Swallowing Difficulty and Reflux

My son had high grade acid reflux as an infant as well. He was also on prilosec, it's important to inform your doctor that you are not seeing an improvement, he will probably need to increase the dose. According to my sons pediatrician it is done by weight, and when he gains weight that puts him out of the dose range it's like he's not taking any medicine at all. This is also how they determine when a child is no longer needing the medicine. If he's been on the wrong dose for a month and not having any problems any more, he's more than likely not in need of it. Definitly talk to your doctor. It's so hard seeing them in pain! Also, I'm sure you've been told this already but keep him upright during feeding and put his bed at an incline when he sleeps, it worked great for my son. Best of Luck!

Hi S.. My little girl (just over two now) fought GERD horribly the first year of her life. We did the prilosec and it helped her for the most part, but getting that down her was a fight beyond belief. We ended up trying cereal in her bottle. We expiremented around with the consistancy until we found the right one that helped her. Once we did, she was able to go off her medicine completely. Using the cereal never made my little girl gain a lot of weight. Once we hit time for trying stage 3 baby foods we could not give her anything that was chunky because she would gag over it. We continued with this problem until she hit right at a year old. Every now and then we still have the gag problem, but it's not bad anymore at all. Her GERD has settled itself down as she's gotten older and now only flares up if she is teething or has some sort of virus/infection.

Hi S.

My youngest son deals with reflux. He is 20 months old now and does much better...the things that worked the best for us where Zantac(4 times per day and the dosing changed all the time because of how sensitive the weight guidelines for little ones are), keeping him inclined ALL the time~~not just right after feedings or during sleep. I was also pleasantly surprised by how much help we got from a chiropractor...it seems that once we started to see a chiropractor on a regular basis collin got much better. Also they are a bit costly but the Dr. Brown bottles worked pretty well if you are bottle feeding at all. If you are nursing, make sure you watch what you eat...(but i am sure you have heard that already...)

hope it helps

Y.

Hi S., I have a 10 week old daughter. I began breastfeeding and still supplement breastfeeding with formula due to my supply satisfying her, and weight loss. At our 2 month visit the Dr. suggested that I add some rice cereal to her bottle, 1 tsp per ounce to help her with what he believes is reflux also. This has worked well for the last 2 weeks, however we have found that Gerber cereal works best with the bottles we use (Dr. Brown's). My niece had difficult issues with feeding/swallowing, and the Dr. found her to be "tongue tied", I'm certain your Dr. has loked at this, but it was just a thought. Hope this helps, good luck!

My son had extensive swallowing difficulties up until he was over a year old. He had several swallow studies including gastric scans. We also had to use cereals and thickeners for his formula and food. He had problems with reflux and was treated with Reglan and Zantac and that seemed to help him. We also started seeing an occupational therapist that specialized in swallowing difficulties. She worked with his oral motor skills and that seemed to work really well for him. All of my son's complications with swallowing were due to the mild form of cerebal palsy he suffers from. So this might not be the same exact situation as your son but it wouldn't hurt to ask about different medication.

a girl i work with had the same problem with her son. the baby would projectile vomit every time he ate. the doc said it was reflux, told her give him cereal bottles and put him on zantac...blah, blah. well nothing worked and he kept getting sicker and started losing weight. eventuallly he had to be hospitalized. they discovered he had a condition called pyloric stenosis(i think i spelled that right). it's where the valve that closes off the top of the stomach doesn't work properly, so no food actually enters the stomach. and then the baby just vomits it up and they don't get any nourishment. they had to do surgery on him when he was just a couple months old. but it corrected the problem and he is a big strapping bouncing baby now. it's a worst case scenario, but it might be worth you looking into.

Oh S., this brings back so many memories. Our daughter at 9 weeks was diagnosed with reflux. She was put on Prilosec also. What they did not tell me and that I learned from reading the recommendations for adults was to take the Rx and wait 30 minutes before eating. Once we did this, plus put at tablespoon or two of baby cereal in her bottle it helped tremendously.

We did run into problems as she put on weight. The Rx dose is based on the weight of the child. If you have not been recently, that could also need adjusting.

When my daughter was ill from time to time we had to add the simply Thick to her formula and breast milk. We have almost a whole box. If you are interest in it, you are more than welcome to have it. I live on the north side on Indy. I would rather give it to someone who needs it than see it continue to sit on a shelf and expire or go bad.

I have been a daycare provider for 12+ years and several children have had reflux. Has your pediatrician referred you to a G.I. doctor to have them check your little one out? If not, I would put the bug in his/her ear to do so.

My daughter is now 2 and still on Rx and doing wonderfully. 3 of the 6 children that I have had at the daycare are totally off the Rx. At our last check up with our G.I. specialist said that he will keep Samantha on her Rx at the same dose and only increase it if need be. But, if there is no need then as she grows she will gradually wean herself off. I sure hope that all this helps. If you need someone to talk to feel free to contact me. I wish you all the best. K. S.

http://aolsvc.health.webmd.aol.com/content/article/75/897...

Here is some information on reflux from webmd.com. It has some treatments that you might beable to use. Good luck.