I received product and compensation from Mead Johnson Nutrition to create this post written by me. All experiences and opinions expressed in this post are my own and not those of Mead Johnson Nutrition. Consult your pediatrician before making changes to your baby’s diet or if you have concerns related to your baby’s digestive health. Please see the product label/website for acceptable use and benefits. You can contact Mead Johnson Nutrition with product related questions or comments toll free at 1-800-BABY 123 or through the Contact Us link on Enfamil A.R. or Enfamil.com
I HATED infant reflux. It’s the worst. There’s no solution (that I found), but here are 7 tips for dealing with infant reflux that helped us.
Like you need to worry about one. more. thing. when you have a newborn, right? You are sleep-deprived. You’ve never seen so much yellow poo in your life. Your boobs hurt. And now you have a screaming infant that spits up day and night. Pshaw. Is there a return receipt?
Just kidding. Sort of.
Dealing with infant reflux was a new challenge that I got to experience with baby #3. You know how they say stop when you’re ahead? Yeah, I had no idea how “ahead” I was until my sweet James came along. He was such an uncomfortable baby, I was in a bad place due to my own medical issues, and those first few months were the most trying days of my life. Unfortunately, nothing really fixed the issues of infant reflux for James except age, but there were a few tips and tricks we picked up along the way that helped.
1) Visit the pediatrician. It might be uncomplicated reflux, also called Gastroesophageal Reflux(GER), which you can manage with lifestyle changes. Or, it could be Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD), in which case you’ll probably be offered a prescription. Most babies, however, do simply suffer from spitting up and irritability as their digestive systems develop. So, chances are… you’ll get to manage it on your own. Welcome to parenthood.
2) Try a switch to a thickened formula. An option for mothers is Enfamil A.R.™. Enfamil A.R. is designed to help reduce spit-up due to its thicker consistency, yet easily flow through nipple. Plus, it offers complete nutrition and is considered an option with more balanced nutrition than thickening formula with rice cereal. I found that it mixes easily, and combined with sitting up after feedings did help reduce the amount of spit-up.
3) Sitting up and burping. I turned into a burping fool. That is, burping my child. I wasn’t actually burping. Or I was, just not as much as James. I also held him upright for a significant amount of time after feedings. I discovered that when I put him down within 15 minutes of a feeding, the result was an eruption the likes of Mt. Vesuvius. Not awesome.
4) Sleeping inclined. We chucked our regular bassinet for a portable rocker. Made all of the difference at night when I wasn’t coherent enough to hold him myself for the time he needed to be upright after a feeding.
5) Pacifiers. Love ’em or hate ’em, we found that pacifiers definitely helped to not only soothe James, but when he used the pacifier he didn’t spit up as much, and slept for longer pieces of time. Not a long time, mind you, but longer.
6) Ear Plugs?
7) Help. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Have a postpartum doula pop over and watch your little one so you can get some sleep. Call grandma or a neighbor. A happy baby has a happy mom, and mom needs to take care of herself!
What’d I miss? Let us know how you managed infant reflux in the comments below!
One of my twins started to have reflux around 2 months old. Her red faced screams were horrible! We did the burping like crazy people anytime before and after laying her down. Inclines helped. Very limited tummy time. She ate breastmilk so we didn’t try formula. But I noticed if she drank too fast it was worse. So we would switch between pacifier and milk until she was comfortable enough to finish eating. And gripe water helped afterwards when she did need to lay down for bedtime. She was done with it around 5 months old, so not too long like some babies.