my son was diagnosed with acid reflux as an infant

By donavan's*mommy Monday, January 19, 2009

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Hi! I am a mother of 1 child who is 21 months old, and was diagnosed with acid reflux as an infant. He had symptoms of throwing up after only a couple ounces of formula, gas, tummy aches, and drooling very badly before and after feedings. Our pediatrician prescribed zantac for the acid reflux. I was actually shocked that they said he had acid reflux. We had tried different formulas, but it seemed as if nothing was working. I thought my child was colic, so I read all about colicky babies, and it seemed he very well could be colicky. So we tried the zantac, only to find that it only made his symptoms worse. After only 1 dose of the medicine I called the pediatrician and she told me to stop giving him the zantac immediately, & so I did. I have thought that maybe he just spit up more than other babies, and was just a little crankier, until after he turned a year old and we gave him regular milk. He was on lactose free formula as an infant, and the doctor said it would be ok to try whole milk since how we didnt think it was the formula causing his problem. We gave him whole milk until he was about 15 months old and he started getting diahrea. He would have up to 5 or 6 diahrea diapers a day so I called the pediatrician again and said to try the soy milk again. He has been on soy ever since, and I am still dealing with the same issues he had as an infant now, and more issues. Now at bedtime almost every night he gets upset and forces hisself to vomit. Is this normal for a toddler to do when he is upset? When I go in there to clean it up, it's usually not even his dinner he just ate, it usually looks like his juice he had at dinner time or just a clear or yellow liquidy like substance. I am a new mother, and am open to any advice that anyone can give me. Could all of this be linked to the acid reflux as an infant, or is it just a phase he is going through. He is an extremely picky eater, he has a constant rash around his mouth, he is cranky alot, and has extremely soft stools (even on soy milk), and is hard to get to go to sleep, even after the same bedtime routine his whole life.

Comments (12) | Add comment

Anonymous

1/19/09 3:56pm

have you had him tested for food allergies? Also you might try feeding small amounts more often. Is it possible he is over eating at his feedings? If not, I would also get a second opinion with a different doctor.

Sonja P

1/19/09 4:04pm

Hi, every time when I hear that parents and children go through this phase of suffering where no one can help them with solutions it breaks my heart. I am a mom like you and it took me 4 pediatricians and 3 ped GI's to finally get the kind of attention that my little boy deserves. I am not an expert and I certainly am clueless about kids over 6 months of age because my entire experience is based on on my only son who is now 6 mo old and suffers from GERD.

However, one thing I know from my experience is that you have to ask the right set of questions in order to get help from your doctors.

Has your pedi ever checked your child for milk and soy protein allergies? Lactose is a sugar, not protein. Most kids do not have lactose allergies but instead "protein allergies" and show many of the symptoms that you are describing. Can you insist that his pediatrician checks him for those? Simple stool and blood tests can reveal protein allergies.

Alternatively, have you tried giving him amino-acid based formula such as Elecare? Please, ask your pedi if you can at least give it a fair try. Fortunately she doesn't even need to write a prescription. E-bay has some Elecare Vanilla flavor cans at great prices. The one with Vanilla flavor is approved for kids above 1 yr old. Try it for a week and if the symptoms go away you would know for sure that your kid has protein related issues. Read the mixing instructions carefully, they are different for toddlers.

On the other hand if it is reflux and it's still bothering him, you need something stronger mediaction than just Zantac. Most Dr. would refer you to a pediatric GI specialist who would try prilosec or prevacid (both are very safe). However, you need to ask your pediatrician to refer you to a specialist, if she cannot help you find a solution.

One final question: are you giving him vitamin supplements? Or rice cereal with added iron? There are many doctors who do not agree that iron is a culprit but there are many other doctors (such as our new pedi) who are willing to try out and check by "elimination". Eliminate all iron for a short time (1 week) and see if symptoms go away. If your child has mild iron intolerance, there are associated gastric symptoms and your pediatrican can recommend him a low iron diet but supplement his needs by using a "gentle iron" or what is called a "chelated-iron" supplement.

Ask questions, give suggestions and insist the doctor you need more active participation from her. If she seems unwilling to listen or is too busy, go ahead and look for a different pedi who is willing to be more open about this. Good luck and do keep us all posted. Hope your son feels better soon.

