to be sick of the expression "reflux baby"?

[jujumaman]

I know, I know some babies have serious reflux and if they do it must be a complete nightmare. If your baby has had diagnosed reflux you've all my sympathy

BUT these days everywhere I go I meet mums who say their babies are "reflux babies". I didn't think the condition was so common it affected something like 95 per cent of the baby population. I've met some angelic babies who occasionally squawk and their mother says "that's because she has reflux." What I think most mums mean is my baby is a screamy nightmare who won't settle and often pukes back a bit of feed. IE what most babies are. I don't think it means they have an actual medical condition but people seem to feel the need to find a label.

Fully expect a host of "how dare you, my baby had reflux etc etc" responses. As I say, I acknowledge some babies really do have reflux and it must be very hard. I'm just sceptical that it's as common as is now made out. And if my babies had had reflux (they didn't, they were just noisy and demanding) it would have annoyed me to have others jump on the bandwagon.

Reflux - which in my DD2's case is GERD, which hasn't responded to gaviscon etc - is beyond grim. My DD2 was born with a congenital heart defect and also has reflux - and of the two, the reflux has been by far the most heartbreaking thing to deal with day to day. She's nearly 15 months now and still has it, although is perhaps a little better than she was. (She has good days and bad days, and we always get a bit too excited about a row of good days, thinking that she's over it - and then it comes back )

It's very hard to go out and about with a baby who vomits so much (by which I mean frequency and volume!), and trying to feed a baby who screams and writhes is no fun at all.

My understanding from various health professionals is that GERD isn't particularly common among babies, but that some degree of reflux is very prevalent, especially among young babies. They usually grow out of it after a few months - I live in hope...

We had Gaviscon which didn't really work and Ranitidene to soothe throats when they got so sore they couldn't latch on to bf. We had to go private as well but wascompletely worth it to (a) get diagnosis (b) not simply be told "she'll growout of it".

Also tried cranial osteopathy (at centre linked by Umlelalla) and was told by practitioner that I had a "very angry baby" . I left in tears and didn't go back. Two weeks later she was diagnosed.

It maddens me that becvause it is something they generally grow out of by 8/9 months - and wispabarsareback, my heart goes out to you - no one gives a toss.

Little Ff is a 'reflux baby'...at 8 months I am just about able to wear a t-shirt for two days in a row.

To be honest, I couldn't give a crap about labels. If someone wants to say that their baby has reflux, good luck to them. I have spent 8 months covered in sick, trying to justify my decision to exclusively breastfeed rather than 'top up' a baby I was constantly being told was underweight. And not just a bit of possetting. I'm talking about pools of vomit, sodden babygrows and bibs, trails all over the carpets, furniture and me. But you just get on with it - I have stopped caring about having sick on my clothes and in my hair, the dogs have proven very adept at licking up the sick before it starts to smell (I know, that's hideous, and I started off thinking it was horrible, but lately have just become grateful to them...)She is starting to get better now, and, to be honest, six months ago it would have annoyed me slightly if someone whose baby was a little bit sicky occasionally tried to equate their situation with mine , but now I don't care.

All I know is I had the most horrendous heartburn when pregnant. I'd wake up in the middle of the night with it and cry. I am an adult, if a baby is suffering that, well, it's more than just a bit of sick isn't it?

My DD was also diagnosed with silent reflux.

I think I know where you are coming from.

Another friends baby had reflux and nearly died, she was hospitalised. Theres a big difference between her baby and mine (who just screamed a lot)

HOWEVER, its not mums faults that they are given a reflux diagnosis when the case is less severe. Maybe the medical profession have become happier to band the diagnosis around if there is not an obvious solution (much like colic) BUT this made me (with my constantly screaming baby) feel better to have a diagnosis (a reason other than it being because I was a rubbish mum), and I could fool myself that the medicine (gaviscon) might work - it never really did.

Why not just let mums of the screamers be? To tell my friends that she had reflux made me feel better, and the benefits of that anxiety relief were probably felt by my DD.

So whilst my baby did not have reflux to the extent of my poor friend (who would maybe be entitled to resent my DD's diagnosis), my baby was also very different to the non screaming (constant) ones of my friends. She most definately had tummy related problems which have healed with time.

cranial therapy didnt work for us either, he said that she had over strained herself during birth and that she would need to straighten out. Mmmmmmm, I was sceptical but I have heard positive experiences from other people.

Completely agree OP. Babies cry. Babies puke a bit back very often. That's what babies do. It's a nightmare when they cry a lot - especially at night. But it's not always reflux! Bored to tears of hearing about it.
Just don't get me started on lactose intollerance....

why does it bother you though Inmyhead?

No, puking isn't always reflux but a bit of sympathy is never a bad thing

and Lactose Intolerance is also a real condition and is often linked to reflux

It bothers me because I'm so fed up of hearing about it. Of course I'm sympathetic - a crying, screaming baby is a nigtmare for baby and parent alike but, come on, is it always really reflux? It's just like people who never have a cold, always the flu'...

Do you know, I'd never heard the term. I must live in a cave or something.

most babies DO have reflux

the severity varies hugely, that is true

my paed cosultant says all babies have reflux, there's just a tipping point beyond which it is unbearable fo parent and child. juju and inmyhead, maybe you're made of stern stuff?

