Silent reflux - please advise

[Craftycakey15]

I have a three week old baby who we think has silent reflux (midwife advised). We are seeing a paediatrician the midwife knows on Monday but just wanted to hear from other parents who have been through this. My baby cries after feeding and changing when we try to settle her. The midwife advised the use of a dummy to settle my baby to sleep and that helps. We are hoping to be given Ranitidine on Monday. How soon does it work? Is it something she will need to take for a while ? Any tips you can give we would appreciate. We changed the milk to lactose free a couple of days ago and have had more poo (as baby was constipated even after changing to comfort milk).

[polkadotdelight]

DS had silent reflux. We used ranitidine and infant gaviscon. Presumably you have been told to keep her upright for about half an our after a feed? The medication did help us though.

[Chloris33]

Ranitidine works fairly quickly. It doesn't necessarily take away the reflux problem - my son was sick a lot until about 6 or 7 months old (he had regular reflux rather than silent reflux) and we still had good days and bad days, but it definitely helped to control it and to bring some relief. It helped to make the spitting up less acidic and painful. 3 weeks is actually quite early to get diagnosed, but I'm not a medical expert. We were diagnosed around 7 weeks, and were told that that between 6 and 8 weeks is a common time for diagnosis. Our symptoms, apart from all the spitting up, was writhing around uncomfortably during feeds, screaming sometimes towards the end of a feed, and while spitting up, which was clearly painful for him. Also a lot of fetching up milk when he was lying down to sleep. It's great that you are pursuing some help xx

[Chloris33]

PS We used the Ranitidine from 7 weeks until 6-7 months.

[Craftycakey15]

Thanks, I try to keep her upright after a feed, but not for half an hour. Will try to extend the time. She is most quiet when we have her in the winding position with thumb under one armpit and ring finger under the other armpit. She doesn't seem to like being held upright against our shoulders. We are diagnosing early probably because we had paid for a private midwife postnatal care for the first couple of weeks after birth so I have been able to call or text her at any time for advice. Obviously can't afford to keep that up but was very helpful.

[kiki22]

Ranitidine didn't work for us within 24 hours ds2 was screaming the place down so we ended up on omeprazol its worked a treat hes like a different baby on it. I try to limit any time lying flat to the hour before a feed in between hes in the bouncy chair or poddlepod and we have the cot lifted at the head. I also started doing little things to help his muscles get strong enough to sit up he's 13 weeks now and can sit up with support its been a huge help not having to hold him for ages.

[Craftycakey15]

We have a snuzpod and we tried placing a towel underneath the crib section where it meets the base ( hard to explain but it's the only place where you can tilt the crib). We found the baby all squashed up at the bottom of the crib with her knees to her chest! Was wondering if it's worth getting a Moses basket and placing something under it or in it to tilt her?

[Passmethecrisps]

My dd was diagnosed with silent reflux and cmpi at 4 weeks old. We got infant gaviscon, ranitidine and domperidone as well as nutramigen formula.

For us the combination of all those worked well until she got to about 7 months then she went on omeprazole and was like a different child again. By about 18 months she was off everything.

We saw a difference in dd very quickly but that may be as much to do with the formula. It took her about 2 weeks to start taking in normal amounts of formula. She had at least one screamy bottle a day though.

The consultant suggested a dummy and popping something under her Moses basket to tilt it slightly. We used a shoe box.

[Writerwannabe83]

My DS started showing signs of silent reflux at about 6 weeks and my HV advised a dummy to help settle him. My GP started him on Ranitidine and we saw an improvement within 48 hours. He was on it until he was about 10 months old.

[FuzzyOwl]

Didn't find gaviscon or ranitidine did much, but omeprazole was amazing. Almost all babies have reflux to some extent but the good thing is that they do grow out of it. Hopefully your baby will be past this stage very soon and not need medication for long.

[Heirhelp]

Out of hours doctor prescribed gaviscon bit is caused constipation. Gp prescribed rantadine and it stopped the birth pain and she started to feed normally within 24 hours. Gp said it takes up to 5 days for the throats to heal.

