So my LO may have reflux but I'm not sure....
I know she has some of the symptoms - poor weight gain, spits up, arches her back sporadically. But she is a great napper and sleeper at night and can be soothed easily when crying. Besides not gaining too much weight, she is a good eater in the sense that she latches on well and does not cry or fuss during feeding or burping - I know the arching of the back in pain usually occurs then.
So the doctor thinks she may have reflux and prescribed Axid. I just hate using medication when it's not necessary. Anyone's LO use Axid? Do you see an improvement with weight? Really that's my main concern... the spitting up and arching of the back is not a concern.
Does anyone's LO have few symptoms with reflux? Help me understand this all.
Thanks, Mena
Re: Mamas of Reflux Babies - come in
My son has a slight case of reflux. I didn't think it was that bad and I was reluctant to give him the medicine also. I waited for a few weeks so see if he really needed it. After paying closer attention to his symptoms I decided to give it a try. I noticed significant results and my only regret is that I didn't start it earlier.
These are the symptoms he had but are now gone: he didn't like to be on his back at all (although he still isn't sleeping on his back, he is now happy enough to play on his back), very little spit up now, no arching.
DS didn't have a weight issue and has always been right at the 50th percentile but I can understand why that's your biggest concern. My pedi (and almost every other professional I've talked to from other doctors/nurses to the daycare) said that reflux is very common in babies and most will outgrow it by about 4 months.
It's totally up to you if you want to try it. Ultimately, your the mom so do what you feel is best. GL!
My LO had poor weight gain due to spitting up but she didn't have as much pain. She never arched her back. She would get a sour look on her face. I ended up having to quit bf'ing in order to add rice to her formula. I never could pump enough to keep up with her demand. Adding rice to her formula was the only thing that reduced the spitting up and put weight on her. I was hesitant about adding it because the AAP says no rice until 4 months, but it was an emergency and when it works and you have a happy chunky baby, you stick with it. It was all on doctor's recommendations anyway (pediatric gi specialist).
You can get Ph test strips and test the acidity of your child's spit up. If it is very acidic then yes, the axid will comfort LO. If it isn't acidic and LO isn't bothered by the spitting up (happy spitter) then you don't need the axid.
My LO is on Zantac. I experimented one day and didn't give it to her. Although when she was only a few weeks old the spit up didn't bother her, it does now so I am keeping her on Zantac for the time being and will retest her spit up in a few more months.
These measures have been the only things that have helped my daughter. She still spits up but not to the volume she was and is gaining appropriately. This all came about after an upper gi and an ultrasound to determine that it was reflux and nothing was anatomically wrong to cause her symptoms and failure to thrive.
The pediatric GI specialist I went to said that when babies can sit up unassisted is when most reflux issues will be resolved. Although some end before that. Anatomically the sphincter has matured and won't let food pass back through. I hope 4 months though!
My LO is on Axid and it's working really well for him. He started out with just a few symptoms before things got worse. We started medication when he began screaming in pain for hours on end.
Unless he is in pain or is struggling to gain weight I wouldn't medicate.