Is it worth seeing the GP about a sicky baby?

[BusyMissIzzy]

5mo DD is quite sicky. Guaranteed to bring up at least a few mouthfuls after each meal, usually when she's sitting up or lying on her front. There's the occasional vomalanche (where it all seems to come back up), but they're few and far between. So it's not disastrous, but I sometimes feel I'm constantly changing her clothes and wiping up puddles of puke.

I asked the HV about it the other week and she thought it could be because she's putting her hands in her mouth. She didn't offer any other insight.

Is it worth asking the GP for advice? She's otherwise happy and healthy (50th centile for weight for some time now). Or should I just accept that some babies are sickier than others, and resign myself to washing 3 dozen muslins each week and our flat smelling of sick?

If anyone here has any siggestions of what might help, I'd be grateful. We're starting to try her on solids (so far, just a few mouthfuls of fruit puree and rice cereal here and there), is that likely to help?

Hi BusyMI. If she's always been like this and she's otherwise healthy I wouldn't worry too much. Maybe ask the GP next time you are there?

My DS was a real puker and nothing really helped - I got used to feeding him, burping him and then waiting for a hurl! It didn't immediately get better when we starting weaning (the smell of mango yoghurt sick will always stay with me!) but by about 8 months he had stopped. I know what you mean about the muslins though! (And the patches on the carpet?!)

Some babies are just more sicky but mine had reflux that was managed really well conservatively by propping up his cot rather than with meds. But I think its always worth asking the GP to take a look, just for peace of mind, you'll only worry yourself unnecessarily otherwise. My GP is invaluable and I cant thank him enough.

My DS was a puker and he improved a lot once he got to 5 months. I reckon it was down to the Jumperoo we put him in (xmas pressie) as it held him upright and possibly helped strenthen some muscles.

Thanks for the replies. madame we do have patches on the carpet, and the sofa (both of which are practically brand new). Wilberoo we actually have a Jumperoo, she's only just big enough to be in it for any length of time, so I'll try to be vigilant about putting her in it!

I'm glad it's not just my LO that does this! She's only 3.5mths and I've been toying with the idea of seeing the GP because she ALWAYS voms when she's on her tummy, even an hour after a feed (and when else do you get them to do tummy time when they sleep 15 or 16 hours a day, feed for a few and then you have to wait to prevent the vomiting?). She was very bad early on, and felt it was reflux, but as she seemed quite content, didn't ever cry about it and was putting on weight, I didn't want to bother anyone! However, by getting rid of certain foods from my diet and making sure she's upright a lot, she has stopped vomiting as much and 'never' when laying down on her back, so figured it was not worth worrying about. I also read somewhere that 65% of babies have some level of reflux and it does improve with age/muscle development etc. so fingers crossed.

That's interesting Chunkychicken, what foods did you cut out of your diet? DD seemed worse than normal a few weeks ago, and I wondered if it was because I had a lot of visitors and was drinking more coffee (decaf, fwiw), i.e. cow's milk.

I made a mental note of things I ate and when she seemed to vom more - turned out pork was a trigger, so after a feed following a ham sandwich for example, she was far more vomity. Chocolate wasn't a good one either, so cut this out as much as I can tolerate (when you're BF and can't drink much you gotta have something as a treat surely?!!). Drink decaf tea and coffee by the gallon, and it seems ok for my DD. Also I don't drink orange juice as I heard that can cause wind, which can help bring the feed back up with it obviously! Champagne doesn't help either, but as I don't tend to drink this regularly and certainly not in any great quantity, I live with the consequences. I also found that eating tomatoes, particularly beef, made her fuss when feeding, unless cooked.

My DD was like yours and I worried myself to death about it. After bothering the GP for weeks she eventually gave in and, although she clearly wasn't worried, she prescribed gaviscon for potential reflux and also suggested liberal use of Calpol and infacol.

I ended up dosing DD with all three meds for over 2 months - completely pointless, made no difference to the puking, which she outgrew at 6/7 months exactly like all the books say they do.

Five years later, I still worry about all the unnecessary chemicals she had as a tiny baby, and whether they might have had any lasting effects (e.g. my DD has asthma, recently a link between calpol and asthma was discovered). I now understand that there is a downside to over-vigilance!

So personally, I wouldn't see the GP. It sounds like you already know there is nothing really wrong, you know what the danger signs would be (poor weight gain, baby in pain etc). Why take it further and risk unnecessary interventions?

my ds was sick like that after every meal and we took him to our GP who gave us Gaviscon to add to his milk and it stopped the sick. He also sent us to see someone at the hospital to make sure it wasnt anything serious, thankfully it wasnt. As soon as we put him on stage 3 milk, the sickness stopped. Now my youngest DS is starting to be sick so we are going to take him to the GP about it and hopefully the Gavi will work again.