DAY: APRIL 4, 2024

China has given up its Zero-COVID policy—and the flood of new infections is already here.
Last Week in Collapse: December 10-16, 2022
This is Last Week in Collapse, a weekly newsletter bringing together some of the most important, timely, helpful, demoralizing, ironic, stunning, or otherwise must-see moments in Collapse.
This is the 51st newsletter. You can find the December 3-9 edition here if you missed it last week. If you don’t want to miss an episode, consider signing up for the SubStack email version.
The number of very hungry people in West & Central Africa is projected to hit new records next year. One aid official said, “The Sahel is teetering on the brink of full-blown catastrophe.”
The Food Insecurity Scale has 5 Phases of Food Insecurity, with 1 being None and 5 being Famine. East Africa is in Stage 4: Emergency. A few regions of Somalia have been declared Stage 5, but experts are holding off on calling other parts of the nation(s) at full-on Famine—though projections estimate 700,000 people will potentially starve to death next year in Somalia. The five primary reasons Reuters says are responsible for Africa’s food crisis are: Climate change, Conflict in Africa, Conflict in Europe, Debt, and Ineffective Governments.
Hundreds of thousands of people in Burkina Faso are hiding out and eating leaves in a region insurgents have blockaded since February. The besieged are too weak/unorganized to overcome the insurgents, but also too strong/numerous to be defeated in battle—so they languish in the Sahel for months. This is Collapse: political/military friction too strong to change anything, but of such a high intensity that everyone suffers.
Burkina Faso’s latest coup may have bypassed some of that friction—or sown the seeds for future suffering. The government is raising a civilian defense force of tens of thousands of people and trying to raise $150M to take the fight to the rebels. The Wagner Group is reported to be influencing this operation, and a Russian company is opening its fourth gold mine in Burkina Faso, alleged to be a payment for Russian assistance.
The months-long nuclear talks with Iran have not resulted in anything but stress. The Saudi foreign minister said on Sunday that “all bets are off” if Iran manufactures or acquires a nuclear weapon. The US said “all options are on the table” to stop Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
Iran’s prolonged violent protests have not quieted down after Iran proclaimed two weeks ago that it would end its so-called morality police. Protestors have been executed after show trials. Now over 450 people have died in three months of escalating riots that have shaken the regime’s confidence in its ability to maintain power.
Although the Syrian government pledged two weeks ago that the collapsed nation’s fuel shortages would not affect hospitals or bakeries, it has been reported that half the private bakeries in the capital have stopped operations because of a lack of fuel. People are still fleeing, or being smuggled out of, government-controlled areas of Syria, over 11 years into the Civil War…
China is continuing to back off from its strict COVID rules and is now allegedly shutting down its location-tracking COVID app. Now there are only a dozen location-tracking apps on people’s phones… As China joins the rest of the world in willful blindness, energy demand will increase and estimates of the number of potential COVID cases in China this winter are around 800M: 56% of the country’s population.
RSV is a flu-like virus, and it is surging across the United States, UK, Germany, and elsewhere. Some people are blaming the contagion on “immunity debt,” a bullshit term that simultaneously softly argues for unmasking, as well as denying that (Long) COVID has weakened our immune systems. If you are living in the US, you can receive free COVID tests in the mail in time for the holidays.
Zimbabwe and Zambia share the Kariba Dam and Lake Kariba, the world’s largest manmade reservoir. Drought has reduced Lake Kariba so much that Zimbabwe is struggling to keep electricity supplies going.
Drought has come to parts of Brazil, where monocultures (corn, grain, soy) and cattle ranching have deforested rainforest and overused local water supplies.
Afghanistan is dealing with a severe, widespread water crisis, with clean water supplies strained incredibly thin. Pakistan and Afghanistan have been exchanging artillery shelling near the border, in what some observers are calling the beginning of a new War.
The Switzerland-based Bank for International Settlements is a global financial institution that “serves as a bank for central banks.” Whatever that means. It turns out that there is $80 Trillion of hidden FX debt owned by “pension funds and other 'non-bank' financial firms” but nobody quite knows where this debt is. FX debt, sometimes called foreign exchange swap or Forex swap, is the trading of foreign currencies—sometimes instantly, other times speculatively. The debt has allegedly grown $55 Trillion in the last decade. Read the 7-page BIS Report on this discovery, from December 5. Some people claim this is a big nothingburger, but I could never wrap my head around international financial institutions. Look into it if you want.
The Bank of England is raising interest rates again, even as recession and the cost of living hit the beleaguered nation. About 100,000 nurses in the UK went on strike on Thursday, concerning low pay amid a historically difficult time. Global trade is projected to continue slowing next year, for better or worse. Begun, the Great Disruption has.
This holiday season, think about garbage piles in India 62m–203 ft—high, so dense and so toxic that at least firefighters have responded to 14 spontaneously-combusted fires there this year. Other unattended heat patches smolder for months, releasing poisonous fumes. Yet these hazards don’t stop everyone; “ragpickers” and other scavengers scale the heap to find anything of value. A couple people usually die every month on the trash mountain.
Chile is dealing with mountainous forest fires that have spread to thousands of hectares. It didn’t help that Chile faced a record heatwave on Thursday, either.
A new rainfall record was made in Taiwan last week. A smoggy, wintry sandstorm struck Beijing—unusual for this late in the year.
The UK is dealing with a “wind drought” that is impacting the productivity of renewable energy. Karachi, Pakistan, is rationing its gas through daily blackouts. Sri Lanka’s economy continues to sag, although the IMF may sweep in with a debt deal. The supply of food and fuel has reportedly eased a bit.
A group of about 200 anonymous saboteurs took action and disabled a cement processing plant in southern France. The facility was among France’s highest CO2 emitters. The French are pioneers in the field of collapsologie ; this kind of action is likely to spread in the coming years.
Border clashes between India and China have escalated in recent weeks, but reporting on them is allegedly being suppressed to prevent undue fear.
Thousands of truckers in Jordan are on strike over expensive petrol. Some shops have closed in solidarity and protests have begun, in which one policeman was killed.
The Cook Islands—a tiny Pacific nation near French Polynesia—has run out of petrol, and is waiting several days until a resupply comes. Where will Pacific islanders go when the sea sweeps away entire nations? Climate change will displace over 1 billion people before 2050—probably a lot more, a lot sooner.
One town in western Alaska has collectively relocated its 300+ residents to insulate them from further climate change.
The head of Bangladesh’s Islamic party has been arrested for supporting protests calling for the PM’s resignation. This political party is Bangladesh’s 3rd largest. The arrest of Peru’s ex-President, who was ousted two weeks ago, has triggered protests across Peru and a declaration of a state of emergency.
The M23 rebels in the DRC have cut off Goma from northern supply lines, spiking prices in Goma, a city of over one million people. Local militias, perhaps even potential warlords, are taking the fight to the M23 gangsters in the face of Congolese government inaction. The East African Community is still mobilizing a 12,000-person military coalition to intervene and try and stabilize the historically chaotic region.
Mongolia and Kazakhstan are distancing themselves from their authoritarian neighbors, fueling fears—and hopes—of a “color revolution” across Central Asia. Add in some geopolitical water tensions and it’s a recipe for violence.
After Belarus pulled back its soldiers from the Ukrainian border, delaying their direct military intervention in the War, it was announced that Putin will visit Belarus on Monday the 19th. Russia and Ukraine are using drones more now, and air raid sirens are a constant fact of Ukrainian life. Putin has rejected the idea of a Christmas ceasefire.
The world’s most popular crop, wheat, is having fungal problems. About half of European wheat has worrisome levels of “mycotoxins.” About 18% of the world’s calories are from wheat.
Humanity is sprinting towards the next crisis, perhaps our last and longest. Call it the omnicrisis, or the crumbles, or the polycrisis, or just Collapse, it is already upon us. Even the doompilled Pope has visions of a future filled with “omens of even greater destruction and desolation” ahead. Maybe we should invite him on the subreddit for an AMA. It would be a Christmas miracle.
Things to watch for next week include:
↠ Serbs have blocked roads in northern Kosovo with farm equipment, and both nations’ police have exchanged gunfire. Serbia’s request to NATO to send in Serbian troops was rejected, though Kosovo is requesting NATO intervention and applying to join the EU. Elections in Serb-majority parts of Kosovo have been pushed back from December until April. The situation is escalating every day.
The World Cup finale is tomorrow: Argentina VS France. More than one billion humans are expected to watch the game, maybe 15% of humanity. Bread and circuses while the curtain falls on modern civilization. And Qatar is now embroiled in yet another corruption scandal, this time involving a clumsy bribery scheme with some of the EU Parliament. Several Europeans have been charged, including an MEP and some NGO personnel. Nothing will fundamentally change.
Select comments/threads from the subreddit last week suggest:
-One weekly observation from Texas paints a picture of an emergency healthcare system in collapse. Medicine shortages, no beds left available, and worsening staff shortages. And the weekly observation from this week got more than 200 comments in the first 24 hours…the chickens have come home to roost, and they’re clucking mad.
-A locked comment with observations from Portland, Oregon depicts one form of the middle stages of Collapse—if you can believe it. The city’s drug/civility problems apparently have no breaking point. Two realities exist in the same place: one for those who still manage to go to their jobs and keep up some semblance of normality, and another grim way of living for the hopeless homeless. Some collapsing cities (Beirut, LA, São Paolo, etc) follow a similar pattern.
-It’s high tide for hopium, says this thread about why fusion power is bullshit. The deeper the shit pile, the more perfume will be needed to cover the smell. Even fixing our non-renewable energy problem will not remove the toxins from the soil & sea, it will not prevent the need for petroleum to create plastics and tires and fertilizers and batteries, and it will not reverse the devastation already unleashed upon earth’s many ecosystems.
That’s all for this week; next week marks the one-year anniversary of LWIC. Got feedback, questions, comments, articles, riddles, recipes, hate mail, doomer carols, podcast recommendations, myths, etc.? Consider joining the Last Week in Collapse SubStack if you don’t want to check collapse every Saturday; you can get this newsletter sent to your email inbox every weekend—a subscription to the Substack also makes for a good seasonal gift if you have a special doomer in your life... Starting in 2023, these newsletters will be released on Sunday, not Saturday. I always miss something; what did I miss this week?

