Ger's

Hi! Most infants outgrow reflux around age 2, but some people never outgrow it. It is very common for preemies to have life-long GERD issues. My former preemie is almost 5 and still has GERD. Feeding was a nightmare for the first 3 years and at almost 5 it is still not easy, but getting better. You can pm me if you would like more details.

Have you asked a pediatrician if she can be given Tagamet or any other suitable medication to help with the reflux (Gastro Esophageal Reflux Disease - GERD). A pharmacist at Longs can show you a liquid that is used for gas - that can sometimes push the food and acid up. Also, there is a powder that can be used to thicken the formula. But talk to your pediatrician first. Keep calling him or her if the problem does not go away. There are also many websites on Google where you can get more information. Type in: GERD in infants

Yes, babies outgrow the problem. It is quite common. It takes some time until babies gastro intestinal systems become organized. They did not need it while they were still in the womb. My grandson had it and it took several weeks and experiments with medication and thickener and schedule changes.

Keep her upright after her feeding for 30 minutes so the food and the stomach acid won't run back into the esophagus. Do you have a baby swing or anything where she can sleep safely on her back so her head is higher than her feet?
Good luck

I., a retired nurse and grandmother

Hi E.,
My son is almost three months old and was diagnosed with GERD at one week. It's usually not diagnosed that early, but my husbands family has a history of the disease and so we were able to catch the problem quickly. Ask your doctor about getting it diagnosed if it hasn't been already. They may have to do an upper GI which requires your little one to drink a bottle with barium in it while they take x-rays. Once that is done, ask your doctor what medication would be best.
My little guy has been on Prevacid for about two months now and is just barely starting to show the effects of the medicine. He lost more than a pound in his first month, but has gained it back plus almost three more since then. It has made all the difference in his feeding and the screaming from the acid. We're actually able to allow him to feed on demand now.
I'm told by my son's gastroenterologist that most babies outgrow GERD by age 1 or 2 at the latest. But, if it's in the family history like it is for our little one, they can't be guaranteed to ever grow out of it. Just be thankful that it was diagnosed at a young age before it could do major damage. My husband wasn't diagnosed until he was in his 20s and by then it had already caused him to have an ulcer and there is permanent damage to his esophagus.
We keep our little one upright for at least 20 minutes after he eats and burp him often during feeding. Also, it may sound counterproductive, but we found that holding him so he's laying on his right side helps. The dr. said that it makes the food and acid fall into the bigger part of his stomach and makes it harder for it to come up his throat. For my boy, having something to suck on (pacifier) helps immediately after eating. I hope this helps you out, believe me it does get easier!

I assume GER is the same as GERD. No, this isn't outgrown. I'm 38 and I think I would have outgrown it by now.

There is medication. The reason for more often feedings is so the stomach won't get too full. If it does, it usually comes back up. We see it as barf. These people also get a lot of heartburn.

GERD maybe? if so my little girl had it. She constantly spit up until she was seven months old. We had her on Prevacid, which did helped a lot, but we had to give her the medication 1/2 hour before her morning feeding and her night feeding. She was undiagnosed until she was three months old. She had to have an upper GI, which was horrible. She had to fast for four hours, she was used to eating every two. I had to feed her small feedings every two hours and that went on even after she was off the medication at seven months. I think I was still up with her every two hours until she was nine months old. It does get better. I just chalked it up to, this won't last forever and I really enjoy spending the time with my baby, even though I also had a full time job!! My baby started getting better as we started feeding her more solids, but I did wait until she was seven months becasue she had a hard time keeping down even the cereal... I hope this helps.

I have had two kids with GERD. My first son was on tagament which didn't help with the constant spitting up. He was a miserable little thing and being young and dumb I stopped giving him the medication thinking it wasn't helping and as a side effect of the spitting up it ate the enamel off his baby teeth. My daughter was on baby zantac for the acid but also it does not help with the spitting up. She was the most miserable baby ever. She nursed constantly and cried alot. They both outgrew this right around a year old. They sell pillows that are at a slant for babies with GERD. When they are in pain and crying nonstop bouncing them helps. Those big excercise balls are great for mom or dad to bounce on while holding baby. I also used a maya wrap since I was pretty much constantly holding and walking and bouncing mine. Its very frustrating as a parent and I can only say hang in there. If you have ever had acid reflux you would totally understand the pain they can be in.

Hi E.. Our three year old daughter had GERD from about three to six months of age. For approximately six weeks she went undiagnosed by her pediatrician and we were told by him that she had colic (which is a common mistake I am finding). Once we discovered what it actually was (she had nine of the ten common symptoms of GERD) she was put on a prescription of Zantac which was a total miracle! Prior to that, during those six weeks, she would start SCREAMING and arching her back from about 5:00-6:00pm for several hours. It was like clock work every night. We truly dreaded the sun going down at night. With GERD it is good to keep the baby propped up after feedings. A bouncer is great for this. We are finding that our second baby (she is now six months old) slept so well in her bouncer for months. Thankfully she doesn't have GERD but we took extra precautions this time around. During those six awful weeks we had to drive her around to get her to sleep or place her in her carseat on the dryer while it ran (of course you need to stay right there with her the entire time) or walk her around in her carseat for a very long while. She had projectile vomitting which was just awful. Let's just say we shed many tears right along with her (it was so sad and very frustrating). If a bottle is warmed too much, that can cause vomitting also. I now prefer our second baby's bottles to be more on the cooler side than too warm. You may want to talk to your pediatrician about Zantac but I know that some doctors are very anti-medication for a child that age but I've got to tell you, once our daughter started taking that, the VERY same night she stopped the crying and arching. She was so much more comfortable and happy, as were we! :-) We were told by six months, babies should grow out of the GERD which is what happened for us. I hope this helps you. I pray you are able to adopt soon. Many blessings to you and your family.

My son who is now 12 suffered from the samething as an infant. I changed his formula to the soy kind ( pro soybee) and that seemed to be easier on his stomach. The problem is that the pyloric sphincter (stomach muscle) is not developed fully and just needs sometime to do so. Try making sure the baby sits up after feedings and also try to thicken the formula with cereal and that will help keep it down also.Just try a teaspoon or so to see how the baby handles it then increase it as necessary, because he/she is hungrier also because everything's coming up. Good luck...