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View Full Version : Reflux & dream feeding--5 mo only nurses when sleepy



goldenpig
08-21-2010, 01:59 AM
Just need a hug...it is so hard when your little one does not want to eat and acts like he hates your milk. And when you think he has reflux but can't be sure that you're just making it up or overdiagnosing it (especially when DH thinks so).

He was such a great eater when he was first born...we had to supplement with formula for a week because his bilirubin was elevated, and he used to guzzle down 3 oz in 2 minutes. He was a big baby too...80th percentile. After dealing with DD and her poor weight gain and eating aversions from silent reflux for so long, I was so relieved I didn't have to worry about him! Little did I know.

At 6 weeks he started having problems with choking/gagging and not wanting to feed...I attributed it to overactive letdown. It got better, although he did not like the bottle anymore.

Then at 3-4 months he started refusing to eat more, drinking at most only 1/2 to 1 oz of pumped milk at a time, and turning away from the breast and arching. And waking up more at night, like every 1-2 hours, really fussy and having to be held upright. And he dropped from 80th to 50th percentile over a month. All the things that his sister did at the same age (although she was even worse). So at least I knew what was going on but I was so sad that we had to go down that road again.

We went to the pedi and he agreed to a trial of Zantac, which he's been on for the last two weeks or so. It helped a little at first but now he's starting to refuse to eat again which is really stressful and aggravating. And he's getting fussier too and has to be held upright all the time. I can only feed him when he's sleepy, right before naps or bed or when he wakes up in the middle of the night. During the day he squirms away from the breast and cries like I'm torturing him if I try to BF him. We went out to a restaurant and he was screaming and arching while I was trying to BF him (because he hadn't eaten all morning) and trying to keep my cover on despite the flailing and I was having flashbacks to being at that same restaurant with DD when she was the same age and having the same thing happen and everyone looking at me. At DD's birthday party I couldn't enjoy myself because I was so stressed out that he hadn't fed all day (kept trying to feed him but he wouldn't eat). At least he does drink when he's sleepy, but then he wakes up 2-3x/night to eat. I don't feel like I can sleep train him until he can eat during the day reliably.

I don't really know what to do. Part of me thinks I should push to see a pedi GI and get him on Prevacid. But then part of me thinks I am just thinking it's reflux because of what DD went through. He doesn't have a lot of the symptoms she had like wet burps/gurgling so it's not as clear-cut. And neither of them were spitters. So it's really hard to tell if it's reflux or not. I do feel a tooth breaking through so maybe it could be teething but I don't think he's uncomfortable from that. I am going to try to be stricter about avoiding dairy but who knows if it's really that either. DH just said he thinks the whole reflux diagnosis is overused and that babies just are fussy. And then he said, maybe he doesn't like the taste of your milk and we should switch him to formula. Thanks a lot DH. Maybe this should go in the BP. Ugh!

jgenie
08-21-2010, 05:38 AM
:hug: It's so hard when they don't sleep at night add the stress of not eating and it's even tougher. DS2 is putting me through the wringer now - he's up every 1.5 hours and I'm tired!! If you think the ped GI might be able to help call and schedule an appointment. You have nothing to lose. If you're right about the silent reflux your DS can get some relief - if you're not maybe he'll help pinpoint what the problem is. Listen to your gut. Pooo on DH for not supporting you. I would leave DS with DH for a few hours so you can get a break and DH can understand how hard it is. :hug:

nfowife
08-21-2010, 08:24 AM
Will your ped let you try prevacid? When my ds was young we tried Zantac and it did nothing. But prevacid helped and from what I remember she said that prevacid was harmless enough that we could try it for a few weeks and then go to the gi if it didn't help. The gi does more invasive testing soni am glad the prevacid worked for us. My ds was silent too.

daisymommy
08-21-2010, 08:26 AM
(((HUGS))).

I completely understand. DS#1 had horrible reflux, and did the whole feeding torture thing, along with all the other problems. So I feel your pain. With DD and DS #2 I had over active let down, so I know how hard that can be too.

