Hello out there...I am new to the forum, so allow me to introduce myself. My 4 month old BBG were born at 32 weeks 5 days and spent 1-2 weeks in NICU. Thankfully, none had any major issues besides weight gain. I am blessed with beautiful healthy babies, and have truly enjoyed being a mother of multiples. However, one issue continues to bite me in the you-know-what. Feeding. My two smaller babies (12-13 lbs) have been on Prevacid for about a month or so, and it has really seemed to help their reflux...they were projectile vomiting entire feeds and that has seemed to stop. My larger one (about 15 lbs)does not have reflux, and has a pretty hearty appetite. I don't worry about him too much. Until about two months ago, the other two were very good eaters as well, with the exception of spitting up. Recently feedings have been a major issue of stress for me. They take anywhere from 3.5-7 oz per feed, and their totals are anywhere from 18-26 oz for the day. They are all on Neosure. Every day is different, some better than others. On bad days, I dread feedings. I feed two, then one, since I am on my own during the day. My little girl will squirm, turn her head, gag, spit out the bottle, and refuse to eat after about 3 oz. Other times, she will suck down 6-7 oz without a hitch. My other son will also do this occasionally, although not as often as her. We give her Mylicon, thinking it may be gas, but it does not seem to help. She is still spitting up at every feed. I have spoken with my doctor about it, and her only suggestion besides the Prevacid was to try a soy based formula. I know I am not the only one with feeding issues out there, and I also know it could be worse, but I can not stop worrying about it. I am so terrified that they will not eat enough to grow, or that there is something seriously wrong with them. Please help me, I would love to hear any other experiences out there. I have this dreading fear of these issues carrying over to solids in a few months.

We had some issues while still on the Neosure. It started getting harder and harder to get them to eat it, bad gas, and so on. I talked to my pediatrician and we switched to Enfamil AR. It worked great for us, the spit up was much less (mine had reflux as well), and they were gobbling it up. Currently they are still on the AR without any issues. It might be something to consider and talk about.
I have never tried a soy based formula (and one was never suggested to us) so I can't really say anything on that part.
Hope this helps a little.

www.thetripletlife.com

http://www.zazzle.com/the_triplet_life


""

Thanks so much for sharing...I was going to ask about switching formula at their four month visit. I will mention the Enfamil AR. I loved Neosure for a while because they grew like weeds, but now I see it causing so many problems.

we had many similar issues. Mine are now almost 16 months and only one still takes Prevacid and probably wont need it much longer. When they were little we did the mylicon thing at every feeding and they would fuss and refuse bottles sometimes and suck them down sometimes. There's no rhyme or reason to it. And like you, I was about to go crazy on the bad days. I wish I could tell you what we did to make it better, but I think we just got through it and as they grew it got easier. My girls have never been big milk/formula drinkers and we barely get 16 ounces a day now for them. But, they are maintaing their growth on the charts (one is ~2%, one is ~5%, and one is ~20% not adjusted). I remember they were on Neosure and on a higher calorie recipe (22-24 cal/oz) until they were close to a year adjusted then we went to whole milk. My littlest one was only 17 pounds 12 ounces at her 15 month appointment but she's healthy and smart so I'm trying not to worry anymore. Oh, and my girls LOVE their solids. From the beginning they loved sitting up and the solid foods stay down better than liquids so their reflux is a little better with solids. Tonight they chose to eat peas over chocolate chip cookies, but just for a little while It will get better.

Brenda
mom to GGGs born 6/29/09 at 32w4d

one thought, is the prevacid dosing high enough? we were on 15 mg a day which I split to be 7.5 morning and 7.5 afternoon. They take the solutabs now. I can't remember when they switched from liquid to tablet.

Brenda
mom to GGGs born 6/29/09 at 32w4d

They are on 7.5 daily...I will ask the doctor if they need to go up to 15. I was wondering if it could be acting as an appetite suppressant? Mine are on the solutabs...I hate them because at least once a week they gag and spit it up. So much fun fishing it out of the puke to put back in.

I was also going to suggest increasing the dose. You might also try a different medication altogether. Each one works a little differently and maybe another one would work better. My two with reflux started on Zantac and ended up on Prilosec. They also would have some small feeds and some where they ate tons. I always thought the small amounts were because they were hurting from the reflux and the big ones were because they either weren't hurting as much or because they were so hungry they just powered through to drain the bottle.

We had a horrible time with DD and her reflux. We switched bottles, sometimes using more than one kind in a single feeding, switched her position, everything we could think of. It was awful. DH and I took turns feeding her because it was so stressful. We had some soy formula from a sample or something and decided to try that. Our pedi said that unless there's a medical need for it, like lactose intolerance or an allergy, they really shouldn't take soy formula because it can be constipating.

