Laryngomalacia (floppy larynx) advice

[LouisaJRoberts2]

My 3 1/2 month old was born with a floppy larynx and we have been told he will grow out of this over time. He has been in and out of the Dr/A&E (originally thought it might be bronchiolitis) and his oxygen levels are fine, plus the other tests they did at the time. He is generally a happy baby and is very alert and active.

My question is around his feeding/ weight gain as he was was on the 0.4 centile for a while and has been below this (my goodness I had no idea how much these graphs would take over my life!!) for his last few weigh ins. I am bf and was advised to top up with formula, which I've done since he was 6 weeks. Not great but he is basically bf and then Dad does the formula for his feed before bed. He has also suffered from reflux so we've had baby gaviscon for the past 3 weeks. This initially worked well but I can't use it for every feed and he's sick after the feeds when I don't use it. I've tried a number of methods such as keeping him upright for 15-20 minutes after each feed, plus feeding him little (so 10-15 mins) and often - he's never fed for too long since he was born and if it's a longer feed I he has to have breaks in there to help him breathe.

I have looked at some previous threads and would be interested in any advice/comment on how to help get his weight back up. I have at this point been advised to get a referral to a paediatrician by the HV.

[Elibean]

Hi

dd2 had laryngomalacia, diagnosed at 4 weeks when she was in hospital quite ill with bronchiolitis. By 6 weeks, the reflux was obvious to me - and the GP gave me Gaviscon for her, which did nothing but constipate her. When we next saw ENT they tutted over the GP and said most babies with laryngo also have reflux, and they would put her straight onto Ranitidine and Domperidone: which helped enormously.

Weight gain was far better after this.

Later on, when it came to weaning, we found different issues - dd hated spoons and managed far better with baby led weaning, and we let her eat whatever would put weight on. Eventually, when she was upright more at 16 months, the reflux got better and we stopped the meds - but then the eating got worse again as she had huge tonsils and adenoids, which, added to the floppy larynx, made sleeping and eating hard work.

One adeno-tonsillectomy and a small laryngeal snip later (overnight op) aged 26 months, she bounced back and never looked back on the eating and thriving front. All this is probably TMI and far too far ahead for you to think about, but mentioned it in case you ran into new eating issues in the future - worth checking tonsils!

Meantime, do be a squeaky wheel and ask for paediatrician asap so you can get the right meds for reflux - really does make a difference. Good luck, and feel free to pm me if you ever want to.