Anonymous

1/19/09 4:26pm

I have wondered myself, is it the milk, or is it this , or is it that, and i have eliminated everything 1 at a time. He has never had an iron deficiancy, but i was giving him flinstone vitamins whenever i didnt feel like he had eaten enough. there are times when he won't even eat dinner. i have been wanting blood work done, and other tests done but they feel like they are unnecessary. He has no problem gaining weight, in fact he is 21 months and wears 2 & 3T clothing most of the time. He doesn't appear to be overweight, and the dr.s have never said anything to me about his weight, so i wouldnt think his weight is the issue, and he doesn't eat a lot at 1 time. for breakfast he eats a cereal bar or fruit (such as blueberries, banana, or apple)., for lunch it's fish sticks & green beans, and dinner is most of the time fish sticks. I can hardly get him to eat anything but the fish sticks most of the time, and dont know if that is what is causing the problems. im at a loss! i have no idea what else to do! i have been to a few pediatricians, but half of them seem "too busy to care" because they have so many patients.

Sonja P

1/19/09 8:18pm

I know exactly what you mean. The pediatricians are either clueless or busy. I am going through a similar phase where two of our pediatricians let my kid slip on his growth charts and actually helped worsen his feeding problems. You just need to do an extensive research in your area and ask friends who have gone through similar issues.

Vitamins might not be good when your child is not eating well, instead ask your doctor if pediasure (not pedialyte) might be right for your baby. Your child needs certain amount of liquids and certain amount of calories, and your dr should tell you how much.

joellar

1/19/09 8:34pm

yes i have been down that road already! i spoke with the pediatrician today and was trying to get some info from him and the only thing he would say is just bring him in b/c I haven't seen him in a while, and i told him he has also been seeing another dr. because they wouldnt prescribe him antibiotics after he was sick for the first 7 months of his life w/runny nose, fever, cough, vomiting, & diarhea. i live in the memphis area, and if anyone knows a good pediatrician around here please let me know, i am open to try just about anything right now! it has been a game since the first day he was born & i am really exhausted with it! i give props to people out there with children who are much worse off than mine! i dont see how anyone can do it! & i have only 1 child!

Jan Gambino, Health Guide

1/25/09 8:34am

Hello!

I hope you are able to find a doctor to help you develop a treatment plan. It all starts with going to the doctor for an evaluation of symptoms and review of the history. I keep a journal of the symptoms and every time I go to the doctor, I write in the date, what the doctor said, weight, height, medication, etc. You might want to think back to all of the illnesses and treatments he has had so far. Often the doctor does not look all the way back for the past illnesses and treatments. If I am going to a new doctor, I have a one page summary of all illnesses: ear infections, colds, flu. This will help you to remember all of the important details and help the doctor get the full story.

Jan Gambino

The Reflux Mom

anninette

2/ 7/09 6:47pm

My son had the same symptoms and the pediatrician said he was allergic to the cream. After I gave him skim milk he was ok.

Anonymous

10/ 9/09 3:22pm

Hi! I am mother of a 7yr old , when my son was about 3wks he started projectile throwing up. My doctor tested him for acid reflux, they gave him and xray while he drank some special drink. Well we found out the his lower esophageal sphincter (LES) muscle wasnt fully developed. So the put him on a medicine and it helped keep it down and they said in time it would develop and he would grow out of it. So it did until this year and it has gotten bad. We are waiting to see a specialist to see if he will need surgey on it. So what i recommend is having them do the xray and the special testing and find out now because it is very stressfull. My son was playing football and a very active boy but now he is limited to what things he can do cause he will spit up and its like the way you discribe your childs spit up. He has been getting sent home very day from school because of his acid reflux. So if you can try your hardest with the doctors to figure it out cause its sucks to see them suffer and not be able to much about it. I hope my story helped you out in some way and you get it taken care of now while your child is young and not in school.

