Hi! I am new here and so far, this is the best site I've found on this subject. My son is 4 months old and had the nissen fundoplication surgery three months ago due to severe acid reflux to the point of aspirating. He has a g-tube with a button now that they say will stay in until between 6-12 months. I exclusively breastfeed and am constantly watching what I eat and drink. Still, we are having a lot of problems with gas with him and are having to vent him several times a day - multiple times after each feeding. His tummy gets so hard and he screams and cries. I feel so bad and don't know what to do to help with this. Has anyone else encountered this problem and found some solutions you could share? Any help and/or advice would be greatly appreciated! TIA.

Jennifer :)

Hi Jennifer:

I am Shae's Grammy....welcome...glad you found us. I know Roni is sooo busy lately so I decided to check in and say hi to everyone. I always tell everyone that Roni is the smart one and I am the one with the big mouth....so I spend all my time trying to promote our book. I know it has helped others not to feel so alone and so I feel I have done some good.

I am glad you found us....I am sure others will have some good advise for you. Take care and best wishes.

Hi Jennifer and welcome!

I'm glad you found us. Reflux is such a difficult thing to deal with, especially when we have to see our children go through so much pain and discomfort. My son has not had the fundo. and so far he hasn't needed to be tube fed, so hopefully one of the other many parents on these boards can answer some of your questions.

BTW, how old is your other child?

Hi and thanx for the welcome! I am looking forward to seeing what all this site has to offer. I have a 2 1/2 year old daughter and my 4 month old son, so I am very busy. I need a laptop! It's so hard to get on the web these days!

Have a great week!

Jennifer

Welcome to the boards Jennifer! Glad you found us.

Unfortunately, what you are describing is one of the many common complications that go along with the fundo. Had your surgeon told you about the complications that he could experience? I'm actually really surprised that they did a fundo on such a young baby. Was he having frequent apneas or ALTE's?

I hope that the venting is helping to relieve his gas pains, although what a pain to have to do it all day long, especially with two other kids in the house.

Again, welcome! We look forward to getting to know you.

We were told about the gas bloat, but not at all how severe it could be or that we would have to vent him so frequently. We were told that a lot of kids don't even have the G Button, so we thought it wouldn't be needed that much. The open nissen fludo was done because our son almost died from aspirating and apnea due to SEVERE acid reflux. Several doctors that we worked with said that he had the worst case of reflux they had ever seen. Again, he is exclusively breastfed and is given anti-gas drops with each feeding. Those are the only meds he is on. Any thoughts? Questions?

Thanx again,
Jennifer

They were right that sometimes surgeons don't bother doing a G-tube with the fundo but what he didn't tell you is that more times than not, when they don't do g-tube with the fundo they end up having to go back and do a second surgery to insert the g-tube after all because the child isn't eating, or isn't able to eat, suffering severe gas bloat, etc, etc. If they have any experience at all with the fundo then a g-tube will most likely be done at the time for these reasons. Unfortunately, most doctors tend to down play the complications of the fundo and some don't even tell parents about them...although when it's a matter of aspirating so severely it gets to be a matter of life and death.

Sounds like you are doing everything you should be doing, severe gas bloat is just a reality for many post fundo patients unfortunately...hopefully it will improve in time. If not and he continues to have trouble perhaps they could make sure the wrap wasn't done too tightly.