My second child had reflux and excema.  Taking dairy products out of my
diet eliminated the excema but NOT the reflux.  I kept her upright most
of her first six months of life.  I did not feed her lying down.  We got
up and nursed in the rocker at night.  If I was too tired to hold her
after she fell asleep, I put her in the crib which had an elevated
mattress on one end.  The crib was next to my bed so I could hear if she
began to spit up.  She stopped spitting up at six months of age.
Gradually the spitting up reduced until I realized I had gone for a week
with the same spit up diaper and hadn't changed it in all that time
because she hadn't needed it.  Mothers need to be told that dairy can be
a cause of baby's spitting up but is certainly not the only reason.
There are physiologic reasons for babies to throw milk back up.  I was
an experienced mother, LLL leader, Childbirth educator and parenting
teacher.  The volume of milk that kept coming back up panicked me.
Luckily I knew to check for wet diapers, stooling, dehydration symptoms
etc.  However, even with that knowledge I still didn't sleep well for
weeks, watching her.  It seems like the entire stomach empties.  Mothers
of babies with reflux need lots of education and support.  It is very
scary.

Debi Lanning
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