[Craftycakey15]

Baby sleeps in sleepyhead in snuzpod crib at night and just in the snuzpod during the day. I have folded up a towel and placed it between the snuzpod mattress and sleepyhead and put her to sleep. Is this safe? I thought I read you shouldn't put things under the mattress. This is on it but under the sleepyhead and was thinking maybe tomorrow in the day I just place the towel under the sleepyhead wherever I place it.

[Craftycakey15]

heirhelp what is birth pain and throats healing about?

[Heirhelp]

I don't know where the birth bit came from so just ignore the word birth.

Reflux is when stomach acid comes up the oesophagus (wind pipe). It babies this is normally because the value at the top of the stomach is not full developed. The stomach acid damages/burns the throat. Rantadine reduced the amount of acid produced so less acid splashes up the windpipe giving it a chance to heal.

[Heirhelp]

What did the dr says today?

[Craftycakey15]

Hi heirhelp sorry just seen this - the paediatrician prescribed ranitidine to be taken three times a day and ten minutes before feed. The baby hates it and spits it out though. She said to get a wedge to raise the snuzpod. I was told I can't raise the sleepyhead so I'm buying a Moses basket to use downstairs in the day. We are settling her with a dummy but she spits it out which is exhausting for an hour sometimes after putting her to sleep!

I need to solve the dummy and ranitidine problem ASAP!

[Craftycakey15]

chloris33 how did you get your baby to take the ranitidine?!

[Heirhelp]

Squirt randitatine in mouth using a syringe and then quickly put in the dummy.

[Passmethecrisps]

I agree with heir. Tiny amounts then dummy. Then a wee bit more until you can put more in at a time.

As we were giving both domperidone and ranitidine our GP suggested full dose in a bottle mixed with just enough milk to make into possible to persuade baby to drink it. That worked really well for us.

[Craftycakey15]

How long til the baby gets better? Do you have any tips on settling to bed?

[Passmethecrisps]

For us there was proper improvement in a week with some improvement in a day actually once everything was in place.

Just time I am afraid re the sleep. Mine slept like a charm once she had meds, milk and her basket tilted - it was like she was absolutely exhausted from so long of pain and poor sleep.

Have the docs looked into the possibility of CMPI? Very fussy sleep still when baby is on meds might indicate another issue. The two often go hand in hand.

[fabulous01]

I have twins both had silent reflux and both with different symptoms. Recommend the dummy, raise the Moses basket and formula. We had neutreogen for one and neocate for other. Both eventually ended on neocate. Also bottles. We used mam ones but dr brown meant to be good. If doing breast cut out dairy etc.
It is hard but use the health visitor. It was her who spotted it with me. I thought that was normal but 2 hours with me and she told me the screaming, puking and being unsettled was an indicator and things moved quick.

[Craftycakey15]

passmethecrisps we have a Moses basket arriving tomorrow. What did you tilt it with


We don't know if it's cmpi or symptoms of that?

[Passmethecrisps]

We used a shoe box. It wasn't ideal and we had to be terribly careful but it was sturdy and worked fine. You just need a gentle incline.

Re CMPI think about maybe family members with intolerances. Other symptoms are cottage cheese type sick, loose stools possibly with blood or very severe constipation. Very fussy after feeds.

Very similar to standard silent reflux. If you are breast feeding you could try an exclusion diet. Cut all milk protein outnof your diet for two or three weeks and see what the change is. On formula you will see the change fairly quickly quick

[GraceGrape]

Squirt ranitidine into their cheek, nearish the back. For DD1 it worked overnight, dd2 needed omeprazole.
Also, try and see a paediatric gastroenterologist to discuss a trial of dairy-free formula. And I found carobel (available over the counter or on prescription) good for thickening the milk, which helped reduce the sickiness.

[babyboyHarrison]

Ranitadine and gaviscon helped for us Omeprozole didn't. We co-slept for 7 months as it was the only way we managed to get enough sleep to function. Try giving little one a little boiled water in the day if they get constipated with the gaviscon.