Hi i have a 6mth old boy. He has been on losec since he was 5weeks old - 15mg. He is now 8.4kg and still on the same dose. Over the last week he always seems to be doing excessive and loud swallowing noises. He has also just been diagnosed with a mild dairy allergy after the sudden appearance and worsening of eczema on his face. I have become completely dairy free in my diet. I have been finding solids a major (gets very sore tummy and windy and doesnt sleep well in the nights) so have started right back at the beginning and trying as a first food Pear (watties can). Could this be upsetting his reflux causing this excessive swallowing etc or is it possible he needs to go up in his losec medication?

My girls react to pear, so it is possible, though not very common. It often indicates an issue with salicylates (which is a chemical in all fruit and veges). It is also possible that his medication needs adjusting.

My suggestion is to leave solids completely for a few days and see if he stabilises. If so, then you know its the pear, if not, you know it's the losec that needs adjusting.

Many reflux kids have delayed gut reactions which can take between 1 hour and 3 days to show up, appearing as reflux flare ups, diahhroa, nappy rash, regurgitating, etc etc. The only way i've been able to figure my girls out has been to keep a food diary so I can track symptoms etc.

I also found that due to the girls having so many food issues that seeing a specialist dietitician and immunologist has been the best thing for us to do. You can either go privately or publically if you want to do this ....

Hi, my little one reacted to pear, we tried it as a first food at 5 months, mainly on advice of a paediatrician so we could give her losec granules. Not only did it flare up her reflux, she also developed eczema for the first time. Apple and peaches were no better. Finally at 8 months we went completely fruit free and her eczema all cleared, never to return. Even now at sixteen months fruits flare her reflux up. We found watties parsnips and carrots fine (sounds gross but she loved it!). Even now we still use it to give her her losec in. His losec may need increasing too though, as it is meant to be increased with weight gain. If you are using the liquid the granules are much more effective. Good luck!

Thats interesting thanks ladies. I made some homemade ones yesterday hoping they might be less acidy than the ones in the can, but he ate them and about 3-4hours later his ezcema had flared up big time and he had a heat like rash all over the top of it, up to his eyes and down his neck and with itchy eyes. Im thinking now it MUST be an allergy or intollerance to that (or something i ate of coarse!!??!!). I have been told to do a food patch test, will this help clarify things you think??

I tried doing some skin patch tests but didn't find them that much of a help. At the hospital egg showed up as a real bad one. The only thing that really worked was elimination and slowly introducing solids again slowly. Then we discovered it was the fruit that was the problem and for some reason, courgettes also. All the other vege I tried was fine. I was very much on my own though; I stopped feeding her solids at 6 months (she was clamping her mouth shut and refusing them anyway so there was very little point!). I waited a few weeks till her eczema had cleared and then tried again with more success. We had seen a paediatrician though who was horrified when I said I was stopping solids, he wrote my GP a letter saying I was a neurotic mother who refused my child food! Needless to say I wouldn't go back to him, very little help! I still think it was the best thing I could of done though as not only did we work out pretty quickly it was fruit that was the problem (we had tried several foods so weren't sure at all which one it was), she also was much more interested in them after having a break and I no longer had to force them in through closed lips! Another one to be very careful of is wheat and gluten. Mine reacted badly to bread which is pretty common, and still can't tolerate any wheat or gluten - no eczema, but screams all night!!

I found that my son could not tolerate pear at that age either. In fact he had symptoms very similar to your son's, sore tummmy, cramps, windy and it was always at night. I found out it was because of delayed reactions to food, which of course we gave during the day, he would react 6,7,8 hours later. I stopped all solid food too (hate to think what your paed would think of me, Debs) as I went right back and discovered that ALL food was giving him these symptoms. So he was off all solid food until he was about 8 months old.

I found probiotics useful for my son when we finally found one he could tolerate. It is the Phytocare brand, neocare. The actual probiotic in it is bifidobacterium infantis. My naturopath said the 'infantis' was the key to the babies tolerating it???

Anyhow with the help of this probiotic he started gradually to tolerate quinoa, then pear, then peach then carrot. We are still stuck on these four foods at ten months old, but it's better than none!

We had patch testing done, and basically it showed he reacted to most of the usual suspects (wheat, egg, peanut, soy). I would proceed with caution on the solids.

All the best, it's not easy.

Fruits often upset reflux because they are acidic and although pear is the least acidic it can still cause problems. We only ever gave a teaspoon with Omeprazole once a day up until about a year of age. Any more resulted in a grizzley child. However, it is important to introduce solids around six months even if it is only one solid. So if there is a problem try another solid. Rice or kumara are good first choices. Stick with small amounts only until you find one they can tolerate, and then increase volume slowly as large volumes can also flare up reflux. Volume and type isn't particularily important nutrionally wise until about one year when they should be eating a sort of normal family diet. Learning (both behaviourally and gastro-intestinally (is that a word?)) to eat and digest solids, and different textures is more important. At least in my opinion and from what I have been told by experts.
Delaying solids too long can cause more problems in the long run and should only be done under paediatrician and dietician advice.
It is fair enough to stop a solid and wait a few days before trying the next to let symptoms settle but no longer.

Omeprazole isn't as weight dependant as other medications and as long as symptoms are controlled it doesn't need increasing for weight gain. If the dosage becomes under the recommendations for weight and reflux is still controlled, this is a good indication that the child is outgrowing reflux. It is fine to give Omeprazole with something that is not acidic as long as it is also not alkaline (eg milk). I'm not sure where carrots and parsnips fall into the pH range.