How to get my 3.5 month old baby to take in more milk

By helplessmom Friday, January 04, 2008

- A
- A
- A

My 3 1/2 month baby has been diagnosed with acid reflux. We had the upper gi test yesterday and it was confirmed that she does in fact have reflux. It has been a constant struggle to feed her. She gags when I put the bottle in her mouth. Now it has gotten to the point I am too paranoid to even offer her more milk because I am so scared she might vomit it out. She vomits on a daily basis. And now I cannot even track how much formula she is taking in because of her vomitting. She averages about 16-20 ounces only per day. Its very low for a baby at her age. Any advise out there for me? The doctors have suggested that I give her 4 ounces every 3 hours but that is close to impossible because I already struggle with giving her 4 ounces every 4 hours. Help!

Comments (11) | Add comment

Vicki M

1/ 4/08 2:17pm

Hello Helplessmom,

It is probably the toughest thing a mom can go through when your child is sick or uncomfortable. I know it always hurt me far more than my kids!!

I was doing some reading on the site and came across some information that you might find helpful. There is a great section here specifically about Baby GER. There are lots of helpful tips and information there.

My children never had GER, but I did babysit for a little boy who did. Not only did he have the GER but he got thrush (a yeast infection of the mouth) it was not obvious from the front, you actually had to look into his mouth to see it. That caused him to turn from the bottle. It is possible there is an irritation in your daughters mouth that is also causing her to turn away.

There are also several resident experts here on the site who specialize in baby GER. Tracy Davenport is a mom living with a child who suffers from pediatric GERD. You can read about Tracy and read her share posts here.

Jan Gambino is also a resident expert with Infant GERD. She shares a post called " Help my baby won't eat" You can read that posting here. Jan's profile and links to her other share posts are here. She reads the site often and may share her views with you as well.

Please stay in touch and let us know how you and your little one are doing!!

Vicki M

Jan Gambino

1/ 5/08 3:26pm

Dear Helplessmom,

I know you feel pretty defeated right now. I did too when I was just getting started. It takes a bit of trial and error to get a good treatment program in place. After that, things will settle down and you will feel in control of the reflux. First, what is the doctor recommending for the vomiting now that a diagnosis of reflux has been confirmed with testing? Certainly trying to space the feeding can be helpful. Some doctors recommend medication, thickening the formula, frequent burping, swaddling to decrease movement and distress and holding upright after a feeding. For a baby with severe vomiting, a doctor may recommend a wedge to elevate the bed for sleeping. Be sure to talk with the doctor about your concerns and get some advice on a treatment plan. In the meantime, keep track of how often you are feeding your baby, how much and the number of vomiting episodes. This important information is the data your doctor needs to get an idea of what is going on at home.

Most of all, make sure you get some support from friends and family. You need to concentrate on taking care of your baby and it really helps if you have extra hands to make a meal, do the laundry or just talk with you and keep you company. Some parents have a family member (grandparent) come and stay for a few weeks. I check this site daily so we can talk again. Let me know how you are doing.

Jan

Jan Gambino

1/ 5/08 3:31pm

One more thing...let her stomach guide you. She might want to eat very small amounts at a feeding because it hurts to eat more. My little refluxer went through times when she ate a little bit every hour or two. That was all she could tolerate. Try a smaller amount and see if the vomiting decreases. Jan

helplessmom

1/10/08 6:02pm

Jan-

I can't seem to establish a pattern with her vomiting. All I know is that she vomits once a day usually on the first feeding. Sometimes she vomits with just 1.75 ounces in her, sometimes with 5. Her feeding schedule is 4.5 to 5.75 ounces every four hours. I can't seem to get her to 6 ounces - may be because I am paranoid as well. She doesn't cry when she sees the bottle anymore so I know the meds are working. My only dilemma now is how to keep the food down without her throwing it all out. I've done frequent burping, waiting five minutes before I offer the bottle again, etc. A simple cough can trigger her vomiting. Or sometimes...just as I've pulled out the bottle, she'll throw up everything. I am now at a loss on how to get the calories in my baby's body. I know she is not gaining weight because I feel and see it. The GI has already instructed us to put half a scoop more for every 5 ounce bottle that I prepare. Even with this, she is still not gaining weight. Right now she averages 20-23 ounces a day. I've been able to up her intake a bit. The doctor has suggested to that I change her feedings to 4 ounces every 3 hours. It takes me close to an hour to get her to eat 5 ounces so I don't know how changing the feeding frequency will help. Plus, my baby sleeps through the night...so if I do feedings every 3 hours that would mean she would only feed 5 times a day which is equivalent to 20 ounces.

Any suggestions?

Jan Gambino

1/12/08 3:43pm

Hello!

I am glad you are working with the doctor on the feeding and treatment plan. Often smaller, more frequent feedings will decrease the vomiting and discomfort. It may be harder to fit in enough ounces per day. That is why the added calories from another half scoop of formula may help.

