Spent today crying

[Anonymous]

My son is nearly 6 months old and his spitting is still awful, awful, awful. We have 15-20 spit ups per day and he generates a whole load of laundry by himself. He is on Prevacid and doesn’t seem to mind the spit ups…but I mind, BIG TIME.

I have tried everything I know. He is nursed and I try to nurse him upright. I even bought a wedge nursing pillow. No help. I am now giving him rice cereal, hoping that the solids will help. Now all I do is clean up nastier rice cereal spit ups.

Today we had to wash the tablecloth and place mats early this a.m. before church b/c he hosed them. He spit up on me about four times and he spit up multiple times on his activity gym. (My kid can’t enjoy the bright colored floor mat b/c we have to keep it covered with white tarp and wash it constantly too.)

We took him strolling today – he spit up in there too. I can’t even take him to church without some nursery worker having to change his clothes. It’s gotten to where I am embarrassed to take him anywhere. And I have nice clothes that I don’t even put on him b/c I only have to change them and they are ruined after 5-10 mins anyway.

Reflux also ruins bath time too. If he does not spit in his bathwater, he then spits all over his pjs while I am trying to put them on. We then have to wipe him down again and he gets mad and starts crying. Then I start crying. So much for a nice peaceful, pleasant bath time.

I was hoping that at 6 months this stuff would start to go away but it seems to be getting worse. He is trying to sit up now and that’s what I think is making it worse – it puts pressure on his tummy. As I am 41 and this is the only child I will ever have, I really feel very angry and cheated quite a bit. I would be so much of a better parent if I didn’t stress out about reflux all the time. It also affects me negatively b/c it makes it impossible for me to nurse discreetly. That’s very hard to do when you are trying at the same time to protect your clothes!

So as a result there are places that I would like to go but can’t b/c of modesty issues. I’m told formula makes it even worse – I can’t imagine how that could be – it’s so bad now. I fear our washer will break down and we will have to replace our carpet. I was counting the days til he turns 6 months but I fear that day will come and things will be just as bad if not worse. I’m not sure how much more I can take of this.

The drs just laugh and say you have a laundry problem. My husband gets annoyed when I vent and said if I held him a different way when burping him it wouldnt’ be so bad (he doesnt’ know what it’s like to bf – when he feeds it’s with a bottle and that’s so much easier logistically – you bfing moms know what I am talking about!)

Thanks for listening. I had to vent after he went to bed (thank God – no more spitups til 7 a.m.). How do you guys manage to deal with this day in and day out without losing your minds? And has anyone used Reglan? I didn’t ask for it earlier b/c I thought I could wait out reflux and I was afraid it would have side effects but at this point I am willing to at least look into it.

Lois Lane

[Anonymous]

lois lane—another older momma here (i’m almost 44) my youngest is now 3, but as an infant she spit up sooooo much that she couldn’t even gain weight adequately. (she ended up with a fundo–but most don’t have to have that done) my oldest daughter was a very happy and good baby, but she spit all over too. i remember making her bibs to cover her clothes.

we thought we would have to clean our carpet after sylvia quit spitting, and i did, but i was able to do it myself with a rented machine and it didn’t cost much and it did the job.

[Anonymous]

I’m so sorry for all you’re going through with your little boy. I sure know how you feel. Bryce has always spit up TONS. At one point he was spitting up so much that he wasn’t gaining weight. He was diagnosed with DGE and put on Erythromycin (an alternative to Reglan). This reduced his spitting up dramatically. I think you should definitely mention DGE to your doctor and see if you can try a DGE medicine or possibly have testing done. Reglan does have scary side effects for some, but I also believe it has it’s place, and in some circumstances is worth trying. But like I said there are alternatives like Erythromycin. And your baby may not have DGE, but I definitely think it’d be worth mentioning to your doc. Many babies that spit up a lot have DGE.

Good luck, and hang in there!

[Anonymous]

What is DGE? By the way, I notice a lot of preemies have reflux like this. My kid came on his due date and weighed nearly 7lbs. So why do we have this? For anyone who replies about this, I have already tried a dairy elimination diet for weeks and pedi took me off it as it made no difference whatsoever. My son’s seems to be tied to movement. Wheneven he laughs or plays or cries or tries to roll over or sit up, he spits. Sometimes he spits without these things, with no warning, just for the heck of it. I am at my wit’s end. He will spit hours after he eats, too. The only time he does not is when he sleeps b/c he’s not moving for a long time. He’s been tested for pyloric stenosis (negative) – but for some reason he has a motility problem. Not sure how that’s tied to an immature LES.

