New to this! Reflux help needed!

[JennyLouiseKelly]

Hi,

My DD will be 4 weeks old tomorrow - she has been suffering with silent reflux but has started to get herself so upset that she has been sick a few times recently. Thankfully she feeds really well - 4oz every 3 hours, sometimes hungry after 2 hours - and is putting on plenty of weight.

The reflux seems to affect her an hour or so after she's been fed, she will then scream and scream in pain. Sometimes it wakes her up 2 hours after a feed and so she will scream until it's time to be fed again (it is on these occasions that she will sometimes be sick).

She coughs and splutters on the acid / milk in her throat and regularly has very raspy breathing / hiccups etc. I have her moses basket and the crib downstairs propped up on an angle.

DD is on gaviscon but this is having little effect, the GP advice to increase the dose just made her constipated. She was also on aptamil comfort milk but after 2 weeks this just seemed to make her very windy and uncomfortable so I have switched back to Aptamil 1.

Back at the GP's tomorrow - hopefully for some ranitidine.

Anyone have a similar experience? I'm exhausted and feel like I'm going crazy.

Any advice, thoughts etc will be much appreciated! I'm new to mumsnet and forums in general but the advice and support on here seems so good I thought I'd give it a go!
xxx

[stargirl1701]

Yes, DD had silent reflux. We did get some relief using Ranitidine. There are different doses per weight so if you see no improvement keep going back to the GP until you are prescribed the max dose. We ended up needing a paediatric referral so it might be worth asking for the referral now as the wait can be long.

Do you have a sling? A sleeping wedge? Have you joined littlerefluxers.co.uk? Is your HV any good? Have you considered a Home Start volunteer?

I found movement helped DD so we rode the bus everyday in a circular route. She was in her pram and I slept on the seat with a pillow. It gave me an hour of sleep. DH and I had one night a week in the spare drugged on Night Nurse so we got one night's sleep. We had one night away a month at friends/family. We got a cleaner. We got a babysitter one evening a week and drive to a layby to cuddle, cry and sleep.

At it's worst DD slept for 40 minutes in 12 hours. After we saw the Paediatric Consultant (at 7 months) we saw improvement and within a week she was sleeping 12 hours overnight plus 2 naps. You will need a referral to get an Omeprazole (sp?) prescription.

DD is now 13 months and we are slowly weaning her off the meds.

[JennyLouiseKelly]

Thanks stargirl! Love the advice about getting a cleaner etc- DH has suggested this so think I will do exactly that!

One thing I forgot to mention is DD sleeps well at night between feeds - reflux symptoms seem to only kick in at 7am and continue until about 9pm. This is strange I know but my DS (now aged 9) suffered with silent reflux and was exactly the same (Gaviscon worked wonders for him unlike with DD).

I suppose I can't really complain about sleeping after hearing what you went through! So glad things got better for you eventually - I hope it doesn't get that bad here!

Its just so awful seeing them in pain and not knowing what to do for the best!

Any tips for what to say to the GP to ensure I get the medication / referrals she needs?

[stargirl1701]

Video an episode on your phone to show the GP. That really helped us. I did have to see 6 GPs in 8 days to get the referral though

It will get better but it is hell for everyone in the meantime. We found things were worst between 4-7 months. We were asked to try early weaning but I resisted and I'm glad I did. Initially, solids made the silent reflux much worse.

[LowLevelWhinging]

Aptamil Reflux worked for us (not the comfort milk).

Only available from boots here www.boots.com/en/Aptamil-Anti-Reflux-From-Birth-to-1-Year-900g_1262723/

[stargirl1701]

Be aware the anti-reflux milks are not made to NHS guidelines and you run the risk of your LO becoming seriously ill from formula contamination.

We decided against anti-reflux milk for DD. The risk was too high for us.

[JennyLouiseKelly]

Got referral to Paediatrician and appointment is in 2 weeks time - delighted! My GP was brilliant!

[stargirl1701]

That's brilliant news!