Natural ways to cure baby reflux

[theworriermum]

We don't want to go down the omperazole route, we tried it and he was screaming out in pain with gas and we know it obliterates their gut health. Tried infant gaviscon which led to constipation and didn't cure it and the lactulose to balance constipation was a balancing act. There are no set guidelines for how much to give of gaviscon just says 2 sachets per feed but no more than 6, which sounds a lot.

In short we are back to square one. I don't think he has bad reflux. He is sick but not loads. He doesn't like being in a bouncer, car seat or flat on his back. Cries out screaming during naps and over night then when lifted up does a burp and sick.

That said he's putting on weight, isn't sick loads, is held upright after feeds as long as possible, does tummy time and we prop his cot up. He sleeps in a purflow in a cot. We give a probiotic everyday.

He is 14 weeks. Anything else we can do? I hope I'm not BU by not wanting to pump him full of drugs.

Following your post as my daughter is suffering terribly with reflux too. I hope you find something that works for your son. If anything helps, please can you let me know too. Good luck

My baby had bad reflux and we realized he was reacting to dairy in my milk. Once I stopped having dairy, his reflux was cured. If it's not that, then you just need to wait it out I think, they grow out of it. As long as they are happy, not crying in pain when vomiting, then it's just normal I think.

Im guessing you're breastfeeding but if you aren't, we used anti relux milk. It's thickened with cbg.

I'd only use mam self sterilising bottles with teat size one initially, then two.

I'd make the bottles up, shake them to dissolve the milk and wait. Then after 5 or ten mins, I'd take a spoon and scoop out the air bubbles that formed on the top in a layer.

Then long burping sessions.

Best of luck 🧡

I'm formula feeding and have been eyeing up the aptamil reflux. Going to buy tomorrow! Do the bubbles in shaking the bottle cause reflux?

Woodward's Gripe Water, I believe it's okay from 4mo. Used it with our eldest, it definitely helped him burp and settle his belly, he actually loved taking it too.

You have my sympathies. My DD was like the exorcist. 18 months of pure distress (mainly ours!) - worst case the doctor had ever seen.

ultimately there isn’t a magic bullet to improve things. You are waiting for their bodies to grow so all the fluids slay in their tummies rather than come back upwards. It is terribly distressing seeing your baby in pain and not being able to cure it.

things we did

1. propped up the cot slightly so their body was on a slight downward slope to encourage gravity to keep it in the tummy
2. a combination of the prescribed medications. We had them all prepped to fire into our DH’s mouth at various intervals during the day. Gavisscon didn’t really work but we tried it all the same
3. sugar solution on dummy which acts as a painkiller for babies. We had pots provided by the doctor but in the end we just made our own.
4. goats milk formula / lactose free formula (we got that on prescription eventually)
5. bottle fed only upright - keep them upright for about 30 mins after feeding.

ultimately it is a case of managing and they eventually outgrow it. Our almost adult child now is the picture of health but I will never forget the hours and hours of screaming. But honestly it does pass.

How long did he have omeprazole for?

I found it took at least 3 weeks to kick in working well. For the first 5 days it appeared to be making everything worse, but when it settled it was a godsend.

With my other DD she had half a sachet of Gaviscon per bottle to begin with and then a full one when she was bigger.

Totally understand not wanting to use meds if not necessary but reflux is awful so sometimes needs must.

Also make sure your probiotic isn't doing more harm than good. Took me ages to realise that the probiotic I was using was actually giving me more reflux (and that was for myself!).

Just treat is as a laundry problem not a health problem.
Both my DC had dreadful reflux. Projectile vomiting day and night, they were breast fed and it was like feeding twins. But this was in the 90s and they didn't offer drugs.
A paediatrician told me that as long as the baby was healthy, had a good appetite and was gaining weight it was just a laundry problem and would self correct in time. I was told to wean early but I didn't. This was just as well because the reflux continued until they were upright and walking.

Which formula do you use? My DS had terrible reflux with Kendamil which stopped when we switched to Hipp. We also added Carobel to his bottles.

Presume you’ve tried tilting the cot, keeping him upright after feeds? It’s a long way off but he has grown out of it at 7 months.

Also if you’re using a prep machine get rid of it as it makes the bottles bubbly. We started using a rapidcool instead.

Are there any other symptoms as reflux can be a sign of CMPA?

DH and me think we might be over feeding him. He wasn't hungry for night feeds so we dropped those no problem but kept dream feed which was causing problems even though we did give it to him up right and kept him upright.

So we stopped that too recently. In lieu of a dream feed we upped his day feeds and seems to have made things worse.

He is 8kg, 3 months and has 33oz per day.

So 5 feeds, with 4 x 7oz and 1x 5oz (at 5pm).

We think tomorrow he should have 1 x7 (morning) then the rest should be 6oz, keeping the 5pm 4oz. Dropping from 33oz to 29oz.

If that doesn't work we will switch to reflux formula and start gripe water, did you give before or after?

Will try omperazole as a last resort, it was more the fact is obliterates gut health and he already isn't breastfed, has an older sibling bringing home bugs and has had antibiotics already in his short life.

This is what I cannot work out and only way to do a blood test at his age is cannula. At 4 months they can do the skin scraping which is painless for them.

What other symptoms would CPMA look like?

Take a look at “the baby reflux lady” on Facebook or instagram she has lots of useful info.
It sounds like your baby has some silent reflux too. It could be worth visiting an oesteopath, it helped my second baby with her reflux and was a very interesting experience. Making sure baby gets lots of tummy time will help if it’s to do with strength/ tension but if it’s more intolerance: allergy caused it obviously won’t

With the Gaviscon have you tried starting with just 1 sachet and increasing it slowly?

Little and often feeds were better for my baby when he had bad reflux too. Although at 7 months he still only weighs 7kg, he’s very small!

We aren't using a prep machine just adding 90ml boiling water and using cooled down boiled water to top up with. Would you advise not shaking? We have nubycool also for when needed but it needs washing and sterilising each time so we don't use it unless emergency.

Other symptoms might be mucus in stools, eczema, generally being unsettled during feeds, strange rashes, can be poor weight gain too. If your baby is consistently unsettled around feeds I think it’s worth mentioning to your gp.

They won’t do a blood test as it’s an intolerance not a true allergy so won’t show. The gp would prescribe some formula partially hydrolysed for CMPA then trial to see if their symptoms improve basically.

I would ask for a trial of dairy free (not hydrolysed) formula

We switched from Kendamil for the same reason and moved to Aptamil comfort which was ok and now on aptamil. Thinking of aptamil reflux or dairy free... don't know which one bur first we want to see if we are feeding him too much.

We tried half a sachet per bottle and then 1 full sachet before bed and it didn't really help sadly so maybe it is more the lactose!

They did prescribe this as a last resort but said it causes other symptoms like gas. So again we just want to go the natural way first.

Don’t shake, swill

If your baby has got an intolerance there isn’t a natural method though, changing the formula to a prescribed formula is as natural as it will get. I would honestly go back and ask for a trial.

Ok we cash cash the prescription but he said last resort if omperazole didn't work... he doesn't have eczema or poor weight gain. I think we might be over feeding him but it's such a guessing game. His reactions just aren't that bad until they are..,

Have you got a health visitor as they were really helpful with my DS so might be worth speaking to them. At 8kg it doesn’t sound like you’re over feeding. My DS had about 32 oz per day at 4 months and he was very small, about 5kg then.

Good idea re health visitor will check with them