Help - Reflux or cows milk allergy??

[Natterday]

Hi all,

This is my first post on mums net so bare with me!!

My daughter is 4 and a half weeks old and has been on Aptamil first milk and is very sick and unsettled for 2 sometimes more hours after her feeds she is constantly sick and I can't lay her down. She goes bright red, very unsettled and quite snuffly after feeds. I have also noticed she is getting a lot of dry skin on her face. Poo wise she had been quite constipated but has had a few more explosive poos recently normally yellow but sometimes green and more runny at the end.

GP gave gaviscon but she was still bad so went back and have been given ranitidine to give as well but have been using it since Monday and she is still very sick and unsettled.

Sleep deprivation really getting to me now. Not sure if I should try an anti reflux milk or push GP to see if she is intolerant to cows mill and try a special milk on prescription?

Any help much appreciated, don't know what to do now and poor baby isn't getting much sleep either!!

[rhewitt]

Hi - sorry to hear your little girl has been so unsettled.
It sounds to me like trying a different Milk is worth trying. My youngest was unsettled, had problems with skin and got infected cradle cap. It was only when he started weaning we realised he had a milk allergy all along! Fortunately I was breastfeeding so not as bad as it could have been but as soon as we kept dairy out of his weaning foods and I cut it out of my diet his skin cleared right up.
Better to try that than keep medicating in my opinion.
Hope you find the cause quickly so you can all get some rest x

[HandsOffMyRights]

My sympathies OP. Sounds like me 13 years ago!

For months we went through Gaviscon, Ranitidine and other products until we found a solution (suggested by me at my wit's end).

Milk thickener (turned milk into thick shakes) and Soya formula.
Personally, I think the milk thickener would have been enough on its own.

Overnight my baby went from a writhing, agonised, skinny, projectile vomiting baby to a happy one (even if it did take him ages to consume one thick shake).

Good luck.

[HelloPeopl3]

You sound exactly like me & my baby.

Can I suggest Aptimil Anti Reflux Milk. It's been a godsend to me.

Doctors thought my DD had a dairy intolerance as well as milk intolerance. None of the milk helped with her reflux.

I came across this milk in the supermarket and she hasn't had any kind of reflux since starting to use it. It's got a really thick consistency so you might need to go up a teat size while using if. If you decide to try it. Ita £13 per tub

Hope this helps

[Natterday]

Hi everyone

Thank you for your replies. Things have gone from bad to worse here. Was prescribed Nutrimigen milk today from Gp to see if baby is lactose intolerant and she has not responded well at all. Have had a very upset crying baby all night long and she is not keeping the milk down, it is so thin she is just throwing it all straight back up and getting very upset. Also had several sloppy poos when normally she only goes every 2-3 days.

Getting very worried now as she is not keeping much down and is a very unhappy baby now and with it being the weekend now I just don't know what to do??

Do I persevere with the Nutrimigen?? Or take her to walk in center or a and e if she's not keeping any food in all weekend?

Help!!

[HandsOffMyRights]

OP what's the latest?
Bumping this for you.

My baby was on Nutramigen, but as ai mentioned, this was only in combination with the milk thickener to create a thick milk that could be consumed.
I think the key was the thickener (you spoon it in and just mix up).

However, I don't recall he had a reaction like yours as we never touched the milk on its own.

I hope you can get some better answers and that your baby is ok.

[Natterday]

Hi Handoffmyrights

Thank you for bumping, I'm new to this stuff!!

I finally got baby to settle to sleep on my shoulder at about 3.30am and managed to put her down in her snoozpod at 5am (after several failed attempts) slept there until 7am after some fussing.

Have just given her another feed with the nutrimigen with gaviscon in it. She has taken 80mls. Been sick and now seems more settled on my shoulder. I daren't give her any more incase it upsets her but she is 5 weeks old tomorrow and I'm worried 80mls isn't enough??

[HandsOffMyRights]

Can you get some professional advice this morning?

I think my baby would have been sick on whatever milk we tried as it was all too thin for him to keep down.

I know PP mentioned the Reflux milk and we had the thickener prescribed, which I think you could try.

[girlmummy25]

Nutramigen has a not so nice taste and is so thin!
My DD had it for a while - if you can get some Carobel to thicken it should help.
I think if it isnt helping after a few days then your littlen isnt CMPA which is what Nutramigen is for.
Aptamil do a lactose free milk.
My Dd had silent reflux that nothing would help :(
We tried anti-reflux milk too which made a small difference but id personally built up scoop by scoop to anti reflux milk as can cause constipation

[PragmaticWench]

Lactose intolerance in babies is extremely rare unless a parent is also lactose intolerant, it's MUCH more common to be CMPA (cows milk protein allergy). This goes hand-in-hand with reflux and is often confused. A baby can often gave reflux caused by CMPA and the milks for CMPA are very thin so something like ranitidine or omeprazole can help.

