Hello, everyone.

My newborn son (age 3 months) suffers from gastrointestinal
reflux. He is presently being {*filter*}-fed and after every meal,
there is some reflux (about 35% to 50% of the ingested material).
It has not hindered his development. He is quite big, about 16
lbs and he is very healthy.

The pediatrician recommended x-rays to make sure there was no
physical obstruction that might cause the reflux. We did go for
these x-rays, and no obstruction was observed. The pediatrician
then prescribed Xantac and Reglan for the reflux.

While we thought medication was the way to go, now I am not so
sure. One side effect of Reglan is depression. In fact, someone
I know took Reglan for 3 months (3 times longer than recommended)
and did go into a depression, though relating the Reglan to the
depression is only speculation.

I don't think the benefit is worth the risk of giving these
medicines to the baby.

What other methods (homeopathic, dietary, etc) might be helpful
in reducing the reflux.

Thanks in advance for your responses.

Peter D.

Randall wasn't content to merely reflux, he had to aspirate (breathe in his
vomit) as well.  The result:  He had pneumonia almost continuously for his
first five months.  It quickly became clear that the medication wasn't
working, and he was starting to have permanent lung damage, so we opted for a
surgery called Nissan fundoplication.  In a nutshell, what happens is the top
of the stomach (the fundus) is wrapped around the esophagus and then tied
tight, creating a "trap" for the cooking.net">food in the stomach.  Muscular action pushes
the cooking.net">food down, but its too tight for it to come back up.  Which means that the
child cannot vomit or even burp ....even when they need to.  For this reason,
a gastrostomy tube is usually put in, how long it stays in depends upon the
child (Randall's surgery was when he was five months old, he still has the
tube).  Let me please say, unless the surgery is a must (as it was in
Randall's case)  be very, very careful about rushing into it.  Randall had
more complications from the surgery ("dumping syndrome", pain when his stomach
was even slightly full, bloating, diarrhea, gas, discomfort, malabsorption
problems....the list could go on) that he had from the reflux.  But then,
having scarred lungs is a rather negative thing as well.  As it is, he has
severe asthma and has to be nebulized frequently.

There is a new drug out now, Cissaprid, which has been used in Canada for
quite awhile (we actually drove to Canada and bought some to try with Randall
before the surgery.  It helped, but it wasn't enough).  Cissaprid is now
available in the US, but it seems that many of the family docs and
pediatricians who don't keep up really well know almost nothing about it.  It
has a different mechanism of treatment that Reglan or bethanecol, and is
supposedly much less toxic (and much cheaper, I should add).  It tends to have
much lower incidences of negative side effects.

I am a chiropractor (now in med school as well) and my wife and I tried
everything natural that we could for our children before resorting to the hard
{*filter*} and surgery.  We also had the best doctors on the face of the planet (We
searched everywhere, and saw a number of different specialists).  I don't know
where you are, but if you're anywhere near the Washington, D.C. area, let me
recommend Dr. James Clayton at the FAirfax hospital as a pulmonologist
(703-204-6400 - I think) (hopefully you won't need him), and Dr. Lynn Duffy or
Dr. Ian Leibowitz, also in Fairfax (702-698-8960)

But ask your doctor about Cissaprid.

And please, feel free to email me directly with any further questions.  It
has been a long three and half years for us, and we know where you're at, and
where you're headed.  If I can help you with anything, please let me know.

Good luck.

RJ Ferrance, D.C.