Conference moira::parenting

My son had reflux, among other things, and was on Pregestimil with added
rice for weight.  We started him on fruits and solids when he was around
8 months old, but as I recall, we just did cereal for about a couple of
weeks and then moved on to fruits and vegetables. It's possible that your
daughter is just not ready for fruits yet, so maybe waiting a while and
trying again will work better for her.  I know that that has worked
for other people.  In our case, we were lucky that once he outgrew the
reflux (which was before we started moving on to the solids), he did
fine with digesting anything we fed him.  I wonder if there's a connection
between still having the reflux and not taking to the fruits?  Maybe
waiting til she outgrows the reflux will be all she needs.  

I agree with the Doctor ... likely that there is nothing wrong ...
just that the baby's sytem is not ready for fruits ... particularly
the higher acid fruits.  The usual one to start with is banana, and
then just a little bit at a time ... a spoon or two ... as a part
of a regular meal of say rice pablum.  We used to mix new fruits with
cereal when we introduced them.

There is nothing wrong with a limited diet ... you may want to add
vitamin drops if the doctor thinks it's worthwhile.

Note too that some drops, like some types of iron can actually interfere
with digesting things like fruits.

Don't worry yet ...

Stuart

    	It might also be age related, Spencer spit up on everything and
    everybody (to the point that visitors did not want to hold him and we
    could NEVER travel without spitup clothes) until about 8 months of age.

    	About that time, we just sort of realized that Spencer wasn't
    spitting up so much and then over the next few months he eventually
    stopped. 

    	We are currently waiting for another age related break through for
    Griffin who is following in his brother's trail and pukes on everything
    (including my sweater this morning - sigh).

    				Wendy

    Oh Mark, my heart goes out to you and your family.
    
    We went through reflux when my daughter was only
    ten weeks old. She was tested for acid levels for
    24 hours.  Once it was determined that sufficient
    amounts of acid was coming back up she was put on
    Reglan and the apnea/heart monitor. It worked and
    she was eventually removed from the monitor at 
    about six months.
    
    What I don't understand is why Reid can't be tested 
    now. The tests probably can't determine whether or
    not he'll have long-term (ie. beyond 6 months) reflux
    but at least you can begin the best medication now
    and maybe keep the serious stuff from happening.
    
    Did the doctors tell you why a child experiences
    heart arythmias with reflux?  We were told that the
    acid (which *is* quite strong in some cases) hits
    a cardiac nerve on its way up the esophagus, affecting
    the heart beat.
    
    Good luck.
    Jodi-

    My son is 8 months old and getting better and better with his reflux
    problem, tks God. As to fruits, the ones that caused problems
    aggravating his reflux problem were the higher acid ones.
    
    Now he is starting to have orange juice. Vitamin C was also given to
    him in very small doses.
    
    Lucia
    

Jodi,

Thanks for the note and your concern. Glad to hear your daughter
did outgrow it.

We have been delaying testing Reid for two reasons; foremost, his
problem/symptoms are no where near as severe as Christopher's.
We are still trying to figure out whether this is just normal
baby spitup and we are being paranoid or if he has a problem
(it does seem to be getting better). Also, with all that has
been going on with Chris, Lyn didn't want to deal with the
testing until after the holidays. Since it isn't critical, I
agree.

As far as the heart arythmia, this is the first I have heard
about reflux and a heart arythmia being related. Interesting.
We will discuss it with the doctors next time we are together,
more for interest than anything else. In Chris' case, I believe
they are unrelated.

As soon as Chris was born, his heart rate shot up to 300 beats/min.
That was an interesting 2 hours after delivery until massive 
amounts of digoxin brought it under control.

He has a condition refered to as "tachacardia mumble mumble".
The theory is that he has some extra nerve circuits in his heart
that cause two beats for every signal (a normal newborns heart
rate is ~ 150 beats/min.) Relatively, this is not that uncommon
(about 1% of births). A place like Children's see's these cases
all the time. And, in about 90% of the cases, the child outgrows
the condition in the first year as the heart/nerves mature.

Guess which percentile Chris ended up in? )-:

He went through a series of stress tests when he was two. They 
simulate increasing adrenalin (sp?) levels and monitor the heart.
If nothing happens, he is fine. In his case, he went into the
rapid pulse at the highest test level and only after about
an hour of testing. This said he hadn't outgrown the condition
but the odds of it ever happening are very remote.

When he gets older, we may be able to take him off the digoxin
if we want (we do!). If it happens, it is not life threatening
unless allowed to go on for >5 hours (the heart will fatigue) 
Supposedly, when he is old enough to understand there are 
relaxation techniques he can use to possibly stop the
event. And he would also be old enough to recognize the
symptoms.

					Mark