:cry: I am very concerned about my 3 month old son Nicholas. He was born at 33 weeks gestation and is a twin. He had some spitting up in the beginning... incidents where it would come up and out through his nose and mouth and we had to use the bulb syringe to clear him. That, however, has stopped. What has not stopped is that he is ALWAYS uncomfortable. He grunts and arches and squirms while taking his bottles. He stops and cries. He wants the bottle back, but when we give it to him, he gags. He only takes small amounts of the bottle at a time before he has to stop and cry and fuss and continue the squirming that was occurring all during feeding. I have four other children. I have NEVER seen such an uncomfortable baby. As of our last checkup, he is gaining weight appropriately. For him, it seems to be just a comfort issue. I am wondering if it could be reflux without actually having spit up or vomiting. I mentioned his misery to the pediatrician, but she basically dismissed it as "personality". I feel so bad for him because he is clearly miserable. I am at a loss. HELP!! Dee

Sigh...boy I look forward to the day that pediatricians will stop dismissing parents (not that I expect that will ever happen)...why do they do that? Do they learn that in med school, do they specifically have an "ignore the mother" class that they have to take? Ugh! I get so angry :evil: .

Sorry about the rant :wink: , in answer to your question, yes it can be reflux without throwing up. It's called silent reflux and has almost all the same symptoms as reflux except that it doesn't come out. Sometimes this can be worse b/c it can burn on the way up and on the way down. The good news is, yes he will most likely outgrow it and there are things you can do to help him. The first thing I would do is make a list of the symptoms (http://www.infantrefluxdisease.com/gerdinfo.htm) of reflux, and make a list of his symptoms to show the pediatrician. Ask about giving him some Zantac or some other type of acid blocker. If your pediatrician will not listen to you find a new one if it's possible. Oh ya, and tell her to get a copy of my book, sounds like she could learn a few things :lol: . Keep him propped up during and after feeds for at least a half hour and try to provide smaller, but more frequent feedings throughout the day. These things should help his comfort level dramatically. Check out the treatments page (http://www.infantrefluxdisease.com/treatments.htm) for info.

I hope this helps some. Thanks for joining us and welcome![/url]

You know even as great as my pedi is he still missed the fact that she was suffering for reflux and not just colic..if Alanna didn't have PKU and been seeing a endocronoligist she may have gone un dx .I know from working with MDs for the last few years that they are not without infraction...(somtimes even they'll even admit it too) ...first and most importantly they are there to provide you with a service ..the health of your child .what ever concerns you have should be investigated and never dissmissed .I'd be assertive about this concern .If they are unable to supply an answer then request a referal to somebody that can .I don't know what kind of insurance you have but some will allow one self referal a year.

:) Thank you so much for your support on this! I called Nicholas's doctor yesterday... talked to her by phone. Her tune had changed quite a bit... maybe because I had more information and confidence about the topic. She actually said, "We're finding out more and more about reflux and are finding it is under-diagnosed." Yes, hmmmm... including my child that she dismissed as personality. Oh well... at least she's listening now. She prescribed him Zantac... said there weren't many side effects to it so she thought we should ":try it and see." Last night seemed somewhat better after the dose of medicine, but got worse as the night wore on... I don't know how long the Zantac is supposed to last, but we are to give it 2 times a day. Anyhow... wanted to update you and thank you. I'll let you know how it goes... right now, babies beckon! :)

Glad the ped is listening better now! How is has the Zantac been working today? They say you are supposed to give it a week or so for it to get into their systems b/f determining if it's working or not...so hopefully in a few days you will see a difference. Good luck!

Alanna has been taking Zantac for a lil over a month now .....i'm kinda on the fence about how effective it is, i think for the most part it's helping but i still have to be really careful about what i eat :cry: ( she farts and burbs like a fat man if i'm not careful)Zanatc is usually as effective as it gets after about 2 weeks .Alanna also gets it 2x a day i give it to her at her around 7 am or her second feeding of the am and then around 5 pm i think thats only because those are the times of my med passes at work :lol: Anyhoo I'm glad your pedi is listening and in the future i hope more start to .not to be funny but I'm glad i didn't go pre med now ..how bad would it suck to have all the answers , know everything and give up having a sense of humor :P well good luck to you

We should share notes. We have twins, girl girl, 33 weeks gestation, born the end of September. Our Riki sounds a lot like your Nicholas. We have been through the exact same situation. It has now reached a point where she is refusing all solid foods. Bottles are still a struggle, even at six months. Her sister who suffered respiratory issues after birth and was always the "peanut" is now surpassing her in growth, development, eating patterns, etc. Zantac worked ok. We used it in combination with Reglan. Riki is now on Prevacid which just comes in capsule form (we are told by the doctor that the liquid does not work), and still not improving. I am curious as to how the Zantac worked for you.

Sorry it has taken me forever to get back to you. I don't really know why. For a while, our DSL was down and I was on dial-up while we waited for repair service... and that was so slow that I could barely get a page loaded before one of my kids needed me. Maybe that was the problem... not sure, but here I am!

I have been reasonably pleased with Nicholas's progress with the Zantac. The first day he was on the Zantac, I had the pleasure of hearing him coo and seeing him smile for the first time EVER. He had tried before, but, before he ever worked up to it, he seemed to get miserable again. So, that was encouraging. I don't think his dose is high enough because we used his weight at the last check-up and that was quite a while ago. Anyhow, I have moments when I appreciate how effective the Zantac is. For instance, tonight, the poor boy would not /could not settle. Nothing I did helped him... not walking him, rocking him.... finally, I decided to try giving him his dose of Zantac a little early. Almost immediately, he was able to take the bottle and within 10 minutes or so fell sound asleep. That was over 2 hours ago, and he is still asleep! :)

Mbkaiser, I am so sorry to hear about your Riki. I am hoping and praying that this will continue to help him. So far, it is making a remarkable difference. Even his pediatrician didn't believe he was the same baby . We went for an appointment for my 1 year old... and she thought I had brought Thomas with me because he was quiet and still. He finally is able to rest! I hope it continues.... Thanks! Dee

P.S. Anyone have any tricks for disguising the tasteof the disgusting Zantac? We try giving him juice or a bottle right away... even though the pharmacist said to wait 1/2 an hour. I find that he keeps more and spits less out so I would think that is the outcome we are looking for... any tricks of how to get the Zantac in would be appreciated!! :D :D

Hi Dee!

We're supposed to wait a minimum of 20 minutes after the meds. before feeding Evan, too, but I gave that up long ago!

What we do is give him a small spoon of applesauce or some other tasty puree, then another small spoon of applesauce with the meds. and quickly follow that with another tasty bite. (There was a time, though, that I used to have to lie him on the floor to get the spoonful down--gravity helped.)

Hi. That Zantac is the yukiest stuff. We always have the pharmacist add grape flavoring to it which helped some.
With Trent, I used one of those pacifier medicators. I would put his formula in the little container and put the zantac in and let him suck it out of the pacifier. The pharmacist told me I could mix the Zantac with up to 1oz of formula or juice but no more than 1 oz or it would become too diluted. I NEVER waited 10-20 minutes after the Zantac. It always worked fine for him. He is on Prevacid now, which is just a packet of powder and granules. I have to mix that in with his jar food.

Amy