Reflux

starz080

Has anyone dealt with reflux before?  I don't think we have a severe case.  It doesn't seem to really irritate her or make her upset.  But she was very congested and it seemed to be worse right after she ate.  We went to the doctor and he suggested giving her rice cereal in her milk to make it heavier so it'd settle down in her stomach and not come back up.  We've been doing this for almost a week now and she's still spitting up....a lot.  I haven't noticed that the congestion is gone either.  I think it's better, but not completely gone.  I wasn't too wild about starting rice cereal so early, but the doctor suggested it so I figured it'd be ok.  I read up on it and it seems like it's a normal practice for this problem.

 Has anyone dealt with this before?  What did you do?  I mentioned to DH that maybe we should tilt one side of her mattress up so she could breathe better. 

Any suggestions or advice?

murph04

We think Nolan may have had a mild case of reflux around 2 months.

We tilted his mattress a little bit and got him a sleep positioner to help angle him a little bit more. The doctor also prescribed some oral meds we gave to him for a couple weeks. We also made sure to keep him upright for a good 20 minutes to a half an hour after each feeding (okay, in the middle of the night I cheated sometimes and it was closer to 15 or 20 minutes!) All of those things combined seemed to help him, and we haven't had a problem since. (We no longer tilt the mattress or use the positioner or give him meds, but I still do try to keep him upright for 10 to 15 minutes after a feeding.)

As for the congestion, have you tried giving him some saline drops before she feeds? We use the "Little Noses" brand (or something like that, they make the "Little Tummies" gas drops and such).

Good luck! 

kateland3

we did the holding upright for 20 minutes thing, and it really really helped. i'd definitely recommend that!

all babies have some degree of reflux, and i don't think they usually treat it unless it's really making them uncomfortable OR they aren't gaining weight well because of the spitting up.

starz080

The doctor thought the reflux caused the congestion.  We used the saline drops for about a month and they didn't help at all.  So that's one reason why he thought it was the reflux that was making her congested.  We will definitely try the holding upright for 20 min after she eats. 

MissMalo12

DS had mild to moderate that I started to notice when he was about a month old.  He would get pretty fussy after he had and I could tell he was uncomfortable.  My doctor told me to try the rice cereal and to try giving gas drops and to raise the head of his mattress.  Nothing was helping.  I finally went back and asked the doctor if we could try a low dose of an antacid and he put him on axid.  We only gave him 3 ml a day and it made a HUGE difference.  All of his symptoms completely went away.  At 4 months, I weaned him off of the axid and he had no more signs of reflux.   If you don't go the medication route, you could always try letting her sleep in her carseat at night.  This seemed to be more helpful than putting the mattress at an incline.  Hope something works for you.  I know it is so horrible when your DC is uncomfortable!!!