Is there any pediatricians or GI Specialists here?

Question

I need expert advise, so if youre not an expert please don't respond, unless you've had the same problems. I have a daushter that is 1 month. She was diagnosed with GERD( acid reflux) when she was 2 weeks.Nothing stays down even after the rice cereal, she cries all night, and I just want her to be comfortable. The doctors keep perscribing her different medicines( Zantac, Axid, Reglan) but nothing seems to work for her. We're going to see a specialist but not soon enough. Her doctor said that we might have to do surgery, but before we do that I just need to know is there any other medicines we should try or is there anything else we can do to help her befor putting here through surgery because shes so young? Please e-mail me or contact me any way possible if you have any answers for me. I really need your help.

Answer 1

I am an RN, but definetly NOT an expert! My daughter also had this problem. She was on the same medications but nothing seemed to help. She was born prematurely and weighed only 2 pounds and 5 ounces. When she was up to 5 pounds, the doctors performed a "fundlenessen"....not sure of that spelling. She has done great. The problems ceased immediately. The only problem is that she can not throw up. All that means is that when a virus goes around, she has diarrhea twice as bad! She also cannot burp, so we try not to give her anything that is carbonated.

Answer 2

Ok, let's start.

I think you know what your daughter has and I don't need to explain you all the things about it.

As far as I can see your doctor gives your daughter two drugs with the same effect. These are Zantac and Axid. They both are histamin receptor antagonists.

Reglan is a drug to stop vomiting. But I wouldn't recommend it for children. There are more effective drugs with the same efficiency for children. Cisapride is one of them.

But both Zantac and Axid are second choice in treating GERD. There is another more effective drug for treating GERD, called Omeprazole. Omeprazole works by decreasing the amount of acid produced by the stomach.

BUT one very important fact: Both drugs may only be given by a pediatric ! Only he knows the right usage and whether it can be given to your daughter or not !!! Please don't do selfmedication.

Alternatively you can try calm down your daughter, give her thickened food and feed her often with small portions of food. And don't allow her to lie horizontally. She should sit in a more upright position.

When those drugs don't have any effect on the health status of your daughter you must consider surgery. Cause the reflux has negative side effects and can cause a lot of problems for the well-being and health of your daughter.

Answer 3

My husband was like that as an infant. Surgery is the last option.

Has the doctor suggested maybe laying her on a slant? Prop the side of where her head goes, up with some pillows underneath the mattress. I had to do this with my first son as well.

Also, please make sure that you are burping her. Many think that they hear a burp and maybe one more and think there aren't any left.

I found this to be true with my second born. He became collicy and I burped him for what seemed like a week, in reality I just kept on rubbing his back (from bottom to top) and front the same way....I even rested my hand on his belly and slowly rocked him back and forth...finally he he burped, but it was soooo loud my mother thought he projectile vomited. It scared all of us, but after that, we had no problem.

Gerd comes from acidity from reflux, many babies have this.
Have you tried other methods of baby formula? Sometimes thats the trick. And please don't give her anything made from apples.
My brother did that to his first born because they thought it would help with his bowel movements, come to find out, it doesn't go good with formula!

I do know what your going through, you sometimes just have to figure out what is causing it.

I wish you all good luck and wellness!