10 Month Old Screaming! HELP!

You did not mention if you laid her in her crib @ night... My son had acid reflux when he was born and the doctor suggested i keep him upright while sleeping. He ended up sleeping in his car seat for at least three months but it worked. I was able to sleep after that. I had tried everything else b4 then. I kept his car seat right next to my bed. He is now almost 6 yrs old but I was @ my wits end @ the time.Hope it helps.

Hi C.,

This made me so angry when I read it. As a mother of a reflux baby, I can sympathize with what you are going through. My daughter was not properly diagnosed and treated until she was ten months old. I know how difficult it is to live with the constant screaming and spitting and watching your child in pain.

In my opinion, your daughter needs to be seen immediately. If she is not keeping down baby food at her age, that is a problem. The same thing happened with my daughter. The more we fed her, the more she spit up. She gained only four ounces between months six and nine. We never saw a GI specialist, but she did have an upper GI study done to evaluate her anatomy. Fortunately for us, she had only reflux, and a switch from Zantac to Prilosec worked wonders for us. The Zantac took away the pain but not the spitting. The Prilosec is a stronger drug that is usually offered after others have failed. Our daughter is gaining weight like crazy (now, I'm worried that she is too chubby!), and she rarely spits up or cries with pain.

Sometimes with GERD, there is trial and error before the child is properly diagnosed and treated. Obviously, your daughter's current treatment is not working, and something needs to change. I would get recommendations for other GI specialists and see if someone else can see her sooner. Maybe if you call your doctor again and reiterate the severity of the situation, he/she can get you in with a GI specialist faster than you calling on your own. If nothing else works, I would see another pediatrician who will take you seriously. If she is not keeping food down and crying all night, this is not a "wait-and-see" situation. Good luck to you--I was once in your boat and know how hard it is.

My son too has suffered since birth with GERD. He is now 20mths old. In my opinion this has gone on long enough and I wouldn't tolerate doctors procrastinating anymore. They are with your child for a few minutes and think they see how she is 24 hrs a day. Not the case, only you know how much your daughter is suffering. So, you are her best and only advocate for her care. Demand what needs to be done if you have to. Believe me I've done it. Also, with the GI thing. If you are not able to get into the GI doctors for a while, then call around. Get online, get in the phone book, or call your insurance to find other GI doctors in your area and call them all to find the soonest appt. Then call everyday and ask if there are any cancellations. If you do that, you will see a doctor before you know it. People cancel daily and there are plenty of other doctors out there. Do what you think is best for your child. They call it practicing medicine for a reason, they don't know EVERYTHING. My son has alot of medical problems, so I deal with different doctors on a very regular basis. If you have any questions or need anything don't hesitate to ask. Good Luck. T.

My daughter has the same thing and they kept saying she would grow out of it but now she's 17 months and still has it. She is on Axid and it works ok for her but before that she was on Prevacid, but before that she was on Zantac. If you haven't tried Zantac, you might wanna ask about it. I think those are the only three. When my daughter had trouble, it was mostly when she was laying down and I would have to hold her upright and sleep. It wasn't fun but it helped. This probably isn't much help. I guess begging the GI specialist wouldn't hurt either.

I also have a daughter that suffered from reflux and was taking AXID from 2 months until 6 months of age (she is now 15 months old). It helped some, but not completely. I decided to eliminate lactose from her diet, thinking maybe that was causing some of the discomfort and projectile vomiting. Luckily for me, it helped. Sometimes their gastro intestinal tracts just aren't fully developed enough to handle the proteins in lactose until they mature past infancy, so you might want to give it a try. However, if she is taking formula, don't go soy...it is gross...just go lactose free. Same with milk products, the lactose free tastes much better than the soy products. My daughter is now 15 months old, and with the maturity of her GI tract, she takes no medication, and was gradually reintroduced to lactose products. She has no dietary limitations now and does not suffer any signs of reflux, lactose intolerance, or discomfort of any type. With all that your daughter (and you) are suffering through, it might be worth a try if you haven't already. Hope you find the answer!

What kind of formula do you give your baby? I'm wondering if she has a food allergy. Those symptoms are also the same for food allergies. My friend's baby (your issues sound almost identical!) went through this and turns out he needs to be on a very specialized formula and is allergic to peas, green beans, and wheat in general. I can give you her email address, because I'm telling you the similarities are enough the same to make me think that there is more than reflux going on. Especially at 10 mos. old.

My daughter is also 10 months and when she was about 6 weeks she was acting as if she could have acid reflux and a dr in our peditricians practice said to use Maalox. Only 1/2 teaspoon I think. 4 times a day. It seemed to help and it went away. It soothed her that is for sure. It seems like your poor little one has it bad, but that's the only thing I can think of. I hope she gets better, please let us know.

Jen

sorry to here that she is in pain! Have you tried putting her back on acid relfux meds again(if they worked). Have you tried proping up her in the crib or letting her sleep in a carseat or swing( that way she is sitting up and her stomach acid is not comming back up! You might want to do some research (if you havent already)on what time of foods affect the acid reflux and cut back on those foods!
I wish you the best of luck and hang in there!