Recomendaciones de calzado para los niños
Estamos encantados de dar la bienvenida a la Dra. Sneha Gosalia, fisioterapeuta pediátrica y cofundadora de Big Leaps Pediatric Therapy en Stanford, CT. En su último post que ofrece una gran información para las familias y los terapeutas por igual sobre el importante tema de las recomendaciones de zapatos para los niños:
Una vez que su bebé comience a dar sus primeros pasos, es importante pensar en qué zapatos comprar para su pequeño caminante. El pie es una estructura compleja compuesta por 26 huesos. Estos huesos están diseñados para sostener todo el cuerpo, adaptarse a las superficies irregulares y absorber los impactos en cada paso. Un zapatos para niñas pie contiene más cartílago que hueso. Aunque la estructura del pie se desarrolla completamente a los 2 años de edad, los huesos en sí no se desarrollan y endurecen completamente hasta los 18 años aproximadamente.
📷
En los niños pequeños, el arco no suele ser visible ni estar desarrollado durante los dos primeros años, e incluso entonces no está completamente desarrollado. En los primeros años de la infancia, hay una almohadilla de "grasa" en la zona del arco del pie, que da la apariencia de un pie plano, pero no es el caso, ya que ofrece un soporte natural del arco.
La Academia Americana de Pediatría ha elaborado unas recomendaciones de calzado para niños con el fin de ayudarle a encontrar zapatos que sean útiles y no perjudiciales mientras su pequeño sigue aprendiendo a caminar. Las suelas flexibles y antideslizantes son una de las características más importantes que hay que buscar en un zapato de bebé . Los niños deben llevar zapatos flexibles que permitan que el pie se doble y se mueva como si el niño estuviera descalzo. También hay que asegurarse de que los zapatos del bebé se ajusten correctamente y no sean demasiado pequeños.
Los niños aprenden a caminar agarrando los dedos del pie en el suelo, ya que desarrollan la fuerza intrínseca de su pie y su arco. Por eso, en casa se aconseja dejar al niño descalzo para favorecer el desarrollo natural del pie. Sin embargo, cuando las superficies son irregulares, deben llevar zapatos para proteger sus pies.
La AAP recomienda lo siguiente a la hora de considerar las recomendaciones de calzado para los niños:

El calzado debe ser ligero y flexible para favorecer el movimiento natural del pie con una base de apoyo estable.
Los zapatos deben ser de cuero o de malla para permitir que los pies del bebé respiren cómodamente.
Los zapatos deben tener suelas de goma para la tracción para evitar resbalones o deslizamientos.
El calzado rígido y compresivo puede causar deformidad, debilidad y pérdida de movilidad.
Basar la selección de calzado para niños en el modelo de pie descalzo.
El calzado debe tener una buena absorción de los impactos con suelas duraderas, ya que los niños participan en más actividades de alto impacto.

