Infant Acid Reflux

I mentioned in the last post that Hallie has been dealing with acid reflux. She was about 3 months old when she was diagnosed, but it wasn't her pediatrician who diagnosed her, oddly enough it was a lactation consultant.

I was having issues nursing Hallie so I paid $85 and sat down one on one with a consultant.  It changed everything! (My next post will explain the nursing side of the advice.) Anyway, as I started to explain some of Hallie's behavior the consultant instantly called it Acid Reflux. She continued listing off other symptoms, all of which Hallie had. Instead of feeling overwhelmed at the diagnosis I was relieved, finally, I knew what was wrong.  I wish I had known earlier what was plaguing Hallie. For three months the doctor continued to ignore my pleas for help calling Hallie's fussiness Colic. I hope this post helps another family. 

Here are some of the symptoms:

• Frequent or recurrent vomiting (Hallie's spit up would often be chunky-pre digested milk)
  
• Frequent or persistent cough (Out of no where Hallie would cough or choke.)
• Heartburn, gas, abdominal pain, or colicky behavior 
• Regurgitation and re-swallowing
• Colic (frequent crying and fussiness)
• Feeding problems (Hallie would wiggle while she was nursing b/c she was uncomfortable)
• Recurrent choking or gagging
• Poor growth
• Breathing problems
• Recurrent wheezing
• Recurrent pneumonia

Because the pediatrician had over looked all of these symptoms the lactation consultant wrote everything down for me and told me to consider getting a new doctor.  I immediately made an appointment with a different doctor and I took the list of symptoms with me.  They agreed it was reflux and wrote Hallie a prescription for Zantac.   

Within days of starting Hallie on Zantac things got better. Before Zantac we could never put Hallie on the floor laying on her back.  That was the first improvement we noticed, she could lay on her back and be content for a few minutes. Things continued to improve for a few months until many of her symptoms returned.  At that point we decided to take Hallie off of Zantac because we knew it was only covering up the problem rather than healing it. Many parents choose to use Zantac until their child no longer exhibits any reflux symptoms. We, however, decided to try other alternatives. 

Here is a great website with many alternatives 

http://parents.berkeley.edu/advice/babies/reflux.html.  

My doctor also recommended feeding Hallie solid foods (baby food) three times a day and no lactose. Acid reflux is more common than most people think. Good luck if your child has it. I feel your pain and wish you the best. 

Here are more fabulous websites about reflux: 

http://www.coliccalm.com/baby_infant_newborn_articles/acid-reflux.htm

http://www.medicinenet.com/gerd_in_infants_and_children/article.htm

http://children.webmd.com/infants-children

Anyone have any other suggestions or advice?