I'm sure you feel like you are going crazy. Hang in there.
My son had a little acid reflux when he was a few months old. Dr. changed formula helped some (Isomil advanced I think).
For sleeping we had a wedge to put under the mattress, so he wasn't laying flat (My sister in law had got it I don't know where she got it) You could also roll up a towel and put under on end of the matress. The other thing I did so I could get some sleep was let him sleep in the car seat. I would strap him in and swing gently back and forth until he was asleep Then put the car seat in the crib .(make sure your matress is lowered and that you don't have a hanging mobile she can grab)Or i just left him beside my bed. I hope this help.

C.,
If it is really bad I would take your daughter to the emergency room at Children's hospital. They will get a GI specialist to see her right away. I doesn't seem right for her to only sleep for an hour at night and then be screaming. Does she sleep during the day?
My daughter had pretty bad reflux and was on Zantax until she was almost one year old. We propped her mattress up with phone books so that she wasn't laying flat and that helped. It seemed to bother her most if she was flat. We actually had her sleep in her bouncy seat inside her pack and play when she was little to keep her propped up. If your daughter still fits in her pumpkin car seat that might prop her up some too.
If you feel that it cannot wait to get in to the GI you have to be her advocate and tell them that you feel it is an emergency and she needs to be in right away.
Good luck!
K.

A couple of suggestions. My son has acid reflux, amoung other things. He was on prevacid and it worked wonders for him. After she eats, keep her sitting upright for at least 20 mins, in her high chair or hold her up, whatever it takes. Also, maybe try baby oatmeal, plain without fruit in it, if you want to put something in it to give it flavor, I would suggest mixing it with formula or a veggie, she has no idea what it is supposed totaste like so it won't be gross to her. I even had to switch to Soy formula, it is gross but it worked. And finally, try having her sleep upright, a lot of drs. will recommend elevating one side of the crib, although, a lot of people find it easier to have the child sleep in a carseat or bouncy chair. GOOD LUCK!!!!! You should see if your childs pediatrician will call the GI's office, sometimes they will squeeze in an emergency appt.

Hi C.,
I feel your pain My son who is now 12 went through the same thing. and we are now having some problems and are ped who is not the doctor who was treating him as an infent keeps telling us he is just consipated and treating the acid reflux. but back to your daughters issue do you have her materess set on an incline it will help if not just do not use a pillow actually raise the materess at one end we used wood, My son did up with not pyloric stenosis but he did have plyloric spasims but only after we saw the GI specialist did we find this out! Don't go switching doctors unless you feel like your doctor has put your child in grave danger remember that they are general practitioners and she seems to be trying to do what she knows best the Specialist is really that they deal with this all the time and know the little tricks and they truely will be able to help the only other thing is to call your peds office and see if they can call and set up an appointment for you sometimes if the office calls they will give it a higher priority. Hope my little bit helps but just know that you are not alone and good luck. Keep in touch!

It sounds like it may be time to switch doctors. There is nothing wrong with doing that, I have done it myself. To help you get some sleep, see if she will sleep in the swing or bouncy seat, sitting upright often helps. You can also try raising the head of the bed with blocks, or even a sleeping wedge designed for cribs. In the meantime, it may be worth it to get a sitter for a few hours so you can sleep!
Good luck!

I know where you are coming from. My daughter is 9-months, but when she was a baby she had the same problem. I took her to Dr. Casper and Dr. Backus. They are located in Market Ave near the Rt. 62 Alliance on ramp is. The figured it out fast and treated her. I was able to get sleep within 5 days. Try to call them and get her in. The are good at getting patients in fast.

Hope this helps.
Kathy

I feel for you. My nephew suffers from acid reflux, and my SIL was in the same situation as you. One thing she did was have him sleep in his bouncy chair-she used the Fisher-Price Baby Papasan Infant Seat. He was in this all the time(even at night)-when he wasn't being held of course. I am sorry I wish I had more info for you.
Heop this helps.
Kathy

I don't know what to tell you about the acid refulx my children seemed helped by the medication and out grew the problem very quickly.

As for sleeping at night have you tried elavating her bed a little at one end. I usually put a blanket under the mattress. I remember with my acid reflux I had during pregnancy I would have to sleep almost sitting upright!!!

Good luck
A.

Hi C.,

I am a pediatric nurse practitioner that worked at Rainbow in Cleveland in pediatric GI for several years. I absolutely would suggest you give her the maalox. The dose is 1cc four times a day....preferrably before eating. The Maalox coats the esophagus and protects it from the acid which is refluxing up from the stomach. It is absolutely safe for a 10 month old. We also suggest you keep her at a 30-45 degree angle for 1/2-1 hr following meals. It typically takes the stomach 1 hr to empty 1/2 way. So, this will allow gravity to work against the refluxing trying to decrease it while she empties her stomach. Also, as someone suggested...elevate the head of her crib to a 30-45 degree angle or have her sleep in her swing or car seat...these two will help keep her in that upright position. Trying smaller, more frequent feedings may help as well. If the stomach is full, she is more likely to reflux. If she eats 8 oz, try decreasing it to 6 and add one additional bottle.
If you are giving baby food, avoid the more acidic fruits and tomato sauces if you have her on them. This will make it worse.

Hope this helps a bit. You definitely need to see a specialist. It will be very helpful for them if you begin to keep a log while you are waiting on your appointment as to her feeds (what you fed and how much), how she responded after (crying, vomiting..and how much for how long), etc. This will give them a very good indication on how to treat her moving forward.

Good luck. It is true that most (not all) children grow out of this, but it may take to age 2-3.

M.