Son W/acid Reflux

My son had it from birth, it was so bad that we had to thicken the special formula he was on to make it even thicker to keep it down. First, you might want to have him changed to Prevacid, Zantac did nothing for my son. Second, my son is 4 1/2, I just took him off of it at 4 years old, we tried every so often, but it took up until his 4th birthday to grow out of it. I hope this helps!

my son had that also, pretty much it will resolve itself, my son is now 11yrs old and i cant' remember when was the last time i even gave him Zantac. good luck

Hi! My son is 14 months old and had taken medication for acid reflux since he was a month old. Starting when he was 10 months, I tried every month or 2 to take him off and he would do the same thing your son is doing. He has been off meds for 3 weeks now and has been totally fine. I haven't noticed any wet burps or choking. I would just wait a couple more months to see if he outgrows it. Most babies outgrow it by 2. I didn't want my son to be on meds either, but they really made him feel better and now he's med free. :)

Hi,
I have 5 children, 4 of which have had/have refulx. They all out grew it at different times. My son is 4 and we finally took him off his meds (we have tried numerous times) only to have to put him back on again in the last couple of weeks. It is really hard to say how long it will be. My 3rd daughter had refulx probably the worst of all my kids. She used to give back everything (and i do mean everythign and then some) at just about every feeding! I used to joke about nursing as it least we did not have to pay for it only to throw it all away! :)
The doc said that once she was walking, she would stop.....nope! She would just leave a trial or puddles all over the place instead. I tired just about everything and nothing really helped. She is now 9 and has out grown it....not sure how old she was...maybe 3?? But my son NEVER spit up and he is still having refulx issues at 4. It really did not seem to make a difference one way or the other what you feed them. My son is obviously on table food and he is still having the refulx. The problem is he doent tell me he is hurting. I only figured it out when he was waking in the middle of the night for several weeks that I finally linked it to the meds. Now he is back on and he is sleeping thorugh the night.
I will also say, that the doc said it is better for them to be on the meds if they are needing it because if it is not treated, it can lead to cancer. I did try differnt times to take them off meds but i just never worked the same with each kid. It is trial and error. Are you seeing a ped gastro or is just your ped treating your child? I would strongly suggest seeing a ped gastro if you are not. They do a much better job and dosing and prescribing the right meds for your child. :)
Please contact me if you need any more info. We have been through this so much with 4 of them and the youngest is 4. :)
Blessings,
G. Christenson; CD DONA
Labor of Love Birth Doula

I don't know if you have ever seen an osteopath doctor. They are wonderful at helping identify and resolving issues naturally. I go to a wonderful one near Akron/Cleveland. There has to be one in Columbus too. I know she helped to resolve a lot of digestive issues I had and we are now seeing her about my daughter. SHe has identified foods to avoid and treated them using accupressure. GOod luck to you.

Dear J.,

Babies don't have acid reflux. Something else is probably going on. This is the kind of problem that requires a lot of time to fix. Most regular doctors can't take that kind of time. I suggest that you get in touch with Dr. Merkle. He will take the time to find and fix the problem.

He is in Dayton, Ohio but does his work by blood and other tests so a trip isn't necessary if you are far away. Office is ###-###-#### and web site is www.3000health.com On the web site are radio shows and some case studies you might find interesting.

God Bless,

S.

My middle daughter (now 5 years old) has asthma that is triggered by acid reflux. We didn't even realize what the problem was until she was almost a year old (as far as the relfux is concerned). She started on Zantac, only taking it at night since that is when it seemed to bother her the most. She continued on the Zantac until she was roughly 3 1/2 years old. That is when we slowly phased out most of her astma meds, including the Zantac. Every now and then, she complains about it, but I just give her a Tums and that does the trick. I wouldn't worry too much about it right now. As long as it is working for him, keep him on it for a while. Give his body time to mature and learn exactly how it needs to do its job.

Just an idea: my chiropracter told me that a couple brought their very young baby to him with bad acid reflux and were trying to get off of using prescription medication. He adjusted the baby who immediately showed signs of relief. As far as I know, the child's acid is now under control without needing medication. Each section of the spine correlates with a certain area of the body; if it's out of place or pinching a nerve, then that part of the body is affected.
It's important though to make sure that the chiropracter has experience with very young children/babies.

