Does acid reflux cause a newborn to constantly be hungry?
Ok so i have done my research, and have concluded that my 4 week old has acid reflux (i am taking her to the ped monday to check) but i want to know if it causes them to be hungry constantly? She will eat 5 oz, fall asleep and as soon as we lay her down, wake up and scream and act hungry. once she is satisfied, she is starving again in about an hour. we have tried to give her a pacifier over and over, but she spits it out and gets mad which is unusual. she as also thrown up excorcist style 3 times now, and spits up a lot (reflux symptoms). is there anything i can do to keep her from being so hungry? i dont want to keep feeding her and her get sick.
Tagged with: Acid • cause • constantly • hungry • newborn • Reflux
Filed under: Acid Reflux Causes
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No. Reflux would actually make her not want to eat as much.
Dont feed her so much u could be agrivating the reflux also if ur not breastfeeding it could be the formula your using reflux is very painfull and makes ur tummy sore constantly find a a balance in her eatting habbits but dont over feed
Sometimes they may think they are hungry when their reflux is acting up. Also, sometimes eating makes it feel better. Talk to your doctor, you don’t want to overfeed her as that will make the reflux worse, especially if she is vomiting after eating. I don’t know how much your baby weighs, but 5 oz at four weeks old sounds like alot.
My baby’s reflux caused him to feed often & alot, we just tried to offer him small amounts more frequently which helped. Some babies are less hungry but I know mine was much more as it soothes them while they’re feeding. Use your instincts, my instincts also told me my son had reflux before my Doctor would listen, turns out I was 100% right only it was silent reflux, good luck x
ETA – elevation will become your friend, my son slept in his rocker for the first 4.5months of life by my bed. See if that helps or at least keep baby elevated for a good 30-45mins after a feeding. Swaddling &/or using a sling helps them too.
Reflux can cause a baby to want to feed constantly, yes. It’s not really that they’re always hungry, though. The swallowing motion, combined with the milk flow, can be soothing to them, so many babies with reflux do like to eat very often for comfort. My youngest had some reflux issues, and he nursed almost constantly for the first 5 months. The sucking and swallowing helps their food stay down better, too. Are you using the lowest flow bottle nipple possible? Make sure you’re using a low flow. That way, she won’t finish the milk so fast. Offer small amounts of milk frequently instead of large bottles less often.
Keep offering the pacifier. They can be very soothing for babies with reflux. You might want to try a few different kinds, too.
Chiropractic care is also shown to help reflux, or other issues that mimic reflux. Chiropractic adjustments help body stay in proper alignment, which can aid in proper digestion and help reduce the symptoms of reflux, colic, allergies, and other issues. Here’s more info on chiropractic care for reflux: http://www.infantrefluxdisease.com/forums/showthread.php?t=46045 This is a very detailed report on how chiropractic care helped infants with reflux and similar issues: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2597889/
Technically, the only way to officially diagnose reflux is a GI probe test, which is extremely invasive, especially for an infant, so most doctors make a unofficial diagnosis based on symptoms. Here’s a list of reflux symptoms in infants: http://heartburn.about.com/od/infantschildrenandreflux/qt/infantgerdsympt.htm
What symptoms does your baby have that makes you think she has reflux? Is she breastfed or formula fed, or both?
Be aware that excessive spitting up, or spitting up in general, is *not* the same as reflux. All babies spit up at some point or another, and some spit up a lot, but reflux is not always the cause. Reflux, or GERD, occurs when the valve that separates the stomach from the esophagus doesn’t close completely after a feeding, causing stomach acids and food (or, in a baby’s case, milk) to come back up. This often causes damage to the esophageal wall as well, as stomach acids are extremely corrosive. This is why true reflux or GERD can only truly be diagnosed by a GI probe test. The probe searches the esophagus for damage and checks to see if the valve doesn’t close properly.
Spitting up is sometimes a symptom of reflux, obviously, since milk will come back up if the valve doesn’t close completely, but there are many other possible causes of spitting up: oversupply or overactive letdown, excessive swallowing of air during feeding, pyloric stenosis, allergies (sometimes food allergies or sensitivities, such as a dairy allergy), or sometimes overeating/overfeeding. Many of these issues are mistakenly diagnosed as reflux, when they’re not reflux at all. Often, they’re easily fixable with dietary changes, altering feeding methods or positions, or, in the case of pyloric stenosis, surgery would be required.
Personally, I think it’s best to try solutions for some of the problems listed above before resorting to prescription medications for reflux. If the baby is breastfed, block feeding, eliminating dairy, and altering feeding positions can help eliminate the issues. If the baby is formula fed, sometimes changing formulas can help, specifically if it’s suspected that the baby has a dairy allergy or sensitivity. You might consider talking to your doctor about testing for allergies as well, before trying any reflux medications.
Overall, if your baby is wetting adequate diapers and gaining weight, it is likely more of a laundry issue than anything else.
Here’s a good page on reflux. A lot of the information is directed toward breastfed babies, but most of it will apply to formula fed babies as well: http://www.kellymom.com/babyconcerns/reflux.html
My daughter, 9 months now, was diagnosed with acid reflux at 5 weeks old.She did the same exact thing, about 5 – 10 mins after every feeding she would throw it up or spit up excessively. She was hungry more often but it wasn’t bad.We would only give her 2-4 oz. and then an hour to an hour and a half later she would be hungry again and 2 oz would satisfy her.Make sure she is in an upright position for about 30 mins after she eats,whether it be in a swing or even sitting her car seat upright.It worked wonders with my daughter.The doctors put her on prevacid 7.5 a day and it helped too.
~Another problem i had with my daughter is that she couldn’t use her formula, it just tore her stomach up.After changing to alimentum she wasn’t as fussy and didn’t seem as hungry.