what excatly is reflux?

[mel1981]

might sound like a stupid question so sorry, but reading some of the threads on here as my son is being quite sick after his bottle feeds and wondering if this could be why? He is 4 weeks old and at first we had problems feeding him (he was a sleepy feeder) now he is feeding and gaining weight, although he feeds a bit, needs winding, naps and feeds more, etc but the last few days after his feeds he is sick quite a bit then gets hungry very quickly after.
It just feels like im forever feeding, winding and cleaning up sick just to start again.
Or could it be because he is a windy baby?

[dollius]

My DS2 had severe reflux so I am the world's expert on it.

He used to projectile vomit everything - breast milk, formula milk, even solid food.

He didn't put on weight for a while and then, when he did, it was very slowly.

At six months, when he sat up, it got much worse (because stomach is crushed more, therefore forcing stuff back up more).

When he learnt to walk (14 months), it stopped. (Upright and therefore not forcing everything up anymore).

We found that ranitidine worked a bit - probably stopped about 50% of the vomiting.
Oemeprazole or whatever it's called works brilliantly, but only comes in tablet form which is very hard to get down a baby, so we had to give up on that.

Anyway, the paediatrician who saw him said that our older son also probably had reflux. He used to vomit after most feeds, but only in a dribbly kind of way - not hitting the ceiling, like DS2.

Any of this sound familiar?

[mummypig]

Reflux is where the stomach acid comes back up the oesophagus - just like heartburn. Sometimes it comes all the way up (as sick) sometimes it doesn't get all the way but still feels very uncomfortable, so the baby cries a lot and might avoid feeding because they associate it with discomfort.

There are some good sites out there explaining it more. Try www.pollywogbaby.com, www.pager.org and littlerefluxers for starters.

Severe reflux can be pretty awful - hoping for your sake that your little ds doesn't have it. But if he does, there's stuff you can do to minimise it, and if necessary, you can use meds as dollius has mentioned. In my experience, though, you need to be pretty pushy to convince the doctors that something is really going on. So if you do pursue this further and go to see a health professional, it's worth looking through the checklists and working out exactly what you need to say to them.

Hope that helps

[bumpsnowjustplump]

My ds has reflux and it is not nice. He is on stage two of medication and stage one (gaviscon) didn't work. The paediatrician told us it is where the muscle at the top of the stomach is not developed enough and so does not close the stomach after feeding. There for the contents of the stomach come back up, but the acid in the stomach comes up with it causing heartburn and acid intigestion.

My son is on Renitadine and donperidone. One is an antacid and one is a anti sickness drug. He is still sick but now he doesn't seem in as much pain.

Does your son arch his back a lot ond cry a lot? Is the sick the just milk or is there clear bile? DS used to arch his back a lot and go as stiff as a board and we could hear the acid bubbling up!! We are hoping that these drugs help because if not they are going to take him in in 3 weeks to put a tube down his throat into his stomach to measure the acid !!!

There are 2 types of reflux apparently one that is a washing problem where there is no issues with weight and no sign of discomfort. If your son is in this category then they are unlikely to treat him. The second type is there the baby is in pain most of the time and or has weight issues...

[bumpsnowjustplump]

so sorry for spelling mistakes there...

[jellybeans]

My 7 month old DS has severe silent reflux. He started at 2 weeks with severe irritibility/screaming all day/night, slept just 40 mins in a full night for 10 weeks, really violent hiccups, choking on refluxed milk, coughing, vomitting, swallowing noises, loud bubbling noises, arching back, blocked nose, sneezing.

He stopped breathing and went blue at 4 weeks due to choking and was admitted to hospital and given 2 drugs, stronger than Gaviscon. It really was awful and stresful, mainly the choking and inconsoulable crying. He is much more manageable now but yet to grow out of it, we were advised that it would probably be a year before he does.

My other 4 kids were all really sick but never screamed all day or choked etc. They were just doing what babies do, spit up. It's only really if they loose weight or suffer irritibility/choking etc that they seem to treat it at the hospital.

[mel1981]

Thanks for all the replies. not sure if its is reflux though, Probably better to discuss it with my HV although like mummypig says they might just fob me off with another excuse.
He is quite sick after feeds, does get hard (maybe not so much voilent) hiccups and seems to be in pain after feeds- goes very red and arches his back especially when trying to wind him. He is a very windy baby. He has had weight problems at birth but that was due to not BF-ing thats why we are now on formula bottles Hv is still monitoring his weight and happily he is putting it on. And again he has hada choking episode and we spent the night on the childrens ward while they monitored him (they werent sure why he stopped breathing and eventually put it down to choking).
So maybe not as bad as some of your little ones have it but maybe worth keeping an eye on.
Thanks again x