(HELP Please): Infant with Acid Reflux or Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD)

[pixie]

My baby is slightly over 1 month old. I've been feeding her milk powder from MAMEX. However, I've noticed that she can't stop crying even though I am feeding her. She cried until her to face turned red and during the feed, she keeps farting. I stroke her back a few times during the feed to making sure that she makes the 'burp' sound and yet she still cries.

My heart ache to see my little one to cry even when she is sucking the milk bottle. It makes me feel that she is in pain and I would really want to do something to help her

I am just wonder any mummies out there whose baby has the same problem as mine and what is the brand of the formula do you feed your infant?

Thanks heap dear mummies.

 

[i1babes]

then u shd use Mamil AR Milk is thicker formula , to anti reflux.. how bb now ?

 

[pixie]

Didn't hear anything from this board earlier, so I had went ahead to bought another formula to mix with her current one. so far, she seems to have crying a lot lesser but would like to heard how do mummies with GERD babies deal with their little ones (apart from changing formula).

 

[LitleL]

My DD is 11 weeks old and weighs 5.72 kg. DD has also been diagnosed with GER so my sympathies to you. It is really heart wrenching when my DD cries. But her case is not so severe cause we caught it quite early. She started to projectile vomit (PV) when she was about 2 months old, about 5-6 times a week. And sometimes halfway during feeding, she would stop and suddenly start crying. Or sometimes during her daytime naps (never at night though) she would wake up suddenly and cry.

At first I thought she would wake up and cry because she was scared to be alone, cause she would calm down quite quickly after being held but I think she was having "silent reflux" which is when there's acid reflux but she swallows it back. And she would spit up after every feed.

Hubby and I started to be more careful with her such as burp her after every ounce of milk. And sitting her more upright when feeding and keeping her slightly upright after feed for about 20-30 mins. Her PV lessened to 3-4 times a week.

2 weeks ago we took DD to her usual pediatrician and I told him all the symptoms because I felt uneasy and that PV is not normal. He just said we were overfeeding our DD and to feed her more often and small amounts. I said her breathing was wheezy sometimes and she can PV even if she takes a small amount of 2 oz. Also I am feeding a few oz less than recommended for her body weight. But since DD is growing well, he insisted I was overfeeding and to just go home, feed her less and more frequently. So I told him since my DD sleeps though the night since she was 2 months old, there is only so many hours in the day to space out her feeds. I am already feeding her 5x. And I feed her 4.0 - 5.5 oz each time. Takes me 1 hour to feed her cause I keep burping her and feed her slowly so she won't PV. So where got enough hours left to add more feeds. He just ignored what I was saying and insisted I go home and just "monitor" her.

I really felt like he wasn't listening andmy maternal instincts told me that it's not overfeeding problem. I googled and read up on GER/GERD so already suspected that's what DD has. Somemore the pediatrician made me feel like I was just over worrying as 1st time mother.

So I sought a 2nd opinion yesterday. As I suspected, the new pediatrician said she got GER but hers is not so serious yet so no need for medicine. He suggested for us to elevate the head of the cot (we placed thick books under the cot legs) and mix a bit of special thickening formula into her usual formula milk. He gave me Zantac but it's not be administered unless her condition worsens. If her condition is the same, still don't give the medicine he said.

I notice she tends to PV during the 1st feed at 7am and the evening feed at 6pm. So for those two feeds I mix 1 oz Friso Comfort and the rest is normal Friso milk. Since yesterday she has not PV yet so I am leeping my fingers crossed that it will last. I don't mind taking longer to feed her cause need to be slow and burp her often, as long as she is drinking and keeping it down.

Luckily I got a 2nd opinion cause DD's 1st pediatrician didn't even give any helpful suggestions or diagnosed her condition correctly. If she continues to have acid reflux and PV, her esophagus will be inflamed and she will be in pain and refuse to eat. DD's 2nd pediatrician said if really bad she can get a hernia or there was this baby he treated that refused to eat for 16 hours!!!

Maybe you can try those suggestions my pediatrician suggested and remember to burp your baby more often and keep her upright after eating for 30 mins. I have a rocker chair that I can strap DD to. She is quite happy to sit in it for a long time. Normally she falls asleep in the chair and after 30mins I will move her to the cot to finish her nap. You can try using something similar or put her into a Baby Bjorn.

BTW, I stopped breast feeding (through bottle) when DD turned 2 months old cause I was producing almost no breast milk. So DD has been on Friso formula since birth (except first 3 days in hospital when they fed her Nan Pro) and now fully on formula. I found Friso worked best for DD. Similac made her constipated/smelly breath and Nan Pro made her smelly breath. But all babies react differently to formulas. Before mixing those thickening formulas into the usual milk, you should seek advice from your pediatrician and get the dosage right too. If you put too much at once, your baby may get watery poop which is not good. She will poop more but it should not be watery.