Some ideas off the top of my head:
-See a specialist and try another reflux medication. There are several out there, not every baby will respond to the exact same one. it really does sound very likely that it is reflux, so I wouldn't give up after just trying Zantac.

-Continue with the methods to handle over-active-let down. Because this would be my "most likely to be the problem option #2". OAL also goes hand in hand with (causing) reflux. Sometimes, once you get it under control well, the reflux goes away on it's own.
http://www.llli.org/NB/LVSepOct95p71NB.html
http://www.kellymom.com/bf/supply/fast-letdown.html
http://www.llli.org/FAQ/oversupply.html

-All the things you are describing to me during feeding, personally do not scream dairy allergy. Possible, but not as likely as the first two. Mainly because the problems all seem to center around the actual feedings, with residual problems afterwards.

-And I just want to tell you my story (in a nutshell), in the hopes that you can avoid it yourself.

DS#1 did all the things your DS is doing. I was a first time mother, and had never heard of relux, overactive letdown/supply, or dairy sensitivity. After 2 weeks DS was on bili lights and his weight had dropped. We saw a lactation consultant who didn't help much, and basically said it in our case in might be better to switch to formula. So we did. And then the real hell began.
We tried EVERY single formula on the market, and he got worse, the reflux got worse, the screaming escalated to 12 hours a day, I was sleeping with him upright on my chest all night, and carrying him upright all day.
He developed a rash on his face and bottom, he was sooo gassy, and you could tell he was miserable and in pain.
I went to every pediatrician in the local office (maybe 7?) and they all said it was just colic, it would go away. Yeah right. At 4 months old when it was still just as bad and not going away, we were finally referred to a specialist.
He told us DS had reflux. We had to give him a special hypoallergenic formula--because none of the other's agreed with him. It ate away at our savings account because it was so expensive. The doctor said I might want to consider re-lactating, because it would be so much easier on his body, easier to digest, and of course cheaper. That the original problems DS had was the reflux, which was now being treated with medication, and quite possibly that when I was breastfeeding, I had OAL.

Great, so now my milk is dried up, DS is on formula which costs us and arm and a leg and he isn't even doing so hot on it. If I could go back in time and do one thing differently, it would be to never quit breastfeeding and put him on formula. Because really, for us, that's when it got really, really bad. And then there was no going back :( I knew I couldn't go through re-lactating.

We survived the next 8 months. And DS did get better, especially on the medicine (Zantac and Prevacid), and with reflux coping techniques. He's a healthy happy 8 year old today!

I just wanted to let your DH know that formula does NOT always make it all better. :hug:

Green22
08-22-2010, 03:00 PM
We went to the pedi and he agreed to a trial of Zantac, which he's been on for the last two weeks or so. It helped a little at first but now he's starting to refuse to eat again which is really stressful and aggravating. And he's getting fussier too and has to be held upright all the time. I can only feed him when he's sleepy, right before naps or bed or when he wakes up in the middle of the night. During the day he squirms away from the breast and cries like I'm torturing him if I try to BF him. We went out to a restaurant and he was screaming and arching while I was trying to BF him (because he hadn't eaten all morning) and trying to keep my cover on despite the flailing and I was having flashbacks to being at that same restaurant with DD when she was the same age and having the same thing happen and everyone looking at me. At DD's birthday party I couldn't enjoy myself because I was so stressed out that he hadn't fed all day (kept trying to feed him but he wouldn't eat). At least he does drink when he's sleepy, but then he wakes up 2-3x/night to eat. I don't feel like I can sleep train him until he can eat during the day reliably.



We had the same thing - zantac helped a bit, then stopped about 2-3 weeks later. We called the doc and told them, they gave us prevacid. We are on prevacid now and we were doing great. The past week has been iffy, but I'm not sure if it is refulx related. Anyway, see if you can try the prevacid! Good luck.

hellbennt
08-22-2010, 08:51 PM
hugs!
see my sig:love-retry: