Gastro Oesophagel reflux

[2now4]

My 9 week old girl has just been diagnosed with acid reflux - lots of constant crying and obvious pain for most of the waking hours - the medication seems to be doing little to ease things and she has a huge amount of wind.

The whole family are becoming frazzled not least her and her twin sister. I understand this is soemthing that could continue until she is 2 - anyone have experience of this and any tips to help settle things?

I feel desperate and begining to dread getting up in the morning to face more crying and screaching in pain. I feel utterly useless not being able to make things better for her.

[CastsSpellsWitchySpells]

Just a quickie for now but I'll try and check back later. There are lots of diff meds available, so if hers aren't working ask for others.

DD seems to be growing out of this a little - weaning has helped (she's now 8 months) and paed said to try reducing her meds from 9 months, as they often get rid of it by then.

Have you looked into dairy intolerance too? My DD, and many others it seems, have both. Is she breast or bottle fed?

[Janbo25]

my ds had this he is now 21 months old, like you feeding was a nightmare and you could see that he was in pain, however once he was fully weaned we havn't had any problems at all other than that he still is a windy toddler but it doesn't bother him!

[ScreamandYellowFeathers]

Hiya
Sorry to hear about your little girl.

I have a ds who is 7 weeks tomorrow. He was diagnosed when he was just 2 weeks and hearing from other peoples experiences with diagnosis, we were quite lucky.
Atm he has been put on the Enfamil Formula (don't know if you've heard of it), it is alot thicker compared to normal formula and also thickens with the stomach acid so it makes it a bit harder to throw up.
We were refered to the hospital last week with it and the Dr recomemmended Ranitidine to help with the discomfort because he sometimes can take up to 2 hours to try and be sick and within that time he is very upset and obviously in pain.
The Dr did say that she thought Enfamil was the best for Reflux although every baby is different. There is another formula which can be got on prescription. I can't remember the name but it begins with an N (if you do a search on here I'm sure it will come up).

I just make sure that I keep ds upright for a good few minutes after a feed be it propped up in his rocker or me just holding him. I've also put a little box under his carry cot to tilt it as he's vomited in that on more than one occasion and IME its quite scary for both of you when they vomit laying down.

After speaking to the HV about it as shes been pretty good, she says that bath times are quite common for vomiting regardless of when they have fed, wind is also a common thing especially from the lower parts and that water can help but I know that my ds cannot keep water down and when he brings that up so does his previous feed!
You can also get Gaviscon for babies via prescription.

You may already be doing all this but I just wanted you to kn ow your not on your own.
Its horrible to see them suffer with it.

[2now4]

Its awful that such young babies have to endure this. My little girl is on infant gaviscon in her feed and domperidone and omperazole given by syringe - which I think are similar to ranitidine. Seems a lot of medication for such a little bundle. and she seems very lethargic I guess sheer exhaustion from crying.

Im having real problems winding as she screams and fights me of I think in anticipation of the pain the acid causes when it comes up. She looks so sad just when her twin sister is beining to discover and enjoy...............

Its always good to know there are others out there

[ScreamandYellowFeathers]

Yeah, I find ds is quite lethargic but seems more so after he has vomited. It just wears him out and then he wants to feed again!

We've had a bad day today with the vomiting. All over me too which is always nice!