Help me figure this out!

evasecka

DS is EBF and is very gassy and spits up SO MUCH everytime I burp him. He is gaining weight just fine but is miserable. He is so upset after he eats (I am guessing reflux) but I feel like I should be able to do something about it to make it better as opposed to going to pedi and getting an antiacid. Anyway....I cut out dairy about a week ago and the spitting up has yet to get better...in fact the last 2 days it has been worse, so how long does it take to see a difference if it is dairy? Could it be tomato based products? I have had spaghetti the last 2 days and was thinking maybe it was too acidic. I don't know. Here is what I do or have done....Help me figure it out.

I did have a bit of an oversupply and have been block feeding in 3 hour blocks for about 2&1/2 weeks and my supply seems to have went down but my letdown is still pretty strong and DS gulps it down, I have tried taking him off during letdown but then he just gets pissed and screams and then he takes in too much air crying and spits it all up, but if I let him just take the strong letdown and then burp him he will burp it all up then. He is miserable after eatting I can see it in his face, he spits up a ton and cries and squirms around like he is in pain. Today he pooped and I happened to be changing him at the time and it was SOOOOO foamy and there was a ton of it. I have tried different positions for feeding him and that doesn't seem to make a difference. I have been trying to have him eat for just 5 minutes then burp him and then give him the paci and wait for a few minutes then put him back on just so he can digest a little...this seems to be helping a little as he will burp easier with the paci in and stay more calm so he keeps a little more down. Help me out! What else can I try or should I take him in?

bride2be79

It sounds like he has reflux and if he does, there is NOTHING you can do about it personally.  Take him to the pedi and get an Rx for Zantac.  I understand not wanting to put LO on drugs unless it is necessary but it sounds like he is pretty miserable.  While certain things you eat can aggravate his reflux, eliminating them cannot make it go away.  It's a physical problem, his esophagial sphincter is immature and is allowing stomach acid up into his throat causing pain and/or discomfort.  Your diet can't affect this, his body has to mature.  My DD has reflux and the Zantac was like magic.  Granted it took almost 3 weeks to work fully but once it did, she was like a whole different baby.  Go to the pedi now.  Seriously.

As for your diet, dairy does not affect/aggravate reflux.  Citrus can (but doesn't for my DD).  The one thing that made a big difference for her was that I cut our caffiene.  it sucks but even with the Zantac it was still aggravating it.  I have been able to add it bad into my diet in small, infrequent amounts as she has gotten bigger but I still don't have much of it.  Also, I would put too much stock in the weird, foamy poops.  According to my pedi, BF infants just have a lot of weird poop and unless it's rock hard or has blood in it, for the most part don't worry about it.  If you are block feeding he's getting enough hind milk. 

One more thing, keep DS upright for 20 minutes after a feeding.  I know this can be impossible sometimes but just put him on your shoulder and rub his back (DD alwaus fell asleep that way).  It helps keep the milk from coming back up his esophagus.  Good luck, hope this helps. 

At1stsight

bride2be79:

It sounds like he has reflux and if he does, there is NOTHING you can do about it personally.  Take him to the pedi and get an Rx for Zantac. Granted it took almost 3 weeks to work fully but once it did, she was like a whole different baby.

As for your diet, dairy does not affect/aggravate reflux.

One more thing, keep DS upright for 20 minutes after a feeding.  I know this can be impossible sometimes but just put him on your shoulder and rub his back (DD alwaus fell asleep that way).  It helps keep the milk from coming back up his esophagus.  Good luck, hope this helps. 

I agree with all of the things I left in quotes here except for one part: skip Zantac and ask for Prevacid if you can afford it. Prevacid has a MUCH better track record for working than Zantac (lots of preemies deal with reflux and all but one of the moms I know who started on Zantac got zero results and switched to Prevacid which worked great).

Also, you can raise the head of his crib ~30 degrees to help keep everything down while he's sleeping. Just put a phonebook under the top two foot posts (careful, if you have wheels on your crib I wouldn't do this) so that the head of the bed is elevated. GL!