Silent Reflux in 11 month old, what are the treatments?

[Dalrymps]

I have felt for some time now that there's a chance my ds has silent reflux. He seems to have a lot of the symptoms anyway.

Back arching, crying suddenly, terrible sleeper waking frequently for feeds, starts eating his meals then a few minutes in starts crying then after a little break carries on eating, almost constantly runny nose etc

There are more but can't think of them right now.

I've heard they're supposed to grow out of it around this age but no sign as yet. I'm still ebf him. Am wondering if I saw the dr bf got some medication how I would get it in to him, he won't take a bottle so how can I mix it with some Milk?

Any advice on diagnosis or experiences/treatments welcome.

Please excuse any mistakes, am typing on my phone and it 'corrects' me.

[Dalrymps]

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[Dalrymps]

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[Dalrymps]

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[duende]

Hi, there are different types of meds available.
Some children take ranitidine and doperidone - both I think come as oral suspension, so you don't have to mix it in with milk, just administer with a syringe like you would calpol.
My DS was on omeprazole, we had to crush the tablet, mix it in with a bit of water and give on a spoon. Some people stir it in fruit puree or yoghurts.
We were lucky as DS grew out of his reflux by around 9 months old but I have heard of many children still on medication at the age of 3.

Have a look at this website and make a list of symptoms before you see your GP.

Good luck!

[Dalrymps]

Ah thanks! He just seems so happy one minute and then can just suddenly cry. Just about always cries when I put him on his back to change his nappy. Arches his back whenever he wakes in the night. The times he's napped in his buggy lately he has been really calm on waking and no back arching so thinking maybe thtats cause he was more upright.

You think it sounds like reflux?

[Sportsmum]

Please take your baby to the GP and see them.

DS1 wasn't diagnosed until 9 months as the HV kept telling me there was nothing wrong with him, despite frequent vomiting from 4 days old (apparently I was neurotic and this was posseting - my carpets didn't back that one up!)

DS1 was referred to a specialist who told us off for not having had him seen sooner. He was on acid inhibitors and other meds for a year. Just because a baby is gaining weight with reflux does NOT mean they are fine - if left untreated it can cause major problems.

I don't want to alarm you - but go and get him seen. For liquid meds they will give you an oral syringe - and they soon get used to it.

[Dalrymps]

Thatnks for the advice, he's never vomited with it but I still think something's going on. He's a slow weight gainer anyway but I'm not sure this is to do with the possible reflux as ds1 was the same weight wise. He has a healthy appetite and feeds loads, probably feeds more than average for his age but I wonder whether the frequent night feeds are to soothe him as I've heard breastmilk had antacid qualities...

[Dalrymps]

Does anyone think it sounds like it could be anything other than reflux?

[AngelDog]

Have you tried excluding foods e.g. dairy from his / your diet? Sometimes food allergies can cause reflux type symptoms, and dairy is a common allergen. New NICE guidelines recommend food exclusion diets as the first course of action to check for food allergies in children (rather than blood/skin tests).

I've seen a couple of threads on MN recently where babies' reflux and sleeping problems stopped as soon as dairy was removed from their / their mum's diets (and recurred again as soon as dairy was reintroduced). They're on the breastfeeding and allergies boards, IIRC.

It takes 10 days to 3 weeks for all the dairy to get out of your systems, but there is often an improvement much, much faster than that.

I'm working my way through various exclusion diets to see if it'll help my 14 m.o.'s eczema. My GP suggested I just got on with taking out different allergens for a month at a time, but said that if I were going to exclude dairy or wheat in the medium-long term, I'd need to see a dietician to make sure DS's nutrition wasn't affected.

As it happened, I discovered by doing this that I have a dairy intolerance, which I'd never have known otherwise.

HTH

[Dalrymps]

Ah I see, well I could try that. The only thing I'm concerned about is that he is small and he has a lot of dairy products as high calorie foods. Am a little worried if I exclude dairy his weight gain will slow...

[twilight81]

hi there,
my son has severe silent reflux since birth he is now amost 2 and i can tell you it has been a very hard long road.
most definatley get him seen and ask for a refeeral to gastro paed as they will know exactly what to prescribe, in my experience seeing a normal paed really wasnt helpful as they just dont have enough experience of this.
i should think your gp can prescribe ranitidine untill you are seen, sometimes this is all that is needed especially if the reflux is not to severe which im thinking maybe its not as you have got up untill now without anything, my ds would scream and scream and screa all day all night untill we got the correct treatment :(

small and often feedings is a classic sign of reflux as they feed to sooth the burning from the acid, ds only ever took 4 ounces a time right up untill he was 15 months and has very slow weight gain.
we also tried dairy free up til 15 months which really didnt make a difference looking back but they seem to put that down to everything these days. we since found out he has a hiatus hernia which is probably why he suffers so much.

[Dalrymps]

Sorry to hear you've had such a hard time with your son. Glad 'you have him on the right treatment now.. Must have been so stressful having him scream all the time

From what I have described do you think it sounds like he does have reflux? When he does the back arching through the night we just can't calm him, he just cries and shouts and screams until I feed him and if I don't he works himself in to a frenzy. He has improved a little with age so wakes and can be settled sometimes but other times his crying is just so loud!

