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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to be sick of the expression "reflux baby"?

120 replies

jujumaman · 06/11/2008 12:31

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.

OP posts:

yomellamoHelly · 24/03/2009 21:16

We've had 5 paeds, gp, social worker and HV telling us ds2 has reflux (despite us never raising it as an issue) and battering us over 6 week period to give him ratinidine and domperidone.
Despite him being well-fed, sleeping well, being very happy, having clear blood tests, teeth fine, throat fine etc....
Won in the end.
(Ds2 has cp affecting his whole body, LOVES his food and is very active so over-flows at times!)
So do feel they're over-keen to apply the label and over-confident that we'll just accept that label and the scary drugs that go with it. I think it's quite dangerous really.
Actually got told ds2 wasn't able to tell us how much pain he's in! (total load of bo**ks imo)

ekkiethump · 17/02/2011 21:08

reflux is a spectrum and all babies are on the spectrum somewhere along the line. it might be very mild with little or no symptoms or severe for both baby baby and mum (i know beecause my baby had terrible silent reflux.)
but the reasons all babies have some element of reflux are

they are born with immature sphincters which allows milk to reflux up
they are on a completely liquid diet which allows for easier reflux
they lie flat most of the time which also allows for easier reflux.

so the answer to that question is yes - most babies do have reflux to some extent but not all of them become distressed or symptomatic with it.

altinkum · 17/02/2011 21:12

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

NorthernGobshite · 17/02/2011 21:23

My dd (6) STILL has reflux. It took us months to have her diagnosed because of attitudes like that OP.

Not sure why it bothers you?

ThePosieParker · 17/02/2011 22:30

Erm COLLIC is s myth....reflux is not. I've never met anyone that has said their baby who didn't have a nightmare.

oldraver · 17/02/2011 22:39

Northern DS still has Reflux. He calls it his 'bad bits' and is now usually only a problem when he has been doing something postural. ie swinging upside down, doing roly polys etc. Trampolining is a trigger as well. He is rarely sick now but is still spectacular when he is. School have yet to witness this

BeerTricksPotter · 17/02/2011 22:41

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Foreverondiet · 17/02/2011 22:50

DS2 was a "happy chucker" puked loads, sometimes whole feeds but was a happy baby.

Doctor wanted to medicate him because she was worried by his slow weight gain... (I didn't agree to this and he grew out of it - would have medicated if it got to the point he stopped gaining rather than just gaining a bit too slowly).

GP said it was immature foodpipe. He is 10 months old and hardly ever pukes now (although did today for first time in a few weeks).

My mum said I screamed constantly for the first 3 months and they didn't know why. Maybe I had undiagnosed reflux?

HuckingFell · 17/02/2011 23:23

Agree with being able to spot relux babies by the haggard mothers.

My first had silent reflux and dairy issues. it was hell on earth, I got PND, probaby because of how difficlt it was to go anywhere or do anything.

NorthernGobshite · 18/02/2011 09:37

oldraver, dd doesn't vomit anymore, just gets very acidy and gets hiccups for hours on end. It definitely affects her eating and it does cause her discomfort. Thankfully, Rantitidine for a couple of days every few weeks seems to sort it out these days.

oldraver · 19/02/2011 23:07

Northern.. DS is still on Omeprazole so this helps. Not sure how long he will stay on it

Hucking... I think I am still haggard lol. I had previously been able to go a whole weekend without sleep but now if I miss an hour or so I am dead on my feet. I swear its as a result of spending the first year with very little sleep and the next couple of years constantly being woken at night

mumma2coh · 02/10/2011 04:41

I'm completely new to mums net despite the fact I have just had my 3 DS. I am appalled by the original thread tbh. Yes some new mothers may have bother with their new little bundles and may be trying to desperately find out the cause of their crying but "how dare you" have a go for this! Yes I fully agree that unless diagnosed by a GP, hv or paediatrician it cannot be confirmed but some people are new mothers and like everything else, you need to learn as you go along. My 4 month old has reflux, (yes, fully diagnosed!!) and he is a nightmare. I have full sympathy for any mother who has a reflux baby or even the symptoms of it. I am desperately trying everything to make my DS more comfortable and was looking at this site for advice, not a random, unsympathetic person who can't be bothered offering helpful advice. To all mothers of unsettled, ill or reflux babies, please just listen to advice of health professionals to make your LO more comfortable.

Bubandbump · 02/10/2011 07:13

Just a quick one for anyone reading going through a 'reflux baby'. We have a support thread under breast and bottle feeding where we discuss (aka whinge) medication, symptoms etc and a bit of hand holding.

