Silent Reflux/Colic/Dairy Intolerance?? Anyone any idea?

[stepfordmum]

Hi there

Apologies for the long post, my daughter is 6 weeks old and has been diagnosed with silent reflux (for which she has been prescribed 3 types of medication), but I'm not sure that is what is wrong, but whatever it is, she is worse at night and I am desperate for some sleep, would be grateful of any thoughts (started around 2 weeks).

Basically her symptoms are as follows:

• Cries and brings her knees up on and off all day
  
• Disturbed day time sleep as seems to wake in pain, only really sleeps during day in sling
  
• only sleeps at night lying on me
  
• when crying with knees up also seems like she is trying to poo
  
• Hiccups
  
• Noisy tummy
  
• Poos once a day (but hasn't now poo'd for a couple of days)
  
• She does not cry after feeds and does seem to settle when feed
  
• You can lie her down after a feed
  
• she sometimes bobs on and off breast but not bottle
  
• Very restless sleeper unless on me
  

But the worse bit is at night, most nights, usually around 4 am, she gets very restless and starts bringing her knees up and acting like she needs to poo, she also passes wind a lot. It usually takes a couple of hours to settle her properly back to sleep, during which time she cries on and off.

Thank you for any help.

PS Apologies for any spelling/grammar errors, seriously sleep deprived!

[CatsRule]

The bringing the legs up sounds more like colic. My ds had/has reflux and constantly vomited and still does.

He used to wake up during the night screaming a painful scream and sweating with it but not pulling his legs up. The only thing that helped him was a bf.

He is nearly a year now and through trial and error we have found the little and often approach has helped to keep some food down him but we have noticed that some dairy, not all, upsets him.

He can take cheese but yoghurt and eggs upset him. He is better with soya yoghurt. We haven't yet started him on full fat milk but I am dubious that it will agree with him.

I don't know the link with reflux, colic and dairy intolerance or if there is one.

It is hard, especially when they are so tiny. I felt like I just fed constantly...he turned out to be a grazer! He is actually a great eater now but it can be hard to keep the food in him.

I totally understand the sleep deprivation! I also tried tp eat a bland ish diet when bf, I cut out spicy things too, I'm not sure if they.would affect reflux but I was willing to try help him in anyway I could. It may be worth a go.

[tangledupinpoo]

Hi Stepford, I'm not hugely experienced but my DS1 had silent reflux and also a suspected dairy intolerance. The reflux wasn't diagnosed early as he always liked to lie down, more than being held and cuddled, and it seems refluxy babies mostly like being upright. He also rarely vomited when he was just breast/bottle fed (hence the 'silent', I suppose). He was more settled on a bottle - I wondered whether the consistency of flow suited him better.

Not sure which medications your DD has been put on, but if one of them is Omeprazole (Losec), then I have seen some posters on here saying it affected sleep. My DS was on Losec from 6 months and it didn't seem to affect his sleeping though he never slept a lot anyway.

Could you borrow a swing to try it? It hugely soothed my DS, and I used to let him have his morning nap in it - it gave me 40 mins peace at least!

When DS was a baby, I remember reading a paper saying that even if refluxy babies aren't dairy intolerant, having non-dairy formula (eg Neocate) can still help them.

Also if you put silent reflux symptoms into a 'dairy intolerance' self test thingy, they are very similar symptoms so it will often come out saying, yes, strong possibility of dairy intolerance. But it may just be reflux.

Sorry, that's a bit of a garble. I think I am trying to say, that for me, the reflux and dairy intolerance symptoms overlapped, and we weren't entirely sure which my DS had until he had proper reflux tests (pH probe, endoscopy etc.)

But also that the liking lying down thing may be a red-herring as my DS really liked that and was more settled lying down quietly than being held.

Hope someone with lots of experience is along soon. Poor you, it's very tough having an unsettled baby.