[twilight81]

oh yes very stressful dont know how i am still sane lol ;)

well from what you say it does sound likely, do you notice him making gulping noises for no reason or sounding chesty like he is congested those were classic symptoms for ds as well as waking every 30 mins all night zzzzz lol

[Dalrymps]

Well I haven't heard many gulping sounds but when he was a bit younger would seem like he was swallowing a bit. I noticed once when close to his face that his breath smelt acidy bit that was just the once..

The back arching has been the main thing. Even putting him on my knee was hard when he was younger as he'd arch and stiffen up and keep flinging himself backwards and getting upset. Hates is car seat too and would scream and scream in it but this has also improved with age and he would usually drop off to sleep with the moon but god help us on long journeys if the traffic slowed and he woke!

[twilight81]

well ds usd toarch his back and go rigid when he was sceaming at his worst, recently he has com off is medication whilst undergoing tests and he has been waking from sleep screaming and arching backwards which is strange to see in a two year old!

he also hated his car seat with a passion, would just scream and scream the whole time making journeys a nightmare, dont know if this is because he was being awkward or down to the reflux lol

[Dalrymps]

Ah I see, I'm just finding it hard to work out whether his behaviour is him being arkward or cause he's in discomfort. Ds1 was a brilliant sleeper, never cried much in his car seat, never cried as loud or as screamy as ds2. I haven't been to the Drs with him cause I think maybe he's just different to ds1 and we had it east with him but the reflux thing keeps popping in to my mind.

To be fair, as soon as we get him out of his car seat he's fine so it could just be arkwardness. The night crying though is different, he just won't be consoled, not by singing or gentle swaying or talking/stroking. I just have to feed him and he's still arching and squirming when I'm trying to get him on to position.

[AngelDog]

On the dairy issue, my instinct is that cutting out dairy for a week or maybe two might give an idea of whether that's a problem without having too much of an impact on his weight. But I'm not an expert, and I don't have any experience of reflux either.

The thread from someone who had a similar problem is here and here.

Our experiment with going dairy-free then reintroducing it seems to suggest that DS doesn't have a problem with dairy, but that's all good - it's more than I knew before I tried cutting it out.

Could you ask on the breastfeeding board about symptoms of reflux - I know there are some threads there about refluxy babies.

[Dalrymps]

Ah thanks Angel, I might try it if I feel brave enough!

Will take a look at the other threads thanks for the links

Yeah I could post in Breastfeeding, wasn't sure where to post this really!

[AngelDog]

If you do go dairy-free, you need to be careful to read labels like mad, as there is milk protein in loads of things you wouldn't expect, including (for e.g.) salt & vinegar crisps, minestrone soup and most processed foods.

I cut out soya at the same time as apparently 60% of children who are allergic to cows' milk are also allergic to soya. I didn't want to go to the hassle of cutting out dairy and risk not seeing any improvement because we were still eating soya. Again, soya is in loads of foods so you need to read labels carefully.

I use Oatly oat milk instead of normal milk - it's fine for things like porridge, and cooking with, although I wouldn't want it in my tea.

My GP said it was fine to exclude even major food groups like dairy for a few weeks, but to go back and see her if I was going to do it for longer than about a month.

Kellymom has some info about bf and food sensitivities. There's also info there on reflux.

[Dalrymps]

Ah I see, thanks a lot for all the info and the links Will take a look!

[Dalrymps]

I have been to the gp's. It was a student dr with usual gp overseeing the appointment. The student dr was going to prescribe ranitedine(sp?) or something that sounds like that but then the gp said to try infant gaviscon.

He said to give him two sachets before bed which I've been doing but only noticed a tiny difference and only for the first few hours he's in bed. He is less screamy sometimes in the first few hours in bed when waking. One night he just cuddled me when I went up instead of arching his back which was a first but the rest of the night (after he's been in bed about 3-4 hrs) is just back to normal, frequent waking, screaming, arching and feeding.

I can't work out whether the gaviscon is helping but he needs something stronger/longer lasting or he maybe doesn't have reflux and therefore the effect of the gavsicon is minimal.

I was gonna go back to the dr and see if he has anything stronger to try but not sure. What do you ladies think?

[twilight81]

i would give the gaviscon with every feed at night, check the box they can have a certain amount over a 24 hr period..
go back to your gp explain the gaviscon has little effect and you would like to try the ranitidine, i found with my gp i had to tell them what we needed through research of my own, as they really dont have enough knowledge of babies and reflux.. also i would ask for a referal to a gastro paed they can prescribe different meds in the correct doses and do tests to confirm reflux if necessary

[Dalrymps]

Ok managed to get an app with the dr this aft. They have prescribed the renitidine. Given him the first dose tonight although je wasn't too keen. Used a syringe to squirt it in to his cheek a bit at a time but he kept spitting it out.. Think he did swallow most of it in the end, any tips on getting him to take it?

Dr says to try it for a month...

[Dalrymps]

Ok so last night he slept from 8.30-3.30 with one brief wake of 2 mins when a quick cuddle settled him. He fed at 3.30 then woke once more at 5.45 for another feed before sleeping till morning when we got up (7am).

That was a good night for him. Only thing is I don't know if it was just a one off cause he didn't have a very long nap yesterday or whether it was to do with the medication..

[Dalrymps]

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