reflux and sleep apnea? please help...

[BlahBlahYackedySmackedy]

DD2 is 6wks. For just over a week she has had raspy, snuffly breathing which gets a lot worse at night. She spits up,mostly when on her back (when sleeping or changing nappy) but sometimes when she is being winded. Only occasionally has this caused her to scream n usually is contented. I have noticed that she swallows and grimaces quite a bit, but again there is rarely crying. She is not happy being put down on her back until she is in deep sleep. When she is in deep sleep her breathing sounds fine.
She will wake up however with her heavy breathing and start writhing around the cot. It is at this time she sometimes stops breathing. This is usually for around 3-5secs so not a long time, but it feels like ages in the night when I am listening. Her breathing really sounds like she is struggling to get air in, like she has a really blocked nose. Everytime we go to the gp she is in her car seat and her breathing is regular. Typical.
She has been prescribed infant gaviscon and we used it for the first time yesterday. I am exclusively bf and have found the preparation time consuming, and DD2 hates it. She screams and I worry she will choke on it. It has so far had no effect other than making her poo thicker. In fact she seems to be bringing up more milk than before. Her breathing has remained the same.

Has anybody else experienced this and how was it treated? I am heartbroken listening to her at night and worry so much. I'm on the verge of going to hospital with her as i am dreading another night.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[naty1]

Mine wouldnt lie flat on back.
At about 6m i eliminated soya from mine and her diet. It helped her sleep better.
We had some coughing/choking after the whooping cough vaccinactions. But never the snuffling you are talking about.
The gaviscon can give constipation.
I always found mine was fine in her car seat (but was very glad i never bought a lie flat attachment to pushchair as that would have wasted £100 or so as she never lay in moses basket unless i bf her to sleep.)
She would feed very frequently

[BlahBlahYackedySmackedy]

Hi
Yes she feeds frequently too. I did read breast milk was a natural antacid. Plus because of the frequent feeding her weight is fine.

I forgot to mention that as of yesterday I am cutting cows milk and all dairy products out of my diet.

Is it possible to have reflux with infrequent bouts of crying? I'm so confused and fed up.

[hotcrosshunny]

Sounds like my ds.

It could be silent reflux or could be tongue tie.

I ended up lying ds on his left hand side with his left arm stretched out in front of him because he would stop breathing on his back. It was incredibly stressful but I did s lot of reading around and concluded that lying on his left meant he was less likely to bring up acid and less likely to have breathing difficulties.

[Poppet45]

Going dairy (and soya as a third react to it too) is a good idea but u must be strict. Gaviscon is useless if yr bfing. You need ranitadine at least and preferably omeprazole at a dose of at least 3mgs per kg. Reflux doescause breathing issues and can double risk of sids. An angelcare style movement monitor kept me sane as dd's breathing was also affected by her reflux - she went floppy and breath held afew times due to the acid. If your GP doesnt get it I'd contemplate OoH or A&E this weekend. Six weeks or so is a classic time for cmpi (now called delayed milk allergy) symptoms to appear.

[BlahBlahYackedySmackedy]

Thanks for the input. We have an angelcare monitor but I have read they are not that effective at safeguarding SIDS. But I'm glad we have it. I am definitely worrying now I know reflux/breathing difficulties increase the chance of SIDS.
been over 24hr of no dairy (I will also begin restricting soya) but there appears to he no improvement. It is at night when things are worse and so I'll see how we go tonight. I have looked into ranitidine and will speak to the doctor if no improvement tonight. Did it help with your DDs breathing and how long did it take to work?
I have thought of putting her on her side. Did this improve things including breathing? I am considering giving a dummy but not sure if that will help or make her breathing worse.

[hotcrosshunny]

Yes it did help breathing. When on his left side (not right) the oesophagus (pipe from stomach to throat) is at an angle so it cannot easily come up (or something like that!). You can also tilt the cot by sticking books or bricks under the legs at the head end.

We also had ranitidine as well.

Dairy takes about two weeks to completely clear.

Have you ruled out tongue tie as can cause similar symptoms to silent reflux due to excess air being swallowed.

[BlahBlahYackedySmackedy]

We've got books under the head end of her cot.
Its definitely not tongue tie as she was checked for this as a newborn in hospital n the HV has recently looked. Looks like I'm seeing the GP for ranitidine. How long did it take before you noticed improvement in breathing?

[ZuleikaD]

Don't worry about the snuffling - it's just birth mucus and it takes them a few weeks to clear their noses. And don't worry about the posseting either - being sick is a perfectly normal condition for babies!

Seriously - your baby doesn't sound like she has any conditions at all - she just sounds like a normal baby! I know it can be very worrying when they sound like they're uncomfortable, but honestly nothing you have described sounds like anything you need to go to the GP about (as you say, you've already been and both the GP and the HV are saying she's perfectly fine).

[BlahBlahYackedySmackedy]

Did you read my op at all? They have said it is reflux. In terms of birth mucus she is now 7wk old today and this has only started recently, not since being born. She is sleeping very little and writhing about, so she is uncomfortable. But thanks.

