what do you do for a baby with reflux and colic?

Question

my eight week old baby is solely breastfed and the doc doesnt want me to stop but my baby spits up during and after the feedings. he crys all the time. gas drops havent worked and zantac only makes him spit up more what can i do to help him

Answer 1

I have a 2 month old who was born 6 weeks early and he has the same problem (although he's formula fed). He's lactose intolerant and can only take Enfamil Prosobee Lipil.

I think the formula you were looking for is called Enfamil Gentlease.

Anyway, definitely try to keep him upright for about 20 minutes after he eats, burp him frequently and get him one of those sleep wedges that keeps him at a slight angle.

I found this stuff called Colic Calm Gripe Water that really seems to help. Gas drops really didn't do much for him, but this stuff seems to make a bit of a difference.

Answer 2

I have a three month old who was born 7 weeks premature. He did not have either of these problems, however as a parent of a preemie I was required to take a class on all sorts of things, colic and reflux being two of them. Some suggestions: after feeding keep baby upright for 30-45 minutes, this helps keep the flow of digested food from coming up from the stomach and out; also try placing baby on a 30-45 degree incline when sleeping, this should have the same effect as the first suggestion; Lastly, you should check with your pediatrician before doing this, try giving baby a little water between feedings, this may help baby feel full (so as to minimize crying) and will make baby's tummy and esophagus feel better from all the reflux. Maybe if you can get the reflux under control, the colic will stop as well. GOOD LUCK!!!

Answer 3

My son has severe reflux. It is very hard to deal with. I did not want to put him on medication, so I tried a lot of other ways to help it. I ended up puting him on Similac Lactose Free formula. This helped a lot with the spit up. It was easier on his stomach. I also have to put rice cereal in his bottle. I use one ounce of cereal in a four ounce bottle. This helps to weigh down the formula in his stomach. I also have him sleep in his swing. When he lays on his back, everything in his stomach lays in his esophogus and throat. When he is upright, it stays down in his stomach. Eight weeks old is still a little too young to do the cereal in the bottle thing, but you can try feeding him in a sitting position. It is very awkward, but it helps a lot. I also keep him in a sitting position for about 15 minutes after each feeding to give the food a chance to settle. I didn't start the cereal until he was 3 1/2 months old, so I would talk to your doctor about these options. I also wanted to tell you about my freinds son. He had the same problems that you are having. The doctors thought that it was reflux. He was almost 5 months old before they found out that he had a severe allergy to milk. They had to put him on Allimentum or Nutramigen, I am not sure which it was. These formuals are predigested for babies with severe milk allergies. You should atleast bring up the allergy concern to your doctor and see what he says. Keep trying! You and your son will find relief soon. I hope all works out for you. If you have any other questions, feel free to contact me. I will help any way that I can!!

Answer 4

I nursed all four of my children. The earliest I weaned was 11 months. Mine had colic for the first 9 months. I had to follow a strict diet to prevent colic. No green vegetables, no peanuts or nuts, no apples, no chocolate, no beans or onions, and with one of them I also could not have anything containing eggs or milk. Try avoiding these things for just 24 hours and see if it makes a difference. If the colic goes away, slowly reintroduce one food at a time. Colic can be a 8-12 hour delayed reaction, so you probably can onlly reintroduce one new food per day.

Answer 5

If you are breastfeeding, it should not be a lactose issue. It sounds more like the baby is not properly latching on during feedings and is therefore getting too much air into his stomach. Does he eat well? I would recommend contacting your local La Leche League and asking for someone that can help you evaluate your feeding technique and offer advice. If it continues, perhaps you should try bottle feeding (you can still pump if you really want breastmilk). Avent bottles are excellent for this problem and their manual pump is also excellent. Gripe water tends to be better than gas drops too.