[JessTheatres]

im wondering if my daughter has similar? she is 6 weeks old and is mostly formula fed but i am able to bf her once a day. she often will cry/scream in her sleep and brings her knees up and though this is a minute or 2 and she mostly goes back to sleep, it of course means we wake up and she doesnt sleep really for more than 3/4 hours without waking.

when she is awake she often seems in discomfort and strains and grunts a lot like she is trying to poo. in the last week she does a green sludgy poo once a day but before would only poo once every 2-3 days.

She will go down and sleep in her basket but thats after falling asleep on us (but i guess thats fairly normal for her age). She also hiccups a lot. we do burp her frequently during a feed and sometimes its varied how easy it is to get her wind up. like your lo she will usually settle better after a feed but it varies so often, you never know! we give her infacol before every feed and it does seem to make things easier but her symptoms arent going away and its so upsetting to see her in such obvious pain. she isnt a sicky baby really (apart from normal posseting) so not sure it sounds like a reflux and she doesnt do the screaming in the evening so it doesnt seem like colic, but i am wondering if i should take her to the doctors to see if there is something we can give her to ease her pain?

[stepfordmum]

Thankyou.

Hi tangledupinpoo what other symptoms did your DS have? We did buy a swing but unfortunately it only settled her the first 2 times I put her in it :(. The DR says that dairy intolerance is really rare but I will push it next time I see her. To try to get some appropriate formula to see if it helps. The paedotrician (forgive spelling) has told the Dr to give her Domperidone, Ranitidine and Gaviscon but I feel uncomfortable about giving her all this as he/she hasn't even seen her. We have stopped the gaviscon in case it is stopping her pooing. At the moment I am only giving the rantidine but I don't think it is making any difference.

JessTheatres the symptoms do sound very similar to my DD.

[CatsRule]

Can I also say that my ds was given gaviscon and while his symptoms eased it did make him so constipated that he was sick anyway with straining! We also had to give him lactulose to help him poo but the balance was never found.

[tangledupinpoo]

Hi Stepford, Sorry, had a frantic day and only just catching up here. I should get to bed now but will look out some of his baby notes (!) tomorrow. He is five now so it's all a bit hazy!

He was generally a very unsettled baby, but got more settled at about 4 months when he started to suck his fingers. He screamed when he was being fed, and refused the breast, and generally acted like I was trying to poison him! He only ever fed very small amounts at a time - 1 to 2 mins on breast or 2 oz from bottle, usually quite often (every one to one and a half hours).

However, he was born very small for dates (IUGR) and was diagnosed at 9 months with a rare growth condition, and some of his lack of appetite etc would have been down to that. Reflux is one of the complications that children with his condition can get.

Special milks are quite expensive - Neocate especiallly - that may be one reason your doc is reluctant to prescribe

Sorry, am so tired, just really not getting thoughts together now! Just one more thing, maybe try posting in the feeding / breastfeeding topic as well - there seem to be some very experienced people on there who may give you more direction! Feel I am only giving you one example. I will post tomorrow though and try and be a bit more coherent!

Hope your night is not too awful.

[twilight81]

My ds had terrible silent reflux, at first it seemed as though he was straining for the toilet but it was just where he was in pain.
The difference I found between colic and reflux was that when my dd had colic she cried around the same time each day, with reflux my ds cried ALL the time, he was never settled and never slept. He had the noisy hiccups made big gulping noises and when he cried he would arch backwards rather than pull legs up. He struggled to drink his milk and I had to feed him 2 hourly even through the night for over a year as he could take no more than 2-3 ounces a time.. He was diagnosed with a hiatus hernia which is the cause of his reflux. We tried every medication and medicated formula available, I would say I found omeprazole to be most effective. Have you been refered to a gastro paed, if they suspect reflux this would be your best bet in getting the correct treatment plan.

[stepfordmum]

Thank you all so much, I'm still not sure whether it is silent reflux or not but I am going to push to see a gastro paed rather than just my usual Dr.

Yesterday evening was pretty bad but at the usual 4 am slot, the flatulence didn't wake her up although she was very restless, but she was definitely bringing her knees up rather than arching her back.