I have a lovely little prem baby who, because he is born early, has not developed his sphincter fully and has terribly painful reflux.
We've medicated but it doesn't make any difference because there is no medication that develops an underdeveloped sphincter, it's just a game of wait-and-grow!
Meanwhile, we are finding it IMPOSSIBLE to put our baby down, all day every day. He either is horribly sick, or writhing around screaming in pain.
The GP has suggested it would be appropriate to front sleep him, and this has also been supported by the hospital. All of the advice given is 'unofficial' and 'behind closed doors', because it goes against the current guidelines.
I am completely unnerved by this. I am desperate to sleep, as is my partner. As is our newborn baby. And this could go on for months.
But I really am scared to risk SIDS. So I've decided that the best compromise is to get a sensor alarm. I've read reviews for the Angelcare sensor monitor which the baby lies on, or the Respisense sensor monitor that is clipped to the baby's waist.
I have no idea which is best and would appreciate any information anyone has about either of these, to help me make an informed choice.
Does anyone
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atrcts · 06/07/2013 11:04
Bumping as we're keen to find out to help our own little refluxer 
The slings are helping us, but we also find that the wedges aren't enough. Our HV said another lady in our area whose child had extremely severe reflux was helped by a giant wedge you can get called the res-q wedge, I've been hesitant so far because of the cost but am getting tempted! It holds them at a proper 45 degree angle and can be used for stomach sleeping, apparently.
I'd also seen the 45 degree tilt wedge but it won't fit in the pushchair and if he can't sit upright in me without wriggling, screaming and vomiting then I'm guessing it won't make much difference for us
Good luck with your little one - it kind of dampens down the joy of a cute little newborn as we are wishing the little stage away, holding our breath for a nice strong-fully-developed-sphincter!
Our gastroenterologist had us try cutting out dairy and soy - his advice was that the majority of babies who are allergic to dairy are also allergic to soy. He also said to expect a dramatic change in 3-4 days, and a full change by 4 weeks - it seems like a lot of women are unnecessarily cutting out dairy because they see changes over many weeks that are actually a result of the system maturing.
The omeprazole didn't work much for us, but if you are desperate for sleep then it may be worth a try. The idea is that unlike ranatidine, it totally blocks acid production, making a very dramatic difference. Even though it is still a mechanical problem like you mention, the dramatically reduced acidity means that when the reflux does inevitably happen there is still much less acid in babies oesophagus, meaning less immediate pain and reduced long term damage and inflammation.
This is why for mild cases they use positional changes, but more extreme ones will almost always end up on large doses of omeprazole.
It sadly still isn't enough for DS at the moment, but they are looking to increase his dose - we've decided to give that a shot, but if it doesn't work out we'd also rather have him off meds unless they're making a real difference.
Appreciate everyone's input.
I bought the Angelcare A300 motion only sensor, and it's absolutely brilliant so far.
It is so reassuring to find that I have a back up (obviously still checking in person regularly too), and that the poor little mite can have some more comfortable positions when at his worst reflux-wise.
I expected to have false alarms but haven't had a single one yet, and used it an awful lot today. So far so good 
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Yes, our first baby had reflux as well. I naively told everyone that, because we had experienced reflux once, then we wouldn't get it again. 
Famous last words!
Our first was also forceps delivery, so very bruised and really troubled from the start, and being first time parents it was hard to tell what was what.
He was always sick but never projectile vomiting, so it took me a while to realise what was going on. Eventually we medicated him with Gaviscon and then when weaned at 6 months, stopped it.
Very soon after we had to hospitalise him because he developed severe apnea. He would even stop breathing in the middle of a feed! After examining him thoroughly the doctors said it was reflux causing that automatic reflex newborns have for the first year (which allows them to be safely submerged in water because they hold their breath). Apparently silent reflux is a bit like submerging them under water - nice!
So we had to put him back on Gaviscon until he was a year old and then strictly wean the doses down over a few months. He was fine after that. But it made me realise he was probably more severe than I'd first thought, and because I seemed to be coping, everyone at the GP surgery didn't seem to think to offer any further medication/support (which at the time made me believe it wasn't a bad case of reflux).
So here we are with son number 2, and with reflux all over again! The second time round is a bit different though, this little fella is much harder to put down and seems to be in much more agony as soon as we try to (first son would fall asleep on the breast and then wake up in pain about 1 - 1 1/2 hours later).
First son constantly trickled vomit which we caught on a doubled up muslin, whereas second son vomits straight after a feed massively - lovely white milk pooling in his neck, looks like we've trickled a small glass of milk into the crater of his neck!
We tried medicating with Gaviscon and ranitidine for a few weeks, but as it didn't seem to work we aborted and didn't notice the difference so have kept off it.
Interestingly he doesn't I've up his wind easily either and I don't know how much this could be linked, or whether we have trapped wind to add to the mix. We try all sorts of winding positions; over the shoulder, sitting up leaning forwards, laying over the knee face down, cycling motion, etc, and have tried rubbing as well as patting, but when it's stuck it's well and truly not going to budge for love nor money!
But, as I found before with my first son, and as has been mentioned in this thread, it won't last forever and they (thankfully) grow out of it.
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