Mom2MomSC

Kostyn didn't have this problem but a friend of mine's baby did when she was a newborn, so I asked her. Here's what she said:
"At that age we kept Riley elevated for 30 mins or so after she ate, we always fed her upright and when it escalated we put her in the Tucker sling/sleep wedge. Your friend may just be able to elevate the mattress with a phone book or something first. Also, all of her milk had to be thickened with cereal. She had thickened breastmilk up to about 4 months then we switched to formula. The Enfamil AR worked best for us and she kept it down better than the breastmilk. It's so hard because there could be a potential milk allergy in there too. One of the most difficult parts was all the trial and error involved. The first month or so was the hardest, but once we had our protocol down it did get better. She should have lots of bibs and cloth diapers on hand at all times.
She should definitely talk to her ped if she hasn't already. We did opt to medicate Ri to prevent esophogus damage. If I think of anything else I'll let you know."

Hope that helps guys. I'm thinkin' of ya....
~ Robyn

Hey, Curt! It's Amy from the Packet. Sorry to hear about the reflux. My son, Eli, had that too. I didn't know what it was until the doctor diagnosed it. Eli would spit up a lot and have hiccups a lot, arch his back way back and just scream like crazy. Those are the big signs, I think.

The doctor put him on zantac. We also had to keep him upright for 30 minutes after eating. I'd just put him in the bouncy seat, and that worked very well. I was nursing him, and the doctor told me to stop eating any dairy just in case that was making it worse. I supplemented the nursing with formula, and we had to use Soy formula to help with the reflux.

Hopefully, some of that will help you, but I would just take him to the doctor if you haven't already, to get a professional opinion.

Good luck!

Amy
full-time mom and wife
copy editor/page designer at The Island Packet/The Beaufort Gazette

I have the utmost sympathy for you! My son, now 12 months, suffers from reflux. From the day he was born, it seemed like any milk, formula, food that went in always came right back out. I know how frustrating it is to see that your child is in pain and not know what to do about it. We tried all kinds of formulas (including Neutramigen - $25/can), different medications - prevacid, zantac... We ended up sticking with Enfamil AR, which supposedly cuts down on spitting up, but I was still changing my son's clothes (and mine) pretty much after every feeding. At ten months, we switched him over to whole milk (not something the doc would approve of, but we did it anyway) and the spitting up actually stopped. We still give him the prevacid because it's pretty obvious that he's uncomfortable after eating certain foods. Our pediatrician says he'll likely have acid reflux for his whole life.

I wish you lots of luck! My advice... see if your doctor will put him on zantac/prevacid, stick to breastfeeding if you can (even if most of it comes out, it's still the best thing), try Enfamil AR - it works for some babies, don't bounce him around too much after he eats, invest in LOTS of bibs, and know that eventually he'll stop spitting up and you'll really appreciate not smelling the stink of spit up all the time!

I didn't think my son would EVER stop spitting up!! He would still be spitting up hours after eating--I tried every formula out there to no avail! His pediatrician put him on zantac, which only helped him feel more comfortable, and then finally he put him on reglan. Reglan is supposed to help speed up digestion and it did seem to cut down on the amount he was spitting up, but he would still spit up constantly! I thickened his formula, I hand made every bit of his baby food (he never once ate jarred food) and he still continued to spit up. Once his first birthday came around and he was drinking whole milk, miraculously it stopped!! Like the above commentors, my best advice is to invest in lots of cloth diapers (they are very absorbant) and bibs. And the patience of Job--you'll need it after the millionth time you get puked on! Good luck, and do ask your doc about reglan--it didn't stop it, but it did help.