La fabricación de un zapato
El zapato se compone de cuatro partes: la parte superior, la plantilla, la suela exterior y el tacón.
- La parte superior:
debe ser de cuero, lona o los nuevos materiales de malla.
Los pies de los niños transpiran mucho y la parte superior de sus zapatos debe estar hecha de materiales transpirables. El cuero o la lona permiten que el pie respire.
- La plantilla: debe ser de material absorbente. Las plantillas acolchadas están bien, pero la mayoría de los niños no necesitan un soporte especial para el arco del pie. Todos los niños menores de 16 meses tienen el pie plano y desarrollan completamente el arco del pie a la edad de 6-8 años.
- La suela exterior: proporciona tracción, amortiguación y flexibilidad al zapato. Las suelas exteriores planas facilitan el inicio de la marcha.
- El tacón: no es necesario para los niños pequeños. Los niños mayores pueden llevar zapatos con tacón, pero éste no debe ser mayor de una pulgada, ya que puede hacer que el pie se deslice hacia delante, apretando los dedos contra el zapato.
Recomendaciones de calzado para niños
- Zapato para antes de caminar: Ciertos tipos de zapatos son apropiados para la edad de su hijo. Los bebés y los niños que gatean no necesitan zapatos. Necesitan escarpines o zapatos para antes de caminar que no les aten los pies. El zapato debe ser flexible en lugar de proporcionar un soporte rígido, y es muy importante que el zapato tenga la forma del pie del niño. La función de un zapato a esta edad es el calor y la protección.
- Zapatos para niños pequeños: Elige un calzado ligero zapatos para niños a esta edad, tienden a gastar mucha energía al caminar. Un zapato de cuero o de lona atado es más seguro, se mantendrá en el pie y se adaptará mejor a los pies pequeños. Los niños pequeños pueden ir descalzos en un entorno protegido, como el interior.
- Zapatos para niños en edad escolar: El estilo y el ajuste del calzado son importantes para los niños en edad escolar. Su función principal es la absorción de impactos y la protección. A esta edad, pueden elegir entre una gran variedad de opciones, como calzado deportivo, sandalias, zapatillas de montaña, etc. Es muy importante usar el calzado adecuado para cada actividad para evitar lesiones. Busque un calzado de precio razonable, flexible y bien ventilado, que deje mucho espacio para el crecimiento.

Recomendaciones de calzado para los niños
Estamos encantados de dar la bienvenida a la Dra. Sneha Gosalia, fisioterapeuta pediátrica y cofundadora de Big Leaps Pediatric Therapy en Stanford, CT. En su último post que ofrece una gran información para las familias y los terapeutas por igual sobre el importante tema de las recomendaciones de zapatos para los niños:
Una vez que su bebé comience a dar sus primeros pasos, es importante pensar en qué zapatos comprar para su pequeño caminante. El pie es una estructura compleja compuesta por 26 huesos. Estos huesos están diseñados para sostener todo el cuerpo, adaptarse a las superficies irregulares y absorber los impactos en cada paso. Un zapatos para niñas pie contiene más cartílago que hueso. Aunque la estructura del pie se desarrolla completamente a los 2 años de edad, los huesos en sí no se desarrollan y endurecen completamente hasta los 18 años aproximadamente.
📷
En los niños pequeños, el arco no suele ser visible ni estar desarrollado durante los dos primeros años, e incluso entonces no está completamente desarrollado. En los primeros años de la infancia, hay una almohadilla de "grasa" en la zona del arco del pie, que da la apariencia de un pie plano, pero no es el caso, ya que ofrece un soporte natural del arco.
La Academia Americana de Pediatría ha elaborado unas recomendaciones de calzado para niños con el fin de ayudarle a encontrar zapatos que sean útiles y no perjudiciales mientras su pequeño sigue aprendiendo a caminar. Las suelas flexibles y antideslizantes son una de las características más importantes que hay que buscar en un zapato de bebé . Los niños deben llevar zapatos flexibles que permitan que el pie se doble y se mueva como si el niño estuviera descalzo. También hay que asegurarse de que los zapatos del bebé se ajusten correctamente y no sean demasiado pequeños.
Los niños aprenden a caminar agarrando los dedos del pie en el suelo, ya que desarrollan la fuerza intrínseca de su pie y su arco. Por eso, en casa se aconseja dejar al niño descalzo para favorecer el desarrollo natural del pie. Sin embargo, cuando las superficies son irregulares, deben llevar zapatos para proteger sus pies.
La AAP recomienda lo siguiente a la hora de considerar las recomendaciones de calzado para los niños:

El calzado debe ser ligero y flexible para favorecer el movimiento natural del pie con una base de apoyo estable.
Los zapatos deben ser de cuero o de malla para permitir que los pies del bebé respiren cómodamente.
Los zapatos deben tener suelas de goma para la tracción para evitar resbalones o deslizamientos.
El calzado rígido y compresivo puede causar deformidad, debilidad y pérdida de movilidad.
Basar la selección de calzado para niños en el modelo de pie descalzo.
El calzado debe tener una buena absorción de los impactos con suelas duraderas, ya que los niños participan en más actividades de alto impacto.

La fabricación de un zapato
El zapato se compone de cuatro partes: la parte superior, la plantilla, la suela exterior y el tacón.
- La parte superior:
debe ser de cuero, lona o los nuevos materiales de malla.
Los pies de los niños transpiran mucho y la parte superior de sus zapatos debe estar hecha de materiales transpirables. El cuero o la lona permiten que el pie respire.
- La plantilla: debe ser de material absorbente. Las plantillas acolchadas están bien, pero la mayoría de los niños no necesitan un soporte especial para el arco del pie. Todos los niños menores de 16 meses tienen el pie plano y desarrollan completamente el arco del pie a la edad de 6-8 años.
- La suela exterior: proporciona tracción, amortiguación y flexibilidad al zapato. Las suelas exteriores planas facilitan el inicio de la marcha.
- El tacón: no es necesario para los niños pequeños. Los niños mayores pueden llevar zapatos con tacón, pero éste no debe ser mayor de una pulgada, ya que puede hacer que el pie se deslice hacia delante, apretando los dedos contra el zapato.
Recomendaciones de calzado para niños
- Zapato para antes de caminar: Ciertos tipos de zapatos son apropiados para la edad de su hijo. Los bebés y los niños que gatean no necesitan zapatos. Necesitan escarpines o zapatos para antes de caminar que no les aten los pies. El zapato debe ser flexible en lugar de proporcionar un soporte rígido, y es muy importante que el zapato tenga la forma del pie del niño. La función de un zapato a esta edad es el calor y la protección.
- Zapatos para niños pequeños: Elige un calzado ligero zapatos para niños a esta edad, tienden a gastar mucha energía al caminar. Un zapato de cuero o de lona atado es más seguro, se mantendrá en el pie y se adaptará mejor a los pies pequeños. Los niños pequeños pueden ir descalzos en un entorno protegido, como el interior.
- Zapatos para niños en edad escolar: El estilo y el ajuste del calzado son importantes para los niños en edad escolar. Su función principal es la absorción de impactos y la protección. A esta edad, pueden elegir entre una gran variedad de opciones, como calzado deportivo, sandalias, zapatillas de montaña, etc. Es muy importante usar el calzado adecuado para cada actividad para evitar lesiones. Busque un calzado de precio razonable, flexible y bien ventilado, que deje mucho espacio para el crecimiento.