I think I was guilty of being the person you describe in your op , I had the internet by the time I had ds and because he was unsettled after feeds and other things I decided in my head he had reflux. I propped him up after feeds etc (which did actually help), although it was just stubborn wind, I'm an idiot lol.

Funny though dd probably did have reflux/colic whatever, hard to make the call. She was a very screamy baby, impressive projectile vomitting the lot. But she did grow out of it, and I never even contemplated going to the Dr's etc, because she was my first I just accepted that she was a bit of a screamer and did what I could.

but isnt it the doctors fault for diagnosing it? I dont think that mums are "making up" that they have a reflux baby?

YANBU but I'm with pamelat, I think some GPs see uncomfortable babies and just think 'have some gaviscon and go away'. DS had reflux (hospitalised etc) and I was surprised when 3 others from my antenatal group of 7 were prescribed it. I remember the relief when I found another mum at a group who could properly empathise with me. Having said that I have a friend of a friend whose DS is a lot worse than my DS was so it is all a matter of scale. p.s. I want a new carpet DH says no I will work on him once I'm sure I've finsihed having babies

• The majority of babies have a degree of reflux

• The majority of babies with reflux do not need any medical treatment, and it improves with maturity

• In the past, a lot of colic (whatever that is) was in fact unrecognised and undiagnosed reflux, hence the increase in diagnoses

• Good-going pukey reflux or silent reflux is horrific

• There are some babies who are just grumpy screamers without reflux. It can be embarrassing and socially awkward to have a baby that is very unsettled, so I can see why some people would feel more comfortable with the label of reflux being applied to excuse their screaming infant and make people more sympathetic.

DOI- GP and mother to a ds who nearly died due to profound apnoeas and bradycardias caused by silent reflux.

according to my recent research 63% of babies have reflux in some form or another, this can be from sicking up feeds and steaming to failure to thrive which is obviously very serious, dc3 has reflux it is no laughing matter and I'm grateful he is thriving

In my case it was only my female GP who would prescribe Gaviscon, both the male ones refused. One said she was "grumpy" and the other said its "impossible to have reflux and to be putting on weight" which is apparently a load of rubbish.

Whether she had reflux or not, I'll probably never known but when the kindly female GP told me about her "reflux babies" and reassured me that DD was not "just grumpy" I felt a lot lot better. I was always aware that other babies may have reflux to a much more serious extent, its not a competition.

My baby is 8 month now and still being sick - even hours after a feed up to 6 times a day. When she was diagnosed at 2 months we were give gaviscon which didnt help at all. She had to sleep upright as she sounded like she was choking all thenm time. We didnt get any help from doctors and have delat with it ourselves. Still concerns us that she is still being sick but at least she can sleep laid down now.

YABU, why are you bothered? My DS had reflux so bad he nearly died 3 times from choking, and had to stay on children's ward. I would had to think that when I described him as a 'reflux baby' people would have been secretly tutting and rolling eyes thinking 'well he's not puking now'.

It's a horrific, terrifying and unsettling thing to go through, and we could have lost our DS.

I really do think YABVVVU.

I wouldn't judge anyone who said they had a 'reflux baby'. I'd just want to offer them sympathy- no matter to what degree the child had it.

By the way, I've not read the whole thread (MN sin), but to anyone going through this [PLEASE READ THIS IF YOU HAVE A REFLUX BABY], Domperidone is a god send. It takes a while to get in the system, and in the end we had to wean DS early, but I don't know where we'd have been without Domperidone, and an apnoea alarm. If the baby is choking, after the go rigid, they thrash around, so the clicking gets really fast on the alarm, rather than the alarm actually beeping. It helps you realise and help them. DS also had apnoea, so that's how we got the alarm, but they told us to listen for the clicking for his reflux/choking.

Ranitidine didn't really work- he used to choke on it.

Gaviscon wouldn't have worked on it's own, but alongside domperidone, wysoy and colief, it helped. We've only just weaned him off the gaviscon and he's doing well.

But don't you think it is a problem if mums whose babies don't have reflux say "reflux baby" all the time, because then HCPs start tuning it out and thinking "oh yes, inexperienced new mother syndrome" instead of addressing whether there is a problem and what that problem is?

I have a friend who has a "reflux baby" who slept through the night from 8 weeks and whom I have observed several times being lain down on the floor straight after a feed with only a very small amount of (non distressing it would seem since no crying) possetting. Now maybe I don't see the whole picture, but it doesn't sound like other people's experience of reflux.

Looking back I wonder if my very small, difficult to feed (but nevertheless very frequent feeding) DS who never slept and wouldn't go in a pushchair might have had silent reflux. I mentioned it at the time and got a "well possibly but actually we think it's probably your crap breast milk" type response instead. Hugely discouraging.

YABU but it can totally work the other way though, my daughter wasn't treated properly when she was a baby as it was thought she 'just' had 'baby reflux' and I was repeatedly told she would grow out of it and was made to feel like a totally useless mother. Well it turned out my DD had SEVERE reflux that was so bad the acid actually destroyed her baby teeth, totally wrecked her desire to eat so that she became failure to thrive and we wasn't taken seriously until she was 18 months old when she was finally prescribed some medication for it. She still suffers from it to this day and she is 7 next week, but thankfully it is controlled at the moment by domperidone and omeprazole.