specialist did nothing other than thicken bm with rice cereal...help

[DaniMoose]

Ugh so dd had her appointment with a Gastroenterologist and omg he pissed me off! he didn't say anything we didn't know already and then had the nerve to say it was 'colic' too!

She's been on ranitidine since around a month old and the only suggestion he made extra was to add rice cereal to her milk (tablespoon per oz at that!!) and to let her grow out of it! if i had spent 11 years on becoming a specialist in an area, i'd know a damn sight more than this doc does....how hard is it to find an acid reducer that is safe for babies?!

so, the last 2 days we have tried the rice cereal but at a teaspoon per oz as i am worried that it'll bulk her out too much and then need significantly more milk when we come off it, as she is on 3/4oz breastmilk

so far, pukings haven't changed, still having reflux but has slept through the night! as nice as that is, i'd rather wake in the night knowing she doesn't reflux anymore

i'm at the end of my tether with everything with no further insight into it, especially as i have also been dairy/soy free this last month, which ain't the easiest thing in the world to do.

I know she will grow out of it eventually, but i just want to help the poor thing

Any suggestions?

 

[Elemnop]

Have you already ruled out milk protein allergy? If you BF, have you tried the elimination diet? Just curious as my LO went through the ringer with meds, reflux, choking, etc. and in the end it was an allergy and once diagnosed and treated properly, all symptoms are now gone.

Good Luck.

 

[DaniMoose]

yeah, i was thinking it may be milk proteins thats why i have been dairy free this last month before the appt so they could at least give me then next step or something...i think there has been an improvement but she is still having episodes of reflux and i have also eliminated food like tomatoes, vinegars etc that can make it worse too

 

[Wugz22]

Stalking, our doctor recommends the same thing.

 

[britt1986]

There are only so many medicines that are safe for infants with reflux. Once they have been exhausted, the only other thing is to thicken the milk. Last resort would be to have a test like an upper GI to see how bad the reflux really is. If it's really bad then there is a surgery that can be performed that sews the flap in the esophagus shut. Other than that, babies will grow out of it. My DS had is pretty bad, but I couldn't see putting such a young baby under anesthesia. He finally grew out of it around 10 months when the flap matured. DD also has it. She isn't on medicine yet because the doctor told me the same. To thicken her milk, which he also switched her to soy formula. (Couldn't breastfeed). It works a little, but will going back and talk to her doctor at her 4 month check up.

 

[Girly922]

This might sound like a strange one but have you tried eliminating gluten from your diet? There's a lot of gluten sensitives in my family and as well as cutting dairy from my diet, I've cut a lot of gluten out too (I seem to struggle to cut it out completely as its in so much that sometimes you don't check until it's too late) and that seems to have reduced DD's reflux although it's still bad on occasion.

 

[kirstybumx3]

Can you not ask for an actual thickener for the bm (we used carobel) rather than rice cereal if it's the extra calories you are concerned about. I guess that much rice cereal would sit very heavy on her little tummy? x

 

[DaniMoose]

true i suppose it is the only thing left but i don't see the milk thickening in bm! but as i said i am worried that a tablespoon would be too much per oz...is it?

i suppose gluten may be the next elimination, its hard enough on dairy but gluten is worse!

 

[Girly922]

Gluten is soo difficult to cut out, I never realised it was in things like whippy ice cream until last week!

 

[kirstybumx3]

It does seem a lot. We had to use three scoops of carobel to a bottle of 6oz. But carobel is made for thickening fluids, so obviously a lot less is used. I don't have any experience using rice cereal sorry. Can you ask for another opinion?

It is definitely worth trying a gluten free diet for a while. These intolerances are very common.

 

[DaniMoose]

does carob/carobel have vitamin qualities like rice cereal too? it probably doesn't matter so much as it'll be in bm...does it thicken well?