Hellobee Boards

We had to use Zantac starting at 2 months (first 2 months were hell but because he was nursing well and gaining weight well pedi didn't believe me for awhile). DS wouldn't take the Zantac so a week later we switched to Prevacid which helped.

If you are interested in trying it the Baltic amber teething necklaces are supposed to also help with reflux. For a newborn you can put them on the ankle and cover with a sock to keep warm. This is what we did with DS in addition to the meds and we really noticed a difference when he wasn't wearing the necklace.

@Pepper: I halfheartedly cut dairy and saw no difference - once I cut 100% of all dairy, he never had the sour smelling refluxy spitup or woke up from it. I basically only ate chicken, quinoa, fruits, and vegetables for a week and then tried one food at a time. The day I ate something with butter in it, he had the reaction again. Soy never bothered him - and once he was 6 months dairy was okay again.

I hated to use Zantac too, but it was the ticket we needed to get him comfortable and gaining weight again. He still doesn't sleep but at least he's not fussing due to pain and spitting up.

@Pepper: Dropping dairy was in all of the websites I googled for reflux. We did zantac for 2 weeks, then prilosec for 5 months. We would just give it to him in a dropper and then breastfeed.

@Pepper: When the body heats the amber it releases succinic acid through the skin into the bloodstream which is supposed to help teething pain, reflux, inflammation etc. We were skeptical at first but after DS had it off for a few days we noticed a huge difference! We kept it on his ankle under a sock though because we weren't comfortable with it around his neck where it's traditionally worn.

As mentioned by pp I had to eliminate (many many) foods from my diet. I started out with a dairy, soy, egg and peanut elimination, then the rest of the top 8 + gluten and then switched to a total elimination diet which was down to 3 foods and after a year only up to 15, with no meat.

The diet, meds, amber necklace, and baby wearing saved our lives. DS needed to be helped, nursed and completely vertical much of the past 2 years. Nursing in the side lying position really helped since he was back archer and was just more comfortable for everyone.

We didn't have any success with zantac so we were referred to a pediatric GI who put her on prilosec. The prilosec was a huge help. She was on it from probably 4-8 months. She's fine without it now. She had MSPI as well as reflux. Hope your LO is more comfortable soon!

@Pepper: I forgot to say, I also found that chocolate aggravated reflux in him. I'm not sure if it was the milk in the chocolate, the chocolate, or the caffeine in the chocolate. Anyways, it's worth a shot! I had a niece who was on Zantac for reflux and know that it helped a lot, but it was also stressful to keep messing with the dosage as her weight shifted, etc. So I figured I'd try diet changes first. Hope you get some relief for your baby soon!

@Pepper: Have you thought about taking your LO to an osteopath or chiropractor to see if that would make a difference?

I know some babies can have trouble due to the forces that labour and delivery can exert on their wee bodies and a session with an osteo or chiro can help to stretch or work out any kinks or tight areas etc. My wee girl really benefited from the three sessions she had with an osteo and her gas issues really improved. She was also quite a ragey baby in the first few weeks and really mellowed out!