Josiah has snored almost since birth and over the past three months gets stuffy when lying down. I can't suction anything out, as I never see it, only hear it. I use saline drops and a humitifier to help....My question is could this be GERD related as he is not sick in any other way.

OTC meds. do not work...instead of making him drowsy, they overload his nervous system!...we found out after many sleepless days and nights the last time he got a cold! :(

Allie has the same problem and the remedies don't work, and I can't get anything out of her with the bulb syringe either. I read something somewhere about it being possible for the babies to aspirate fluid in their lungs. I am worried that this is dangerous. Thanks for the post, I hope someone can give us some answers.

Christyn

Yes, it can be GERD related. If you are getting aspiration issues it will not be long before the upper respiratory infections start. You look for signs of wheezing, stridor, gasping, sucking in of chest and abdomen signalling that they are working hard to breathe. Having said that, do not go crazy looking for it, just be aware that this can happen even when a cold or virus goes chesty as well.

The general stuffiness can signal backup into sinuses. Keeping on top of things with the saline drops, cool air humidifiers, and general supportive care is all you can do at this point. Again, do not drive yourself nuts looking for aspiration yet.

Iain has GERD related asthma due to aspiration. Whenever he gets a cold it always goes chesty on him and he had CONSTANT snot pouring out of him and tons of coughing prior to the meds, especially after having fluids or some solids. Now, he does still have the issues but they are not as frequent. Curran, my middle son is suspect now for aspiration as his history of frequent chest ailments suggest this. He is on his third bout of pneumonia this year and has had so many ear and throat infections over the years I have lost count.

It really depends on how high your child refluxes. It is something I would keep in the back of my mind as a possibility and get any progression of this checked out by the ped. It is not an immediate thing, just a progression. Do your children have any swallowing issues? Iain did in the begining and that was part of his problem too. If they do not have swallowing issues then you will really not know.

All three of my kids snore to some degree and it is much worse when they are congested. This is also normal when kids are not GERDlings, but more pronounced when they are. Curran can raise the roof at times and he is only 4 and this is when he is "healthy" as well. Many other things can contribute to snoring, too.

As far as OTC meds go, check with your ped or pharmacist for advice on them. Not all of them are created equal and not all are really good for infants.

Evan has never been a snorer, but clear nasal fluid and congestion have been a recurring problem for him. Antihistamines work some of the time, but the best solution for us was the prescription for Nasonex that he got from the ped. respirologist. The bulb syringe never worked for him.

One thing to keep in mind ... "aspiration" means getting the formula, puke or whatever down into the lungs. It does not mean getting it in the nose. It's a scary word, and we certainly don't want to cause any undue alarm.

Thanks for the info. Glad to see someone take me serious! The ped. dismissed it a month ago when I mentioned it. I am going to bring it up again when he has his appt. Thursday as this stuffines does sometimes interfere with him drinking his bottle, and I believe may be one of the reasons he doesn't sleep well at night.

Oh, I would quite agree that stuffiness will interfere with bottle consumption and contribute to night waking. Your ped may want to check out what formula you are on and see if their may be issues with proteins there.

Ridiculous when they do not take you seriously, eh? :confused:

He's on Alimentium....the best tolerated formula we have tried so far. For the most part my ped. takes us serious....we've been with her for 12 years and five babies...but sometimes she just doesn't get it! We'll see what she says tomorrow.

Sam is an aspirator as well and he is always stuffy. We have had swallow studies done to confirm this. We found out that he pools his formula/food/saliva in the back of his throat causing him to sound as if he has a bad cold, but it is nothing more than pooling. If we can get him to cough or swallow he sounds so much better. If Josiah is aspriating and does get an infection from it you will know. Just be on the look out for the symptoms that Leigh gave you. It is sometimes hard for me to see them as he always is raspy, wheezy, gasping, and sucking in the abdomen. If they seem worse to me then I take him in. We have had pneumonia 2x and bronciolitis 1x so far this season. Hoping that we won't have too many more! I hope you get some answers that you need!