18 F 170 lbs. Diagnosed with Gastritis and IBS at age 12 I've had stomach problems all my life but they got really bad around the time my appendix got infected and subsequently removed (age 12)
I have been vegan since I was 13 after I became extremely intolerant to dairy and decided to cut out meat as well.
I was talking Ranitidine (Zantac) for about ~4 years before it got recalled and I got a new primary who took me off of it immediately but did not give me a replacement (this was about 4 months ago).
I've been dealing with EXTREME bloating for about 6ish months to the point where it looks like I'm pregnant after eating a small meal. It also seems like it takes my body way longer than it should to digest food, and my stools can range from diarrhea, constipation, to somewhere in the middle every meal.
It's gotten to the point where I'm so bloated after a meal that I can't bring myself to eat anything until 24+ hours after my last meal, so I only eat one medium-sized meal each evening and sometimes an afternoon smoothie if I can stomach it.
This past week I'm 90% sure I got a stomach bug or food poisoning because one of the people in my house got sick too. I've been tired all the time, bloated 24/7, inconsistent stools, and the sides of my stomach hurt to touch, almost like my insides are bruised.
It was super difficult to find a pediatric gastroenterologist in my area and now that I'm an adult, I am working on finding one in my area.
Any advice on what you think is going on or any tests I should ask my doctor for would be greatly appreciated. Thank you:)

I am a little CFer’s mom. She has terrible GERD that has progressively gotten worse. She got to the point that she would wake up sick, gagging, and vomiting. Her appetite dropped. Her quality of life in the morning was terrible. We would get to the point or stressing about vomit with each meal. Her Clinic prescribed Zantac, but it didn’t touch these symptoms. Clinic was hesitant to prescribe something new until we all but demanded it. Finally, after a month of phone calls, we have Prilosec and things have gotten a lot better. It is working pretty well. We have also pulled trigger foods.
Does anyone have GERD that causes vomiting and a reduced quality of life from GERD misery? What about CF physically causes this? What did you do to manage your GERD? What can a GI specialist do for her? We do not have a local pediatric GI doctor, but we are willing to travel to see one.

Ok guys, I apologize in advance because this is about to be long. My baby is 7 weeks old tomorrow. She’s been having trouble feeding basically since birth. She’s been diagnosed with MSPI and reflux. I’m starting to stress because she is now completely refusing feeds and I haven’t seen much improvement since starting treatment a few weeks ago. Basically, I want to know if anyone has had any similar issues and what they turned out to be. Does it sound like I’m stressing over nothing and totally overreacting, or should I be doing something more to advocate for my baby? I’m kind of starting to feel like my baby is slipping downhill very quickly and the pace of her decline is rapidly accelerating. It seems like the doctors are throwing a bunch of possible solutions at the problem and hoping something sticks, without actually trying to determine what the underlying problem is. Any experiences or advice you can share would be so appreciated. I’ve written out the whole entire saga below if you want to read the long version...
Baby is 7 weeks and has had issues since birth. Our pediatricians attributed her problems with breastfeeding/latching to the fact that she was supplemented with formula immediately after birth for low blood sugar at the direction of medical staff. We continued to use formula in the hospital while waiting on my milk to come in so that her sugars stayed stable, so the doctors said to give it time and patience when I weaned her “back” to breastfeeding. She would latch for two seconds and then pull away, arch/scream/refuse to finish the feed. We saw a couple of different lactation consultants who were unable to fix the problem, so it was suggested that I pump and bottle feed. So we did that for about 3 more weeks. She continued struggling to eat so I tried several different brands/flows of bottles and nipples. No luck. At about 4 weeks I was starting to become very concerned at her lack of breastmilk intake so I started supplementing with regular Similac formula and over a few days switched her to 100% formula. Feeding issues and pain signals got worse. I took her into the pediatrician just to ease my mind, and we left with a prescription for Zantac. Not much improvement. Over the course of just a few days she developed a very severe weeping facial rash that was determined to be eczema, and she started having painful mucus diarrhea. We went back to the doctor, she told us to continue the Zantac, tested her stool for occult blood and it came back positive, and then diagnosed MSPI and prescribed Similac Alimentum. We saw an immediate improvement in the eczema and the stool. Within a few days she was back to having clear skin and normal bowel movements, but she is still acting like she’s in pain and having feeding issues. In the past 24 hours she has only eaten 4 ounces total, with no intake whatsoever in over 12h, so this afternoon I took her into pediatric urgent care. There I discovered that she’s gone from 50th percentile weight-for-age at birth down to the 7th as of today, with absolutely no weight gain since her last check 8 days ago. She appeared only mildly dehydrated to the doctor, and we left with a cornucopia of instructions and prescriptions. As of right now, I’ve been told to keep her on Alimentum, increase her Zantac dosage, add Carafate and Tylenol, and give a probiotic and gripe water. We were also instructed to bring her back in the am for fluids if she didn’t start eating tonight. So far it has been six hours since we got home and she has eaten one ounce with lots of coaxing, only to vomit it back up shortly after. I have a sinking feeling that we are in for a bad morning tomorrow.

My soon to be 7 weeker has been dealing with some pretty severe vomiting for about 4 weeks now. He was put on Zantac a week ago and we've been following reflux protocol for a month with no improvement. We've tried breast milk only, formula only, boob only and bottle only with no difference in his vomiting.
He had an ultrasound last week and ruled out plyoric stenosis, but based on some of the imaging, they suspect gastroparesis. We're also concerned because his weight gain has pretty much stalled out in the last week.
We're headed to the pediatric GI later today to hopefully get some answers but was wondering if anyone else out there has dealt with this or something similar?

