Here is a site that may be helpful.

Here is a link that might be useful: Acid Reflux

Sending good thoughts their and your way.

Tami

You say they're thinking of changing pediatricians--but what specialists have they seen?

Have they taken him to the best pediatric hospital in the area and consulted with a pediatric gastroenterologist? My daughter had a problem as a child (different problem, different age) but her regular pediatrician was no help at all. It wasn't until we took her to a pediatric gastroenterologist that we got the correct diagnosis and effective treatment for her. If they haven't yet, I'd strongly suggest that your family find the best pediatric specialist in their area (or even travel, if they have to). Try calling the best nearby children's hospital for a name, or they could even ask their own dr. Actually that was how we found the specialist we went to. Our pediatrician was less than worthless for treating the problem DD was having. DH and I discussed the situation with OUR GP and he gave us excellant advice and even the name of a great pediatric gastroenterologist.

Good luck--I know what it's like to have a child who suffers from uncontrolled vomiting (in dd's case, it was caused by abdominal migraines), and to not get any substantial help from that child's pediatrician. We were at our wit's end, with our dd, and she was older at the time. Hope you get the answers you need soon.

I have it severly too.I know exactly how he feels I found only thing helps is daily dose of prilosec.

Our grandson Brad had problems along with several.

They ended up putting him on a battery operated feeding tube. He could not tolerate a lot at one time so it had to be fed to him one drip at a time. He had the tube and the battery pack for several months.

He looked so sad.

I say find a different doctor.

I would try a doctor at a Children's hospital if you have one close.

patti

azzalea hit the nail on the head. You really need to get that boy to a gastroenterologist. Most pediatrians just don't get it and treat it more like a colic issue.

My second child had severe reflux too. It was the absolute worst year of my life. People with babies that have the normal reflux think they can relate (which is almost insulting), but it's not the same at all. Plus some of the ideas they will tell you are usually bad ideas for severe reflux babies. If I recall, swings, for example, may seem like lifesavers to some but they usually cause worse reflux problems later in the day for many severe reflux babies.

I was solely breastfeeding and didn't sleep more than two hours at a time for 7 months. Sleep deprivation caused big time health problems for me so I urge you to tell your DIL to make sure she gets more sleep. If she doesn't have the help, seriously, they should hire a nurse if necessary. Advice that was given to me, but I sadly didn't take.

The gastro. doctor will give them real ideas on what to do and what not to do. We tried different cocktails of almost every drug out there and I think settled on a combination of a couple of them. We also used a special sling (but use only with docotrs approval and orders) for my son to sleep.

I can't even recall all that we did or what we tried. That year was just a sad blur. But, please urge your son and daughter to get more rest to keep themselves healthy to be able to take care of the baby. From what I was told, most cases do get better around 7 months.

Here's a link for the Tucker sling, but again use only under doctor supervision. The gastro. doctor should have a lot of other good ideas for them too.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tucker Sling

A friend of mine's baby had the same thing. It turned out he was lactose interant. Not even breast milk could help him. Once they found an alternative, he was fine.

Just a suggestion, probably has no bearing on the problem. Gentle hugs to the little one.

I'm also wondering about the possibility of lactose intolerance. Two of my kiddies had it and until I took ALL dairy out of my diet, they were both beyond miserable. DD3 also did a ton of spitting up and was never as big as her sisters, but once we hit on the dairy problem she slowly improved, until at @ 6 months she could keep most food down. I would think this is the first possibility they would have thought of since it's common, but you made no mention of it so I thought I'd put my two cents in. If they haven't found help and it sounds like they haven't, they should definitely seek out other doctors. Good luck.

My grandson was milk intolerant...and soy and protein intolerant also. They put him on Neocate which at that time each can was about $40 and lasted about 1 day and the equivalent of another bottle. I'd hate to think how much it may be now. But if it helps the little guy to feel better it is worth it.

Poor little Brad screamed night and day for 6 weeks, before they finally found out his problem.

I know I've already posted but just wanted to stress again to push it and get better help.

I really feel for your DIL , knowing what my daughter went through. Lucky for my daughter, I didn't work. I went over everyday and helped out with him...she could get some sleep then.

I remember at Children's the did a scope of his stomach and intestines and both were filled with sores all the way down. No wonder the little guy screamed all the time.

I sure hope they find some help.

patti

I'm with everyone else to go to a specialist... My uncle had pyloric stynosis and had one of the first surgeries in the 1920's to correct it..

The ultrasound is done and shows that your baby's pyloric muscle has a thickness of greater than 4mm and a pyloric length greater than 16mm, which means that he has hypertrophic pyloric stenosis, a common cause of projectile vomiting at this age.

