How much spit-up is normal? Reflux-related.

[Green22]

I have a 12 week old baby with reflux. She eats about every 1.5/2 hours during the day. During the day she HATES being put down and we basically carry her everywhere and use the carrier (though sometimes I think she gets jiggled too much and even that doesn't help). Lucky for us, she sleeps fine at night (8 hours at least)

We tried to just keep her upright, feed her at an angle, all that stuff until she was about 2 months old because I didn't want to do medicine and I thought I had it under control. She was really fussy for a couple days, and she ended spitting up blood. The next day the doc put her on baby zantac. I thought it was helping - no more blood, no more green mucousy poops, less spit up and less of a "gagging" look from her (she randomly does this). About 3 weeks later she was really fussy and upset and had more spit ups, we took her to the doc and they increased the zantac. But I'm not sure it's working still/anymore.

Symptoms:
Lots of spit up, sometimes 45 min - 1 hour after eating
Immediate spit up if she is put down flat after eating
coughing/sneezing (are these symptoms?)
She still eats constantly (which is fine with me, but I thought they were supposed to start eating bigger amounts less frequently)
She still is sooo unhappy if we put her down/lay her down flat (though sometimes she is okay in her playgym)

She doesn't thrash her head back while eating, but she does move around/worm around and move her head to the side a lot.

The point is, I'm not sure the zantac is working. How did you know your reflux meds were working? It seems like they always ask about spit up but I am never sure - babies spit. How much is normal?

Thanks for any feedback!

[Melbel]

From what I have read, infants frequently need increased dosages of Zantac due to weight gain. We found that the PPI's worked much better for DD2 (Prevacid or Zegarid). DD2 ate small amounts every 2-3 hours for her first 14 months (including through the night). At 26 months, she still goes on eating strikes (solids) when her reflux is flared up. You may want to consider treating with a specialist (pediatric gastroenterologist).

I found the following websites to be helpful:

www.infantreflux.org
http://www.marci-kids.com/