So frustrated

Could he be having a reaction to some of the solids he’s eating? I saw
in your other post that he’s also having 6 ounces a day formula in his
cereal, so his formula intake seems OK to me.

Could well be that he’s reacting to the trace milk proteins in the Alimentum – you may want to ask for a trial of Neocate?

Hi Cory! Sorry to hear things are not going well! Sometimes moms on this board wait 5 days before starting a new food. Also, are you using the beechnut oatmeal with no soy? On marci-kids.com they have a cool illustration of what reflux does to the sinus cavities. My daughter was soooo stuffy before things started to get a little better, since we had the neocate change. Also, elevating her and having her on her sleep on her belly helped. When I first joined this group, Laura gave me some good advice, she said to use saline spray at every diaper change. It really seemed to keep everything draining, so we didn’t get any infections.

Also, I probably told you this before but… we had alot of repiratory problems before we had a swallow study done. She was aspirating alittle due to a swallowing dysfunction. We started using simply thick and the congestion got better.

Hi Cory,

Here’s what I would do (& what we DID do with Emma!):

*Stop the solids and then VERY slowly (3 days is fine w/ non-reflux/mspi kiddos…our kids usually need a week). No more than 1 new food each week. Before you begin solids again, give him 2 weeks to get it all out of his system. Make sure his formula intake is upped during this time.

*If during those 2 weeks w/o solids, his symptoms do not improve, switch to Neocate (or switch now anyway).

If after re-introducing solids & Neocate, your son is still congested, it could be external allergies OR the reflux. Even with Prevacid, he is probably still refluxing (just no acids going up), so that liquid can enter his nasal passages and airway & create problems. I would try saline spray 2-3 times per day. I’m not sure if there are any safe rx nasal sprays or meds for under 1. Emma is on Periactin & Nasonex, but both were added after her 1st birthday (if I remember correctly!). Have they ruled out aspiration?

I will also add, we had hoped that following Emma’s fundo, some of her congestion, URI’s, & ear infections would get better. They have not, in fact she had RSV this winter (post-fundo) & is on her 2nd set of tubes. She has asthma & is on breathing treatments. So, for some kids, reflux will cause or worsen congestion…BUT, some kids also just have issues with their resp tract & nasal passages.

Of course, run this by your doctors. We held off on introducing solids to Emma until she was 7 or 8 months old, & went very slowly. So, she was barely trialing solids at your son’s age. I know it’s been a learning experience for me, when Madi was a baby, she had no dietary issues. I breastfed until almost 1 year, she began milk & eating everything in sight!! I’ve really had to re-think & shift gears with Emma.

Hope some of this helps!

I was thinking that, too. He could be allergic to dust, pollen, etc. Do you have allergies in your family?

Or, it could be a bad cold. My kids have had colds that lasted two weeks, or had a cold and then caught something else on top of it so they were congested for weeks at a time. My little guy has had a stuffy nose for about a week and a half now. I’m not panicking yet because I’ve seen it with my first two. He’ll probably get over it soon, and hopefully your little guy will, too.