Answer 6

My daughter went through the same thing and my doctor told me to add a scoop of cereal to her milk whether it was breast milk or formula. I did just that and it helped my daughter keep everything down. Zantac didn't work for my daughter either only made things worse. So you can maybe try pumping your milk and adding a scoop about a tablespoon of rice cereal in the milk. YOu can also try the natural vent aire shape bottles from Playtex. They're good for alternating between breast and bottle and are great for colic

Answer 7

After trying the zantac, and then going to a specialist (pediatric gi doc) for my sons severe reflux he explained to me that the irony of zantac is that they put a flavoring in it that increases reflux. He placed my son on axid and we still ended up on 15mg of prevacid a day.
What I would do is look around until you find a pediatric gi specialist to see your baby. Reflux in small children is on the increase and causes many other health problems.

Are you taking in to consideration with the breast feeding that you may be eating something to make the babies reflux worse, or that she is allergic to milk? We found out after going through all the formulas and yes breastfeeding that my son was allergic to milk soy and that he had severe reflux, all diagnosed while he was a patient in the hosptial from breathing difficulties from unproperly treated reflux.

When the little ones spit up sometimes it gets into their lungs, then it causes all sorts of problems including pnemonia. We have had 15 stays in the hospital from the reflux, and the last major stay we were consulted by a surgen to do the fundlupcation (spelling errors i know) however, we found out at that stay that his pediatric gi doc really didn't want to "fool" with my child, so after his second bronchoscope to see how severe his reflux was getting in his lungs the pulmonary doctor said he would then send the surgen back to our room, and after the conversation with carsons gi doc, well he gave up on the gi doc. I fired that gi doc, and consulted another for a second opinion, we found out about my little guys allergies and found out all the different things they can do to avoid surgery, thank God I am a hard headed mommy, if not my son would have had a surgery he did not need...
the moral to the story is that your little one needs a specailist, and to be properly diagnosed, to find out if there is a compondent of allergies also, its getting to be the respiratory season, and well after what we dealt with last year with our little guy catching stuff so easy from the reflux, please see a specialist.

the proper tools to diagnose reflux is a ph probe study, an egd (scope of the stomach), barium swallow test. They should also do a RAST test to check for food allergies. Food allergies defiently raise the levels of reflux.
There are many things to do to help you get a normal baby, like I finally have now after 13 months of he""",
we have been on zantac first, axid second, prevacid lastly and aslo still taking, we tried reglan (caused him to have a seizure), we are using prescription ellecare which is a hypoallergenic formula (expensive but well worth it), and we always thicken his bottles with ceral, you can use as much as 2 tablespoons of rice ceral with every ounce your baby takes. We also use the dr browns bottles with the y cut cereal nipples on it, he will be on the formula until he is 2 and prevacid also.

After all the drs visits, we still ended up in a nutritionist office with him at age 10 months for poor weight gain, and the gi doc gave me the option of surgery, and at the same time said that he will outgrow the reflux by age 3 at the latest (hey there is the good news!!!!!)

he is only 19lbs at age 13 months, but normal as far as development.

by the way the colic thing is a myth... if the baby is fussy, something is hurting it... and needs to be fixed
Good luck!

I hope that helped some.

Answer 8

Oh, I'm very sorry. I went through that with my son. Exactly the same, gas dorps wouldn't work, etc. Try putting a wedge in his bed so that he sleeps propped a little. That helped a lot for my son because gravity helps you. I also made sure that he burped after EVERY feeding, holding him upright over my shoulder, once again, gravity is helping you keep the food down. My dad and husband used to hold him on his stomach over their forarms, it never worked with me, but he loved it when my dad and husband did it (maybe their forarms were longer...?) I also pumped my milk and thickened it very slightly with rice cereal (you should talk to your pediatrician before doing this), which helped a little. Look on the web too, there are tons of resources. It is usually called GERD in Infants and Children. Good luck!

Answer 9

Try Hylands Colic Tablets instead of the Zantac. Let your baby sleep in a bouncy seat, infant seat or swing and see if this helps. if you put the baby stomach down on your legs and burp the baby gently this may also help.

Answer 10

this is tricky If the baby has refuse I suggest that you feed him/her smaller amounts and make sure there in a incline position. If baby is under 5 months old that a swing (not rocking) is also great comfort to baby. Colic is hard I just have to say bear with it girl its over in just a few months:(