My daughter is 8 years old. She is 4’3” and approximately 77 lbs. She is Caucasian and was born at 39 weeks via natural delivery with no complications. Her grades in school are excellent, and I often tease her by calling her a “social butterfly” due to the large number of friends she has. She loves her teachers. Her father and I have been divorced for almost 4 years. He sees her and her brother every Monday afternoon from 3:30pm - 8:00pm. She was hospitalized once at age 4 for 5 days due to a persistent fever of approximately 104+ but they were never able to identify the cause. No surgeries, no prior medical diagnosis, etc. She drinks water regularly, loves vegetables, and does not eat a lot of fast food. Sodas are prohibited. On occasion, I will make an exception and allow her to have sprite.
For 20 days, my daughter has experienced moderate to excruciating abdominal pain around and above her belly button and no one knows why.
On Friday, Jan. 11, she came home from school complaining of tummy pain. I gave her water and a warm bath. On Saturday, Jan. 12, her pain was still persistent. My mother babysits her while I work my second job on the weekends and we gave her two doses of Pedialax as we were convinced she was constipated. By that night she was unable to stand up straight so we visited Hospital 1. They did a blood test, urine test, and X-ray. Her diagnosis was a severe kidney infection. She was prescribed Bactrim and Levsin SL. Within 24 hours, she had taken the Levsin twice and received two doses of Bactrim but was not any better. She was worse.
We drove an hour away to Hospital 2 for a second opinion. She was in so much pain that she could not lay on the bad, instead choosing to lay on the floor in fetal position. Her hands were shaking, her lip quivering from pain. They immediately started an IV for fluids and gave her 1ml of morphine. They did an ultrasound of her tummy but could not locate the appendix. They gave her a contrast drink and ordered a CT. In addition to her drink, they injected dye into her IV only moments before her CT. The dr stated her CT results showed no appendicitis. They did diagnose her with Mesenteric Adenitis and sent her home, changing her prescription. They said to stop Levsin SL and Bactrim. They prescribed Omnicef to take for 10 days.
On Monday, Jan. 14 her pain was terrible. She was taking the antibiotic but ibuprofen was not providing any relief. We visited her pediatrician who prescribed Tylenol with Codeine. While this did not completely remove her pain, she was finally able to sleep for more than 2-3 hours at a time.
On Thursday, Jan. 17, she felt well enough to go back to school. She played with her friends and only complained of a slight aching in her tummy. On Friday, Jan. 18, she was fine as well eight only minimal pain.
On Saturday, Jan. 19 her pain began again. On a scale from 1-10, she gave it a 4 or 5. This continued through the following week. She would wake up around once per night but ibuprofen seemed to be controlling her discomfort well.
On Wednesday, Jan. 23 I received a call from the school nurse. My daughter was in the office, doubled over in pain. She said she was walking down the hall to class and it suddenly started hurting “really super bad.” I picked her up to find her pale and in severe pain. We immediately drove the hour to Hospital 2 as this is where her CT and ultrasound was previously performed. They said her bloodwork looked fine, her white count in her urine was only 4, and while she had some discomfort in her tummy (still around the belly button), she seemed to pass the physical examination. The dr said that severe cases of Mesenteric Adenitis could potentially take up to 4 weeks to heal. We went home that night with no answers.
She missed school on the 24th and 25th. On Saturday, Jan. 26, she was with my mother while I was at work. I was working late, but when I clocked out at 10pm my mom told me that my daughter was hurting and wanted me to come pick her up. I picked her up around 10:30pm and we went home. She was in bed by 11, but was restless so I stayed awake until she was able to rest. Unfortunately, rest did not come.
At 1am on Sunday, Jan. 27, she woke up with the worst episode of pain she has had thus far. Her body was trembling and she could not get up on her own. As I loaded her in the car, she began to vomit. There was no blood, no green color, etc. it was normal, brown with small pieces of dinner. We did not drive back to Hospital 2 as I did not want her to suffer for another hour. We went back to Hospital 1, which is only 5 min from home. They did a urine sample and stated her white count was now 11 and her bloodwork showed only a “slightly elevated white count” so he was baffled. He called Children’s Hospital to obtain a 2nd opinion. The physician at Children’s Hospital said she believed my daughter did, in fact, have appendicitis but the antibiotics she had been taking “hid” it. Hospital 1 gave her Norco for pain. They transported her an hour and 15 min via ambulance to Children’s Hospital. We arrived around 8:00am and they immediately gave her fluids and, once again, morphine. Even with morphine, she stated her pain was still a 2-3 on a scale of 1-10. Another ultrasound was performed. A pediatrician reviewed her tests, as did a Resident and his Attending on the surgical team. They stated she did not have appendicitis nor was there any trace of Mesenteric Adenitis. They could see absolutely no cause for her pain.
She was given a GI cocktail (which made her mouth numb and made her talk funny for a little while haha) and sent home with a prescription for Zantac and Mirilax. They recommended she follow up with her pediatrician and obtain a referral to a pediatric GI specialist.
She missed school yesterday due to pain. This morning she is in a lot of pain. On a scale from 1-10, she describes it as a 6.5 with a burning/cramping right above her belly button. She has received 3 doses of the Zantac and Mirilax but it seems to be having no affect at all. She woke up 4 or 5 times during the night in pain last night.
She has shown no other symptoms. No diarrhea, no fever, no rash, etc. I am frustrated beyond belief because my daughter has been in pain for almost 3 weeks (today is day 18) and no one knows why. I’ve ask about ulcers, IBS, her pancreas, lactose intolerance, etc. No one can give us answers and in the meantime she is suffering. There’s no sexual abuse, she is not starting her period, she has had no injury to her abdomen. She does not eat fried foods, greasy foods, red sauces, or spicy foods.
We are visiting the pediatrician today. Please help. I’m desperate. What can I ask about? Any help at all is greatly appreciated. I just need her to get better. She’s miserable and she doesn’t deserve to suffer this way. Please help us.
1/29/19 Update:
Pediatrician completed a metabolic panel, CRP, Amylase (?) and Lipase. Everything looks perfect on paper. Earliest a GI specialist can see her is in a week and a half.

TLDR - how long should it take to see a difference when eliminating an allergen?
TW - lots of poop talk
Last week (28th Dec), my GP prescribed a hydrolysed formula for my 11 week old son (born at 36 weeks), due to a possible cows milk protein allergy. He has struggled with reflux since birth and been on ranitidine (zantac) for several weeks. He used to really struggle to produce soft poo, with lots of straining. He developed an inguinal hernia, which meant he was crying in pain every time he strained and only pooping every couple of days. He has an operation to repair this on 22nd of December, which went smoothly and the wound has healed beautifully. Since then, he has been pooping non-stop. He goes during every feed and sometimes in between. More concerningly, his poo is always very loose and now has lots of mucus in. We had some nappies that were entirely mucus-filled and despite prompt changes, the poo was burning his bottom red raw. The mucus has varied in colour between orange, brown and yellow. He's still producing clear wee despite, so is somehow still hydrated. Neither the GP nor the pediatric surgeon thought this was a normal response to the surgery. He is otherwise well in himself and they do not suspect infection.
Since switching formula, I'm not sure we've seen any improvement. He has less nasal congestion on the reflux front, but is still possetting large amounts as the milk is very thin. He's maybe been less gassy, but he struggled last night. The skin on his bottom is recovering at least. The new milk still contains cows milk proteins, but broken down, so he could still be reacting to those or may still have traces of old milk still in his system. Or it could be something other than an allergy.
Does anyone have any experience of hydrolysed formula or advice about how long it should take to see an improvement if he does have an allergy/intolerance? Or any thoughts on what else it could be? We'll follow up with the GP, but I am really struggling with waiting for an improvement and worrying about him.
I'm in the UK. The new formula is Aptimil Pepti 1. He was previously on Cow and Gate.

My daughter has her first appointment with the pediatric GI specialist tomorrow to discuss her continuing tummy issues and I'm getting excited and very nervous... Semi-long post ahead, but if there's any moms who have dealt with MSPI in their children, maybe y'all can help or give me suggestions of what to ask tomorrow.

I had twins by emergency c-section 6 weeks early- a boy and a girl. No major issues in the NICU until we had to switch from donor breast milk and start feeding formula due to my low supply. Once my daughter started on formula she had bloody stools, distended abdomen, and started throwing up. They did an X-ray and confirmed she had NEC and they suspected she might have a milk protein allergy but could confirm she had a bad bacterial infection. We were able to keep it at stage 1 and it was treated by antibiotics. After her week of gut rest and antibiotics, they started her on Alimentum just in case and after 6 days of her rejecting her bottles she started throwing up and they sent for a stool sample and confirmed she still had bloody stools. After 4 more days of gut rest, they started her on Elecare and she was a whole new baby! She downed her bottles- the only issue was that she started projectile vomiting after every few bottles and after they confirmed it was reflux, they were able to release her after 29 days in the NICU and allow the pediatrician to treat her reflux.

