Anyone else have an elementary aged child with acid reflux? Wanna give me some tips?

[*********]

Moose was diagnosed this week with acid reflux.

 

Far as I know, he didn't have it as a baby. He wasn't particularly fussy, and he didn't spit up more than average.

 

But I've been suspecting he's had acid reflux for some time now. I'd say it's been almost a year since the first time I went 'hunh; what he's complaining about sounds like acid reflux'.

 

So I finally took him in to the doctor this week, because he's been consistently complaining about the 'bad taste in his mouth, and bad smell in his nose', plus a sore throat. No cough, congestion, fever, etc. I kinda suspected he was having a bout of reflux, and it was causing him a sore throat. But his throat got so bad that he was CHUGGING water all day long. Then the last straw was he couldn't sleep, and ended up in my room at bedtime, crying and chugging water. Poor guy.

 

Well, the dr checked his urine for sugar just to be safe (because of the chugging water, we wanted to make sure it wasn't diabetes), but it was fine. She agreed it sounded like classic reflux symptoms. She wants him to take a daily pepcid or zantac INDEFINITELY. I did some research, and dh and I are not comfortable with that idea. We have decided to give him Mylanta twice a day for a few days to get the acid under control, and then just give him mylanta when he has symptoms.

 

But I want to help him with some dietary and lifestyle changes. I cut out oj (which is what we suspect caused this most recent bout), and now I'm suspecting his voracious eating of grapes is irritating it, too. I mean, he doesn't gobble grapes all the time, but he LOVES grapes, and if we have a bowl in the fridge, he munches on them whenever he wants. I'm starting to think maybe that's irritating his reflux.

 

Any other ideas? I'm not willing to cut out chocolate for him, at least yet. I see that as one of the joys of life, :D, and would hate to restrict that unnecessarily. I mean, right now I don't suspect it's one of his triggers, but I know it's a common one. He doesn't like tomatoes (besides ketchup sometimes). What have you found that triggers your child's reflux? What have you found that helps? For example, I'm going to try and get him to drink some chammomile tea.

 

TIA!

[Danestress]

Giving stuff up is hard and I know you probably wish that weren't what I was going to say. But for us, the acid reflux disappeared when my son when off gluten. We are not as strict about it was someone with celiacs would have to be, but basically if a product has any wheat in it, he doesn't eat it. This has done wonders. We have only had 9 months of this and have not experimented fully to find out if he could tolerate a little wheat or if whole wheat would be ok where refined isn't. He just doesn't "do" wheat. I am amazed at how it solved the chronic reflux problem, and also cleared up his skin.

[*********]

Giving stuff up is hard and I know you probably wish that weren't what I was going to say. But for us, the acid reflux disappeared when my son when off gluten. We are not as strict about it was someone with celiacs would have to be, but basically if a product has any wheat in it, he doesn't eat it. This has done wonders. We have only had 9 months of this and have not experimented fully to find out if he could tolerate a little wheat or if whole wheat would be ok where refined isn't. He just doesn't "do" wheat. I am amazed at how it solved the chronic reflux problem, and also cleared up his skin.

 

Hunh. I had no idea that wheat could cause it. Definitely something to keep in mind.

 

And I realize he may have to give up and/or cut back on some things, and I'm ok with that. I'm sure he'll be ok with that, too, when I explain he shouldn't eat suchandsuch because it will hurt his throat/cause him to have reflux. I just don't want to start restricting his diet unnecessarily, you know?

[Martha in GA]

My dd seems to be suffering from acid reflux, too. I think hers has an anxiety cause. Anyway, in my research, this is what I've heard: the acid reflux is often caused by not enough acid, rather than too much acid. I've heard a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar with some honey (to help get it down) in a glass of water is good, but my dd couldn't get it down. Almonds, chewed thoroughly, after each meal seem to help some. My dd's issues are probably different, and I suspect she might have a candida overgrowth, so I've been giving her some probiotics (she has been having gas problems, too), and I might look into HCl/betaine or enzymes. Probably not much help, by I can commiserate with you and your poor son!

 

Martha

[Bambam]

The doctor put my dd on Prevacid for 42 days. She was vomiting regularly (her reaction to the 'bad taste'). We didn't notice much improvement for some time (because she didn't give up all the things on the list of things to avoid if you have acid reflux), but once she decided that giving up chocolate, OJ, strawberries, etc was better than tossing her cookies regularly, the symptoms went away within a couple of weeks.

 

She no longer takes the Prevacid. She eats some of the things she is supposed to avoid, but she eats much smaller quantities.

 

We make sure to eat our final meal well before bed time too. But we always did that!

[*********]

My dd seems to be suffering from acid reflux, too. I think hers has an anxiety cause. Anyway, in my research, this is what I've heard: the acid reflux is often caused by not enough acid, rather than too much acid. I've heard a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar with some honey (to help get it down) in a glass of water is good, but my dd couldn't get it down. Almonds, chewed thoroughly, after each meal seem to help some. My dd's issues are probably different, and I suspect she might have a candida overgrowth, so I've been giving her some probiotics (she has been having gas problems, too), and I might look into HCl/betaine or enzymes. Probably not much help, by I can commiserate with you and your poor son!