[BlahBlahYackedySmackedy]

Did you read my op at all? They have said it is reflux. In terms of birth mucus she is now 7wk old today and this has only started recently, not since being born. She is sleeping very little and writhing about, so she is uncomfortable. But thanks.

[BlahBlahYackedySmackedy]

Did you read my op at all? They have said it is reflux. In terms of birth mucus she is now 7wk old today and this has only started recently, not since being born. She is sleeping very little and writhing about, so she is uncomfortable. But thanks.

[hotcrosshunny]

Its not normal snuffling when baby stops breathing briefly. That used to scare the shit out of me when ds did it. I remember prodding him quite hard once before he started again!

The ranitidine worked almost immediately but I preferred to keep on his left side anyway.

I would also have her checked for tongue tie.

[ZuleikaD]

Yes, Blah I did read your original post, and your subsequent posts - if you read them you'll see that nowhere did you mention reflux had been diagnosed by an HCP. You really don't need to reply three times.

If it's not birth mucous then it might just be a cold.

[BlahBlahYackedySmackedy]

ZuleikaD it says reflux in the title and that gaviscon has been prescribed. I thought people would realise.

Hotcrossbunny it is very scary and I am losing sleep through it which isnt helping my frame of mind. I think I will go back to the doctors today if I can get an appointment.

[hotcrosshunny]

I'm sure Zulieka that the three replies were a mistake.

OP go back to the docs. They usually prescribe gaviscon first anyway which they've done before ranitidine. But I would strongly recommend seeing a BF counsellor to check for tongue tie as it could be that is contributing. My dd had both tongue tie and silent reflux and fixing one didn't fix the other iyswim? So wasn't until we fixed both did we get anywhere.

[BlahBlahYackedySmackedy]

I've been told she hasn't got tongue tie though..?
How long should I give gaviscon? I've realised I was only last in on tues!

[hotcrosshunny]

I gave the gaviscon a week. I struggled with it though and gave it before a feed.

If TT has been ruled out then that is good.

[BlahBlahYackedySmackedy]

I have been giving it during feeds, particularly at night. I will feed her a bit to take the edge off the hunger and preparing gaviscon and then feed after to either calm her down or feed her to sleep at night. I thought as it ìs meant to thicken the milk the benefit would have been quite quick. I bet the doctor is sick of me! Since taking gaviscon she is bring up more milk rather than the curdled watery stuff, but breathing is still terrible.

[naty1]

Im not sure if mine had tongue tie she was never checked but im quite sure she has a lip tie and people say that means she would have a posterior tongue tie.
The lip tie is probably easier to see.

[MooseBeTimeForSpring]

I was told it takes 14 days for dairy to completely leave your system, so it will be a few days before you start to see any results

[ipswichwitch]

Ds1 was ebf and had horrendous reflux. It did improve with time (nothing else seemed to work) - could never put him down after a feed, always had to wait til he was in a deep sleep like your LO. We had the end of his cot propped up too.

He had always been a very noisy breather and snored from birth but we kept getting told it was fine. Then from when he turned 2 he developed sleep apnoea (he may have had this earlier but we hadn't witnessed it). He is now 2.6 and it is getting worse - waking hysterical many times a night when his breathing stops. He's getting tired and irritable through the day, and had numerous episodes of tonsillitis. He is now waiting for a date to have his tonsils and adenoids removed as they are enlarged and causing airway obstruction and the apnoea. It may be worth you getting your LO checked for the same as the surgeon expects 100% improvement in DS after surgery (hopefully him sleeping through for once!)

[ipswichwitch]

Ds1 was ebf and had horrendous reflux. It did improve with time (nothing else seemed to work) - could never put him down after a feed, always had to wait til he was in a deep sleep like your LO. We had the end of his cot propped up too.

He had always been a very noisy breather and snored from birth but we kept getting told it was fine. Then from when he turned 2 he developed sleep apnoea (he may have had this earlier but we hadn't witnessed it). He is now 2.6 and it is getting worse - waking hysterical many times a night when his breathing stops. He's getting tired and irritable through the day, and had numerous episodes of tonsillitis. He is now waiting for a date to have his tonsils and adenoids removed as they are enlarged and causing airway obstruction and the apnoea. It may be worth you getting your LO checked for the same as the surgeon expects 100% improvement in DS after surgery (hopefully him sleeping through for once!)

[ipswichwitch]

Apologies for double post - stupid iphone

[Superworm]

DS has silent reflux and had an episodes of apnea from it, first one was at six weeks. He was a pretty settled newborn so it wasn't obvious. This fact sheet is useful.

We ended up in A&E and they referred us to a gastro pead that diagnosed dairy and soy allergies. I eliminate both completely from my diet as I'm BFing. You need to be really strict with it and it takes 2-3 weeks to see improvements. Kellymom has some good info on allergies.

I completely understand the stress. DS pretty much spent the first few months on his life upright as I was
paranoid! Keeping him upright for 30 mins after each feed helped a lot. The cat seat squashes their tummies so can make reflux worse. Slings are good it you have one.

[Superworm]

Car seat - not cat seat

An in case i wasn't clear, the reflux was caused by the allergies. He was also very mucousy which everyone kept saying was normal but it wasn't.