January 2016 Moms

Acid reflux or fussy ?

LO is 7 weeks and for the last week she has been spitting up way more often . We burp multiple times during feedings , concentrate on upright during and after and are using gripe water . Last night i elevated the head of the bassinett slightly. She still spits up 1 to 2 times after feedings and gets very fussy about an hour after eating.  Lately she has been eating less around 2oz and sometimes eating a full bottle 3.5 oz.  About an hour after feeding she wakes up screaming like she's in pain which only lasts about 10 minutes or so.

She has also been very gassy , has the hiccups a lot and has had fewer dirty diapers ( 0 to 1 per day) and many pee diapers.  We are thinking maybe we should switch to try out gentlease  formula.  Shes been on enfamil newborn since birth (supplementing and now exclusively ) so why symptoms now? Her next appointment with the MD is a little over a week.  I'm going to put a call into her doctor today but its Saturday so I might not hear back. 

For those of you who have a LO with acid reflux did they give meds ? Did they help ? Any other tips?  

I also worry that maybe she's not gaining enough weight. She was 9# 22 inches at one month , she's long and lean... She definitely can't afford to loose weight. 

Thanks !!

Re: Acid reflux or fussy ?

  • Could be reflux. My little guy had it and Zantac made it much better. He also a has a milk allergy which once we realized that and eliminated it from my diet (ebf) he came off Zantac abd is great 
  • StephEppieStephEppie member
    edited February 2016
    My dr hasn't diagnosed her with reflux yet but I'm 90% sure she has it. Everything you described we have been dealing with for a couple weeks and she'll be 6 weeks Monday. (One exception is I EBF). I'm in the process of checking to see if dairy needs to be cut out of my diet, which its appearing as so. We have her crib elevated and we give her gas drops before feedings which helps her a ton. Her gas is intense and her spit up....it projects itself, she's managed to hit the wall from the changing table....with that being said yeah talk to your dr and definitely ask about the formula you use. I would even try the gas drops over gripe water too

    ohhh! Tummy time helps too, do it with baby tummy down across your knees and rub their back. It helps ease the gas. Also do bicycle leg movements too with them front facing you. 
  • Loading the player...
  • I had this same thing with my baby after I switched from nursing to formula. My pediatrician had me switch over to gentle ease and it's been a lot better. As long as I make sure to burp a couple times per feeding the spitting up had been a LOT less. Like going from spitting up after every feeding most of the time enough to change clothes to maybe one big spit up a day. Night and day difference. He now poops every other day but doesn't seem to be having the gas pains he was having before. And the poop....well it's a LOT when he finally goes. Haha
  • Hi! Visiting from April 2015.

    OP, how long do you keep your baby upright after feedings? It takes 20 minutes for food to travel out of her stomach and into her small instestine. Have you been keeping her upright for 20 minutes before moving her around?

    Thicker milk is heavier and stays down better. Add one teaspoon of rice cereal to each 4 oz bottle of formula. (Or use Emfamil AR or Similac with added rice starch.
    "It's always better when we're together." -Jack Johnson
  • DD will be 6 weeks on Monday and has had terrible screaming fits for hours each day. She wasn't spitting up so we didn't consider reflux until we learned about silent reflux-acid reflux without the spitting up. Zantac helps a LOT! She still has terrible gas pains, so we give her gripe water after each feeding. The Mommy's Bliss kind works best for us, as it is for gas, colic, fussiness and hiccups. Zantac and gripe water together has made her about 90% better. I hope something helps for your LO!
  • This sounds just like what we went through. It felt like we had tried everything. We were supplementing, and now we are strictly on formula as well--approaching 7 weeks.

    The things that worked for us:
    Switching from Enfamil to Gerber Soothe (intended for gassy/colicky babies)
    Paced feeding (This was a godsend to us. And to our daughter. Before we would go for hours with screaming discomfort. This has eliminated a lot of that.) You can find info on it via google.
    Prescription for Zantac
    Placing baby in a more upright position when she sleeps--we use a boppy infant recliner with a receiving blanket rolled up under the head. Since she is in the room with us and I hear EVERYTHING, the doctor also recommended placing her on her left side. The esophagus is curved in a way that this is most comfortable. (Babies in the NICU are placed exclusively on their sides and backs, as it is better for digestion. The justification is that they are monitored constantly.)
    Babywearing--LO gets a lot of comfort from being in our ring sling, or we borrowed a Becco Gemini from our local baby wearing group.