Mom to GBG born in July 2009 at 30w6d: 3#10oz, 3#12oz, 3#2oz

Thanks Brenda...it really does help to know I'm not the only one, and that it does get better. Just knowing that others have had the same issues reassures me. Too funny about choosing peas over cookies!

I was only fortifying breast milk with formula powder. Even with the teaspoon of powder mixed into several ounces of milk, my kids could not handle Neosure. They did what you described and both were gassy, screaming messes. One ended up on Enfacare (the Enfamil equivalent of Neosure) and the other was on Gentlease (Enfamil for sensitive tummies). For him I had a recipe to add extra formula to increase the calories. Once we switched formulas only one needed medicine for reflux.

For the solutabs I never had any luck giving it to my son in one piece because he would just spit it out right away. I used to dissolve it in a syringe of 5 ml of milk/formula and give it like tylenol.

Allison

Mom to:
Madeline 09/2001
Jack, Evan & ^Alex^ 03/02/2008 @ 26 weeks

I was only fortifying breast milk with formula powder. Even with the teaspoon of powder mixed into several ounces of milk, my kids could not handle Neosure. They did what you described and both were gassy, screaming messes. One ended up on Enfacare (the Enfamil equivalent of Neosure) and the other was on Gentlease (Enfamil for sensitive tummies). For him I had a recipe to add extra formula to increase the calories. Once we switched formulas only one needed medicine for reflux.

For the solutabs I never had any luck giving it to my son in one piece because he would just spit it out right away. I used to dissolve it in a syringe of 5 ml of milk/formula and give it like tylenol.

Allison

Mom to:
Madeline 09/2001
Jack, Evan & ^Alex^ 03/02/2008 @ 26 weeks

Hi there --

I have GGG born around the same time. They are now 4 months corrected. My third born has consistently had the most problems feeding - particularly, not being able to finish her bottles. When she came home, her feeding issues continued. We did not have her on any reflux meds as we did not feel that she had esophagitis however, she is offered a higher calorie milk (EBM fortified with Neosure to a calorie count of 27). She did however display many of the behaviours that you described: not able to complete a bottle, crying, wiggling, inconsolable, spitting up, tonguing the nipple. Initially, I believe that she was just incapable of finishing large volumes (she was given 70mls every 3 hours and finishing maybe 40-50 mls). Her weight has been in line with the other two though. What we found now is that her behaviours are really more socially related than pain related - she did not seem to be arching, if we worked with her she could sometimes finish a bottle (other times not). We believed that she would not finish because she was too interested in seeing something else. We found the following helpful: Feeding her alone, cradling her rather than side-lying so that she could see our face, talking to her, giving her lots of time. We often found that she would cry after about 30mls but if we worked with her (burp, change position, wait for her to settle) we could often get her to take the rest.

I'm happy to say that she seems to be doing much better with some of the strategies -- she can now take 100 - 120 mls every 4 hours without fuss and muss and rarely leaves any behind. I've heard similar suggestions regarding the Neosure - we ended up staying with it and so far things are settling down (knock wood).

Hope that helps a bit -

Good luck.
Janet
G - 12/07
GGG 04/10

Thanks for your insight Janet...we are starting to suspect it is more of her personality-she tends to be a diva! The Dr. suggested upping her Prevacid, and we cradle/walk with her while we feed her the last bit and it seems to help. We also decided to stick with the Neosure for now. She's had a great past couple feeds, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

your post reminded me that with one of our girls we would have to walk and on bad days we'd spin in circles while we fed her to get her to take her bottle! this too shall pass!

Brenda
mom to GGGs born 6/29/09 at 32w4d

Wow, I really need to start checking this section more haha!

So feeding problems... My little Mati has had some major feeding problems since she was about 4 months old and we ended up having to have a feeding tube surgically placed as well as a nissen fundoplication because of the feeding problems and it started out kind of the way that you are describing.

When you give them prevacid what time of day are you giving it to them? Prevacid is best given on an very empty stomach, so first thing in the morning and giving it 15 to 30 minutes to start working, before you feed them.

Soy based formula may not help unless she has a true milk protein allergy which is actually not common. A formula with broken down milk proteins (hypoallergenic) would probably be the best option and most nutritionally complete option if you are going to try a formula change. Our trips were on alimentum from the time they were about 4 months old because of the same problem. There is also nutramigen which is basically the same thing. They cost a bit more, but if it helps it would be worth it. The theory behind these formulas working better for reflux babies is that they are broken down and digested faster than traditional or soy formulas and the faster they are digested the less time there is to spit up and reflux.


If she is growing, just not eating a lot, that is a different story than ALL of this. Some babies just dont need as much as the others. None of my 4 kids ever took much formula, even when they were souly formula, but they grew and are all thriving.

Shely~ Mom to 1+bbg