Acid Reflux or GERD in newborns

It was about this time two years ago that I was stuck on the couch during maternity leave with a sweet baby boy…who screamed for an hour with no end in sight. I fed him. I changed his diaper. I gave him his binky. I rocked him. I walked him. I wore him in a carrier. I gave him Mylecon gas drops. I gave him Gripe water. I gave him Tylenol thinking he was in pain and his little body wiggled, face beat red…

After a few nights of trying different things, I REALLY sat down and took note of what was going on. While the crying fits seemed to happen about the same time of day, I noticed he was squeaking a bit. Nothing alarming, just squeaky breathing. “Hmmm…acid reflux?” I thought. I did notice he was uncomfortable on my breast milk if I ate something spicy and after one episode I made sure to remove spices from my diet. But perhaps it was something more.

I remember my mom talking about my sister squeaking and spitting up a lot. My son did spit up. It wasn’t a lot, nor often. It was enough and mostly seemed like the first burp was dry and the second burp ‘Look out!’ kind of deal. My sister there was no warning. BAM! Gotcha. I loved holding her and snuggling her but it was always with that thought of “Will she explode?” linger in the back of your mind.

I called his pediatrician the next morning and told them about his symptoms. We went in for an appointment and they prescribed him baby Zantac. I was not thrilled with putting my breast fed baby on medication, but after trying a laundry list of items…this was our only hope. Twice a day. It took a few days before a whole new baby and HUZZAH! Mom was NOT as insane as she thought!

The most common GERD/Acid Reflux symptoms in kids are:

If you are struggling with an infant that has similar symptoms, here are a few things to try. These are tried and sworn by thanks to the lovely Mamas who shared their child rearing stories. ALWAYS CHECK IN WITH YOUR PEDIATRICIAN before implementing. I am not a doctor, nor claim to be one.

Tips to help GERD/Acid Reflux:

• Elevate. Rock N Play sleeper to sit at a 45 degree angle. Do not put him down for at least an hour after feedings.
• Wear baby in a carrier all of the time.
•  Zantac prescription very early, as early as 1 month. Even with the Zantac she spit up constantly but it helped with the pain of it.
• Prevacid and zantac. And I’m breastfeeding as well. It has done wonders for her.
• If the doctor won’t put him on anything, take him to the er while having an episode. That’s what I had to do with my daughter.
• It could be something your eating. I could only eat little amounts of saucy things with Parker while I breastfed.
• Evan had acid reflux really bad after he came home from children’s. He projectile vomited every time he ate. He had an upper GI done and was put on Zantac and Reglan. I don’t think they give Reglan anymore. We had to put him on alimentum formula.
• Alivia was super crabby when she was very little so I automatically put her on alimentum and she really calmed down. Don’t let it go too long it can cause serious problems.
• We tried everything under the sun. Baby ranitidine solved it.
• Jax had acid reflux bad enough that he would stop breathing in the hospital. He would buckle down from the pain and not breathe. Put him on Zantac which helped but didn’t cure it. He would spit up all the time and nights were horrible. He would only sleep on me and we had to be upright. At night I would pump and give it to him in a bottle so he would be more upright during the feed. Eventually he would sleep in his crib but we had to elevate one side of the mattress.
• Aloe worked for my granddaughter, on recommendation of her pediatrician.
• We didn’t sleep for a year, he had cereal put in his bottle the first week to help keep it down. Within the first 2 weeks he was put on liquid Zantac, by the time he reached a year old he was good. We also used alimentum formula.
• Try giving him 1-2 ounces of sweetened water. I’m not sure is they still sell glucose water or not. You can always just add a sprinkle yourself tho. It may sound weird but it’s a little thing my grandma told me one time and it worked amazingly!
• I tried to avoid meds, but when they are arching their back and turning to the right its a sure sign of reflux and I hated her being in pain.
• Trust me you will be so frustrated. Each doctor will tell you something else. It was the most frustrating time until we found what worked. I know you are probably breast feeding but we found with E that we had to change him to Soy. We changed him on our own and he was 100 times better. Also he kept him upright for 15 minutes after he ate and that seemed to help.
• Reflux pillow. My little one was on prevacid. She choked a lot. Thickened formula with rice cereal. We even had an apnea monitor.
• The twins had reflux and came home on medicine. Had to add cereal to their formula to help keep it down, slept in their swings for most of the year to keep them upright and the motion kept them content majority of the time.
• Owen slept upright in a swing for the first year of his life because he had it so bad. Started on Zantac that did nothing for him then switched to Axid which worked miracles once we found the right dose.
• You could try a food journal and see if you can find food that is triggering it. Oranges set B off. I couldn’t even have a sip of OJ after he was born.

As you can see, there are similarities in the suggestions but also a few nuggets in there. I hope these life experiences shed some light on your situation and gave you a few things to implement in hopes of finding what works best for your baby’s tummy.