    Good luck!
  • Here from March 2016 board. LO was born nearly 8 weeks premature on January 11th so the ladies in my board have still yet to even deliver. So glad I found this post! My little guy has been projectile spitting up as well and we still have a little over two weeks till his next appointment. We were supplementing until we started to exclusively use similac neosure (specifically for premature babies). Will definitely call his doctor Monday! 
  • How often do you give the gripe water? I give zantac 2x daily as prescribed. I give gripe water every night before bed/bedtime feeding. I give drops, but not every day. I don't like the idea of giving so many medications, especially if I can't tell if they are working. Suggestions?
    My little screams like she is in pain. Sometimes mid-feeding. She used to scream for hours all night. Since the zantac, she fusses for hours all afternoon and sleeps at night, but still consistently screams at intervals throughout the day. I have changed my diet too. I feel helpless.
  • This is my life! She has been spitting up so much lately. I feel like I have tried everything on my own.we use gripe water in the evenings, and I have been giving her mylacon as well. Lately I have been trying to give her the mylacon after eating, and it seems to be helping, but I'm not sure. We see the doctor in a week, so I'm hoping we can figure it out! She gets completely stiff and screams mid feed. She burps regularly and usually poops while eating too.
  • We just switched to Enfamil gentlease , it seems to be helping with the spit up , fingers crossed we will see! 
  • walter87 said:
    How often do you give the gripe water? I give zantac 2x daily as prescribed. I give gripe water every night before bed/bedtime feeding. I give drops, but not every day. I don't like the idea of giving so many medications, especially if I can't tell if they are working. Suggestions?
    My little screams like she is in pain. Sometimes mid-feeding. She used to scream for hours all night. Since the zantac, she fusses for hours all afternoon and sleeps at night, but still consistently screams at intervals throughout the day. I have changed my diet too. I feel helpless.

    We give gripe water when it seems like she needs it. If she is fine, we don't give it. We also only give about 2 ml at a time--even though she can receive up to 5 ml 6x a day. That just seems excessive.
  • Ahh...I get reminded of the ever joyous times we had at weeks 4-8 with LO and even on occasion still at almost 11w, when I read people's threads about this very thing.  Here is what we went through in a nut shell.

    Same types of things happening with our LO as yours; not pooping as much, gassy, fussy and crying out sporadically, even shortly after a feeding, even the spitting up.  We went from Supplementing, to Gentlease, then to Similac Sensitive, before putting DS on Nutramigen by Enfamil.  In case you're not familiar it is a partly broken down formula that makes it easier for babies to digest and is used for infants who are being treated for or do have a cows milk intolerance.  The formula switch worked great but we were still experiencing above symptoms and it began to get real bad around week 6-8.  We basically did everything we were told by the Pediatrician in an effort to help him.  You name it, gripe water, probiotic drops, gas drops, prune juice if he didn't go within 3-4 days, manually stimulating him to get him to poop if he wouldn't go within 3-4 days, even made 2 trips to the ER because he would not stop with the stomach churning, gas, and spitting up.

    Here's what we came up with just 1 day before his 2 month shots and him turning 9w old, after a visit with a Pediatric GI Dr.  
    1. Baby just needs to learn how his digestive system and stomach work.  While it sucks to hear that, there isn't a whole lot we can do about it, other than sleep when he sleeps and hope we had the support in case he got real restless. (I know you're not dealing with a super fussy baby, but here's to hoping it doesn't become a situation where you do, because it was a nightmare for us).
    2. While all those little bottles with drops for this, that and everything in between are great and many people say they've worked for them, when you're putting those drops into a babies stomach, they have to figure out how to work them out of their system the same way they have to try and break down formula. It can often be difficult for them to do.  He also noted the same thing with giving a baby prune juice. Don't give them more things to have to digest.  Especially if you're inconsistent with the drops and what type you're giving.
    3.  Formula changes (we were recommended this by the Pediatric GI Dr. we took DS to), should be ran by your Pediatrician first.  Not that they would necessarily tell you, "No, don't try that" but they may be able to give you a better suggestion on something to try as well as how long you should be putting LO on it in order to tell whether it's a good fit for your baby, in case you need to switch again

    We never ran into the issue with him refusing to eat, if anything he wanted more and we were thinking we needed to feed him less, more often.  Not the case.  Once we up'ed his formula intake to 3.5-4oz per feeding, threw away anything with a dropper that came in a tiny bottle, and started feeding him every 3-3 1/2 hours, he was an entirely new baby.  
  • Thanks for sharing as I was wondering what more we could do. I'm sorry you had to go through all of that :(
  • I would call her pediatrician. It sounds like she has some reflux, but only her doctor can make the call. My DD2 has reflux but once she started showing signs and symptoms of it we switched her formula. Using a pacifier helps, burping helps, tummy to tummy helps which is basically the warmth from you on her tummy because it can help relax it, and we use gas drops. It just depends on what will work for your baby but definitely explore options and talk to her doctor.
  • I give DD gripe water after every feeding and the Zantac twice a day. She has been on Zantac for 2 weeks and we have started weaning her off of the gripe water (she now goes without during one of her night feedings and one in the afternoon). I don't like that she's on meds so early, but I'd rather her have them and not be in pain. My pharmacist says that gripe water is all natural, so it doesn't count as "medicine" which makes me feel a little better about it
  • So update , we put little one on gentlease Enfamil and it has helped a ton with the crying/gas pains! She still spits up here and there but not nearly as often. Thank goodness !
Sign In or Register to comment.
Choose Another Board
Search Boards
"
"