MSPI: congestion reflux meds

[Anonymous]

2 Quick questions about MSPI:

1. Is congestion usually a symptom of MSPI specifically, or also just reflux in general.

2. If you treat the reflux with meds and it becomes controlled, could it still be MSPI or would the meds not be effective if it’s MSPI (vs just reflux)?

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

For us, congestion was all diet related. My daughter just turned 4 months and I eliminated dairy and eggs when she was 4 weeks old, soy and wheat when she was 5.5 weeks old, and started Ted (chicken instead of turkey) when she was ~7weeks old. Her congestion was the 1st thing to clear around 8 weeks and I think it was all dairy related. It took a longer for the green/mucousy poos to go away but she has had normal bf baby poos for almost a month now. I had to experiment with Ted to realize she’s actually really sensitive to rice. I also figured our if I eat chicken a couple days in a row it doesnt agree with her either. I ended up going to a naturopath for diet advice and she suggested I rotate proteins every 3-4 days and its been working for her. I never was a big meat eater but I have been able to bring in grass fed beef, chicken and occasionally turkey wo any issues. For over 3 weeks I only ate potatoes, zucchini, squash and pears. I’ve recently added bananas and avocados wo issues.

The diet for us cleared all the stomach issues (stinky/painful gas, struggling to poo/acting constipated even though soft when it finally happened, cramping in pain). Her reflux on the other hand, was still awful. She has been on zantac since 4 weeks, upped it at 8 weeks, tried prevacid solutabs at 10 weeks with a horrible horrible reaction to lactose, and then on nexium for a month with some improvement but still more bad days than good. All the while I had lots of emotional calls with the gi who kept telling me they only prescribe nexium our prevacid so we were basically out of options and it was time to try rx formula. I broke down friday and called our reg ped crying, she had me bring her in that day and started her on omeprazole and wants us to do the upper gi. Its been 5 days on omeprazole and she just had the best 3 days she has EVER had. She hasn’t had any reflux screams, is sleeping longer stretches, waking up happy, and even did tummy time for 15 min yesterday (she has screamed on her belly for months). Oh and we had a peaceful 30 min car ride yesterday where again she would scream nonstop. Crossing our fingers that we’ve finally found the right combination of diet and meds. Btw right now she only takes the omeprazole once a day in the am and gets zantac in the afternoon and before bed.

Sorry for the long post, and any errors (on my phone), but just wanted to let you know our experience so far. Let me know if you have any diet questions as its been the biggest struggle but has proven to actually work. Oh and or reg ped couldn’t believe the gi suggested formula after getting her diapers clear with my diet changes…said she’d still have reflux and rx formula would just work for her protein intolerances but we didn’t need to do it if I was ok with continuing the diet and slowly adding things in.

Best of luck and hang in there!!

[hellbennt]

the congestion is most likely due to mspi or any other intolernace – milk and soy are the usual culprits, but other proteins can affect babies’ systems…

anyway, it is very rare for diet alone to cure the reflux. most babies whose parents figure out the diet part do see drastic improvement w/ diapers/digestive issues and reflux. the majority, however, continue to need some sort of med for the reflux, even if they’ve seen wonders w/ diet…

[Anonymous]

Completely agree…we definitely saw wonders with my diet changes (took awhile, but SO worth it), and then we realized she still has bad reflux that needs meds. I think what happened with us is we cleared her diapers/colitis right before she hit 4 months and then the reflux peaked and we weren’t prepared because we thought most of her pain/screaming/etc was stomach related from the diet…come to find out it was mostly reflux related all along 🙁 For us, its clearly both diet and meds though, if she doesn’t have the right dose of meds, or I eat something that doesn’t agree with her, we have HORRIBLE days.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the feedback- my gut says there is something besides just reflux going on, like MSPI. I tried an elimination diet before but I’m worried I didn’t give it enough of a chance to take effect. We also thought we solved the problem when I regulated my milk supply (had OALD/OS) and stopped being strict. It’s hard to go back on the diet when everyone is telling you that’s not the problem. The congestion is a newer symptom (about 1 month) that makes me revisit the idea. Glad to know we should still be working to treat his reflux besides just diet while I try to get those proteins out of my system!

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