Help with baby acid reflux

SurprisePartySue · May 2014

I think my 4 week old has acid reflux. She spits up during every feeding and at least once a day she projectile vomits almost an entire 3oz bottle. When we switched to formula I started her on supplementing formula to ease into it from bfing. Then after about 3 days we switched to the AR because of her spitting up. She's a lazy eater and it would take forever for her to eat but she wasn't spitting up any more. When we went to her dr appt. the dr wanted us to take her off of it and use a low iron formula, which I couldn't find. So I switched her to Gentleease. She did ok on that for a couple of days and then she started spitting up again. (I'm burping every ounce or less and feeding her in an up right position) I called the dr. To ask what I should do and he persisted that I find a low iron formula. After calling all around and being told no one has it, I called him back. He then wanted us to go on a soy/lactose free formula. (This was Tuesday) Just like before she did fine for a couple of days and now we are back to square one.

My question is, should I try switching her formula again? This scares me cause I don't want to make her sick. She's already struggling to poop and having really bad gas pains.

What would you recommend?
Should I seek an additional professional opinion?

boymum2014 · May 2014

Our kid has the exact same problem. I'm ebf still but was wondering what they told you about iron while you were breastfeeding? Do they recommend you not taking in too much iron?

SurprisePartySue · May 2014

Idk about in bfing. By her 2 week appointment we were formula feeding. But iron causes constipation. I have no clue as to what it has to do with AR.

jenniferroshto · May 2014

My daughter had it, we tried soy free, ar, nothing helped, and like yours she had so much trouble with bowel movements and gas. She would eat and then scream for over an hour every feeding from the pain and nothing we did would soothe her. We finally ended up on a mixture of gentlease, miralax once every other day and Axid. Gentlease alone didn't help but with the reflux meds it did. It didn't completely obliviate it all but helped tremendously. Good luck!

SurprisePartySue · May 2014

Thank you. Gentlease didn't give her as bad of tummy aches as the soy is. It takes forever for her to poop and when she does she screams bloody murder for like 5 mins afterwards.

chillypenguin · May 2014

We are having similar problems, DD2 will be 4 weeks old tomorrow. She doesn't spit up, but she is having major stomach issues. I think she has silent reflux (reflux without spitting up) which DD1 had, on top of something else (MSPI?). We have tried Sensitive and Soy formulas and she is on Zantac. I think Soy made her even worse too so we just switched her back to Sensitive. Honestly I may try her on the hypoallergenic Alimentum formula and see if she improves, even though its really expensive. It's just so hard seeing her so miserable!

jenb_99 · May 2014

One thing that can help with spitting up, whether or not a baby has reflux or sensitivities, is stirring the bottle with a spoon rather than shaking. Or you can mix a full day's worth of formula in a pitcher and keep it in the fridge. The spoon method eliminates bubbles and foam (which can build up in the baby's gut during a feeding and contribute to forceful spitting up), and the pitcher method goes a step beyond just eliminating bubbles and also helps to soften and better incorporate the formula particles so they're slightly easier to digest.

brizer21 · May 2014

My doctor prescribed Zantac and recommended sleeping on an inline (we do RNP or inclined crib). Could you ask for meds to see if it helps? We noticed a difference immediately and LO hasn't spit up since she's been on it.

dragossoul84 · May 2014

We had similar issues do is ob Zantac and ellecare formula it's expensive but he is starting to poop

pistolpackinmomma · May 2014

A few things:

1.) if your baby is truly constipated then that can cause extra spitting. We noticed that with DS1.

2.) Iron will make constipation worse which is probably why the dr wants you to switch.

3.) if it is reflux, our chiro was able to help with DS1's spitting. Meds can help with discomfort but won't stop the spitting necessarily. I had personal issues with the reflux meds so we worked with other methods first. The chiro worked so we have already decided that we will try that route first if needed again.

SurprisePartySue · May 2014

@pistolpackinmomma‌ I agree with #1 I've noticed she spits up more the longer it's been from when she pooped.

She didn't have the constipation when he told us to do a low iron. But I can't find a formula that either is low iron or none at all.

Thanks for the info about the chiro. I have a wonderful chiro who specializes in prenatal and infants. I didn't even think to talk to him.

pistolpackinmomma · May 2014

My issues with the meds are that they are an acid reducer. For some this might decrease the amount if spitting but not likely. It's goal is to make it more comfortable when they do by having less acid. Less acid in your stomach means less digestion (at the point we talked with the pedi he was on solids and already fighting constipation issues so it was a concern for me/us) which made us worry about making constipation worse. Acid reducers also decrease the amount of calcium your body absorbs. This is why osteoporosis is a risk for those on Pepcid/Zantac/etc long term. DS1 was already on a dairy free diet so I already worried about how much calcium he was getting. I didn't like the idea of decreasing how much his body absorbed even more. Especially since he was a happy spitter already.

drjwj · May 2014

I don't want to step on any toes but I am a pediatrician and low iron formula is never ever ever a good idea. That's why no one carries it! I obviously haven't examined your baby, but if the AR formula was helping I'd go back to that! Also keep upright after feeds and be really careful about over feeding. Meds are only a last resort for poor weight gain or something like that.

83edwards · May 2014

Both of mine have reflux. DS was formula fed. We ended up on a rice formula after trying all of the other options. My advice is to always consult your pedi before changing formulas.....if you can't rely on your pedi's advice, then find a new one to consult. Randomly changing formulas is not a good idea for baby or baby's tummy!

DD's reflux isn't as bad, and we are mostly bf this time, but holding her upright has done wonders. She doesn't spit up, but had the AR study done while in NICU. We hold her upright for around 30 minutes after each feed.....no more dstats for us! Also, this is a great opportunity for kangaroo care

In NICU, since the nurses can't guarantee that they could hold her upright, they elevated her bed ***slightly*** and said we could try that at home. I haven't....I just hold her.

Good luck....I hope you get it worked out!

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