Reflux is almost gone but not eating alot

[Anonymous]

Almost overnight, Jackson’s reflux is gone. I give him 12mg Zegerid every 2-3 days now to try to wean him. I don’t want the dreaded rebound to happen. I know he probably doesn’t need to be weaned on it but it makes me feel better to do so. It helps to control his spitting up if I give it to him every 2-3 days.

My concern is that he is now not eating as much. He would normally take in 24-30oz a day. Now, he is taking in an average of 20oz a day. I breastfeed so it’s hard to know exactly how much he is taking in but I know that he took in 16 oz by bottle today while I was at work (5oz of it was with oatmeal for a thickened feeding): 5AM-4PM. He has plenty of soaked diapers (an average of 7 a day) and poops every other day. He’s a very happy baby. I’m just still concerned. (I should add that he’s more than doubled his birth weight — he is 12lbs, 12oz and was 6lbs, 1oz at birth).

Did his appetite decrease because of a decrease in his meds? Or was it just coincidence? Do babies plateau with weight for a little bit, once they’ve doubled their birth weight? He’s not quite as active these days and maybe since he’s not burning as many calories, he’s not quite as hungry but I still worry. I would have thought his appetite would have picked up since I’ve heard that being on such a high dose of a PPI delays gastric emptying (and now that he’s not getting that high dose, I’d think he would have an increase in gastric emptying).

Any BTDT Moms that can help? Any advice or words of wisdom? I’m just concerned!!

[Anonymous]

How old is he?

Babies certainly do have plateaus in growth and intake, and with his wet diapers and pooping every other day, it sounds like he’s getting enough. If he seems happy, I wouldn’t be concerned yet, but a decreasing appetite can be the earliest sign of reflux discomfort. I’d just keep an eye on it.

How much does he spit up? I knew Myles’ reflux was gone when he finally stopped spitting up.

Good luck. I hope he does fine without his medication.

[Anonymous]

He is 3 months & 1 week.

He is a silent refluxer (though I can hear it when he does it) and I haven’t heard it in a week or so. That’s why I think it’s almost gone. I don’t think it’s 100% gone but it almost is. This child used to silently reflux non-stop. I had to keep increasing his meds to get it to stop happening. He never needed an extremely high dose; we got up to 24mg a day of Zegerid and that controlled his reflux. Not only that, when his meds needed to increase, he wouldn’t sleep well and he’d have the hiccups, wheezing, coughing, etc and he doesn’t do that anymore. He sleeps through the night and doesn’t make all those grunting sounds in his sleep (that initially happened that clued me in to thinking “reflux”). We can lay him on his back immediately after feedings and he doesn’t spit up. The only time he spits up is if we sit him up and I guess it puts too much pressure on his tummy. These are the things that lead me to believe that the reflux is almost gone.

His physical therapist thinks that the PT has helped him gain trunk control and that perhaps that’s helped the reflux. I think she’s dead on. Jackson had torticollis and with 2 sessions, we’ve noticed a HUGE improvement. Perhaps that has helped more than anything.

Maybe I’m just a first-time Mommy who is worrying too much!!! Thanks for your help!

[Anonymous]

Well definitely take what I’m saying with a grain of salt because only YOU know your baby best but I really doubt that he’s already over his reflux at such a young age. Most babies are just starting to peak about now. My ds had silent reflux that went untreated for 10.5 months because we never knew it existed and I think that resulted in lasting damage.

If I’m understanding reflux correctly there are two issues:

1- spitting up and 2- pain

The spitting up isn’t really a problem unless it is excessive but the pain is the problem. That’s what silent reflux is all about (and the reason we didn’t know what was going on) because they don’t spit up but they have the pain.

At this age I think I would tend to be happy that you have him comfortable and then I’d wait for him to grow out of his dose of meds.

Now again, with all of this being said, I would not discount your intuition. What you are saying about PT could very well be true. About 20 years ago my Dad went to the doctor because he had severe reflux. The doctor said his valve was out of alignment and asked if he had taken a violent blow to the chest. He couldn’t remember anything at first but then he mentioned a car wreck. The doctor said that wouldn’t do this but then my Dad said, “not even at 185 MPH?” (he was in a race car) and the doctor said, “yep, that’s it.” They gave him Tagament at that time but my Dad thinks that just helped deal with the acid. Meanwhile, he thinks that going to the chiropractor is what re-aligned his valve so after his system had time to heal he was fine.

[hellbennt]

more food for thought:

perhaps the zegerid (along w/ the PT) made the torticollis better/go away? jonah had torticollis as a result of GERD & the PPIs made it disappear…

just a thought…

[Anonymous]

Good luck with whatever you decide. If it’s easy enough to give the meds, I personally might not be in a hurry to wean them, but I know that others like to get off the meds as soon as possible.

As for the PPIs causing DGE, I’ve never heard of that.

Our doc also gave us some research that stated that on average the reflux peaks at 4 months, then declines. But those are just averages, so maybe you’re one of the lucky ones.

Keep us posted.

[Anonymous]

Well, it appears that today he is finally catching up. I decided to pump instead of breastfeeding him this morning, while DH fed him a bottle. He took 7 ounces of breastmilk, without silently refluxing it and no spit up!! He hasn’t had any of his medicine since Monday morning. Oh, thank you God! After the 7 ounces, he has breastfed ALOT (no reflux, no hiccups, a dribble of spit up, no crying or drawing up of legs, no uncomfortability, etc.) and I know he’s drank alot of fluids today so maybe he is just making up for it. I really think the reflux is almost gone! I guess it is mother’s intuition…..maybe it was the physical therapy that made the biggest difference.

I thank you girls for your advice and for listening to me with my concerns. I guess I worry too much sometimes!!

Thanks again!

[Anonymous]

wow, thats good to hear.
honestly, i have NEVER heard of a baby outgrowing reflux at 3 months.

[Anonymous]

I agree Natalia! I wonder if the reflux wasn’t the normal reflux that the rest of us experience but perhaps triggered by something else that was corrected with the physical therapy?

Either way, that’s great for you and your family ali gal! No, I don’t think you worry too much at all… that’s our job and if we don’t pay attention to every little detail with our babies then who will? The doctors? I think not.

Congrats!

[Anonymous]

Great news!

[Author]

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