Some doctors recommend thickening the feedings too. This may reduce the vomiting. Has the doctor suggested adding a thickener? If you feed her more but she vomits more, your little one will still lose weight. It might take a little while to see the progress. The medication combined with more frequent, calorie packed feeds may help the weight over time.

I am glad she is not crying when she sees the bottle. That is certainly a sign that a baby is in pain!

I know you are concerned about vomiting and the slow weight gain. Try to take one day at a time. Some babies continue to vomit even when treated with medication, etc. It is distressing to watch and certainly a lot of work to clean up. If the treatment decreases the pain, it is likely her digestive system will calm down and she will begin to grow. I know you are spending a lot more time caring for her due to the reflux. Between the frequent, slow feedings and the vomiting, it can take all day. I wonder if there is someone who can help you until things calm down. Can grandma or a friend help?

Take care, Jan

pedi.nurse

3/29/12 9:31pm

i am a pediatric nurse for a 5 yr old little girl--i came to her when she was 18 months old--you are seeing a pedi, G.I. doctor, if not get one, there can be several problems contributing to the reflux. the flap at the lower end of the esophageus is probably faulty and is causing the stomach contents to come back up the esophageus which can be controlled with a nissan (sp) wrap and/or her stomach may be slower than emptying than it should be and her milk builds up on her without exiting the stomach as it should, erythromycin, helps this, for my patient, 3xdaily. the child must be elevated at least at a 45 degree angle prior to the feeding and at least an hour after the feeding. she is evidentally refluxing at 1.5 ounces, so try giving her an ounce at a time and waiting 15 minutes--you will be opposed to the nissan wrap as my patients mom and I were, I asked them to let me try for 3 weeks to feed her before they did the wrap as I had experience feeding hard to feed babies, through all the vomiting and wretching and crying I was able to get 3-4 pounds on her but we still had to do the wrap, she turned from a failure to thrive baby to a healthy 37 pound 5 year old--this situation for you is very traumatic, I know, sometimes patience is not enough, you have to decide to take action to help your baby--just to let you know, my patient"blew-out" the first wrap from straining and screaming at the top of her lungs after surgery in the NICU because the nurses were not properly dosing the morphine--morphine is slow acting and they would wait to seee signs/symptoms of pain and by then it is too late, the pain threshold is greater than the morphine can counteract--if you arn't satisfied with what your dr. is doing for your baby, get another dr. you are the only advocate your child has--g-tube feeding helped alot also, you don't have to do a pump, i fought using the pump and we gravity feed in two small feeding and it works beautifully, baby still has some reflux but no more vomiting and she is thriving--good luck I'll watch for your postings

Jayda's Mommy

1/22/08 1:55pm

My 4 month old daughter use to fight me all the time during her feeding. I use to hate it when people would tell me that "she'll eat when she hungry". It use to take up to 1 1/2 to feed her if she even ate at all. She used to take only 20oz a day and is now up to 27oz. Our winning combination is the Playtex Avance bottle (or ventair bottle in the usa) with enfamil gentelease formula. She is currently on Ranitidine (Zantac) which she takes twice a day. The Playtex bottles were what made the difference as it has a vent to allow air to pass through the bottle rather than being swallowed. The only downfall to the bottles was that the nipples were very slow and did not allow much liquid to pass. We ended up opening up the hole with a toothpick while sterilizing to help the milk pass. I know that for Gerd babies, the slower the better, but my daughter use to just give up or cry from fustration when she would suck and little to no food would come out. Hopefully some of what what worked for us will work for you. It took us 3 months of trial and error to get to this point and so far she has been ok of 2 weeks now. Good luck.

Vicki M

1/23/08 12:12am

Hi Jayday's Mommy,

Congratulations for finding something that helps with your Daughter's GERD. Tracy Davenport is a mom and resident expert here on Health Central. She has a child that has severe gastroespogheal reflux disease. You can read about Tracy and her shareposts here. (profile shareposts)

Since she's had to go through what you all are going through now, she would be a good source of information for changes in your children's condition, especially since her children are older than yours.

Good luck to you both and please stay in touch and let us know how you are doing!

Vicki M

helplessmom

2/18/08 5:23pm

Just when I thought her reflux days are over, my baby (who is now close to 5 mos) does not want to suck at all. Not even an ounce of milk. She bites the nipple when I put it in her mouth and when she doesn't bite, she gags on it. The only way for her to eat now is if she's sleeping. Everyone has told me she might be teething. I checked countless times but she is not. Is there any other way to feed a baby milk if they do not want to take the bottle?

Jan Gambino, Health Guide

3/10/09 6:21am

Hello!

I just stumbled on your message. Sorry for the long delay in replying. Can you give us an update?

Jan Gambino

The Reflux Mom

Tanja

2/18/08 10:55pm

Hi -

I had the same problem with my son. What worked for us was more freqent and smaller meals. We also had him sleep under approximately 30 degrees angle all the time. This lasted for few months. Sorry, I know it is hard, but they do outgrow it eventually.

How to get my 3.5 month old baby to take in more milk

Ask a Question