 

Martha

 

I've heard that too, that reflux can be cause by not enough acid instead of too much. But it doesn't make sense, LOL. I need to do more reading on that. How would one determine which it is; too much acid, or not enough?

 

The pediatrician and I discussed that it could just be that his sphincter is not developed enough yet to close properly all the time.

[*********]

The doctor put my dd on Prevacid for 42 days. She was vomiting regularly (her reaction to the 'bad taste'). We didn't notice much improvement for some time (because she didn't give up all the things on the list of things to avoid if you have acid reflux), but once she decided that giving up chocolate, OJ, strawberries, etc was better than tossing her cookies regularly, the symptoms went away within a couple of weeks.

 

She no longer takes the Prevacid. She eats some of the things she is supposed to avoid, but she eats much smaller quantities.

 

We make sure to eat our final meal well before bed time too. But we always did that!

 

Well, that's something I didn't think of. Duh! We do eat dinner several hours before bed, but the boys also have an evening snack aroud 7. which is still 2 ish hours before they lay down, but perhaps that's someting to experiment with, too.

[marcyg]

My son has had reflux since he was born. We mix some acidophilus powder into his milk in the morning and it seems to make a huge difference. We limit the amount of junk food he eats and are more careful during "flare ups." For some reason, he always hits a growth spurt right after a particularly bad flare up. The doctor says there is no connection, but it seems more than a little coincidental.

[BellaMama]

DD outgrew her reflux by age 5.

 

DS7 still has reflux. Dairy/lactose seem to be his trigger. His symptoms are most often a sore throat 15 minutes after bedtime/laying down. He is on a daily dose of Prevacid for the time being (as Ranitidine in liquid form is not available for some reason).

 

I suggest a consult wih a pediatric Gastro-enterology clinic. They have the means to test for intolerances. (without being unnecessarily deprived of otherwise nutritious food)

 

Perhaps consulting Ent as well as his symptoms are within his throat/nose.He says it smells bad, but does he have bad breath, a lot of mucus? Do you think a nasal irrigation would help clear away irritants?

[Shellydon]

All 4 of mine have had reflux as infants. Only 1 outgrew it. It seems to come and go in cycles. When they eat tomato sauce (pizza, spaghetti), I give them a chewable Pepcid. Sometimes we end up having to do 30-45 days of daily Pepcid, then everything gets better for awhile.

[Lang Syne Boardie]

My son's chronic reflux turned out to be celiac disease. He's been GF for 6 years and not had one episode of reflux in that time.

 

It sounds to me like the snacking, the chocolate, and eating too soon before bed would be habits to address before getting freaked out about celiac disease, but I thought I'd share anyway.

 

I hope it's no big deal and he grows out of it. :grouphug:

[KidsHappen]

Chocolate definitely aggrevates my acid reflux. I have recently been informed the liquid aloe vera helps. You are supposed to take 2 oz. per day but I only use it when I have an attack. It seems to work very well. Liquid Aloe Vera has the exact same taste and texture as water. My kids have also tried it without complaint.

[speedmom4]

My son was diagnosed with a stomach ulcer, acid reflux, etc. when he was 3 years old. He is now almost 10. He took Prevacid for a period of time. He still occasionally has problems with acid. His symptoms are a stomach ache after 10 p.m and it is sometimes accompanied with vomiting.

 

We have identified many of my son's triggers. Pizza (huge trigger), soda, lemonade, very buttery or greasy foods, junk food of any kind.

 

We try to avoid those foods as much as possible but he enjoys them. Our pediatric GI doc recommended giving him Omeprazole (can be bought over the counter) before he eats his trigger foods. He said it's ok to "cheat" once in a while and have the junk food but he needs the medication.

 

IMHO, you should give your son the medication for at least a month to help his stomach to calm down. It needs to heal. Then slowly wean him off and avoid his trigger foods or high acid foods and see how he does without the medication. Chronic irritation in the esophagus from acid can lead to problems down the road. If he doesn't get better in a month or so on the meds I would get your son to a pediatric GI doctor. Acid reflux is miserable.

 

We have found yogurt to be very soothing for my son's stomach. Also eating smaller more frequent meals helps.

 

Hope your ds feels better soon!!

 

God Bless,

Elise in NC

[ErinE]

I hope you don't mind if I speak for myself. My reflux was so bad I developed gastroenteritis and couldn't keep any foods down, not even nutrition shakes. After visiting multiple specialists (who had no solutions), my primary doctor told me that if I wanted to take medicine for the rest of my life, I could continue to eat and drink whatever I wanted. Otherwise, I needed to change my lifestyle. So I did the following:

 

* I went on an elimination diet, basically started with rice and added foods back until I started showing symptoms

* I limit the following: fried foods and processed sugar

* I eat fruit (tomatoes, oranges, grapes) with a fat (cheese, oil, butter)

* I restrict caffeine. I can drink it in small quantities when I have food on my stomach.

* I don't go long periods without food. For me, an empty stomach could be almost as painful as one full with irritating food.

