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tradmom
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| Posted: Sept 18 2007 at 9:50pm | IP Logged
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Does anyone have advice I can pass on to my sister that has a 1 month old with infant relux? This is her first baby and it has been really stressful for her and my bil because the baby cries so much and she isn't the greatest sleeper either due to this. But she sure is a cutie!
The dr prescribed Zantac and she is giving it to her once or twice a day. It doesn't seem to be helping much.
Thank you!
Meredith
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mary
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| Posted: Sept 18 2007 at 11:24pm | IP Logged
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chiropractor. best thing i ever did with my infant, wish i'd known to do it sooner. after the colic/reflux, the ear infections began. nothing helped with any of it. we were told to get tubes put in and the chiropractor was suggested as a grasping at straws treatment from my ped. as soon as we had the chiropractic adjustment, my baby was happy, easy-going, and never had another ear infection. truly, i wish someone had told me to do it the first month. we suffered and my baby suffered through 8 miserable months.
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organiclilac
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| Posted: Sept 19 2007 at 12:09am | IP Logged
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She may want to try eliminating some foods - dairy seems to be the most common culprit. If that doesn't work after a couple of weeks, I'd do a food journal.
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Tracy, wife to Shawn, mama to Samuel (4/01) and Joseph (11/11), and Thomas (2/15)
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happymama
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| Posted: Sept 19 2007 at 8:13am | IP Logged
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I've had 3 sons with reflux, pm me if you want my email address to give your sil.
Some drs. assume crying is reflux; others don't hardly believe in reflux at all. Careful diagnosis is imortant. Most babies with reflux are very positional - holding them upright makes them comfortable; laying them down (like for diaper changes, naps, etc.) makes them cry. They will also cry fiercely after being breast fed, whereas typical babies look sleepy or comfortable (once they've burped.)
If it is indeed reflux, then first, I'd ask for zantac efferdose - it's a type of zantac that you dissolve in water - because regular zantac tastes just awful and they'll spit most of it out, but the efferdose tastes like Sprite. If this doesn't help after a month, then move on to Prilosec. The baby needs to be held upright as much as possible so that his esophagus can heal, which takes 3-4 days. (The strengthening of the sphincter which causes the reflux can take months to heal.)
Dh & I took turns "sleeping" in the rocking chair for several months. (An Amby bed would work, but costs about $250). Of course, encourage breast-feeding, as that's the best nutrition, especially for reflux babies. Feedings will need to be shorter & more frequent, which is difficult for mom, but necessary. As soon as the little tummy gets too full, it leaks out into the esophagus. Finally, our kids slept on their tummies - it was the only way they'd sleep. You can hold them on their tummy when you're standing, too - called the "colic hold" in ages past. I have dozens of photos of dh holding my kids in this way!
The website reflux.org is quite helpful. Blessings & prayers!
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JennGM
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| Posted: Sept 19 2007 at 9:16am | IP Logged
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organiclilac wrote:
| She may want to try eliminating some foods - dairy seems to be the most common culprit. If that doesn't work after a couple of weeks, I'd do a food journal. |
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Hugs to your sil. I know can look different in many families. My son didn't sleep except small snatches of sleep here and there for 2 months before we got help. And lack of sleep can really drive you crazy. We tried all sorts of things to get him to sleep and relax, including running the vacuum for hours. If the neighbors could have heard us, I wonder what they thought, hearing it run in the wee hours of the morning.
My son had reflux and it was really aggravated or caused by food allergies. He spit up constantly, seemed to never keep anything down, didn't gain weight, cried a lot, and never slept.
Raglan was terrible, but the Zantac helped. The purpose isn't to stop the spitting up, but to make it less acidic, and to help heal the esophagus. So when the food is spit up, it doesn't hurt as much.
The best thing was like Viv said, look at the diet if she's breastfeeding. Many babies have milk and/or soy protein intolerance. It will take 2 whole weeks to have all traces of dairy (including casein and whey) from your milk, but you'll be able to notice a change within a few days.
