breastfeeding and reflux

ESM354

I am giving breastfeeding a try again and DS does a good job with it.  The only problem is that when we are done nursing he almost always spits up quite a bit afterwards.  He does this with bottles too but more so with nursing.  He has reflux quite badly and spends almost all his time inclined at an angle.  Any advice for positions to try that would be more inclined of a position.  We have been doing the cross body and he isn't elevated enough I don't think.  If we could make it work I think it would be nicer than pumping all the time.

At1stsight

Have you tried a football hold? I could never get that one down really well but having him along your side should allow you to have him at a steeper angle.

I usually just tried to lean my body toward the side he wasn't on to elevate him and my boob at the same time. Uncomfortable without a good Boppy or other support, but it worked pretty well for us. Is he on Prevacid?

ESM354

Thanks for the advice- I will have to try that.  He is on prevacid but it doesn't help his spitting up it just makes the arching and grunting better.

FisMom

I sort of had this problem. Definitely more spitting up with breast. Have you tried frequent rest breaks? DD grew out of a lot of the spitting up as she got bigger. She still spits up, but no where near the volume she did when she was 1 month adjusted.

Tlucey

DD was on prevacid but they changed her over to pepcid. If you pump and give her a bottle, you can try putting rice cereal in it. The NICU would do this for her reflux as well. We also had her on an incline and on her side to help. She's also on a heart monitor for apnea/bradycardia which she will soon be off so we've removed the incline so she would get used to sleeping flat, so far she's doing great. Talk with your doctor about using rice cereal. 

Rachel*Neocate

Sorry I'm answering a little late in the game!  But I was going to suggest a football hold as well.  I have a forceful let down so when my babies are/were little I usually put them in the football hold with their heads up so that it would be more difficult for them to choke, does that make sense? 

 I was also wondering if you've considered that something in your diet could be causing your LO reflux? Reflux-y symptoms (like arching and grunting) can be symptoms of a milk protein allergy. My LO had constant nasal congestion before I went on an elimination diet (he also had green mucousy stools).  Maybe you could try an elimination diet, eliminating both obvious and ?hidden? dairy.  Here is a blog about hidden dairy: https://bit.ly/9aVnlD. if you're interested.

 Also, just from my experience my LO also can't tolerate soy, and usually dairy and soy intolerances go hand in hand.  Anyway, I know an elimination diet is challenging but it helped my LO dramatically.  Maybe you could ask your doctor about it?