Probiotics

Caden was terrible on that stuff, it gave him very very bad tummy aches, he would arch his back and pull his knees up in agony, took me a while to realise what was wrong, as soon as I took him off that horrible stuff he was so much better.
If jackson is having tummy pains now, I would say probiotics would make it worse.

Sheena, I guess the difference between Caden and Jackson, is that J has proven (via pH probe) severe reflux, and is on a very high dose of acid blocking medication.

I got the information originally from the paed, but also the cryingoverspiltmilk website:
Medications that alter the acidity of the gut may allow the overgrowth of bad bacteria. These include Ranitidine and Omeprazole. If this results in an upset stomach (wind, diarrhoea, constipation, nausea etc) then replenishing good bacteria may help.
Gut motility issues are common in those with gastric reflux and may even be the cause of reflux. The stomach may not empty fast enough and so is full for longer allowing reflux to continue. This problem may be present throughout the gut and also present as constipation. Probiotics promote good motility.

But I appreciate people's opinions because, like you hannibal, I am just loathe to give Jackson more, more, more stuff!

Currently he is on formula, omeprazole, infacol and duocal.... so adding something else is more confusion in the mix. But on the flip side, I have always thought the motility and gastric emptying is an issue, and this may be better than motility medications (such as domperidone) which is what the paed is suggesting if we can't find a natural solution.

Emma had reflux diagnosed when she was about 3 months old and has been on Losec ever since. Thankfully, her reflux is not severe and she's on a formula I chose. She's been on Nestle Nan which contains probiotics and that has agreed with her - she has not (generally) suffered from things like wind, diarrhoea or constipation. She gets wind (of course) but nothing above what Gina used to get.
Emma used to be on 1 tablet of Losec a day for quite a while, but we've managed to cut this to 1/2 daily since she's been eating more solids and spending most of her time upright during the day. I’ve tried a couple of times to eliminate Losec but we have not succeeded so far.
Big hugs Laurie, hope things improve soon for Jackson & you. Have you had any more success with solids?

I used them after fay had diarrhoea following a prolonged bout on antibiotics to replace her gut flora (nothing to do with reflux) and they worked wonders. i use them now everytime she has to have antibiotics (which touchwood has not been that often recently)
It was a powder called Matagenics flora care for kids and we added it to solids or put it in the bottle. It was easier on solids but I know you're not on that stage
anything is worth a try really and I know the research is there for reflux

We have used Inner Health for Kids Probiotic powder for both Dominic and Isobelle and found it really helpful. For me it wasn't the same as giving the medications, I think of it more as a supplement, it is good for them.
I think it is interesting that you said Jackson is 'on formula'. You don't need to feel bad about feeding Jackson formula, it is not a bad thing, it's his food. I know the message out there is breast is best and of course we all want to do the best for our children but there are circumstances where breastfeeding just doesn't work. If beastfeeding didn't work for you then by feeding Jackson formula you have done the best thing for him. I think you are doing an amazing job

Yes I would recommend probiotics if you are on anti-reflux medication.

My daughter is on ranitidine. We originally started using probiotics because of the study that found that a strain of probiotics helps prevent eczema (as eczema runs on both sides of the family), but when I got a bit slack on adding the probiotic powder to feeds I noticed that Clara would get really grumpy, and possibly a bit of diarrhoea could be traced to that (but hard to know sometimes!) ... so I'd start being more vigilant with giving her probiotics and I noticed her behaviour definitely improved.

If you are interested in preventing eczema as well as helping with the sore tummy, the scientists have only identified one strain that works (rhamnosus) - the name of the powder is "Reuteri" - it does not come in a 'children's version' but it doesn't matter, it is fine to give to babies. Link to article

I'm glad you don't feel bad about it. I know what you mean about missing breastfeeding but it made me feel a wee bit sad that you might be feeling guilty about formula feeding when you are doing such an amazing job in a really difficult situation.

E got put on probiotics..he's the same as cuppatea's one and said the same thing... he was on it from the paed's place (was cheaper there apparently) until the bottle ran out(so about 3 months) and it really helped him.. (not sure of brand...cuppatea?)

i agree with cuppatea if we hadn't of gone to Dr Ford we wouldn't have known.. in our case it seems to have helped..E has outgrown his allergy now and we had less spilling etc after he was on it.. he never had an issue with them either..they are designed to settle gut issues..?worked for us...he didn't have reflux though..

is there some reason they won't put him on pepti or neocate?

He's on regular formula now. There was no improvement on Neocate, so they seem sure it is not any allergy related thing.

NO closer to finding out what it IS though. Very frustrating. We're going through another bad patch at the moment.