After a month of them wanting me to try thickening her bottles with baby cereal and holding her up after feeds she still was throwing up at least once a day, had semi-mucus looking stools and they told me as long as she gained weight it was normal. (to clarify, this was actually the on-call doctor and not our main doctor, who we love.) Fast forward another month and she was prescribed Zantac which didn't help really and began throwing up with more force and rejecting her bottles again. She also started having mucus in her stools (not runny mucus... Thick globs of mucus) and the smell and color has been different every few bottles..it generally has been dark forest green, which is normal for Elecare, but it will sometimes get very dark (not black but fairly close... still green) and then it will be olive green, and then last night it was light brown with a darker brown glob of mucus. And as for the smell, from what I read online, Elecare poop is pretty terrible, but hers recently has started having a very odd smell- almost like lemon... or chemical like bathroom cleaner. The doctor saw us last week and told me her weight gain is actually pretty good for throwing up but since she was having such bad GERD along with mucus in her stools, she wanted us to see the GI specialist. I asked her to ease my mind and tell me that her "foul smelling bulky stools" didn't look like Cystic Fibrosis and she told me she didnt' really think so. (I, of course, had pictures on my phone as examples. ha!) She also said it didn't seem like it was bacterial or a virus since it's not diarrhea. The only things I had changed in her diet soon before she started having worse mucus and the smell change to her poop, I had started probiotics, which I've now stopped, and I had started back with adding rice cereal, Beechnut brand, and Gerber barley cereal. She's had these before with no noticeable reaction, and the probiotics were started a couple of weeks before the sudden change. The doctor prescribed her Prevacid last week and she hasn't thrown up in 5 days and is barely spitty which has NEVER happened. She literally was throwing up every day. So that's amazing.

The only thing I can think of is that she's still allergic to something in the Elecare. I know there's no protein to react to but the doctor said some extra sensitive babies can still react. Maybe it's the soy oil in the Elecare? I know Elecare also has the risk of having trace amounts of milk and soy due to processing in Similac factories. We tried her on Neocate for 2.5 days but she was soooo spitting and EXTREMELY gassy and I couldn't bare to start her in daycare a few days after trying to switch her formula so I went back to the Elecare. I will be waiting to see if the GI specialist suggests Neocate so we can for sure eliminate soy and milk protein.

Has anyone else experienced something similar to this? If you went to a pediatric GI specialist for MSPI issues, did they do some sort of allergy test first, or immediate jump to scheduling a scope? I feel like maybe she doesn't need a scope since the Prevacid is helping so much, but I just don't know.

If y'all made it this far in the post, I applaud and thank you! Any words of advice or encouragement is welcomed and appreciated!

Hi all,
I’m wondering if anyone else’s LO developed GERD/reflux after not having had it as a newborn?
Everything I read online talks about how typically by 6-7 months, gas issues and reflux stops because the esophagus has matured.
My DD slept great until about five months, where she strted waiting up frequently with audibly painful burps/reflux. She would fall asleep after we picked her up and the burp passed only to wake back up again for the next one. She’s now 7 months old and sleeping worse than she did as a newborn. It doesn’t seem to be sleep regression—it appears to be 100% burp and reflux related because she’s extremely uncomfortable on her back.
Our doc prescribed Zantac which we tried for a few days but didn’t seem to make a difference. I also read that babies develop a tolerance to it so quickly that even if it did work, treatment shouldn’t exceed a few weeks.
It doesn’t seem to be related to solids..we started fairly late and tried not giving solids for a week to see if it changed anything but no difference. Does not seem to be teething either.
Has anyone else experienced this or have any suggestions? Our pediatrician referred us to a pediatric gastroenterologist but appointments can take six weeks.
tldr; DD developed gas and reflux at 6 months and Zantac doesn’t work. Any suggestions or experiences?

I apologize in advance for my disorganized thoughts and super long post (4 hrs of broken up sleep will do that to someone!)
I am a FTM and am EBF my son. From day one, my husband and I worked hard to make sure he latched well. All seemed to be going well the first few weeks. I had slight discomfort sometimes, but no cracked or bleeding nipples. The lactation consultants I saw in the hospital said everything looked great.
Sleeping from day one was as to be expected, but nothing terrible. We would be able to get him down for his naps and he would wake up every few hours at night.
Around 3-4 weeks old, he started to unlatch about 5 minutes into a feeding. His sleeping regressed with shorter naps. At night, he would do a 2/3 hour stretch in the beginning of the night then wake up every hour. He seems to be waking up because of gas. He grunts, squrims, and kicks his legs non-stop. I hate seeing him so uncomfortable.
I suspected I had an overactive letdown. I went to a lactation consultant and they confirmed I had an overactive letdown. They showed me some better positions to help him handle the letdown (holding upright and leaning back) as well as block feeding. Following those instructions, things seemed to improve for a couple of weeks, but he would still unlatch frequently during feedings and still wake up all night long.
Once he was about 6 weeks old, he started to cry occasionally while feeding and cry more when set down. His stool begun to be very explosive and watery, but yellow. These symptoms along with a few others made me suspect silent reflux (along with these symptoms, my mother said my brother and I had reflux as infants so it seemed to be a possibility) I went to the pediatrician, and she laid him down and said he had silent reflux because he would smack his lips (like acid was coming up in his throat) she prescribed zantac twice a day. The first night he was given the medication, he did two 3 hour stretches! Unfortunately, after that one glorious night he went back to his hourly wake ups.
I joined a silent reflux fb group and posted what was going on with my son. Another member suggested he get evaluated for a tongue and lip tie. She said her baby had the same symptoms as my son (unlatching, gas, explosive poops.) I then set up an appt with a preferred provider pediatric dentist in my area to get him evaluated.
We had to wait a couple of weeks because of the holidays causing the office to be closed. During that time, things got worse. Around 7 weeks he started to only be able to nap during the day either on my chest or in the carrier. I don't mind that, however this seems to be because he is not satisfied from his feeds. I will feed him for upwards of two hours, and he still has his fists up, hungry. I know it is not a supply issue, because after a feeding I can pump a few ounces off. My husband and I theorized that our son was living off my letdown for the first few weeks, but now that he is larger he isn't full from just that and is having a difficult time sucking out more milk.
This past Tuesday was his dentist appt. The dr confirmed he had a pretty bad tongue tie and slight lip tie. He had them revised (as well as a posterior tongue tie) with a laser. I knew it wouldn't be an automatic fix, but I was hoping for more results than I have seen so far. I saw a lactation consultant and she said that it will take some time for him to learn how to use his newly detached tongue since he was using it the other way for 2 months. She said for me to continue the stretching and sucking exercises I'm doing and it will get better. I should also note that we did a weighted feed and he only got about 1 oz in an hour. Ugh.
I want to believe that things will get better, but I have my doubts. He still has the same night sleeping patterns (2-3 hours then every hour) and will only nap when I hold him along with his gas pains and explosive poop. He now screams when feeding even more than before and still has very long feeding times. I should also mention that I have eliminated dairy and soy from my diet for a month now and have seen no changes.
I'll admit, I am starting to get very frustrated and impatient without seeing any improvement. I'm just ready to get some more sleep! I love my son more and more everyday. I just really want us to have a pleasant breastfeeding relationship. It breaks my heart seeing how frustrated he is. Even with all of these issues, I'm happy to say that he is thriving and smiley (when not in distress from eating.) He has consistently gained weight (born at 5 lb 14 oz and now almost 10 lbs at 10 weeks old)
I'm wondering if anyone else has gone through anything similar and what has helped. I am determined to keep breastfeeding, but I don't know how much longer I can go on with these long feeds and little sleep.

