Baby with silent reflux -please help!

[Shirleyshirleyshirley]

I’m having a nightmare. Little one is 8 weeks and his silent reflux is getting worse. He suddenly won’t feed on the breast so we have been bottle feeding but even that makes him scream for a while until he gives in. I was told that it was likely something I am eating that is upsetting him and to do the elimination diet, but I’m exhausted, have low iron, don’t eat meat and am not doing that well mentally, So cutting out everything except for some fruit, vegetables and oats makes me feel like I’m going to get really sick.

DS has an upset tummy, bubbles at the mouth, grunts And writhes all night long, has acid breath, gets upset on his back and hiccups a lot. Doctor gave him gaviscon but it’s crap.

DH first said we need to come off the breast milk and go to just formula, now he’s saying we should stick to breast milk only. I don’t know what to do! I want to help my baby but I don’t know how much help I will be just eating fruit, vegetables and oats?

I have seen so much mixed information. Some recommend other meds, some day meds don’t work. I’ve stated baby massage with him, have tilted his cot, hold him upright after every feed, feed him tilted, burp him...I am so stressed and utterly exhausted as it’s just me all day and I have him at night As I’m breastfeeding (DH covers for a few hours after work) and I get a few hours sleep every day/night.

What is best to do? If it’s my milk then I want to stop but I can’t go back on the breast if we switch to bottle I know that.

I’m desperate. My poor boy is so distressed.

Sorry, I am new here and I posted in the first group I clicked on, should it be elsewhere?

Have you had your baby checked for lip and/or tongue tie? And i mean really checked. My midwives and HV said no tongue tie with my 2 but I knew better and took to a specialist. Both had it pretty severe and both were originally diagnosed with silent reflux

Tongue tie check and GP. They will probably prescribe infant gaviscon first, which is a thickener. If you're bottle feeding, that should be fine, if you're breast feeding, it's a total ball ache and they should prescribe something else. The next thing they will try is ranitidine, and if that doesn't do it, omeprazole.
Ranitidine turned my miserable, screaming, howling baby into a total cutie (he still has his moments )
Hang in there, reflux is tough. I can still feel my ears ringing when I think back to those early days

Try to have an assessment with an IBCLC or your local infant feeding team - they are breastfeeding experts and should be able to tell what's going on. My DD had silent reflux and needed Gaviscon before every feed (not midway or she'd already be screaming in pain by that point) and this worked for us. My GP wanted us to try extra Gaviscon first before other meds. She was combi fed so had it mixed into her bottle when DH fed her once a day and I mixed with cooled boiled water and gave it to her in a bottle before I fed her. It might be a reaction to something you're eating but I'd try to get baby properly assessed first if you haven't already been able to and ask for different meds/dosage to see if that helps. It is tough and I remember how horrible it was to see DD in pain. It got better naturally for us as she got to around 5 months and was sitting more so I gave Gaviscon less frequently and then dropped it altogether. Fingers crossed you find whatever will help!

The only thing that worked for DS was omeprezole. I was at the GP with him 3 times a week until they got a paediatrician to prescribe it and he was a different baby overnight. HIPP anti reflux eased it slightly before that but that’s not helpful for you.
I think a lot of reflux is rooted in CMPA, it wasn’t for DS he just had an under developed flap at the top of his stomach as he was premature, it cleared up on its own after about 8 months.

Different things work for different babies sadly and it is a bit of trial and error.

Back to the GP then to get a referral to a paediatrician. If the Gaviscon isn't working then you need to move onto the next step. Ds2 had severe reflux, but the paeds doc said to try a anti-reflux formula first. Ds was 15 weeks and I was bottle feeding but doing mixed feeds (expressing, breastfeeding went out the window)

We were very fortunate that the formula made a massive difference. It was Enfamil AR (anti-reflux) and I am going back 14 years but we got it on prescription. Ds had this until he was 14 months. He would not drink follow on milk or cow's milk or any other milk so we just monitored his calcium intake.

We still had the cot propped, he still slept upright on me during the day until he was just over 1. I was a SAHM so I was able to do this. He still has mild reflux now at 14 years old but eventually grew out of refluxing at night when he was 8. Sorry.

But if your child needs the meds then they need it. It will completely change everything if you manage to get this under control. It is totally shit when a baby is in pain. Ds2 used to arch his back and scream, it still haunts me to this day.

Silent reflux is awful, I feel for you. My youngest suffered from about 12 weeks old until 3 years old. What helped massively was ranitidine and also cutting out dairy. Even when medicated if he ate cheese or cream as a toddler he’d be screaming and writhing in his sleep later on. He seemed to grow out of it all eventually.

If you want to continue breastfeeding, I wouldn't start with the eliminationdiet, I would start with cutting dairy and soy as they're the most common allergens. Total elimination is normally if you have tried cutting the most Common allergens and baby is still reacting. If you want to formula feed and are concerned about allergens, you need to be prescribed a formula that is free from those allergens. Breastmilk can help heal the gut, but it is completely your choice to breastfeed, formula feed or combi feed. Your mental well being should absolutely factor in here, if you do feel that it's not in your best interest to breast feed for whatever reason, then do not breastfeed

My eldest had allergies and I went dairy and soya free, and it wasn't too bad. You would need a referral to a dietician though to ensure you're getting enough of what you need. If you breastfeed while cutting dairy, your calcium intake needs to be very high

We finally figured out at 9 months old that our baby had a cows milk protein intolerance.

When we switched to dairy free formula it was pretty much an instant cure. I felt bad that for so long we had been giving him formula then masking his symptoms with gaviscon.

It might not be that but I don't think there's any harm in trying a dairy free formula for a bit - get your doc to prescribe it though. It's v expensive.

I really feel for you. Having a baby with reflux is so so hard.

Thank you everyone for your comments. He doesn’t have a tongue tie, he’s been checked by
Multiple people. It’s so upsetting to see him like this, I feel like it’s getting worse and he hasn’t been lain flat at all.

We have our injections this week, so I’ll talk it through with the doctor then and hopefully get started on the next step, whatever that will be. It’s beyond exhausting, having to hold him sitting up all the time, especially as he doesn’t sleep very long. Sometimes I only get 10 minutes before he is up again. I just want him to be happy.

My first had silent reflux - I was broken. People told me ‘babies cry’ but they weren’t there listening to him cry 24/7. I went 3 times a week to the GP and was given gaviscon and patronised. It was only when I took my baby into the GPS, sat down on the floor and refused to move that a trainee GP (who was a Hospital doctor) agreed to see me and declared it worse case she had ever seen. I dealt with the hospital from then on. We had Ranitidine and Omeprazole Prescribed but to be fair it didn’t make it that much better. He did eventually grow out of it though. It’s sad that women are still being sidelined in the same way.

Ranitidine combined with omeperazole is what finally worked for my dd. But despite numerous trips to the gp it wasn't until she was nearly 10 months that we got the omeperazole and she finally was able to sleep in longer spurts as she wasn't in pain. I'm still angry at myself nearly 4 years later that I wasn't more forceful with the gp who kept fobbing me off. She had cow's milk protein allergy too so I gave up milk products and she was combo fed with dairy free formula. It's worth ruling that out too as they do sometimes go together.