New here- need advice

[Anonymous]

Hi,

My 7 week-old was jsut diagnosed with silent reflux. I don’t feel like the doctors educated me about exactly what this means and what to do about it. I breastfeed, and they wanted me to stop in order to thicken his feeds, but I do not feel comfortable with that option. After doing reserach and talking to other moms with reflux babies, I know that it’s possible to breastfeed and that thickening is controversial.

He ended up getting diagnosed when we took him to the ER at Children’s Hospital, where he was diagnosed with RSV. He was admitted at that point. While we were in teh hospital, they did an Upper GI, where the reflux was diagnosed. The only symptoms he had prior to the hospitalization were some gagging and choking both during and after feedings. Otherwise, he was a very calm and happy baby and a pretty good sleeper, too.

He was prescribed Zantac, which he hates…he spits most of it out. otherwise, I am back to breastfeeding, which he enjoys so much!

Now that we are back home from the hospital, he has become more fussy and has stopped napping well (he only naps for a short time and wakes up crying). I KNOW that is a sign of reflux, but does it make sense that thses symtpoms came on so suddenly? Can illness increase signs of reflux? Does reflux peak at a certain time?

What help can you give me? I am looking for any advice possible on what to do for my son!

Thanks!
Cara

[hellbennt]

hi & welcome!

I have a LOT to say & (most of) it’s here:

J

Groupie Intro: my intro: https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=853&PN=1&TPN=1

Please PLEASE take the time to read/scroll/skim through the info from this link, as it truly will help you!

so glad you found us!

~laura

this is also great:

https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=10133&PID=87611#87611

[Anonymous]

Welcome Cara,

i am so glad they have diagnosed him early, so you can start helping him ASAP. Can you try given him the Zantac mix with some expressed BM in a serynge?

Also when they did the Barium sawllow did they mention anyhting about aspiration?

i don’t want to sound negative, but his reflux pain might get worse before it gets better (usually the first 4 months are the worst) due to the fact that the bigger he gets the more food he will need and the more food he will reflux.

My # one suggestion for you is to try as hard as you can to get his pain under control. That means getting him on the proper dose of medication to neutralize the burning acid. There is some info here about Zantac and proper dose per body weight and it f zantac doesn’t cut it after a while talk to your doctor about axid or zegerid (make sure you get a good dose).

Also my dd did not sleep well until we got her a tucker sling (a device used to help them sleep in an up right position). I also recomend you breastfeed keeping him in an upright position and putting him in a baby carrier after he eats for a while.

Hang in there and again fight to control your baby’s reflux pain.

[Anonymous]

Hi Cara,

my advice to you is ….. do not stop breastfeeding …. if the only reason is to thicken the feeds.

It sounds like both of you really enjoy breastfeeding and throwing another issue (bottle feeding) into the mix might just upset you and your baby. My baby developed a feeding aversion and on advice from Dr’s i put him on the bottle. Its a huge regret for me. He was a great feeder too, and i feel like if i had stuck it out a bit longer till his pain was under control i would still be breastfeeding. Giving up feeding on someone else’s instructions and not because i was ready too was really upsetting to me.

There are other ways to thicken feeds.

I am in australia and here we hav Karicare thickener… i used to feed it to him mixed with formula after his bottle feed, as he wouldnt drink his bottle with thickener in it. You could always try something like this mixed with breastmilk.

I hav noticed that my bub does spit up more and is a little more unsettled with reflux when he is a little ill. At the moment he has a cold and i hav noticed the reflux flaring up.

But hang in there… it will improve with meds and time.

Good luck

[Anonymous]

Hi Cara–if you want to breastfeed, stick with it! If you do a search on this forum, there are a lot of good threads on the benefits of BFing for reflux. I agree with the previous posts….
for finn, reflux peaked at 4 months and got worse up to 6 months–
hang in there and keep posting. this forum will give you so much support!

[Author]

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