Silly question - baby vomit?

[mrscricket]

This may sound strange but not sure as a 1st time mum. Do all babies vomit or just ones with reflux? I thought it was a normal baby thing but none of the bubs at mums group etc seem to throw up, whereas DS vomits alot, even a long time after his feed. He has been diagnosed with reflux and is on Losec but up until recently he never actually threw up alot, just brought it up in his throat and either swallowed it or gagged on it.. Now i am changing clothes regularly and never leaving the house without tissues and bibs. He is both BF and supplement fed on Karicare formula and Infant Gaviscon. I tried the Karicare reflux formula and the NAN but he refused both of them (i was using bigger teats etc, i just dont think he liked the taste). I am beginning to worry that most of his milk isnt reaching his stomach, (although he seems to be gaining weight) and i feel that i may never be able to wear dark clothing again..

[Trillian]

Yes! I have always had babies that tended to vomit and yesterday I asked if this was a sign of reflux and all these years I'd ignored it, but it is possible to have a baby who does vomit without having reflux. He will still be retaining sufficient milk to gain weight, so don't worry about that unless he is bringing up a lot of milk after each feed kwim?

[scarlet121]

Actually every time a child vomits it is reflux. The reason that the vomit comes up is that the lower esophegeal sphincter is weak, and allows the food to go both up and down.

It is estimated that up to 75% of babies get some type of reflux. That being said not all (or many in fact) need to have any special treatment or medications.

If your baby spits up but is not in pain, it is nothing to worry about, and generally as time goes on the sphincter strengthens and so the vomiting will stop. If you notice pain, or food refusal, arching back, unexplained crying then maybe you should see a doctor.

But in your case if your baby is still gaining weight, and is doing well on the meds in terms of pain, then there is no cause for alarm. What comes up has a lot of digestive acids in it and it thickens it so what you see is not all formula. Weight is a really good thing to go by, because if the health nurse is satisfied he is staying on his weight curve, then that is a really good thing.

I hope that things settle down soon for you guys!

[Liz]

DS was a chucker after feeds hehe. But there was no distress with it.. apart from me needing to do so much washing! So we never had it looked into. I used to call it overflow more than anything.. occassionally I would swear he chucked up everything he just drank.. but he'd still sleep afterwards, and gain plenty of weight.. so it wasn't a problem.

[Michaels Mum]

mrsdaisy - omg - here i was think the same as you and that i must just but an over worried 1st time mum - my son michael seems to be doing the same as your ds - but having read these postings i am much more at ease and far less stressed - there are some days i think my ds should be an extra for the Exersist the way he throws up - at fisrt i thought it was because he was drinking all of his bottle just after i had increased the amount and he just didn't know when to say stop - i tried the AF S26 formula but it only SLIGHTLY decreased the amount he was bringing up - that and because of the thickened formula we had battles at feeding time because it wasn't flowing as fast for him - a friend said it was a little unusual for him to be throwing up so much and told me to see a dr but other then the throwing up he seems a very happy, quiet and satisfied little man - i feel much better now that i've read this thread - and besides we have a lifetime of worry ahead of us isn't it good that we now have one less thing to worry about

[Jayney]

Both my daughters were very pukey! I was forever changing outfits for them and me. It didn't seem to bother them and they gained weight quickly so we just left them to sort things out. They did outgrow it In fact I remember the first time they burped and they didn't puke. What a great day! They were both over 6 months.

The one thing it did affect was...I didn't put them on their tummies for play time as they only puked more. They never really did that rolling over thing and didn't crawl in a normal way. They did a scooting thing instead. They are both normal girls now so don't worry.

[Feathertop]

I call our bubs the 'fountain baby', as he's just like a fountain in bringing up milk, even hours after a feed! He's a happy (bf) refluxer at least so I don't worry about the clothes etc. I don't change him every time he vomits as I'd change his outfit 10 times an hour sometimes, just keep wiping him off and change when he gets too wet or icky. I tend to change clothes at least once per day if I'm not fast enough with the old nappy on the lap when feeding!!!

[JoMarie]

My bub has reflux as well, and he is only just getting a bit better now that he is sitting up by himself. He has been on Losec since he was 6 weeks old, but it doesn't make them vomit less. The only thing that I found to help with the vomiting was a formula from a local chemist (see Caro's thread). This helped quite a bit. And I am sorry, but you are just going to have to get used to being covered in vomit until you get the hang of making sure the nappy is in the right place at the right time!! ( a skill I am yet to master!!). It does get better, so try not to let it get you down.