Hello fellow formula feeders! I am new here! I have an 8 week old little girl named Grace. She is my third baby and my second with acid reflux and food allergies although hers seems to be more severe. We are having such a hard time! We have been on the formula Merry-go-round since she was just a week old! We haven't found anything that works for more than a week or two and I have only finished probably 2 tubs of one formula and then have to toss it to change again! She has had formula since day 4 bc her reflux was affecting her ability to nurse. I'm going to list what we have tried and why they didn't work and doctor suggested something else:
In the hospital she was given Similac pro advanced and breast milk- lots of gas and fussiness and trouble pooping.
Similac sensitive: same issues as above
(Gracie didn't start refluxing until she was two weeks old, or maybe that's when we noticed symptoms)
Similac total comfort(no lactose): still the same as above, throwing up
Nutramigen: made her gas, fussiness, and poop problems much better but her reflux much worse. She would reflux all day every feeding and it was def. causing pain as projectiles but didn't with any other formula ( GI said Nutramigen and elecare are thin formulas and can make reflux worse at first until baby adjusts and gets all the old formula (milk) out of her system. Could take up to 3 weeks)
Elecare: reflux became at an all time high, looking back now I definitely didn't give it enough time to work its magic but after her second bottle she choked on her throw up and stopped breathing.
Back to Nutramigen: stayed here until someone suggest I try Gerber soothe.
Gerber soothe worked very well for her reflux, she was still refluxing but not after every feed. When she did reflux it was a lot more though, seemed like ounces to me. She was more comfortable on this formula but it could have been the meds working at the same time. First time noticing mucus in poop.
MEDS: Zantac:
At 4 weeks we took her to the pediatrician and he prescribed Zantac and told us to give it 10 days. It did virtually nothing!
Prevacid:
After 10 days we went back and got an appointment for a pediatric GI in Boston and he put her on a very small dose of prevacid (quarter or a 15mg solutab 2x/day). It took 3 weeks to be seen at the children's hospital)
So yesterday we saw the GI and she took her off the Zantac but upped her prevacid to 5mg twice a day (which is really difficult to figure out with the solutab)
If you are wondering why a two month old is on solutabs it is bc they tend to work better. The compound actually becomes unstable and degrades after a short time.
And formula change AGAIN!!!
She asked us if we wanted to try Nutramigen again or go straight to a amino acid based (elecare, purmino, neocate)
We went with Nutramigen bc she was so bad with the elecare.
Already she is refluxing so much again although she has been getting progressively worse for about 5 days now. She wants us to call Monday and if she see no improvements she wants to try an elemental formula but told me with elementals babies tend to get worse while adjusting before they improve so to give it 3 weeks. If that doesn't work we will thicken.
Well since yesterday she won't drink more than 2 ounces every 3 hours. She hasn't had the best appetite ever but we can usually get her to take 3 ounces and 4 when she wakes up in the night to eat if she is sleeping while eating. The GI told us we didn't have to introduce slowly unless she rejects it, which she didn't .
When I call Monday I'm going to ask her if we can try neocate or puramino instead of elecare.
Sorry so long and drawn out. I just can't find anyone who know what my husband and I are going through with Gracie. I feel terrible for her. An 8 week old shouldn't be in pain all the time !
Is there anyone else who has gone through anything similar? If so what worked for your baby? Formula? Medication? A magic combo?

We have been fighting an uphill battle to get my 9 wk old to gain weight. He has bad acid reflux, some sort of allergy or intolerance (suspected milk protein allergy, but meticulously cutting dairy out of my diet isn't helping), and laryngomalacia. I was getting worried about the intensity of the laryngomalacia and so we saw a pediatric ENT specialist today. He did a scope and said that my baby's was severe; bad enough that he recommends surgery if we cant get him up in the growth charts in the next 2-3 weeks. He reassured me that his airway isn't just going to close up all of a sudden or anything, but confirmed my suspicion that the laryngomalacia is definitely contributing to his weight struggle. We are also seeing a pediatric GI specialist... she suggested upping his reflux medication from Zantac to Nexium, concentrating his breastmilk/formula mixture he is currently on more, and slowly transitioning him fully to formula temporarily to see if the intolerance issues clear up (basically his poop is really mucus-y, something is inflamming his intestines).. basically seeing if we treat the weight gain issue enough so that he wouldn't need surgery.
If he can gain and grow enough, eventually the laryngomalacia will resolve itself. But it may takes months, up to 2 years.
Has anyone had experience with severe laryngomalacia? Was surgery needed or done? What was your experience?
I cant decide what's the lesser of 2 evils: surgery on a 2-3 month old that requires an overnight in PICU and 3-4 days in the hospital, or trying to fight it out with diet and medication for weeks or months. (Unless we can figure out what he is specifically allergic to, he will still have to stay on amino acid based formula, and he will still need reflux medication after the surgery but we could probably back down on the aggressiveness of it)
Im tired, Im exhausted, and I just want my baby to feel better and I don't know what the best way is.

Hi! Ive moved over here from Baby Bumps, but this is my first time posting here. My son is 7 weeks old and really struggling to gain weight. He's verrrrrry slowly gaining weight, but he has taken a cliff dive in the percentile charts. Currently he is only in the 9th percentile, and so skinny compared to other babies his age, it breaks my heart. Thankfully other than that, he seems ok.
He is exclusive bottle fed pumped breastmilk. I make a ton of milk, he just doesnt seem to eat very much of it. He only eats 2-3 oz at a time, and it takes me & my husband about 45min - 1 hour to feed him that. In the evening he kind of cluster feeds, and eats an ounce or 2 an hour. Total consumption is around 20-23 oz/day. The amount he is eating per feeding, and total amount per day, seems lower than the guidelines & information I can find online. His pediatrician wants him to get at least 24 oz/day. But Id like to hear from real moms & dads... how much & how often were your babies eating at that age?
Right now we are looking at everything from reflux to a milk protein issue. He spits up A LOT, including projectile vomiting that seems like an entire meal sometimes. He got put on baby Zantac yesterday so we will see if that helps. The pediatrician suggested rice cereal in his milk, but he barely eats when Ive tried that and turns into a sleepy zombie after barely eating an ounce, and I didnt notice it helping much.
Im starting to panic thinking he has pyloric stenosis or something. Anything that you know to get him to eat more and stop spitting up would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you!
UPDATE: Thanks for all the suggestions. We were sent to a pediatric GI specialist, who suspects a milk protein allergy (my husband had one as a baby). So Ive cut out all dairy and we are concentrating my milk by adding in a little formula in each bottle. He has actually started eating less (18-20 oz.day) and has been super sleepy the past few days, so Im getting pretty worried and will start harassing the doctor come Monday if he doesn't suddenly improve. The GI doctor asked is his "Laryngomalacia was getting any better?". I didnt even know he had that. I just thought it was a baby noise he made. Im kind of pissed that our regular pediatrician never mentioned it before, even if its mostly benign. The GI doctor said she would refer us to a ENT specialist if he didnt improve... laryngomalacia/tracheomalacia can lead to eating/feeding trouble in some bad cases.