You learn that pyloric stenosis is the most common cause of gastroesophageal obstruction in newborns, occuring in about 1 in 250 to 500 infants. Although it is often diagnosed at about 3 weeks of age, it can occur anywhere from 1 week to 5 months. In this condition, the pylorus, or muscular outlet of the stomach becomes enlarged, so that breastmilk or formula can't empty out of the stomach and is vomited up instead

Thank you all so much for your responses! They mean a lot to me. I have to go and shower and assemble myself for the day (it's only 3 p.m. here, lol) and then start dinner. I'll come back later for a more detailed reply. I am sorry for what some of you have been through - but it does help me to feel not quite so alone.

Sable

I agree, a specialist is in order. There may be other problems a regular baby doc. that cannot solve. Allergies to milk--try goat's milk--try peppermint water--easy to do, just dip a toothpick in spirits of peppermint, dip it in warm sterilized water and feed baby. Old old remedy. Probably won't cure, but if it is gas, will help.
My new great granddaughter has this problem, but prescription zantac does help. Also type of bottle helps, I think they are call Dr. Brown and have a tube down the middle. The tube breaks up the air bubbles--or something. It really makes a difference and yes they are expensive, but it really helps. I know Walmart carries them so I think you can get them anywhere.

My grandson is still currently on Zantac for the same issue. He was admitted to the hospital and was hospitalized for dehydration. When he was in there they thought at first it was pyloric stynosis. With an X-ray and Ultrasound that was ruled out. He is now 7 months and is only taking one dose of zantac a day instead of two. It does get better. Have them check for pyloric stynosis to rule it out. They offer Zantac and Pepcid for GERD, maybe have them try Pepcid.

I hope that this stays on the front page long enough for some of you to read my thanks to you all!

Enjoyingspring - Thanks for that website. I've been to several, but hadn't seen that one. It has some useful phone numbers and addys, and I'm planning to be in touch with them.

I agree about getting a specialist. There's only one pediatric hospital in the state (Oregon), and it doesn't have a GI on staff. There are NO pediatric GIs in Oregon; the nearest I could find are in Southern California. We are all searching for someone beyond a regular pediatrician though. To be honest, DS and DIL are so exhausted and cranky that, after 4 1/2 months of this, just making suggestions can set them off.

Lactose intolerant - DIL eliminated all dairy for her diet for several weeks and it made no difference. They are working hard to bottle feed him with breastmilk but he doesn't take more than an ounce from a bottle (Dr. Brown, the only one of all the types they have that he'll tolerate). If he would take more, they could try specialty formulas.

I was interested in the mention of pyloric stenosis. Their doc has not mentioned that. I'll mention it - the test sounds pretty painless.

I am so sorry for those of you who've had to cope with this. Carla, your story especially touched me, because it's something that my DIL could write. My heart bleeds for those mothers who don't have the joys of healthy babies - it was among the best of times in my life.

I will print this out and send it on to them, to let them know that they're not alone. I think that's almost the worst part for them.

Bless you all,
Sable

I was going to mention Pyloric Stenosis too. I have seen that in many babies and it describes what your Grandson is experiencing. An experienced surgeon just has to feel as a baby is swollowing and can usually detect the obstruction.

Call Loma Linda Hospital in Loma Linda Ca. They might be able to refer you to a hospital. Also, try the Redding Calif area--they have a ton of medical centers there also. Check the nipple, maybe he is getting too much too quick--my Great Granddaughter has this problem. Did you ask about Goat's milk--pasterized? I do hope for the best.

Keeping up with the thank yous here. I will check Loma Linda and Redding now. They are in Eugene OR. The baby has never been in a car for more than 30 minutes. SIGH.

I just did a quick search on Google, typed in Pediatric Gastroenterologist and they listed 9 in the Portland area and a whole bunch in CA. Some listed with phone numbers and addresses, but I do not know how old the web site is.Again, good luck

sable,

There was another thing that I forgot and that was the fact that although we do have a couple gastro. doctors in our area the wait for them was a couple months so we saw the nurse practioner as soon as possible for the first visit and she was just as thorough as a doctor would have been for us. Possibly, although you have no doctors in the area, you may be able to find a nurse practioner or a physician's assistant who specializes in this field. Maybe called your closest chilren's hospital for some info?

The gastro doctors and nurses help so much not only on the medical end, but also the psychological end. My pediatrician's office threw some Zantac at us, and really just treated us like it was a case of colic or that we were parents that just couldn't handle a new born. The relief that came after visiting the gastro. doctors that they truly 'understood' what we were going through and had some ideas/answers for our problems really helped out our mindset if nothing else.

Your DIL and son may also be able to find some help on Gerd/reflux message boards. Although many of the ideas should of course be run by their doctor's office first.

And, again, be sure to push enough rest for everyone!