It might be worth joining the CMPA reflux group on facebook for some advice. I'd also Google the NICE recommendations for GPs to treat CMPA, as they often are reluctant to try an amino acid formula as it's expensive.

[Natterday]

Hi everyone

Thank you for the advice. Had trouble getting her to take the nutrimigen this morning but has taken better amounts this evening. Still being very sick and unsettled now, it is very thin milk and smells horrible.

Not sure it is the right thing. Got to ring Gp tomorrow to let her know how we have got on. She said if this didn't work she would have to refer to hospital but it takes ages so not looking forward to that. I will ask about carobel though as getting through so many outfits, bibs and Muslins at the minute with all the sick it's horrible poor baby.

Still can't put her down in between feeds without her waking herself up being sick. :(

[Natterday]

We have also carried on with ranitidine 3 times a day and upped her gaviscon to try and thicken the milk but nothing is helping :(

[Squeakybubbles26]

Your poor little one OP, it's so hard to find a solution to help them especially when they are in so much pain.
DD2 got prescribed ranitidine on Friday for silent reflux, the dr herself couldn't tell whether it was CMPA or a reflux issue but unfortunately we have to go through different things to find a solution that helps 😢
Maybe try a thickening formula if this milk doesn't help? That's the next thing on our list of things to try!
I know you mentioned about your DD only taking 80mls - this is another thing that we struggle with to 😞 if she takes 2oz I'm happy even better for 3+ but every feed is different! Have you been monitoring Your LO's weight?

[HandsOffMyRights]

Good luck. You've reminded me that we used Carobel (with Nutramigen). I hope you get this sorted soon.

[Natterday]

Hi both

Thank you for replying, sorry to hear you are going through a similar thing Squeakybubbles, I hope the ranitidine helps your LO.

Update from me is that we ended up in a and e last night as was running out of the nutramigen and Dd did a horrible poo with blood in. We saw the registrar (after waiting hours) and he said we need to treat the reflux and prescribed omeprazole for her to have as well as the ranitidine (still waiting for the prescription to be ready to pick up they have said it will be tomorrow now) for this and that if the nutramigen is making her worse we don't have to continue with it. Got to try meds for 4 weeks and if no better he said we might try neonate (lactose free milk).

So today I tried Aptamil anti reflux milk and it stayed down a treat, very little sick and what seemed to be a much happier baby. But this evening it has all gone wrong again :( she has been crying and screaming in pain, I think she is constipated and struggling :( now I'm not sure what to do.

I used size 3 teats for the anti reflux milk but my partner thinks she was struggling to get enough milk out. It has just dawned on me the teats are lansinoh momma natural wave teats that are meant to replicate breast feeding so I'm wondering if they make her work too hard for the thicker milk? Not sure what teats I should try instead or just abandon the anti reflux milk if it is going to make her so constipated??

Help!!

Another sleepless night ahead I think :(

[Squeakybubbles26]

@Natterday your poor LO? It's so hard to find a solution or a formula that works well. It's even more annoying when you know you've got to give it time but you want it to work instantly etc.

Was your LO on aptamil before she got prescribed the dairy free one? We had real trouble with tummy problems, struggling to poo etc on aptamil stage 1 so changed to hipp organic - I don't know if it's made any other symptoms any better or worse however no tummy and poo problems thank god!

I've been recommended that carobel or something to thinking milk? Not sure if you've tried that one?

[girlmummy25]

@Natterday when i used aptamil anti reflux i also had a tin of normal aptamil and would do half of scoops anti reflux and the other half normal so it wasn't as thick which helped prevent constipation and was easier to drink through the teats.
When all scoops are anti reflux its sooo thick! When you pour whats lefts in the bottle down the sink when they are finished the consistency is hardly liquid anymore - more like yogurt!
Maybe give it a try and see how many scoops work for you vs normal scoops.
I read the ingrediants on both aptamils and they are exactly the same other than thickening agent in the anti-reflux so they are fine to mix

[Natterday]

Thank you everyone.

Day two of the aptamil anti reflux and we do seem to have a slightly happier baby touches all the wood a lot less sick and I am now using fast flow teats so she isn't getting as angry trying to get the milk out.

Still a bit constipated I think but gave her some water yesterday in between feeds and poo situation was a bit softer. So will persevere.

She still insists on being awake between midnight and three am fussing but I'm wondering if that is just her thing whatever milk she is on!!

Tired but getting there I think! Thank you all so much for your help. It has helped to keep.me.sane!! X

[HandsOffMyRights]

Baby steps (excuse the pun) but this sounds promising OP!