Sara, it must be so hard to have to deal with that everyday.:cry: We had it with Iain for about 15 months, but not continuous until his GERD was so bad and he was FTT. When the symptoms started to alleviate I was so relieved! I was also so in denial to think we were out of the woods and the asthma component was over with as although we did have a good two months this summer he is back on inhalers again full time. Regardless, he is still better than he was. My middle son is the one who worries me now with all the upper respiratory infections he gets. Awful that what is considered bad for others may be just normal for Sam.

I am glad that your ped takes you seriously, but sometimes they seem to forget what it is like to have these problems. With 5 kids you must be hopping most of the time. I have 3 and I am run ragged!:-D

Appt. w/ ped. yesterday went well. She agrees that the stuffines is caused by the gerd...said that sometimes the fluid rising up actually gets into the nasal passages....no joke. She did not recommend medicine, thought that it would only aggravate things. She said hopefully he will outgrow all of this in a couple of months...so wer'e just going to have to deal with it for now. Thankfully he has had no infections other than one cold earlier that did not develope into anything else.

Yes, I am run ragged most days! I homeschool two of my girls, one is in kindergarten and it's just nutty around here some days! We do a lot of praying and I try to keep a sense of humor....rather laugh than cry! LOL

Huh? No meds? Okally dokally then.:shock: Keep an eye on this and be the screeching wheel with your ped if it develops anymore. Maybe she thinks you will not notice these things since you have 5 kids?!

I love that you are so positive.:-D Homeschooling to boot? Your hands are full. We had a poll question for that awhile ago I think. Did you post on that?

You have to keep a sense of humor! Especially homeschooling with refluxers, Oh my goodness :shock: We have been there, with only 3 though, thats enough :) Prayers always help. Just praying seems to make things easier doesn't it?

It sure does, Erin!

Like Leigh, I'm shocked about no meds.! There have been many times wherewe would not have survived without them. The runny nose just exaspirates everything for our poor little guy.

What meds would you guys be talking about for the congestion. My DD who is 5 1/2 mos old is always congested at the back of her throat. She goes to see pedi GI for first time on Valentine's Day mostly to see if she is being fully managed. She is hardly symptomatic with her stomach but still is so congested. I think from refluxing. She is currently on her second course of antibiotics (2 different ones) to make sure it is not a sinus infection. Doesn't seem to be helping though.

In our case my youngest (and likely my middle son as well) both battle with asthma. It is all GERD related and the saying goes "control the reflux and you will control the asthma". We have found this to be very true even for just straight congestion. Best thing to start with is a check of your current meds and the dosages to make sure they are in line with weight increases.

You can use the typical OTC stuff for mild congestion, but if it is chronic or debilitating in any way it should be addressed with the ped or allergist. We use flovent and ventolin here for the boys plus OTC stuff when needed.

We were also told no meds for the runny nose - for the same reason. It makes sense to me though. Think about what it feels like to snort anything - soda etc. . . or even when you get pool water in you nose. Of course it gets runny, but a med wouldn't do anything for it. We just have to wait it out. Decongestets never worked for Sam for his runny nose so I truely believe the ped is right on this one!

We went through a spell when Josiah wasn't as congested. That ended three weeks ago...been battling it ever since. He is congested and is having a hard time breathing; especially when eating. Sometimes he produces some drainage...which in the last couple of days has had some color to it..Sinus infection???

I getting pretty tired of the nose thing! DH told me tonight to call his ped. GI doc tomorrow and see what they say. We run the vaporizer 24/7 in his room and use vapor cream and saline drops to help. OTC meds do not work for Josiah...the stuff wires him and he cannot sleep or rest at all!! When we tried that at first, it was a NIGHTMARE!!

Jenifer, My son Parker is a lot like that. He will get a runny nose, but congested and also snore. I defiantly think it needs further investigation. Try nasonex first we have had a lot of success with it. If not I would recommend a sleep assessment. Parker has sleep Apnea and the main thing is that he snores. Even the ped didn't think it was possible but I had the study done and sleep apnea, it is very closely associated with reflux. Didn't mean to scare you but maybe its worth checking out.