Thread: Reflux

Have any of you had to take a baby to the gastroenterologist? What can I expect at the appointment?

No advice at all for you... but good luck! Are both babies having issues?

Thanks. Nope, just one.

I don't have any experience with this, but can I ask what your baby's symptoms were? Or what led you to think reflux? Wondering if that is our problem too....

"Failure to thrive," no weight gain in a month, eating/hunger/having just eaten are all painful.

I'm so sorry you're going through this I hope you get some answers at the appointment.

We haven't since the closest one is 4 hours away from where we live. But if things don't improve it might be our next step. Ryan is suspected to have reflux because he a) never eats more than 2 ounces at a time b) cries 10 minutes into a feed or after 2 ounces, but tries to suck back the bottle between cries c) frequent hiccups, congestion etc. Because he essentially wants to nurse for 2-3 minutes every hour he never sleeps well and is perma-cranky.

The course of treatment here is to put the kids on medication and see if they improve. He's been on Zantac (no improvement) and now on prevacid for a week (no improvement). I've cut out soy and dairy for 2 months - no change in behaviour. Now I've cut out gluten - no change.

The difference is he gains weight ok. I expect they might want to scope your girl to confirm reflux. Is she on any meds?

She's not on any meds now but I assume we'll try something after her appointment on Monday. For the moment we're thickening her milk (mostly pumped breastmilk, some formula) with rice cereal as the pediatrician advised. I'm super afraid of going no dairy but that seems to always be the suggestion. I eat dairy in absolutely every meal. There's no time to cook or figure out healthier and especially non-dairy foods right now. I eat endless yogurt and cereal with milk and cheese with crackers. It's easy, you know? I guess I should look up non-dairy food ideas while I'm online and pumping.

((hugs)) To you and baby girl!!
I hope you get answers soon!
In regards to the dairy allergy, I think a sure test is if baby has blood in her stool. If yes, then she for sure has a dairy allergy, if no, you may be in the clear.

KUP!

Originally Posted by fireflies11

((hugs)) To you and baby girl!!
I hope you get answers soon!
In regards to the dairy allergy, I think a sure test is if baby has blood in her stool. If yes, then she for sure has a dairy allergy, if no, you may be in the clear.

KUP!

I should have mentioned this - Ryan had blood in his poop and had and continues to have very runny, slimy poop (it's mucousy). Those are telltale signs of food intolerance. The blood went away 3 weeks after I stopped dairy and soy (I guess the proteins are similar) but the mucous stayed.

The no dairy no soy is tough I agree. I found dome dairy and soy free bread and eat lots of home cooked meals - but I don't have twins!! We usually make one big batch of something (e.g. Stew) on the weekend and eat it all week. I've replaced butter with avocados and still eat sandwiches that way. So yeah, it's hard but gets easier with time. If your girl doesn't have runny poop or blood I think I would try cutting out the obvious dairy first. You can replace milk with oat milk or almond milk or rice milk. It's not good but it works. Sorry you are going through this it's so frustrating!

The alternative is to try a formula with hydrolyzed proteins for 2-3 weeks and see if there is any improvement. We tried nutramigen but while ryans poop improved right away his feeding reluctance did not, so I went back to bf.