Mariend - Thank you thank you! I don't know how I mis-googled, but I didn't find that list! I used your words and up it came! That, I hope, will be very handy.

Carla - well, your experience with your peds doc is exactly what happened to DS and DIL. "Here, have some Zantac, bad colic can be difficult." How does a pediatrician get away with that?

All the suggestions and concern have helped me more than you all can imagine. The KT comes through again!

I'm glad you're at least starting to find some directions to seek help. I wish you the best--nothing's worse than having a little one with a health problem that their dr. doesn't seem able to help. As you can see, so many of us have been there--doesn't help solve the problem, but you know it's not a unique situation.

Please let us know how things go. Hoping you quickly find the right dr. right diagnosis, and right treatment so he doesn't have to continue to suffer.

My daughter had that when she was little.
She had projectile vomitting after every bottle.
Cried all the time, she was a very unhappy.
She was allergic to milk and we gave her a soybean formula.

sable,

I have thought of some more stuff. Maybe theories on some of this stuff have been proven wrong since my child, but thought I would at least mention some of the stuff. Obvisouly, each child is different and responds a little differently to things, but here are some ideas to note:

Try to keep the child upright as much as you can. Although some may recommend a ride in the car, and the baby may seem calm while riding, many car seats cause a child's stomach to be squished and can make reflux worse later in the day. You may want to stay away from 'sitting' type positions and try to find carriers, bouncers, etc. that the child is in more of a standing position rather than a sitting one. Those door frame type jumpers work for some (not sure at what age they can be used though). Again be sure the stomach isn't bent and squished because it's probably not helping anything.

You also want to try to hold the baby upright for like 20 minutes after a feeding. In other words don't lay him down or put him straight to bed after feeding him if you can help it.

Now this is one that seemed unique to my child, but he actually did better when I did NOT burp him. It was like the burping made the acid worse. People thought I was crazy (which I may have well been), but it's worth a try.

I also noticed my son was often constipated. No one believed me especially since I was breastfeeding and they said it was impossible in breastfed babies (yeah, right). But, I wish I would have have stressed his constipation issue more... It was like it backed up his whole system and made the reflux worse when he didn't go for a while. Oddly enough, years later my son has no hint of reflux, but is still constipated very regularly. Just something to consider if they notice the same thing. I'm guessing treating that instead of just the reflux could help.

If I recall right, between the 4th and 5th months the reflux got the worse. It was still a continuous problem until it seriously just like went away one day short of his 7 month mark. I hope they can find a good doctor and some help, but it may really just take some time. Hopefully their marriage isn't suffering any becasue it is a very, very straining situation. They mustn't be afraid or embarrassed to ask for help. Good luck to all.

Wanda - I am glad that you found the solution for your daughter. My grandson does not seem to have a milk allergy. That was the first thing the docs checked.

Carla - They do keep him upright, in fact, a lot of time is spent holding him that way. If he's down (on his back only) or reclining, they keep his body straight. They have the Bjorn carrier, which braces him pretty well. I'll mention the notion of not burping him, which is amazing! He is not constipated, lol (I know that that is not really an lol, especially for you). His stools are pretty much what is expected when breastfeeding.

I think that they are going with the growing out of it expectation. I would like them to press harder, but it is very difficult for me to make suggestions. They are sensitive; they are using all their energy to hold things together. Interesting that you mentioned their marriage. I've thought about that, but things seem to be okay. My DIL is a very calm and patient person, and my son is a very earnest and sincere guy about all this, so I think that they'll be all right. My now ex-husband and I took our elder son through ten years of catastrophic asthma. It was a tremendously difficult, awful ordeal. At around year seven of that battle, we divorced. I know that the illness played a big role; it eventually drove us apart. Even though my husband was a superior dad in terms of being there when the asthma struck and our son was hospitalized, too many times to count, nevertheless he spent more and more time away from home. He needed adventure and excitement and we had a boy who needed all kinds of meds and a breathing machine if we were more than twenty minutes from a hospital, not to mention our home life, which was very quiet. Mainly because my son and I would use the non-crisis times to recover and get normal again. Then it would start all over again. My now DH's love of hominess and just generally being around all the time is one of the things that drew me to him. He was and is always "here".

I have also thought that my younger DS, the baby's dad, was deeply influenced by his brother's long illness - in his child's mind he observed that no doctors, meds or many hospitalizations, even surgeries, could make the asthma go away. His brother had to grow out of it, which he didn't do until he was in college. So they may feel that as we were alone, so are they.

I have noticed on the reflux boards that many parents are just holding on, even with a battery of doctors and various treatments. Some of their situations remind me of my mind-set with my son's asthma. IOW, hang on, try whatever, there is no cure, only coping, forget about the house, just "hold it together."

Thanks for your attentiveness!