 

I no longer take medication, but I am very sensitive to my stomach "moods." I go long periods on my easy food diet to keep my symptoms in check.

 

ETA: I took medication until my stomach calmed down.

[Acadie]

Are you using Mylanta Cherry Supreme? Last I checked, that was the only Mylanta flavor that did not contain aluminum.

 

Given that you suspect the grapes and OJ, I wonder about sulfites. Grapes have natural sulfur compounds and are also sprayed with sulfites in the field. What's in the OJ? Unless it's fresh squeezed, it's pretty much guaranteed to have nasty stuff in it which may not be labelled.

 

Citric acid gives my whole family reflux and it's in many processed foods, especially tomato sauces. Once upon a time it may have been made from citrus fruit, but what is added to food now is made in China, grown with mold cultures and treated with sulfites. It's in popsicles, tomato sauce, salsa, herbal tea....

 

Rick Williams' sulfitesnomore website has more info on unlabeled sulfite residue in corn syrup, corn starch, products sweetened with grape juice, processed potatoes (fresh are fine), dextrose, grapes, etc.

 

I thought we ate a whole foods diet until I realized we had to cut out many food additives for our childrens' health. That's when I saw how many "health foods" have additives in them. We don't need reflux meds when we cut out trigger foods. Eliminating foods is a bummer, but having the knowledge really helps. We'll use Mylanta or TUMS for special occasions like party food, but it's great having a baseline of no reflux.

 

Amy

[caedmyn]

Haven't read the responses, but I would definitely consider food intolerances as a cause. My 3 YO (who was a reflux baby) will STILL reflux if he eats many salicylates (naturally occurring food chemical found in...almost everything it seems like). I also get reflux from really high salicylate stuff, and I never had problems with it until after DD was born. More info on salicylates at www.fedupwithfoodadditives.info

 

ETA: Grapes are very high in salicylates. Chocolate has a lot of phenols in it (salicylates are a subcategory of phenols) and could definitely be a trigger as well.

[HappyGrace]

Both dh and I have had GREAT results with Betaine HCL-got rid of both of our reflux symptoms. (We used the Vitamin Shoppe brand that also had Pepsin in it.)

 

Dd12 just the last two wks has started w/ symptoms for the first time ever, and she's been on the Betaine for 3 days and it is improving. (We give her half a pill in a.m. and half a pill at dinner.)

 

I think dh and I took it for maybe a wk and a half to 2 wks. We don't have any intolerances or anything though so maybe that's something also that you may need to check.

 

We tried apple cider vinegar and ginger tea w/ dd and that made it worse. (surprising-ACV has helped us w/ so many things here). Our ped also suggested aloe vera juice but the Betaine is working so far but that would be our next try.

 

I pray you find some relief for your dc!

[In the Rain]

My youngest dd had severe reflux as an infant. It turned out to be dairy (cow) products. When we switched her to goat milk she was able to stop her medication. By about 15 months, she was off dairy entirely. She has cheese or sour cream a few times a week and doesn't show symptoms. When I made her eat yogurt regularly the reflux came back.

 

I guess I'd investigate food causes for your ds.

[*********]

My youngest dd had severe reflux as an infant. It turned out to be dairy (cow) products. When we switched her to goat milk she was able to stop her medication. By about 15 months, she was off dairy entirely. She has cheese or sour cream a few times a week and doesn't show symptoms. When I made her eat yogurt regularly the reflux came back.

 

I guess I'd investigate food causes for your ds.

 

Yep, looks like we'll be on a food adventure for a while with him. :001_smile:

[Holly IN]

Giving stuff up is hard and I know you probably wish that weren't what I was going to say. But for us, the acid reflux disappeared when my son when off gluten. I am amazed at how it solved the chronic reflux problem, and also cleared up his skin.

 

:iagree::iagree::iagree::iagree:

 

All of us in my family have acid reflux. I grew up with it. Horrible!!!! I have two different problems. Acid Reflux (gerd) and spasmal reflux which is extremely painful and looks like a heart attack. This one sent me to the cardiologist to make sure I am heart healthy.

 

All of us are off gluten and grain free....skin cleared up and gerd went away. Now hubby's didn't but he can tell a difference already. His is a structural problem than anything. The other part is gone. Our tums supply is not needed as much unless we goofed and cheated. As long as we do not have any grains or gluten we are ok.

 

I am off medicine now. My kids are too. Hubby is not off due to this being a structural problem (his flap between the esophagus and stomach do not close) so Nexium is what he takes.

 

He would agree though gluten, wheat and grains needs to be eliminated!!

 

Holly

[Sandra in FL]

Ds is recovering from acid reflux. What finally worked is betaine hcl with pepsin. Built up to two and a half capsules per meal, maintained until he had a burning sensation and dose down half a capsule, maintain at that level until he had burning sensation and so on. low stomach acid often has the same symptoms as high stomach acid. He's off tomatoes, red grapes and we raised the head of his bed.

 

since he has asthma, his main symptom was an ongoing cough especially at meal times that went on for months. He has a lot of allergies which depletes the amino acid histidine which helps to make hcl. swimming pools for some strange reason triggers the coughing and low stomach acid.