Q: My infant is 7weeks. She has acid reflux and it is getting worse. I am breastfeeding and took her to dr today. She has only gained 1oz in 2weeks. Dr wants to try Reglan but I am very concerned.
I am surprised that your doctor's first recommendation is Reglan. For a long time, Reglan was given to babies with reflux. Many of these babies did very well on it. It helps move things through the stomach. But, recently the FDA issued a black box warning due to the risk of potentially serious side effects. The suggestion was to use Reglan only when other medications are not effective and the potential benefits outweigh the risks.
I would go back to your pediatrician and ask if there is another alternative such as an H2 blocker. In general, most pediatricians seem to be starting with this level of drugs and increasing from this if it doesn't work.
You may want to consider getting a referral for a pediatric GI specialist but they often have long waiting times to get in to see them so you will likely need something in the meantime.
I breastfed all three of my refluxers. With all three, at some point, I tried an elimination diet to see if it would help. With my first two it didn't. With my third, the diet helped the gas while the medications helped the reflux.
I hope this information helps!
Stephanie
There are a couple of ways to do it. You can cut out one food at a time - if you do it this way dairy is definitely the one to start with. You can cut out the biggies such as dairy, wheat, soy, and any foods that you consider gassy (peppers, onions, garlic, etc.). Or you can cut out everything and eat a very strict diet with no allergens. I can't get the Dr. Sears elimination diet website page to work but that's the one I did. It was actually easier for me to be super strict for a couple of weeks and eliminate everything. I felt like that way if I didn't see any change I would know it wasn't my diet. I did find a link that talks about the different options.
With my daughter, I didn't try the diet until she was 7 months and eating foods on her own. It's also very likely that diet wasn't as much of a factor for her by that age. With my second, I tried the diet right away before reflux meds. I didn't see any change -he was still miserable. With my third, I put him on meds. Then I started the diet. With him I figured out that he needed the meds for the reflux but my diet helped with the "colicky" gas that he also had as part of his immature nervous system. In retrospect, I think I wish I had taken this approach with the first two. Oh well, live and learn.
Best of luck with all this. If you would prefer to communicate off of the public boards, please feel free to send me a message. You can do this by clicking on my name and then on the next page there's a link right under my name that says "Send message."
Stephanie
Have you considered giving her Colic Calm gripe water? I used it for colic, but moms of reflux babies swear by it. You may want to try that before giving her a med (especially if you're nervous about it). Colic Calm is 100% natural and FDA approved. Here's more info:
http://www.coliccalm.com/baby_infant_newborn_articles/acid-reflux.htm
Good luck!
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Thank you for your feedback. I wasnt sure what it was until I got home and did the research. Everything I read was very scary and I didnt read anything positive about it. I am going to try the elimination diet. What were some of the main things you cut out first?