Hi J.,

If you want to try something that is a non-medication natural healer for acid reflux, you can try Herbal Aloe Concentrate. With the risk of sounding like a sales person, I have worked with many people who have suffered from acid reflux, have taken the aloe and have gotten off all prescription medication. Contact me if you want to give this alternative a try. Personally I get nervous giving medication with the possibility of side effects to children. One of the possible side effects of Zantac is pneumonia. There are no side effects to the aloe.

J.
Let me just say that I have given this info to many many people and because they think I want to sell them something the products are ignored. The fact of the matter is I am a Shaklee distributor and there are products to NATURALLY help this issue. My grandson at 5 days old and nursing was doing the terrible spitting up. The Ped wanted to put him on perscription and eventually talked surgery. My daughter put him on these products and the Ped was amazed. The Ped now keeps my daughters number to give to other moms for this same issue. Get your child off of zantec as soon as you can and do your research on what else you can do. Love to talk to you or you can talk to my daughter to as any questions. Good Luck and please check out alternatives.
S.

J....
in response to another down below - BABIES SURE AS HECK HAVE ACID REFLUX!!! My son and my niece both had it and eventually they grow out of it. We had my son on a special diet....much like the diet of those with ulcers. (he did have stomach ulcers) You just have to work with different foods and get a feel for what gives your child the worst reflux. Like I said, eventually they will grow out of it, and my son was on prevacid...that seemed to work really well and it just disolves in his mouth.

J., my son was diagnosed with acid reflux at 7 weeks and put on Zantac, which worked wonders for him. After his first birthday, his pedi suggested we wean him off to see how he would do, and all went fine with that. He's been off meds for more than a month with no issues, but he recently started eating more and different kinds of table foods, and it seems to have returned (very wet burps, bad breath, throwing up, waking from naps and nighttime sleep with fits of uncontrollable screaming). Per his pedi's instructions, we started him back on Zantac two days ago, and we've had no incidences of vomitting or waking since. She said this would be temporary until his body "caught up" to his new feeding habits. I'm not thrilled about him being on medication, but after seeing the improvement over the last 48 hours, I'm happy to return to it as long as it's needed. Best of luck!

I am now 27 and have been battleing acid reflux as long as I have been alive. Mine has never gone away and to this day I take 2 Zantac every morning, munch on tums periodically though out the day, and 2 more zantac before bed. I try to avoid things like lemons and tomatos, really high acid and really spicy, but being a foodie its really really hard and sometimes just water or a hot dog can cause it to flair. Nexium is the best, if he has any esophogial damage it can repair it. I cant afford it any more so I am back on the over the counter Zantac. I personally never grew out of it but I wish your son the best of luck.
K.

Hi J., My oldest son had it too, except I think he didn't get diagnosed until around 3 months. Anyway, after a year we were able to decrease the dosage but we could not eliminate it, I think around 18 months he was on half his old dosage and I believe it was somewhere around two that we were able to take him off without side affects. I can't remember exactly because around that time he started breaking out in hives from a food allergy we were having problems diagnosing and he was on Zyrtec (Too many Z's!). But he has no issues now and actually likes spicy food and he's only four. I think some of the natural remedies that are mentioned in other responses are worth trying if you do your research, I didn't belong to Mamasource then so didn't have resources like this to learn things. Anytime there's an alternative to a "maintenance" drug I'd rather do that, you can always go back if it doesn't work. Good Luck!

We had twins prematurely and had it horribly. I don't remember exactly when they got off the meds, but it was definitely by 2yo. Give it some time, it'll happen. I wouldn't push taking him off the meds because it can be painful for them when it flares up. Goodluck

I totally feel for you! My daughter started with it while we were in the hospital after she was born. It was bad enough by 10 days old that she spit up and aspirated in her bassinet. I couldn't help her start breathing again so we went in the squad to the hospital. My point is that she was diagnosed with acid reflux, put on the Zantac and our lives greatley improved. A HUGE help was her sleeping sitting up in either her car seat or her swing. She had to do this for the first 2 yrs. Finally, she grew out of it and, knock on wood, life has been normal. Hang in there!!