We saw our ped today who thought oue ds does have silent reflux. The problem is that since he manages to ultimately keep the food down and he's been comfort feedibg almost constantly for weeks, now he has gained too much weight. Today's weigh in showed 20 oz in the last 13 days.

The ped wants us to reduce feedings and frequency, but he is screaming for his food every hour as usual. How did you distract your child from comfort nursing? He will take a pacifier instead, but only for a minute or two.

How about offering smaller/shorter feedings when you know he shouldn't truly be hungry? My daughter comfort feeds as well, but she's always been small. We discovered in the process of one attempt to ferberize her that she was just as content at night with 2oz feeds as she was with 4oz feeds. So, a smaller amount might provide all the comfort your son needs. Just my two cents ...

My daughter was a comfort feeder, as well. She gained weight rapidly, too. We were never told to reduce her feedings, but took 24-28 ozs. of formula in small 2-4 oz. feedings throughout the day day. I agree with Lesley. Instead of offering the feedings fewer times a day, reduce the total amount and spread that amount out. I would think 24-32 oz. per day would be okay.

I don't think I would worry too much at this moment, was he measured on the same scales- they can fluctuate a lot. See how he goes, there will be a time when you write saying that he willnot eat and drink. Also the zantac should kick in soon and then he may not want as much, also if he is sore you can try some mylanta, this might soothe him and he may not want to comfort eat- check witht the pharmacist for dose.

Right when Noah was diagnosed, we were doing the same thing, and I found it impossible to increase the amount of time between bottles. I tried so hard. I think the other ladies' idea about decreasing volume sounds like a great one. Hope it works for you!

Yup, was he measured on the same scale both times? At this age, I wouldn't worry. It's not unusual for babies to gain weight quickly when they're younger. AJ was 8#13 at 1 mos and was 12#4oz at 2 mos! He was 16# something at 4 mos. No one ever said to cut back on feedings. Evan used to eat all the time and only weighs 18.5# at 12 mos b/c his metabolism is so high and his food allergies bothered him. If y our baby is comfort feeding though, that means his meds aren't working. Did the DR address that?

My eldest was a comfort feeder and actually got quite pudgy. One RSV illness and a drop of 10 % of his body weight later caused him to stall for nearly 6 months in weight gain, so I do not worry about a baby being pudgy. Obese is another issue and separate altogether.

My middle son would intake so much and puke it right back out again, but he maintained a great growth curve.

Contrary to popular belief, I am here to tell you that a silent refluxer can lose weight and become FTT as Iain did. Do not count on silent reflux to prevent weight loss as we got the most complications from him.

I agree with the others that a change in volume offered might be in order, but only if he is obese. Otherwise, I would not change a thing. What is his growth curve? Is he maintaining? What is his height to weight ratio? THis is what you should look at. Keep in mind growth spurts need to be considered as well. Does your child always scream for food or is this a recent thing?

Also, if he is indeed comfort feeding and it is related directly to the reflux then it is needing addressing by a ped as his reflux is not being managed properly indeed. Comfort feeding at this age is to alleviate discomfort more than anything.

Sorry, I shouldl give some more details. We are still very very new to reflux, its effects, treatments, all the terms surrounding it, etc. I have gone over this site with a microscope the last few days trying to learn about it. He was just diagnosed with reflux yesterday (after a trial run of thickened feedings over the holiday weekend) and was prescribed zantac, so that hasn't even had time to work yet.

He is always measured on the same scale though. I don't think he's obese (I really didn't think he was gaining too much in the first place); she didn't say anything about that, just that his gain in the last two weeks was high. He was 7lbs 15oz at birth, and 11lbs 1oz at almost 6 weeks. He went from 9lbs 14oz to the 11lbs 1oz in the last two weeks.

The screaming for constant feeding has been going on since about 2 weeks. Everyone tells you to feed on demand. so that's just what I thought I was doing. It wasn't until I posted his symptoms here that I even heard the term comfort feeding.

I don't like the idea of making him wait so I'll try smaller feedings and see if that will satisfy him.

In all the information hunting on reflux I've been doing the last few days I actually had forgotten to take growth spurts into account too so I'll be keeping an eye on that.

Thanks for the advice ladies.

His zantac should be between 1.7-3.3ml a day. If he's not on that, he needs to be. It just sounds like his reflux has really kicked in and that's why he wants to be fed (plus 6 wks growthspurt) all the time. I bet the zantac will help. You have to know that some babies will always require the max dose for their weight and even a small weight gain can change the dose of zantac.

I agree with thePeach. The peds do start children off on the lowest dose possible it seems and there is a LOT of play with zantac, so do not be shy about asking to adjust it. My ped gives me a range from moderate to higher end to play with so that we can determine how much to give Iain as he is on prevacid as well. Unfortunately, we usually need the max still. One thing I did want to mention is that Iain was a complete non-eater and now that he is actually eating his reflux is worse. The more he intakes the worse it gets. The prevacid does indeed help to make sure it is not as painful as it was without meds and the very fact that he still intakes is GREAT. This correlation between intake and reflux activity is a yet another diabolical twist of GERD so be aware of it. As long as the meds are in place he will intake and still reflux, but not be in as much discomfort if the meds are working. Make sense?