Not sure this is the right place to post this, if not I apologize. He has seen 3 different peds and I'm still not comforted, so looking for similar stories or advice. Being a first time mother the stress from it is overwhelming at times (lack of sleep due to grunts doesn't help lol!).
He has grunted since he was basically born, but got incredibly worse during week 3. Old ped said it was colic (but he NEVER cries unless hungry, so didn't like that answer), gave us gripe water - didnt do anything. We've also tried mycolin drops, which also don't do anything. New ped (which I like a LOT more because she's actually spending time with him instead of rushing) is trying zantac, but he's been on it for over a week, and it's also not working.
He will grunt, and strain, and yes - he typically is gassy when doing it, but I only hear loud gas about 20-30% of the time if not even less than that. This goes on for about 10 hours a day sometimes, though sometimes less. He is not constipated and never has been, and has one daily bowel movement a day (atleast). He is typically doing grunting/straining when asleep and at night from like 1-3am until about 9 or 10 am, but it varies.
I've read this is common in preemies, but he was born one day shy of 40 weeks, so he didn't come early.
To make it worse we found a inguinal hernia the other day and he has an appointment with a pediatric surgeon on Tuesday to get that checked out. Oddly since the hernia decided to rear it's ugly head and show up he has actually been pooping MORE and grunting less it seems (WTF?).
I know it's not related (or so I keep being told) but there are just so many problems that seem to be related to his stomach I'm terrified something is wrong. He is a VERY happy baby other than that, and gaining weight, so I probably am overreacting.
Anyone have any experience with grunting/straining non-stop and/or inguinal hernias? Can you share your story with me if so or have any advice? I just feel so sorry for him going through that. And I am dreading surgery for the hernia.
He turned 2 months today : ( So very young to be going through all this!

I just wanted to post this as an experienced mom of two severe reflux kiddos who has been through the ringer as lately I've seen so many posts with unhappy babes who are being treated by Zantac for reflux. I am not in any way denying that it works for some people but for a good majority it either doesn't work at all or only works very briefly.
Some babies are just fussy and colicky and it doesn't matter if their reflux is under control or not, so I'm not saying that is a definite answer but I just wanted to put this out there. If your baby is being treated for reflux on Zantac and is still really unhappy, please ask your doctor for a PPI medication (Prilosec or Prevacid) or visit a pediatric GI. Reflux is no joke when they're so tiny and can make the difference between a happy baby and a miserable one!

I have almost 4 month old twins who both have horrible reflux. I mean HORRIBLE! They eat 6 oz every 2.5-3 hours and puke up at minimum half of that up every single time they eat. They are still gaining weight, but their progress has slowed from gaining about 1/2 a lb a week to about a 1/4 lb a week.
They are on three different meds- Zantac twice a day;Prilosec once a day; and reglan 4 times a day 30 minutes before they eat. None of these seems to make much of a difference. We also thicken their formula with rice cereal in addition to giving them AR formula.
Is there anything else out there we could try that we aren't?
We have an apt for them in about 3 weeks at a Pediatric GI specialist... What kinds of things should I ask him about that may have worked for your kids?

A bit of a background- my daughter has reflux. Her symptoms started around 6 weeks/2 months, and mainly consisted of refusing to eat and funny breathing when she ate. The ped had her do a barium esophagram that apparently showed reflux. We put her on Zantac, didn't get better, put her on Prilosec, couldn't take her off Zantac because every time we tried she got worse, she got somewhat better, but started screaming during feeds. Then I started adding rice cereal to her formula and it was like magic. She's 4 months and finally eating like a baby should!
Anyway, back before I added the rice cereal I had asked for a referral to a Pediatric Gastroenterologist (PG for short) because I felt like my doctor was randomly throwing meds at us and telling me that it was ok for her to scream during feeds. (We also tried increasing the calories in her formula by mixing it thicker- what a disaster, she ate even LESS!). After I scheduled the appointment, I made a post in /beyondthebump where many suggested adding rice cereal to thicken her formula. So I tried it, and like I said magic! I decided to go to the appointment anyway.
The PG said some really interesting things. For one, her breathing is totally normal. She often sounds "wet", but apparently it's a common thing in babies (something other than GERD-related) where a certain cartilage is floppy, and it will strengthen over the first year and she'll stop sounding that way. What a relief! He also said that the GERD medications in babies tend to be about as effective as placebo. That's right, essentially, they might do nothing. Wow- and here I was getting a compounded med I had to call 5 pharmacies to get and was expensive! He also looked at her esophagram and said that what a radiologist calls reflux and what a PG calls reflux are quite different. ANYONE who drinks barium and rolls around on their back is going to get barium back into their esophagus. It is NOT indicative (on it's own) of GERD. Whoa! That had been the main reason we had these meds thrown at us! He said GERD in babies is really tough to diagnose and they tend to do it based on clinical data (the history you give your doctor when you visit) rather than tests.
He also said that for babies who have GERD (actually, he said for babies who have symptoms like my daughter), it tend to get worse until 4-6 months when it peaks, then gradually gets better until 1 year.
So what did all of this mean? He said he often suggests stopping meds once the baby is in a good place and the mom is comfortable with it. He said typically he does not recommend weaning the meds, as there doesn't appear to be a difference between weaning and just stopping. He suggested stopping prilosec first, giving it a week or two, then stopping zantac if we didn't notice any difference. If she seemed to get worse, then start prilosec back up.
That was Friday. We have not given prilosec since Friday night, and today, Wednesday, she seems just fine still. What a relief (You will understand if you've had to give prilosec- it's hard to find a pharmacy that carries it/will make it and it's expensive!). I'm so excited to start trying to take her off of the zantac as well.
Oh, and she went from 2% weight for length at her 2 month visit to 33% weight for length at this visit (4 months)!!! I'm planning on keeping her on the thickened formula for now, and probably at least until we start solids. He also said there is absolutely no reason to use the AR formula rather than add rice cereal to regular formula (which was also a relief, because she is a twin and we buy formula in bulk at costco and they don't sell AR!!), the AR is just for convenience.
Anyway, I'll keep you all updated about how taking away the zantac goes. I've been thinking about more questions I would have asked him since the visit, and I might send an email to him.
Oh- one more thing. We were told she had delayed emptying of the stomach based on the esophogram, but the PG said there was absolutely no sign of that. He said that the particular radiologist who performed/read the study ALWAYS says that about EVERYONE. Wow.

Gomas zantac pediatric

Health Daily News April 4 2024

DAY: APRIL 4, 2024