LisaClark1

3/ 2/10 5:46pm

Hi. My son who is 19 months was diagnosed with acid reflux at age 3 months. Just recently he was doing very well with his symptoms and it seemed he had finally outgrown his acid reflux! Well just last night he had a bad bad episode. He woke up at about 12:30 am throwing up everything he has eaten or drank in the past 2 days!!! I am kicking myself wondering what it was that triggered this latest attack and my poor little guy you could tell he was in pain. It broke my heart. I thought ok great he's over it so I started giving him things he really enjoyed. I figured it's the new fruit juice I gave him which has pineapple and another fruit. It hasn't settled with him very well and so last night he had his episode. So today is a mild day with very little flavored water, no snacks which can bother him and a dose of his Prevacid. Sad thing is his GI Pedi just moved out of the area and I'm reluctant to have him see the other doctors there. Our GI Pedi was great! So now I am just frustrated and upset my little guy had to go through this again. Now it's back to square one and watching everything my poor little guy puts in his tummy. I also get from people when I tell them my son has acid reflux a look like oh ok...big deal. Well to me it's a big deal because like all us mothers we hate to see our little ones in pain! It's heart breaking when you baby wakes up at 12:20 am throwing up all over the place and crying and choking on his vomit practically. It's hard...I look forward to the day he really is completely rid of this or maybe he won't. But hopefully it gets to the point where it's tolerable and manageable again. Good luck all you parents out there going through the same thing as me and everyone else on this site.

Jan Gambino, Health Guide

3/ 3/10 5:57am

Hello Lisa, So sorry to hear the vomiting has returned. Did it come on suddenly out of no where? I wonder if he has a stomach bug or if the reflux has returned. You might want to check in with his primary care doctor to go over the symptoms and history.

Whenever my kids (with GERD) have a stomach bug it lasts a long time and it takes them days or weeks to return to their "normal" diet. I am hoping your little guy is back on his favorite foods really soon!

Jan

LisaClark1

3/ 3/10 7:26pm

Hi Jan. No not necessarily. I am very observant of everything he eats and did notice when I introduced this new juice about 1-2 days later he started spitting up a bit. This spit up smelled and looked just like the spit up from his acid reflux. He was pretty sick with a bronchial infection and ear infections since October. He's been better and on the mend for about 2 weeks now (keeping my hopes up he will be ok now throughout the spring and summer). He hadn't spit up all day until that night when he just had the projectile vomiting. As I mentioned he had spit up whatever he ate that day and the consistency was pretty thick...thick enough to where he turned red and was actually choking on his vomit. It was very traumatic. I thought those days were over. The last time he got sick like that was the day after his booster shots at age 12 months. He has been ok since this episode a few nights ago but I did have to give him a dose of his acid reflux medicine. He seems to be ok now (knock on wood). He is being limited to only certain foods and back on his water splashers only. No heavy duty fruit juices and not too many snacks that may contain too much acid. He loves to eat the whole grain fishes but I also noticed they tend to bother him after eating them. I just don't know...it's all so very confusing and I hate him not being able to eat some of the things he is allowed to have once in a while. So back on a strict regimen at least for the next 1-2 weeks...see how he does. His regular Pedi doesn't seem to know too too much about the acid reflux so I may just have to make an appt for a new GI Pedi. What do you think?

Jan Gambino, Health Guide

3/ 4/10 6:21am

Hello Lisa, It certainly will take some detective work to figure out what is going on. It sounds like you are pretty sure this isn't a stomach bug-I trust you on that. Moms know about these things...

My kids have a lot of respiratory issues and gerd so when they are sick (or have been sick recently), they generate a lot of mucous that seems to trigger a worsening of their reflux. It doesn't help that all of this mucous is quietly draining into the stomach all night while they are sleeping. Morning is the worst time with lots of junk in their throat, sore throat and coughing. So you and the pediatrician can look at the respiratory side of things and decide if there is an underlying infection or a new emerging infection.

I find that some little ones seem to "outgrow" the infant reflux and then during the toddler years, it seems to come back. It may be subtle or related to food intolerances and allergies. Again, my kids had a terrible transition to foods and it was determined that lactose intolerance was causing a lot of symptoms. Some children react to Fructose and the typical allergy foods: nuts, eggs, wheat, fish, dairy. Others have more atypical allergies or multiple allergies. Again, more detective work to see if the foods are triggering symptoms.

A trial of reflux medication is often a good place to start. That will give you and the doctor some time to sort through the symptoms and decide on a treatment or determine if further testing is needed.

I know you are an excellent observer of your little guy and an advocate for him so I know you will figure this out!

Take care,

Jan

my son was diagnosed with acid reflux as an infant

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