If that helps, but not completely, there are other foods you could try to eliminate, but I wouldn't recommend cold turkey for all, or she'll starve to death.  I won't overwhelm her. I removed dairy and ds was greatly improved, but it wasn't until closer to a year when we were allergy tested and I removed wheat and eggs in addition to the dairy from my diet that he was a changed, rested and happy child.
KellyMom on Reflux has some great information here.
My advice and experience is similiar to HappyMama. I held him a lot, both wearing and in my arms. I tried keeping him upright after feedings as much as possible. We slept in the chair many a night. We did finally switch him to tummy sleep when he was a few months old, and that helped him sleep in the horizontal position.
At the time we let him sleep in the car seat at night. I won't do that again, because of the risk of suffocation (there was a thread on that here). We did try elevating his head in the cradle and crib with different wedge pillows and such, but that didn't seem to help. I am thinking of getting an Amby for this baby.
Since dh had to go to work, I would spend most of the nights with ds, so he could function the next day. If your sil can find someone during the day to give her a chance to sleep, that was extremely helpful to me.
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JennGM
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| Posted: Sept 19 2007 at 9:26am | IP Logged
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Oh, and the football hold helped a lot in his fussy periods.
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Jennifer G. Miller
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happymama
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| Posted: Sept 19 2007 at 1:20pm | IP Logged
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Okay, just for a different opinion -
I'd hesitate before telling a 4 week post-partem, first-time mom to completely eliminate an entire food category from her diet. It's stressful, possibly unhealthy for her, and I've seen other new moms quickly give up breast feeding because they feel overwhelmed by their diet restrictions & the feeling of guilt that their milk is somehow hurting their baby. Just my experience.
It wouldn't hurt to suggest reducing dairy in her diet, (as opposed to eliminating it.) Humans are clearly designed to digest milk. A complete intolerance of lactose is extraordinarily rare. My own 4-year-old son has a lactose intolerance, so he's on soymilk, and I understand that too much lactose can be a problem - but complete elimination from a nursing mom's diet is a very rare necessity. True reflux - the weakness of the L.E.Sphincter - is a muscle immaturity issue, plain and simple. Just my personal opinion, no need to debate the allergy issues here - I just mostly wouldn't want to overwhelm a new, already exhausted and frustrated mom with all kinds of other problems that might be making her little one hurt. Reflux is probably more common than allergies, so try positioning & medication first. Those things are simple & to the point. Elimination diets are frustrating & vague & complicated.
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JennGM
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| Posted: Sept 19 2007 at 1:31pm | IP Logged
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I'm not debating food allergies, sorry for the confusion from my post above. The removal of dairy and possibly soy proteins from my diet was instruction from the pediatric gastroenterologist for my infant son. It's very, very common that infants have a milk and/or soy protein intolerance. It's not the same as food allergy, and usually they outgrow it.
It could be food allergies, like it was with my son, but that wasn't why I suggested our path. It's the normal path many gastros do. When a mother does formulas, the specialized ones for reflux babies don't use dairy proteins and some don't use soy proteins.
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Family in Feast and Feria
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Fuzzy
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My kids didn't have reflux, but I was very aware of certain foods that caused fussiness in them, and I was careful to stay away from them. Anything that gave ME indigestion was a key too! Peppers, tomato sauce, garlic, onions or similar foods.
I hope things go better for her. I know she must be feeling tired and frustrated right now, but I hope we have helped.
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 Fuzzy
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tradmom
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| Posted: Sept 19 2007 at 2:23pm | IP Logged
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Dear Ladies,
Thank you so much for all of your replies. I have passed them on to my sister in hopes that there is something that will help her help her baby girl. God bless you all.
She did call me today and told me about Olivia's one month check up. She is gaining weight so that was really good. She weighed in at 11 lbs. 2 oz. She was 9 lbs. 5oz
when she was born. The doctor is confident that it is infant reflux and wants her to start taking prevacid.
He is not against any alternative therapies, like seeing a chiro, so that was good. Most doctor's wouldn't say that. He understands how desperate they are to find some relief for her. He also told her that she can slowly add things back into her diet to see if there is any affect on the baby.
Anyway, thank you all again. I knew I could find some advice here from all of you.
God Bless,
Meredith in FL
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4Real Forums : Our Lady of Good Remedy and Care
Topic: Infant reflux