My DD is also under a leading gastro paed and a lot of reflux is caused by dairy intolerance. We had all the classic symptoms of severe reflux, projectile vomiting, apnea, sick through nose, unable to sleep (the glassy eyed mummy comment holds very true here) which is actually dairy, soy and wheat intolerance through my breast milk. We now have a different baby..the reflux was a symptom not a cause. A key telltale of intolerance is runny poos and at it's worst in the early hours of the morning. I have lost count of the number of times I have been told that nothing you eat goes into your breast milk but the paed says he has been banging on about it for years and gp's don't seem to be listening.

Op you ABU as many babies do have reflux however not all suffer from it. For those that know there is something wrong, it is a relief to have a label and not be classed as a neurotic mother. Also apparently some reflux babies sleep well as they are exhausted from the pain.

Smokedsalmonbagel · 02/10/2011 20:43

Just wanted to add my bit about how horrid reflux is for the whole family.

DS2 was 1 a couple of weeks ago and still vomits regularly. We have a sick bowl by the high chair and by the bed. If I'm lucky I can catch it, if not me, him and everything else is covered in sick. This was happening everyday a few months ago and now probably 2 or 3 times a week.

Doctors and health visitors don't care and all they say is he will grow out of it.

He also has a strong gag and mainly eats purees. He is so frustrated he can't eat what we are eating and gets so upset when he is sick.

So give mums with reflux babies a break.

pombear · 02/10/2011 21:03

Never knew years ago when mine was little what a reflux baby was - just knew she was extremely uncomfortable and sick. Took until 4 1/2 months when ranitidine was tried and she changed almost overnight to a calm, non-sicky baby who looked happier, slept better, fed better.

No lablels, just a happier baby! (And had torticullis (sp?) interestingly, as previous poster mentioned)

freybean · 02/10/2011 21:06

not sure if you are being U or not

but my dd had reflux and i really wouldn't wish it on anyone. my hv was useless as 'all babies are sick'. my dd would throw up halfway across the room (so thankful that i had cream carpets and leather sofa). i couldn't bf her because as soon as i moved her she use to bring all her feed up. she did end up in a+e

i wouldn't take her out anywhere because as soon as i put her in her pram/carseat she would be sick and we would both have to get changed. my family refused to look after her because all she use to do was scream

MrsTerryPratchett · 02/10/2011 21:14

THIS THREAD IS THREE YOURS OLD.

It has been resurrected time and again.

lazylula · 02/10/2011 21:15

Both ds' were terribly sicky babies. Ds1 could go through 5 complete changes of clothes a day and most nights would have to have a change of babygro and vest after his feed. He would be sick from one feed to the next, just getting a less as he neared the time for the next feed. When he was 3 weeks old a mum of 4 told me she didn't believe projectile vomitting existed, it was a load of crap, I told her to stick with me for the evening and I would prove her wrong, within an hour ds1 did just that. I have no idea if ds1 had reflux as he was about 6 months old before I consulted a doctor as I figured sickness was normal, I was the same as a baby apparently.

Now I have dd and she is probably more 'normal' in her sickness, I realise just how bad the boys were. I never referred to either of them as refux babies though.

BagofHolly · 02/10/2011 22:48

Not sure why this thread has been resurrected repeatedly but the more people that know about reflux the better IMO. Both my 9 month old twins have it, are still on truck-loads of drugs for it plus prescription formula and although they're different babies to what they were, we deal with it daily. I feel suck and panicky reading about reflux/GERD/CMPI as living with a child who has it is hell. Living with two who have it has pushed me to the very edge of reason.
I thank God daily that I had a sensible HV who was able to spot it, despite my dickhead of a GP insisting they had chest infections and giving ABs back to back, when actually they were trying to clear their little throats of bile. The same GP, as he wrote the prescription, said "it's odd, their lungs are clear." Gah!
And I thank God we were in a position to research this fully, and find our way to a paediatrician with an interest in gastro to get them sorted - they were different babies in days.

I had the misfortune to be in paeds a&e on Thursday and overheard a man in the next cubicle describe how his 12 week old son had been diagnosed with reflux, given ranitidine and yet seemed no better, and was now coughing up blood. The paediatric registrar discharged him saying the baby had probably cut his mouth on his dummy. How? How? No investigation into gastric bleeding, nothing. I was dying to speak to this man and give him the name if our paed but he had gone before I could catch him. How sad that there's a little boy out there on dreadful pain, because of this misunderstanding and lack of education about this. I'd rather every cranky, slightly colicky baby was called "refluxy" than miss one severe case.

whackamole · 02/10/2011 22:50

I wouldn't annoy you then, I have never said it, never even thought it! Although if I'm honest my boys did have a fine line of puking abilities.

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