Need some support...silent reflux baby

Nita13ugg · November 2015

Hi everyone. I am a SAHM (for now) and am dealing with a baby with silent reflux. The doctor has her on baby Zantac and it seemed to help for a few weeks, now she seems to be back to fighting me to eat and not eating as much. I'm feeling very lost and alone. Are there any other moms out there who are going through this?

banfrog · November 2015

My oldest fought with feeding but for him it was sensitivities to lactose (even in my milk). It's so hard when they fight you when you try to feed them.

I believe @Sonadora has more experience with silent reflux in LOs.

EmJ628 · November 2015

How long has it been since she went on Zantac? It is very weight sensitive and her dosage may need to be upped. I have twins both with reflux. Zantac worked for my boy w silent reflux but my other boy has GERD and the Zantac helped him for about a week but then his symptoms continued to get worse and worse. We ended up going to a Ped GI specialist for him. If your LO is gaining normally she may need an increase. Ask your ped and ask if the Zantac does not help what are their next suggested steps? Unfortunately w reflux we parents sometimes have to be pushy. Hopefully your ped is helpful!!

imakegorgeousbabies · November 2015

Are u formula or breastfeeding? And by fighting you to eat... Can you describe a little more. Also does baby take the pacifier? Just trying to get more of an idea of what could possibly be going on. I am ebf and I had a foremilk hindmilk imbalance for several weeks because I was nursing wrong. I now let my lo nuse only on one side for feedings if they are within four hours of eachother before switching to the other side. I also was giving her a pacifier and she had nipple confusion that was causing her to have a shallow latch. Once I took the pacifier away we were able to correct it. I only am telling you this because it may be something else contributing to the silent reflux. My Lo also started taking zantac today so I will see how it goes but once everything else was corrected I would say she is mostly a happy spitter. Or maybe her formula needs changed.. Sorry I am rambling good luck!!!

nininou19 · November 2015

I am formula feeding and my baby had that. I changed for a less liquid formula it is specific for babies who have reflux. You might want to give it a try.

psherman42wwsa · November 2015

my baby also has reflux (not silent) and was prescribed zantac. Like others have said, you should take your baby back to the doctor to get the dose adjusted based on his weight. I was in the same situation and the dose was adjusted and it helped for a few days. However, now after a few days it seems like the zantac does not do much so I have stopped giving it. Our pediatrician said if your foruma feeding to try Enfamil AR ( added rice) or if breastfeeding to try adding rice cereal to pumped bottles. I'm not completely comfortable with giving my baby rice cereal in his bottle yet (hes 3 months). The pedi said to give 1tsp per ounce. I tried it a few times and it didnt help significatly enough to make me want to thicken his feeds. It seems like my baby has started to grow out of some of his symptoms as he gets older so we have just been dealing with it since his crying seems to get shorter after feedings and hes gaining weight.

SouthernYankee87 · November 2015

Like others have said, Zantac is weight sensitive so you may need to have your doctor write a new dosage for your LO. If a new dosage doesn't help, you might want to ask about switching to a PPI like Prevacid. My DD is on a combination of Zantac and liquid Prevacid and it's finally helping. A PPI changes the pH of the stomach acid which is what causes pain with reflux. You could even talk to your pharmacist before making an appointment with your doctor to get more information about GERD medications for babies (I say this because my DH is a pharmacist and knows more about appropriate medications). Also, as a heads up, if you do go with another medicine and it your insurance won't cover it or it's very expensive, try getting it compounded at an independent compounding pharmacy. It's usually less expensive than big retail pharmacies because they have less overhead costs.

If all else fails, have your pediatrician give you a referral to a pediatric GI specialist. Both of my daughters had to have referrals, were prescribed 2 kinds of reflux meds and prescription formula- from there they because different babies and no longer fought feedings, spit up buckets, and were finally happy.

Hang in there. It will get easier ... might take trial and error to get there though.

Nita13ugg · November 2015

Thank you, ladies, for all the responses. It makes me feel better and that I'm not alone. She has gained weight and we haven't discussed that with her pediatrician, so I will call first thing Monday. I did notice during one of my daughter's crying fits, she was very gassy. I gave her some gripe water and it helped tremendously. When I mentioned she fights me to eat, she moves her head around, cries, and then struggles in my arms. It seems to be better for her when I feed her in a football hold with her head to the side. But someone told me that could cause ear infections. Anyone else heard of that?

Nita13ugg · November 2015

Oh, and she's bottle fed, one bottle of breast milk a day (supply issues for me) & the rest of the time is Enfamil Prosobee thickened with rice cereal. If I don't thicken the formula or breast milk with rice, the spit up is terrible and I can tell she's in pain. She will take a pacifier occasionally, normally at bedtime or naps.

Sonadora · November 2015

banfrog said:

My oldest fought with feeding but for him it was sensitivities to lactose (even in my milk). It's so hard when they fight you when you try to feed them.

I believe @Sonadora has more experience with silent reflux in LOs.

Just saw this. Yes, I am on my second baby with silent reflux. You definitely need to get the dose weight adjusted. My first was very sensitive to gaining weight and needing her Zantac upped immediately.

My second, not so much, but his reflux is much milder than my first.

Others have had much better success with Prevacid, so we went right to that this time, my baby was one of the few that got the side effect of insomnia almost immediately.

If you aren't already, try your best to hold your baby upright after feeding. Burp extensively after every ounce or so. My first couldn't handle any form of powder formula with the reflux. For whatever reason it really didn't agree with her. So we had her on Enfamil for Acid Reflux Ready to Feed. I think it's the weight/consistency.

EmJ628 · November 2015

Interesting! We got ready to eat alimentum bc the store was out of our usual powder and I did notice he eats it better. Didn't think about the weight being different.

rachelhodge6 · November 2015

Yes girl we dealt with reflux it was awful. It traumatized me my baby girl screamed for two weeks straight. I thought she was colicky. Turns out silent reflux. Doctor started her on nexium and it was a miracle drug for us. Within 2 days we had a completely different baby. Her whole body relaxed, she began sleeping, we couldn't believe it. I know how awful it is, I didn't think we would ever get through it. She would cry and I would cry too. I've heard a couple of mothers say that nexium worked better than prevacid for them. Maybe you could ask doctor to switch to nexium. Also cutting out dairy and soda from my diet made a difference, if you're breastfeeding. Hang in there mom, I know everyone kept telling me it would get better but it didn't help at the time. Also giving my baby a pacifier helped soothe because when they are in pain they want to suck. Which caused my baby to overeat and worsen the cycle of reflux. I know pacifiers are controversial but my baby needed comfort. Prayers for your family. By the way it did finally get better at 9 weeks. Doctor wants to start weaning from nexium.

rachelhodge6 · November 2015

I also wanted to mention that our doctor said we could give mylanta for breakthrough pain before the nexium was good in her system. It worked almost instantly. Reading your description of how your baby fights eating sounds identical to how my daughter was at her worst. It was awful and heartbreaking. My nerves were shot! The mylanta may be worth shot ask your doctor about the dosage. We gave our 6 week old a 1/4 teaspoon and it worked wonderfully. But be careful with the mylanta it can cause constipation if used a lot. So it was our last resort

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