Reflux Rollercoaster

[Anonymous]

Hi

I have been hearing much about the reflux rollercoaster and I think we are on quite a ride here!

My daughter is 5 1/2 weeks old. We are on meds, changed formula, and her silent reflux episodes seemed to have decreased over the past week (to just a few gagging/choking/coughing episodes). Yesterday we had a bad day (approximately 10 coughing, gagging, silent episodes in a 10 hour time frame). Does this kind of thing just happen with children with reflux – unexplained occurrences of good days/bad days???? Are we going backwards, is this what we should expect with silent reflux?

THank you for your insight and sharing your experiences with us!

[Anonymous]

Hi!

You are describing my life. Reflux is such a rollercoaster ride. Kate still has good days and bad days where I’m perplexed as to what is going on but I think that’s just part of the reflux battle. I would think though that on the right meds your lo should be having mostly good days. Kate, since being on good doses of the right meds, isn’t in pain anymore so much, it’s just that the choking,gagging, and endless waterfalls of spit-up continue. But(sigh), from what I understand, meds don’t help the spit-up coming up, they just help take the pain away. I’m new at this too though!!!

Hang in there! It does get better and hopefully both our daughters will grow out of this thing FAST!!! Kuddos to you mommy for being so proactive and catching this so early in your dds little life so far. It took us three months!!!

[Anonymous]

It can take weeks or months after learning that your baby has reflux to get the meds and formula right. This is a common theme for many of us. And still with the right combination of meds and formula there tend to be ups and downs. But like Claire said, if she’s on a good dose of Prevacid her pain should be controlled. Myles had lots of ups and downs in the amount and frequency of his spitting and puking, but once his Prevacid dose was high enough his pain was gone.

Does your daughter seem to be in pain?

As for the gagging and choking, does this happen during feedings? If it’s happening a lot during feedings you may want to have a swallow study done to make sure she’s not aspirating while feeding.

[Anonymous]

We’ve been on a roller coaster also. We started on Zantac and within a week it stopped working. My son was better for about 4 days and then started to decline until on the 7th day it was worse than before. Then we switched to Prilosec and went up and down for about 6 days, 7, 8 and 9th days he was not wanting to eat at all, fussy, etc. They switched him to Prevacid. He is doing better on the Prevacid but we still are having episodes of refluxing and choking during feedings, but we seem to be having more good times than bad. During this time we also switched from isomil formula to Alimentum. Still on Alimentum right now.

So…. keep talking to your Doctor be your child’s advocate and push for the adjustment to the meds to see a more consistent increase in good times. Sometimes its different meds that are needed, sometimes a stronger dose if there is room for it.

Hang in there – this too shall pass.

[Anonymous]

Hi – thanks for the support.

Elizabeth’s pain seems to be under control for the most part thanks to the prevacid. It’s just the discomfort she experiences from the silent reflux (the formula coming up and trying to coordinate the swallowing and breathing along with the gagging and choking) that pains us and her!

Her gagging and choking episodes usually occur anytime after or between feedings regardless of her position – and that is the scary part. We feel that we can never take our eyes off of her! Occasionally she will gag/choke while feeding, but at this point it doesn’t seem to occur more frequently than a child without reflux. Thanks again for your support. We are definitely hoping and praying for more GOOD days!

[Anonymous]

Yes, Caden also had good days and bad in the beginning (he had silent reflux). We still have occasional bad days where I wonder if he is getting worse, but then we’ll have an awesome week, and I’ll be relieved again, so it will get better in time! There are times when I can pinpoint something that triggers his reflux (ie ear infection) but other times when I have NO idea what caused it. So, just keep watch and maybe you’ll notice triggers but if not, don’t despair, because reflux will flare up sometimes without warning and there may not be an obvious reason for it.

As your baby gets older, the good days will become more frequent than the bad

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