Dealing with infant GERD?

I have been thinking about telling my story for some time now and decided that it was finally time. Hopefully this can be of help to someone.

My daughter was born in August of 2008, due to jaundice and very low milk production I ended up having to bottle feed her.

When she was 2 1/2 weeks old I noticed one day when I went to check on her that she was flailing her arms and was slightly red in the face but when I picked her up she was fine, so I didn't pay much attention to it, just kept a closer eye on her. A couple of days later I was in the kitchen making dinner and my husband was sitting with her when he yells at me that there was something wrong with the baby. Of course I asked what do you mean? He brings the baby over to me scared because there was something seriously wrong. She was wide eyed, looked scared and was bright red, she wasn't breathing. Her arms were flailing violently this time as if she was struggling for her life. Since she was conscious I figured she must be chocking on something so I tried swiping her throat but there was nothing there. I searched frantically for the little bubble thing they give you at the hospital to suction out their nose and throat but couldn't find it. At this time I told my husband to call 911 while he kept looking and I went into the bathroom with her praying for God to enlighten me.

I remembered a CPR class I took many moons ago and remembered the back blows for babies. So I began pounding on her back while I held her upside down. Those seconds seemed like hours, my husband finally found the bubble thingy and between the back blows and clearing out her throat and nose we finally got her to breathe again. Then the ambulance arrived. They took us to the hospital and they checked her for everything under the sun, EKG included. They treated her as a possible SIDS episode… all I know is that SIDS is permanent. When they released her I was terrified to go home. What if it happened again? What if this time she stopped breathing all together? I didn't leave her side for a second again.

At this point we began to notice that she was producing a lot of really thick phlegm. And then it happened again, she would spit up after, during feedings and would begin to choke on this thick phlegm, it was a nightmare. For months her doctor tried to switch her formula with no success. It became second nature to have to clear her throat and nose after every feeding, waiting for her to choke to help her through it. We had the crib at an incline, held her upright for 30 minutes after every feeding but nothing worked.

UNTIL month number 2. After discussing what was going on with her doctor and how the phlegm was getting worse, she decided to try something. It seemed like the baby was having a reaction to milk in addition to the reflux. So we switched her to (this is not an ad for this product but it's what saved us) Similac Sensitive RS, it's lactose free. It felt like a miracle, she literally stopped choking over night. The phlegm was gone and even though the reflux was still there, it wasn't as bad and NO MORE CHOKING!! We kept her on this formula until she made the switch over to regular milk when she turned 1. Her reflux began to die down and was completely gone by 10 months. And for some reason, even though the lactose milk was a big part of her choking when she was an infant, it has not been a problem any more. She's 2 now and drinks milk like nobody's business.

So if anyone out there is experience this nightmare, talk to your doctor about Similac Sensitive RS, it just may be the one thing you've been looking for.