Baby reflux - driving myself a bit mad

[arghno]

Hello all - I feel like I'm going round in circles a bit over baby reflux and wondered if others have any insights from the other side.

Has anyone had any luck with reducing the frequently/volume of spitting up, with a young baby? DS is our second baby, six weeks old, EBF. He's always seemed to have tricky digestion but now has started spitting up a lot too.

If he falls asleep when feeding and we hold him then he's fine, but if he wakes up he seems to hiccup until he spits up multiple times, or if we put him down he starts straining and again spits up multiple times. I've tried burping (not something we really had to do with our first) but unless it's my technique it doesn't seem to make a difference - he just hiccups and spits up through it.

It's not obvious that the reflux is giving him pain (he seems uncomfortable with the hiccups but doesn't cry) but I'm a bit concerned about weight /nutrition as he was only 5lbs at birth and his weight gain has been fairly slow since then.

He has a very pronounced tongue tie which is hopefully being corrected next week. Beyond that does anyone have any wisdom? With our first baby we ended up constantly holding her but the sleep deprivation drove me certifiably insane and isn't really workable with a toddler in tow. I also cut out dairy and soy but it was really hard to tell if that helped. Thank you for any thoughts!

To give an example, I fed him at 6.40am. Tried to put him down a little while after and he brought up pretty much all the milk. Fed him briefly again and he fell asleep in my arms. Held him until now (1h45m), tried popping him in the cot and he's woken up straight away, rolling around, drawing up his knees and making straining noises. Gahhh.

It doesn’t sound like reflux I don’t think, is he bringing up his whole feeds? The knees drawing up and straining sounds like constipation, what are his nappies like ?

A baby carrier will be your salvation. I had two refluxy babies (first failed to thrive through it, and ended up in hospital and on heavy duty medication, second one gained fine but never slept).

The single thing that made the most difference (after the medication, of course) was keeping them upright for at least half an hour after every feed, and accepting that they would never sleep on their backs (which was challenging for me, as my brother died of cot death, so I was on high alert about that, and back to sleep and all that...)

Thanks both!

@statetrooperstacey it's interesting you mention constipation as for the first few weeks/month he would poo with at least every feed, so upwards of a dozen times a day. Now it seems to have slowed down a little (maybe three big dirty nappies a day and a few streaks at other times) he seems more bothered and he's effectively straining or wriggling to poo whenever he's awake, in between hiccuping and spitting up. At night he will keep spitting up until we pick him up so that would probably work out as a whole feed.

@CatherinedeBourgh I'm so sorry about your brother. Our first baby wouldn't go flat at all and after realising it was actually riskier to try to stay awake holding her we had to reluctantly make peace with some chest and co-sleeping. I do try to hold him for at least 30 mins in the night but after a few moments of being flat he starts the straining and spitting. I'm really paranoid about failure to thrive and potential hospital stays. We had an extended stay when our first was born (for other reasons) and I now have a slightly overblown fear of having to go back in.

I understand, few things are more stressful than hospital with a baby, even when it turns out all right in the end. You are right to stay on top of monitoring the weight, it's really hard with refuxy babies to tell when they are feeding properly and when they are just sucking for comfort. And if they then spit it all up you're back to square one...

Are you giving gaviscon for the reflux? I understand that can cause constipation. Still, the number of poos doesn't suggest he isn't getting enough food, when ds1 wasn't he sometimes wouldn't poo for days.

If he’s well and gaining weight then it’s a matter of seeing it through. Mine was projectile and spent 6 months covered in sick. Just made sure he was fed, regularly cleaned and propped up on me after every feed (yes even the 2am ones). Once he started solids it went away.

I should add, if you’re concerned he’s not gaining weight and it’s causing other health issues for him then of course start bothering your GP regularly.

In terms of cutting dairy and soy, it takes up to 3 weeks to work its way out of your system, so if you've only just started, stick it out if you can to see if it makes a difference.

I think its natural. Babies do not always take in the feeding and keep it inside. Give it a few months, if there are no changes then its time to be more concerned.But everything sounds natural to me.

Do you have the recommended number of wet nappies per day? If so, it seems like he’s taking in enough milk and is fine health-wise and so what we would call a happy spitter or a laundry problem. That he is not sleeping well independently is super challenging but possibly a separate issue.

Both my children were incredibly reflux-y but unfortunately the only thing that worked was the passage of time and to some extent keeping them upright after feeds.

Tongue tied babies can swallow more air i think.

I had 3 very refluxy tongue tied babies, one diagnosed cmpa. I just gave into it, lived covered in sick for 6 months. Muslins everywhere, spare clothes for everyone everywhere. Fed them constantly on demand and held them up 24hrs a day. First one was the worse, so the next 2 didn't feel as bad. Obviously gets much better after 4 months, much much better at 6months.