Pediatric allergist for infant with reflux

amother

Wed, Feb 06 2013, 11:23 pm

Here's my story. Hope it helps you.

My little one would cry and cry for a couple hours after nursing while I tried to coax a burp. I had others with dairy/soy issues as seen via blood in their poop. With this little one I noticed this within the first two week and cut out all dairy and soy - no goats milk or any other either. (And it can take several weeks to eat it all out of your system) Even soy lecithin. Blood was gone. But baby was still miserable every evening. Also would spit up more than my others. He had mild eczema but it was easily controlled with aquaphor and occasional mild hydrocortisone. No dramatic skin involvement.

At first he had no problem gaining weight. Then he started pulling off after only a minute or so nursing and crying. Tried to burp and nurse more but every evening was a struggle. Middle of the night was ok, am was ok. But he never comfort nursed - always only for a few minutes and done. Except in evening when he would pull off quickly. I've nursed all my kids past a year and I knew something was wrong!

I talked to a lactation consultant on the phone for an hour. Went to see her. No problem with latch or anything. We decided most likely had reflux. I did not want to admit this as I always thought people just said fussy babies had reflux.

This was at 5 months. He was sad and in pain every night for 5 months. I would do everything I could do burp him. Surprisingly he slept ok once I got him past those hours. But between months four and five (I think it was a 5 week stretch) he only gained 5 ounces instead of the 16 I was used too.

My doctor agreed to try meds. Zantac worked a little - right away he stopped screaming a minute after latching on in the evening, but he still only nursed briefly. We upped the Zantac and added mylanta and suddenly I had a happy baby.

My kids all grew out of the dairy/soy thing and I trailed him on dairy around a year + and he was ok. I nursed him until 18 months, on meds until close to the end. But for him it was always just nurse as quickly as he could and be done. Like I said, no comfort.

And then...

Look, hindsight is 20/20 and all that.

But several months later he had an anaphylactic reaction to something he ate. We found out he is allergic to peanuts and sesame. And what did I eat basically every day for lunch while nursing since I could not eat dairy??? Peanut butter and jelly. I have NO proof that those 5 months before we started meds were miserable because of his current allergies. However, I strongly believe he was having a reaction to the food I was eating at lunch - the reaction was coming daily about 4 hours after I ate. And reflux can be an allergy reaction (though when he ingests the foods himself his reaction is much more severe).

I don't dwell, but when I think that I caused him pain I feel so sad. I ate peanuts as a substitute for cheese because I had no allergies in the family and ate them while nursing my other dairy/soy intolerant kids.

So what is the point of my story? Treat the reflux, make your baby feel better and hopefully nursing will smooth out. Then try to pinpoint a cause. Many times its just an immature digestive system. However, allergies can certainly play a role. Also, many kids who have dairy allergies cannot handle any animal dairy - ie the goat cheese.

Good luck and let us know what happens.