My 8 Week Old Has Reflux!

Hi there! I can relate because my son was diagnosed with GERD at two weeks of age after a swallow test. He has been on Bethanechol and Rantitidine (generic Zantac) since then. My son is 7 months old and just now coming out of it. Here is what has helped us:
- Enfamil AR formula (and when very severe, and over 3 months, formula thickened with rice cereal only at doctors ok
- prescription medications
- placing our son on an incline (sleep wedge) at naps &
bedtime
- carrying baby in a wearable carrier to soothe and keep baby upright
- Gripe water, any brand works about the same
- sitting baby upright or semi-upright at least 3o minutes following feedings. A bouncy seat that sits baby up is great for this because it keeps baby more still often than if you hold baby.
- playtex bottles with collapsible liners
- burping and resting for a few minutes after every ounce of formula
-BURP RAGS AND MORE BURP RAGS!!!
-Spray and Wash with Resolve Power to get out the stains
-PRAYER!!!

It will get better. Good luck!

Poor guy! I understand what you are going through! My twins also had/have reflux...I think they started with it around this time as well. We first tried gas drops, then our ped. said to try liquid antacid, and then they were put on prevacid as well. They did better with the prevacid though. We also put them in their swings to sleep, in an effort to keep them upright. I've been told that there is some sort of sling to prop up the crib mattress that you might try out if you can find one (I'm not sure where to even tell you to look, someone just mentioned they had seen something like this). Anyhow, I know this is frustrating until you find something that helps soothe him. Give the meds some time to work before giving up and try keeping him upright after eating. Good luck, hope you can find a remedy soon!

Hi Michelle!
My heart goes out to you and your little one. We are going through the same thing. Mine is 14 weeks old. He is on prevacid 7.5mg 2x a day (we had to increase) and also axid. At one point he had stopped eating! It was terrible! It took the meds about 2 weeks to really kick in, but once they did, it got easier!! Our GI specialists told me to add rice cereal to his formula (make sure a Dr tells you to do that first!!) and that made his formula thicker so it stayed down better. Hang in there and try to keep him upright as much as possible. We have a baby bjorn sling which holds him up without pressing on his tummy. Hope he gets better!!

Hi Michelle.

Sorry to hear that your little one has reflux. My son (who is now almost 3) had the same problem. I never felt that the Prevacid helped but my doctor explained that I wasn't going to see improvment in the spitting up, the Prevacid is given so that your son's throat doesn't get raw from the constant acid coming back up. my doctor said it's really a waiting game. Your son's Sfincter (sp?) muscle has to get strong enough to keep food down. Keep the little guy upright for at least 30 minutes after he eats, don't jiggle him around etc. Gripe water and all those other OTC items never seemed to help us. Time and patients is the key. It took my son a year before he didn't have reflux any more. We went through a TON of bibs but it finally did end. Good luck and hang in there.!!

Hi Michelle, poor baby boy! I have it myself, so I know what he's going through. Prevacid I think is the best thing out there for babies, you could try zantac and see if that works better. I have heard that gripe water works for some babies. One of the other suggestions on here was to keep him upright in a sling thing, that's a good idea. I also read that the way the stomach is made if you keep someone laying on their left side, the acid cannot spill over as much. You can also try putting peppermint extract in his bottle, some say it relaxes the sphincter muscle making it worse, but I feel like peppermints help me. Another thing is that even water coming back up bothers me, any kind of liquid is going to burn, so I would suggest after eating/drinking don't put him down as long as possible. I know it's none of my business but please do not take him to a chiropractor! A baby does not need to be adjusted for any reason, he'll end up with more issues than he started with. I know it's rough believe me, but hang in there, he'll get better.

My daughter now almost 3 had reflux and as on Prevacid when she was 4 weeks old. I thought it worked for a couple of weeks then it just seemed to stop working. I did some research and found that some parents were taking their infants to Chiropractors. We had a couple in our church small group that were Chiropractors and the wife specialized in children. After about 3 visits everything got so much better and by the time she was 3 month old she had stopped spitting up by 80 percent. I would suggest you take him they are in Hurst the clinic is called Lifetime Family Wellness off Harwood ###-###-#### website is www.family-wellness.com. It couldn't hurt to try and they also take most insurance. Good Luck!

I'm sure you're already doing all the recommended things - like keeping him upright for a minimum of 30 minutes after eating. Try elevating his crib matress with a wedge pillow. There is a device out there that is like a sling that attaches to the wedge pillow that he can sleep in at night (I think it's called the tuckersling - google it). If you're good with sewing, you might be able to make one yourself (or try attaching one of those baby bjorn carriers to the wedge pillow.)

My friend's son had very bad GERD and the best thing for him was sleeping on his tummy. His mother was very nervous about this at first, so she would only let him sleep on his tummy for daytime naps and she would watch him to make sure he didn't bury his head in the mattress or any other breathing issues. He slept so much better on his tummy (which is proven to be better in children with GERD). He's not 16-17 months old and is doing fine.