Help! When does the pain end for the baby? I've been in tears...

[Anonymous]

Reflux sucks. Hope the baby is back to eating soon. We also did compounded Zantac, Solutabs and Mylanta as needed, plus no dairy for me. Good luck OP!

[Anonymous]

I also used all sorts of wedges to keep him on an incline. He was never flat on his back even when nursing. Keep the pressure on the Ped GI. Medication dosages need to be changed often. My son used to overeat to compensate for the pain but he was a very unhappy baby for a very long time. He needs you now and you re doing the right thing.

[Anonymous]

OP, how is it going?

Have you tried the Mylanta? Since it neutralized the acid we often found that DD dropped into a peaceful sleep within a few minutes. She was also more willing to dream feed.

Hope things turn around quickly for your little guy.

[Anonymous]

NP - Is the aluminum free mylanta prescription only? What dose do you all give a baby? My ped recommended mylanta for some very mild reflux but we decided against it because of the aluminum. She did not mention that there was an alum free version out there!

[Anonymous]

It is the Cherry Supreme Version of the Mylanta. It has gotten hard to find. Over the counter though. CVS makes a house brand, same name, Cherry Supreme, very easy to find. Says aluminum free on the bottle.

We give 1 ml as needed depending on symptoms, our baby is big, check with your ped for dose for your baby. Our ped GI had us use it for breakthrough symptoms and said it was very safe to use several times per day.

Acid reflux can actually cause a lot of damage in addition to causing problems with not eating, not gaining, etc.

Hope all the babies are feeling better soon!

[Anonymous]

OP here. We were admitted to the hospital yesterday. Baby is still not eating (maybe abt 10 ounces if i push him during dream feeding) and it's so heart wrenching to see a two month old in this state. We've tried mylanta but it did not help at all. Right now the baby was just fed and is sleeping and i'm trying to figure out what to eat given the elimination diet doesn't allow much particularly when we are talking abt hospital food menu. the docs want us to keep using expressed breast milk rather than go to a formula. their theory is to not have too many changes. they want to see if the combo of meds will work. it looks like we will be here for at least another day or two since my son's feeding is still minimal. the only change is that he'll be removed from the iv today to see if this would entice him to drink more.

again, thank you all for your support.

[Anonymous]

OP, thanks for the update. You have a huge virtual community pulling for you and your son! We are out of the worst of the reflux now with our almost 1yo, and never faced the tough stuff you have had to deal with since ours was a comfort eater. Still, for me reflux was the hardest thing I've dealt with as a parent, more excruciating and overwhelming than anything else I've seen as a mom to 2 little guys who have seen their fair share of physical and emotional challenges. I realize that there are far worse challenges one can have as a parent, and I do feel a thousand times more sympathetic toward all those parents and kids who have suffered worse. It was just incredibly frustrating to find the most basic act of parenthood - feeding your baby - create pain for the child you love, and incredibly frustrating to realize that the treatment inevitably takes a bit of trial and error to see what works best for the individual baby. It sounds like you've got great medical care, and there are so many of us who have experienced a little bit of what you're dealing with now who will keep you and your family in our thoughts. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

OP, also thinking of you and your little one. Just wanted to let you know that.

[Anonymous]

OP we are all thinking of you and just wanted to reassure you that eventually things will get better! They will.

[Anonymous]

OP, if I were your friend and knew you were going through this, I would definitely want to help but not know how to help.

If you have someone in that category who lives near by CALL THEM and ask them to pick up up some food you can eat and bring it to the hospital.

Does anyone have an online copy of an elimination diet with some suggestions as to what a person could bring for a nursing mom in such a situation?

[Anonymous]

OP,
I'm so sorry. I've been in the same situaton in the hospital. It's horrible but it is more likely to get things sorted out quickly. I'm glad that he is in a safe place with doctors who are taking the situation seriously.

Re: food - ask for really plain food (if I remembering, they feed you as the nursing mom). Plain hamburger. Plain baked potato. Salad with oil and vinegar. Plain chicken breast, plain pork chop also good, things like oatmeal and bacon for breakfast. It's hard, they are really used to low salt or diabetic diets in the hospital, but eliminating things like dairy, not so much. The breastfeeding center has a diet that has you going down to just a few foods for a few days then once you are at baseline with the meds you can add things back in slowly. A friend was able to have a cup of coffee no problem wherea that was a disaster for us. My baby couldn't tolerate caffeine at all.

[Anonymous]

Agree with PP that simply cooked whole foods are the easiest.

Welshire Farms products from Whole Foods are free of the things you are avoiding - ate a lot of the cold cuts and breakfast sausage. Salted popcorn popped in oil is a good snack, as is corn chips and guacamole, lots of healthy fats. We also ate the rotisserie chicken from Safeway, most restaurants put butter on it but theirs is dairy free. Steamed veggies drizzled in olive oil, or stir fry. Rice cakes with sunbutter spread (nut free). Lots of cooked brown rice with all the meat, if you cook it with some stock for water it has a flavor. Some of the Progresso soups like lentil will work for you too I think, used to eat that on baked potatoes. Stews worked too - lamb, beef or chicken and vegetables. When you or DH cook, try to make enough for a couple of meals.

[Anonymous]

OP, your baby and your family will be in our thoughts.

Please keep us posted. Have they mentioned doing a scope at all? My DC was hospitalized at 6 weeks for reflux and it is horrible. It is also the safest place for them if they are not eating.

I'm the PP who posted about the Mylanta/CVS antacid, for the poster who asked about dosage, you should check with your doc, but I made a typo, we started out with 5 ml as the dose (1 tsp), we now give 10-15 ml but baby is almost a year, and sips it from a medicine cup.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. We were admitted to the hospital yesterday. Baby is still not eating (maybe abt 10 ounces if i push him during dream feeding) and it's so heart wrenching to see a two month old in this state. We've tried mylanta but it did not help at all. Right now the baby was just fed and is sleeping and i'm trying to figure out what to eat given the elimination diet doesn't allow much particularly when we are talking abt hospital food menu. the docs want us to keep using expressed breast milk rather than go to a formula. their theory is to not have too many changes. they want to see if the combo of meds will work. it looks like we will be here for at least another day or two since my son's feeding is still minimal. the only change is that he'll be removed from the iv today to see if this would entice him to drink more.

again, thank you all for your support.

Have you discussed getting an upper endoscopy to identify the source of your baby's problems? Given the severity of the symptoms I think it makes sense to be able to see the problem, and they can biopsy tissue so you can find out if there is an allergic component to the problem. You might be driving yourself crazy on an elimination diet for nothing.

[Anonymous]

OP, best wishes to you and your family. If it does come to scoping, it seems scary, but it can lend very valuable information. I hope that things turn around very quickly for your little guy.