I have a 5 month old boy and he has severe acid reflux. We seem to be trying everything, but he seems to be getting worse. He is currently on Zantac, but was on prilosec before.

We have tried giving him epsom salt and chamomile baths, feeding him chamomile, having him sitting for 30 mins after eating, etc.

He still wakes up every 2 hours and it's really starting to stress my partner and I out, as we are starting to suffer from depression due to lack of sleep.

Anyone with a refluxy baby have any advice or suggestions? How do you get through having a sick baby???

My oldest had horrible reflux. He was miserable. He screamed bloody murder because he felt so bad. He threw up profusely after every feeding. We didn't use spit rags with him. We literally used bath towels because a good portion of everything that went in was definitely coming back up. At about 4months or so, the screaming/colic-like symptoms improved, but the upchucking kept on. We were sent to a pediatric gastoenterologist who told us the vomiting would end once he stood up and started walking. I was like . . . Right. But he was exactly right. Gravity works. He started walking and the issues subsided on their own.

The one lingering effect was that due to all the vomiting, he developed a touchy gag reflex, and getting him off of smooth pureed foods onto any food with texture took forever. The texture made him gag, and gagging of course made him throw up. It took time, but he's 25 now and has been off pureed foods for 23 1/2 years now.

Unfortunately, my message to you is that no medicines, treatments, remedies, etc. made the least difference in improving his condition. It was time that made the corrections. I know exactly how exhausting and worrisome this is for you. But physically your baby will be fine given time. My best advice is to take this as much in stride as you can. Rest when you can. Try not too stress too much ( yea, I know . . . ). This really will improve as you adapt to this just being what it is right now. Sorry your baby's feeling badly. We all hate to see our baby's in distress.

Thank you so much. I hadn't thought of the walking thing. Did it improve at all when he started sitting up? My son is on the verge of being able to sit on his own.

And yea, I at least get a break because I'm a working parent. My partner is the stay at home parent and gets no break.

No, it took standing regularly on his own--walking actually. It is hard and tiresome. I so remember that first year. But is progressively became more manageable. Hang in there.

[Pikku Myy]

Same here... my daughter had it so bad she was aspirating at age 3 Does not hurt or kill them... tell that to a mommy She also grew out of it... maybe just the next growth spurt will cute it.. Hugs

[BioAdoptMom3]

He may be rolling over on his own and sleeping on his tummy by choice, but if not, place him to sleep in that position. It often relieves the pain significantly.

Nancy

[googley]

Never put your child to sleep on their stomach, that increases the risk of SIDS.

"Many parents fear that babies put to sleep on their backs could choke on spit-up or vomit. According to the AAP, however, there is no increased risk of choking for healthy infants who sleep on their backs. (For infants with chronic gastroesophageal reflux (GER) or certain upper airway malformations, sleeping on the stomach may be the better option. The AAP urges parents to consult with their child's doctor in these cases to determine the best sleeping position for the baby.)"

This is a baby with severe GER issues, so stomach sleeping might be the better option depending on what the pediatrician recommends.

[roseblossom]

Sorry to hear that you're in such a difficult situation. I had a similar situation many years ago when I had a baby and I became very ill through lack of sleep and stress.

With hindsight, I think it would have really helped if my partner and I could have had some time out together each week, or even every other week, and arranged for our baby to be cared for by someone we could trust.

On top of that, I think that stress can really deplete vitamin/mineral levels - so I wish I'd taken a good natural multivitamin/mineral supplement plus extra doses of vitamin C. I have had severe depression and I noticed a marked difference in how motivated I felt after taking a high dose of vitamin C for only a couple of days.

There is a website which I've found helpful and interesting by a health educator named Andrew Saul - he has an article on acid reflux, and he's also co-published a book on infant and toddler health.

The site is DoctorYourself.com: Andrew Saul's Natural Health Website and the book is The Vitamin Cure for Infant and Toddler Health Problems, by Ralph Campbell, MD, and Andrew W. Saul.

Regarding a pharmaceutical approach, I also had a friend who had a new baby in the family who benefited from taking Gaviscon (not sure if its called that in the US?).

[BioAdoptMom3]

Just throwing this out there per the comment about tummy sleeping increasing the risk of SIDS. While true, it does, that risk of SIDS is extremely low for newborn tummy sleepers - POINT ZERO EIGHT percent! As a PP mentioned, there are many pediatricians and gastro doctors out there who do recommend tummy sleep for babies with reflux and colic.

Nancy