[Anonymous]

DGE is delayed gastric emptying. In other words, the stomach takes longer than it should to empty after eating. Spitting up hours after eating is definitely a symptom of DGE. That could be what he has, but from your description, I wonder if you’re right about the immature LES. I think that could be determined with testing. Either way, it might be worth asking for some testing. It could give you some answers.

[Anonymous]

Hi there,

I’m an older mom too (42) and I can relate whole heartedly to what you are feeling. I felt cheated at times too because two of my three babies had severe reflux, and I felt that I could not enjoy them as I would have if they had been “normal” babies. My dh hated to hear me complain about it and his standard answer was “he’ll outgrow it” and “be thankful it’s not something fatal.” Yeah, I was thankful it wasn’t fatal and I knew he’d eventually outgrow it but when you are the one dealing with puke all day everyday with no end in site, you tend to get discouraged. Things were so bad with Myles that for the first 7 months of his life I never left this house except for doctor’s appts. and mad dashes to the grocery store so dh and the girls wouldn’t starve. It wasn’t worth going out because I knew it would just be one big puke fest where ever we went. On top of his constant puking he would not nurse so I had to pump 10 times a day to provide breast milk for him. My whole day consisted of pumping, feeding and cleaning up puke!!

On a more encouraging note, it really does pass. For Myles 7 months was a particularily bad time, and after that he began to have days where things were better, followed by a few bad days, and back and forth for a while, BUT FINALLY at 9 months it was over. The puking stopped for good. And now that he’s 15 months I can honestly say that I barely remember how bad it was. A post like your’s brings it back for me but otherwise I rarely think of it and I enjoy him immmensely on a daily basis. Those days will come for you as well. Hang in there. Let it out sometimes. I went to my Pastor once and cried for an hour about how horrible it was. I felt a lot better just having someone listen and care. Sometimes that’s all you need to forge ahead.

[Anonymous]

Lois Lane wrote: What is DGE? By the way, I notice a lot of preemies have reflux like this. My kid came on his due date and weighed nearly 7lbs. So why do we have this?

I wanted to tell you that my baby was full term, 7 lb, and she has SEVERE reflux due to an extremely immature LES. Just exactly like your original post. We experienced the same thing with the constant vomiting. (((Hugs)))

[Anonymous]

Dylan was similar and spit up EVERY feed many times per feed. I remember feeling like you! I can tell you that after he stopped spitting up, it became a distant memory fast. Words can not express how not cheated I feel now. He is the funniest almost 4 year old you will ever meet (I am biased, though ). He was also a great 2 and 3 year old as well, so you will get there very soon!!!!!

Vent any time you need to, that is what we are all here for! It is very frustrating, and if there are not people going through it with you, they tend to brush off your feelings and that is even more frustrating. Hang in there!!!

[Anonymous]

I have to totally agree with Ann Marie. Kaelyn was only a week early, but she was a HUGE spitter. We covered our living room floor with towels and would just replace them whenever she soaked them. So, I was doing a load or two of towels every day. She was born during the warm weather, so we just kept the AC down, and only changed her outfits if she was well and truly soaked. We often put more than one bib on at a time to try to contain some of the spitting. She also spent a lot of time in just a onesie. She didn’t stop spitting until she was almost a year old, but it faded fast and I had actually forgotten what it was like to deal with a spitter because she grew into such an amazing toddler.

I was really looking forward to having Alex wear all of the pretty clothes that Kaelyn never got a chance to wear because she was so busy spitting. Of course, God has a sense of humor, so my second child was not a spitter for the first month of her life, but then became yet another huge spitter. Other than my concern that she’s not gaining weight, I’m trying not to let it bother me and just enjoy her happy times. That’s easier said than done, I know, but we’re trying! (And now, I literally have an entire storage container of clothes that both girls never wore. I’m hoping that my brother or sister will eventually have a little girl and they can enjoy them!)

pkkb2006-12-13 16:52:39

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