did your baby/child not outgrow reflux by 12 months old? what could be causing it?

Hi

I'm looking for answers. My dd is now 13 months and still has severe reflux. The doctors said she would probably grow out of it by 6 months. well she didnt.

She has been on losec since 5 weeks of age. this worries me greatly. I hate having her on such strong medication, Though without losec she screams all day in pain, won't eat, coughs her guts up (well nearly!) etc. so in that way, the losec is great, but it worries me that she has been on it longterm.

My biggest question is what is causing her reflux? it seems the losec is just hiding all her problems. the doctors are happy to put her on losec but not actually see what is causing her reflux.

my thoughts are is it a milk protein intolerance?
or something to do with her back? I know some parents take their child/baby to a chiropractor but we have been a bit apprehensive about doing so upto now.

I went to the doctor the other day to ask for advice. to see if he thinks it could be a milk protein intolerance and he basically told me that he didnt believe in reflux, and was really rude to me and kept saying 'prove it. prove it to me that she has reflux etc'
he said it wont be a milk protein intolerance as if it was she would have diarrhea. He said its all behavioural!!!! oh and its very rare for them to not outgrow it by 13months. he said theres nothing wrong with her because 'she looks so healthy, shes thriving'. what a joke of a doctor. I know she 'looks' healthy. he told me to take her off losec and she may play up and be a pain (yes 'BE a pain' not in pain) but kids are just like that, they often cry. does he want me to take her off losec, so she doesnt eat for a while then take her back when she looks sick!? :(

Well I certainly know she has reflux!!! I know my own child. its so black and white. we can see clearly when she has reflux symptoms, or if she is teething etc. (by the way it was a different doctor that put her on losec). After being rude to me, then me standing up and saying I've heard enough, he admitted he didnt know much about reflux and gave me a referal to a Pediatric gastroenterologist in perth. (which is fantastic but I have heard the wait may be 8 months!)

I am thinking of going to see a naturopath for a different perspective. and maybe even a chiropractor.

so I guess I am wanting to know your stories! I am trying to piece the puzzle together to find out what is causing dd reflux so I can take her off the medication. Please share your story, causes? treatments? unknown? or did your dd/ds outgrow?

:)

Both my boys had reflux until about a year and a half... we went though a number of different things to try and sort out all the issues but unfortunately they tended to grow past what they were taking and we'd need to try something else... When I get back to my computer I'll put on my oldest sons history with reflux to show you our story.

I also believed it had something to do with dairy but things never went down that path due to lack of support in that direction from the GP.

The biggest thing I can say and from what I learnt... Don't wish the reflux away cause you'll be just wishing away your baby days... just try and make her comfortable and take each day as it comes... lots of people are on losec so I don't see long term damage from it.

Also things like no bananas will help as they are hard to digest

Wow, I'm sorry the Dr was so rude to you :hug:. Your poor DD, it must be so hard on you all.

I am one to highly recommend seeing a paediatric chiropractor. They are VERY gentle and have lots of success treating babies with reflux. I have taken all three of my babies to our paed chiro for various reasons and he's been wonderful with them. Chiros take a natural approach and will most likely look into food intolerances, etc. too.

Good luck :hug:.

Ds is only 4 months but I can recommend going to the Chiro, he helped with the reflux he was having and through a process of elimination we worked out he had a problem with lactose. He reacted to my breast milk even when I cut out all dairy but he improved once on lactose free formula. He is finally putting on weight after losing a lot and getting our pead very worried. He is still medicated for reflux but it's much better.

Apparently it's rare but he was born with a low grade fever so it may be the reason he couldn't cope with it. It's more common to react to milk protein.

I have been told he will outgrow it by the time he is walking rather than 12 months. His sister were around 18 months when they walked do I am hoping he will be earlier.

Our paed told us that reflux is caused by immature sphincters in the stomach. They aren't as tight as they should be. There is an operation that can fix it but that is last resort.

I'm another advocate of chiro - worked wonders for our DD. But make sure to find one who specialises in babies/ children.

And definitely make that appointment for the paed hun, if she hasn't "grown out of" it by now then it may just need something else.

My DD had reflux from 7 weeks until she was around 5 months when we could take her off the losec - the chiro had a lot to do with that in my opinion.

:hug: It's really hard seeing them in pain xxxx

My DD2 had silent reflux and colic which was a nightmare. She was still on medication up till she was about 18 months old and suffered no ill effects. She did eventually out grow it and is now a normal little girl.

I went to a seminar this year where a reflux/colic specialist from the US spoke. He was brilliant and one thing he said was that 18 months is a more common age for these things to resolve. So maybe the end is still in sight for you :hug:

If it is still going after 18 months I'd consider investigating food intolerances with a specialist dietician or paediatrician (one that specialises in food intolerances). There is a great book called Colic Solved which might interest you. The guy who wrote it is the guy I heard speak earlier this year.

My DS was born with reflux, although it was only at 6 week check up that pead said, 'yep he has reflux, try mylanta and zantac'. This went on for months with little effect. He went onto solids at 4.5 months, I thought he grew out of it and did not think much of the vomiting until he started on full cream milk at 12 months and was vomiting and screaming none stop! It was a nightmare. Further investigation into his constant ear infections, the ENT (ears, nose, throat specialist) suggested he still had reflux and that it was bringing bacteria from the stomach and up into his airways and that is what caused the adenoids to become severly infected, which caused all the ear infections. They did a scope while they removed his adenoids and put grommets in as well as a circ. and they discovered sever burns and swelling with blisters all up his osophagus and up to his vocal cords. The surgeons wanted to do stomach surgery on him. Do glad we didn't. He went on Losec, although I doubt it made a huge difference. We did blood tests and skin ***** tests and they confirmed a moderate allergy to dairy, egg, nuts and dust. So we removed these foods and within 1 day he improved and has not vomited or screamed like the early days since! Not even the gastro specialist is convinced that dairy is the cause, but my husband and I are. He is on soy and although we have a battle trying to feed him, he is much happier and healthier. Dec 2009 scope showed the burns had all but healed although he does have 2 ulcers and biopsies confirmed he has CMV duodentis (sp). Further blood tests confirm his immune system is working 100% and at this stage he will get re-coped in 8 months and we are expecting everything to be ok.

long story, sorry... short story, we think if his milk allergy had been picked up earlier, we think he would have not had suffered so much pain.

I hope my story has helped you, cause I fought tooth and nail to get someone to do something for him. Dr Freelander in Sydney helped a lot and so did Dr Ian Jacobson from Randwick, after all he was the one who thought to have a good look.