worked great for us. You might could try this to see if it makes the vomitting stop. If it does, problem solved. If not, then you'll know that it's probably more than just reflux. If it kind of helps, then it may be reflux that's just a little too severe for the gripe water and will need an rx. Hope this is helpful. No one ever told me about this stuff, but I think everyone should know about it. It really worked well.

Smaller more frequent feedings should help. Also, keep him upright after a meal (hold him on your shoulder, or in a bouncy seat after burping). It's tough figuring out what's going on when they are so little. They all spit up every so often to a degree till they are about a year old (that's why receiving blankets are so popular). It will get better as he gets a bit bigger. You are doing a great job!

My cousins baby did the exact same thing. Keeping him upright for at least 15-20 minutes after a bottle seemed to help... Not such a hard time, since being upright for a newborn means lots of mommy baby snuggle time! Also, maybe sleeping in a swing or infant car seat might help.
The vomiting did keep up for a while, even once he was on the acid reflux meds.. it got better but did continue... They all kind of got used to it and always had extra clothes and put oxyclean in the laundry to prevent the formula stains.

Breast feed him. You are only 5 weeks out and your milk could come back, many women have done this. Your breastmilk is made for his stomach. Go to a local La leche Group or a lactation consultant, they will be able to help you. I am sure there is a lot of information abotu this online too. Even women who have adopted babies have been able to produce milk, so it is very possible with some work.