Moms of babies with reflux, excessive spitting up or who are on Zantac

We're having such problems with DD spitting up all day. For the past 4-5 weeks we have been putting rice in her bottle (1tsp per 2oz) but it hasn't seemed to help. I brought her to a different doctor last week who told me that it wasn't enough rice and that I should put in 1 tablespoon per 2oz. and that we can even go up to a tablespoon per ounce! She said that we need to get the milk really thick in order to get it to stay down. I have a bit of a problem with this since I think she will be getting an awful lot of extra calories that she doesn't need. I was also advised to keep DD upright for 30-60 minutes after eating to help decrease the spitting up. The doc said that if these things don't help that we can consider giving her Zantac. Earlier this week DD was extremely cranky and uncomfortable, which the doctor said was from her refluxing, but I'm not sure if it was that or if it was because I changed her from Alimentum (1 bottle per day) to Gentlease, and also because last weekend we were out alot so she got almost all formula. I have some questions so that I can try to figure out what to do for my little baby.

Did your doctor suggest adding rice to DC's bottle to "thicken it up"? If so, how much was recommended?

If you added the rice, in what quantity, and did it actually help decrease the spitting up?

What kind of symptoms was your DC experiencing that led you to put them on Zantac?

Did the Zantac decrease the spitting up, or did it just help ease the discomfort for your baby?

Do you have any other advice or suggestions that might help me and DD?

Re: Moms of babies with reflux, excessive spitting up or who are on Zantac

Ava has been on Zantac since she was two weeks old. She was spitting up A LOT, but that's not what made the dr. put her on Zantac. She was arching her back during feedings, crying when she was laying down and just showing signs of being extremely uncomfortable, so the dr. prescribed a low dose of Zantac. It does NOT cut down on spitting up. It is used to neutralize the stomache acids so that when they do reflux, it does not burn the esophogus as much. We were never advised to put rice cereal in her bottles, but I am assuming that's because she had no issues with weight gain. Infact, the dr. said that the spitting up is not a problem as long as the baby is gaining the proper amount of weight. Ava spits up A LOT. I mean like gargantuan amounts. However, she is still gaining weight, so we're not worrying about it as much. I would do some research on GER and see if she fits the DD fits the description of those symptoms. It sounds to me like reflux, and if she is uncomfortable, then Zantac would probably be the best bet. HTH

Re: Moms of babies with reflux, excessive spitting up or who are on Zantac

Christopher is 7 weeks old, and was just put on Zantac a few days ago...and already there is a difference in terms of his discomfort. He no longer brings his knees into his chest and cries from pains. He still spits up, but no longer vomits.

Re: Moms of babies with reflux, excessive spitting up or who are on Zantac

Sydney was diagnosed with reflux at 2 weeks. We were advised to thicken the feeds with rice cereal. For the most part she was taking 4 oz of formula with 1 oz of rice. The doctor told me the rice cereal has very little calories so it shouldnt cause babies to gain weight just from that. She was on axid for a while. We stopped it around 5 months. Now she is 8 months old and the spitting up is much less and she is taking 5 ozs of formula with just a sprinkle of rice cereal in it.
If I didnt answer all your questions or you have more please ask.

Re: Moms of babies with reflux, excessive spitting up or who are on Zantac

My DS is 11 mos old and was JUST weaned from the Zantac which he started @ 6 weeks. My dr NEVER recommended the rice in the bottle - actually told me NOT to do it at all. You'll notice all dr's have different theories. Joseph wasn't spitting up but he was gagging on regurgitation and actually choking on it. He was also showing discomfort during nursing (the arching and sometimes crying) which lead the dr to diagnose AR. At 3mos I started oatmeal on a spoon and he never had a problem with it. At about 7mos old I started supplementing BM with formula (gentlease) and he did great on it. At 11 mos he is done BF'ing and strictly on gentlease and off the zantac and seems perfectly fine. I was SO against the zantac only because - hey - who WANTS their brand new baby on medication - but it worked and made him much happier. Good luck!

Re: Moms of babies with reflux, excessive spitting up or who are on Zantac

Did your doctor suggest adding rice to DC's bottle to "thicken it up"? If so, how much was recommended?

We did this and used 1 tsp for 2 oz, as per the ped. It did help at that quantity.

What kind of symptoms was your DC experiencing that led you to put them on Zantac?

Crying while eating, arching her back while eating, constant spitting up, we were unable to lay her down with out her choking and gagging.

Did the Zantac decrease the spitting up, or did it just help ease the discomfort for your baby?

Mostly just the discomfort, although the spitup decreased a little. I was really only concerned about the discomfort, although the spitting up was gross.

Do you have any other advice or suggestions that might help me and DD?

Everbody told us to try lactose free formula, but the ped said don't bother because it wouldn't help. Eventually we tried it and it helped the spitting up A LOT!

Re: Moms of babies with reflux, excessive spitting up or who are on Zantac

Hannah has silent reflux-she doesnt spit up that often. ped put her on axid at 8 weeks, although she should have had it at 4, but thats a whole different story. the axid has helped, however, we have done alot of research on reflux and have found that previcid and prilosec are better options. now its just a matter of getting our ped to agree to a med change. we are seeing a gi @ schneiders on weds.

the ped has not recommended thickening her formula. she is on elecare, which is an elemental formula (and very expensive!)

hannah arches her back, rolls her eyes into her head alot, streches her arms out, has a constant stuffy nose, coughs and chokes alot and has the hiccups everyday sometimes 4x a day or more. she is fussy at feedings.

Re: Moms of babies with reflux, excessive spitting up or who are on Zantac

She sounds just like Steven! He has been on Zantac since he was 2 weeks old. We tried rice for awhile but it didn't make any difference. He went through 6 formulas until we ended up with Neocate. It made such a difference. He was a whole new child with it. The constant screaming, arching the back, kicking the legs all stopped. However the spitting up didn't stop until about 6 months. DH and I had spit up clothes that we would wear when we fed him. The puddles of spit up were all over the floor. Had the glider in the middle of the living room because we couldn't feed him in his room because his rug would have been destroyed!!!! If youy want to know anything else just FM me.