Silent reflux and treatments, how long til you see a result?

[vtiredmummy]

DD (4.5wks) has been on Gaviscon for silent reflux for a couple of weeks. Am sure this is what it is as we actually hear the acid coming up before she screams in agony, poor thing. DS (4yo) had reflux too (not silent).

Gaviscon seemed to work to start with but in the last week, she has become constipated, not finishing feeds, and screaming for hours at a time rather than just for a short while after feeding. GP has prescribed pepto-junior formula, to be used with Gaviscon.

Has anyone had experience of this working/not working? And how long does it take. I know I should be patient, but I am feeling sleep deprived, irrational and especially emotional as it is heartbraking having her scream and not being able to settle her or ease her pain.

And to top it off I hadto take my poor sweet old cat to be put to sleep this morning :(

Not a good day and desperate for encouraging words!

Hi there,
Oh dear, you're going through it, aren't you?

Gaviscon did nothing in the long term for DD, there was an improvement for a couple of days, but that was all. We tried Omeprazole, and also a prescription food called SMA Staydown. Each time we tried things for about a week, but you're right, it's really awful when they're screaming with constipation or oesophagus pain.

In the end we cracked it with Ranitidine (administered by syringe) and by adding a thickener called Carobel to her food. DD is formula fed, but you can also use Carobel for breastfed babies, it's just trickier to administer.

I was lucky to have a very sympathetic HV and a very clued-in GP whose own son has silent reflux. Best of luck.

Hi there, sorry you are going through this.

Gaviscon didn't work for ds1, it took omeprazole and metoclopramide (sp?) and that took about 10 days to kick in properly.

Gaviscon also did not work for my DD. She became constipated and started screaming at the sight of Gaviscon. Ranitidine worked really well for her until she was 11 months. You have to make sure that the dose is correct for her weight (regular increases in dose as she grows). DD was much more comfortable after about 1 weeks of it.

Thank you skippingtutrle I will talk to HV too. I know it'll be ok in the end, but in that weird parallel universe called 'having a newborn' every hour can feel like a week! I'd conveniently forgotten this from when DS was newborn

And thank you ib and RunningOutOfIdeas too - helps to know others have been through and come out of the other side of it.

Do go back if you don't see results after a week though - different things work for different babies and you just have to keep going till you find the right thing for yours.

Gaviscon didn't work for DS. Neither did domperidone. Omeprazole worked, and fast. I think it took about 24 hours and we saw a massive difference. DS also needed prescription formula (Nutramigen) thickened with carobel.
Once we sussed all this out, we had a happy baby. Took about 6 months of screaming though. [shudders at the memory]

I hope it gets better for you, reflux is hell.

Agree with that duende ! And it is hard not to be frustrated when helpful relatives suggest it is 'just wind'

Did anyone else experience baby feeding a bit, coming up for a break, then appearing as if they have forgotten how to latch on, shaking head about madly, but not sucking on bottle? This is when I become neurotic and panic she will end up losing weight through lack of milk...

Oh yes vtiredmummy - that behaviour at feeding time is absolutely my DS to a tee. He is BF and I'm not only feeling like he is going to st art wasting away, but also in my sleep-deprived state like he is rejecting me. It's so hard :(

I would go back to GP if gaviscon not working. I think it should work fairly instantly as all it does is thicken the feed and supposedly keep it down. Ask for something stronger? We have just started omeprazole - unsure of effect yet.

Blimey, we used Gaviscon as a thickener (administered with syringe before feed); Omeprazole and Domperidone, all consultant prescribed because DS stopped breathing having thrown up into his lungs.

Effects took a lot of time and were impossible to guage becasue the reflux was silent. The huge crying and hiccups around feeds or in the late afternoon died down, but it wasn't until he was walking that we felt sure that reflux wasn't an issue-still the odd 'attack' which was so similar to earlier symptoms.

But things do get better-the drugs do work, and kids themselves mature and become better bale to cope with the condition. It will get better.

We started with gaviscon and it was useless..then she was given ranitidine and it was as though i had a different baby....within days she was calmer.

My daughter had silent reflux and every time we went to the HV or GP we were told "it's just colic". It was so frustrating as we knew it was much more than "just colic" and after trying every remedy (Dr Brown bottles, infacol, colief, gaviscon...you name it we tried it!) so we finally went to see a paediatrician privately as the GP would not refer us as he was convinced we were simply over-anxious parents.

The paediatrician immediatley knew that the poor mite had silent reflux as he could hear her. He put her on a thicker milk (Aptamil Comfort) and told us that if this did not work then we should try Ranitadine. The thicker milk helped but she was still suffering so we moved on to the Ranitadine even though I was reluctant to start her on medication. Sure enough the Ranitadine worked and my daughter became a different baby overnight showing that she really needed the Ranitadine.

The paediatrician also gave us lots of practical advice like ensuring that she was always at a 30 degree angle (head higher than tummy) and told us to lie her on a pillow when changing her. He also suggested introducing a soother to neutralise the acid that causes the discomfort.

Sorry for the long rant but I cannot understand why reflux is so under-diagnosed. You have to go with your instincts but my advice is to push to see a paediatrician.

What are the symptoms of silent reflux? My 3 week old has had some sort of problem - wether its wind/colic or reflux i cannot decide but to start with all the symptoms she had seem to indicate reflux, yet when we took her to the gp she was convinced it was only lower bowel and wind problems and didnt want to prescribe us anything.

Every bottle nearly she squirms and wriggles around as if shes in pain and some bottles she can almost puke the whole thing back up (this doesnt happen on a daily basis mind) i have just changed her formula to the aptamil comfort brand so will see if that helps but just wondered what symptoms your LO's were experiencing to see if it sounds at all familiar?

I Have a few friends who had "reflux" babies.

Those that didn't respond to any of the medications ended up with prescription formulas that were diary or lactose free. Before the prescription formulas they tried the "comfort" versions of Aptimal, cow & gate which did reduce the symptoms slightly. Also try raising the cot by putting books under the legs at one end or pillows under the mattress. My BF little girl used to sleep in her pushchair some nights.

Try and get your GP to book you an appointment with a dietician asap. In most cases babies outgrow reflux once on solids & up on their feet but if they don't, you will already be "in the system".

BF as in best friend not breastfed

bit of a late reply here but the reason Gaviscon can make things worse is that it thickens the milk in the stomach so when they reflux it takes longer for the milk to drain back into the stomach which gives it more time to burn and cause pain.

Gaviscon, thickeners etc are good for mild reflux but not for moderate/severe silent reflux - these need medicating unfortunately.

A lot of older GPs don't believe in reflux, I have found the younger ones better. Also unfortunately reflux IS a wind problem so they are partially right - the stomach opens to let wind up and doesn't close again so the milk (and acid) comes up as well. Get her weighed often as any failure to put on weight will be a red light to them and you will then be taken more seriously!

You need to see a paediatrician as soon as possible. A dietician won't be much help unless your LO has an intolerance but the paed should be able to identify/help with that if that is the problem.

We got ours kind of under control with lots and lots of winding, me carrying him everywhere, smaller feeds (3 hourly), Infacol but it wasn't until we were prescribed Omeprazole that it actually got better.

Sorry to hear you are going through this as its very very hard - and must be even harder with an older one to look after too. Also sorry to hear about your cat :(

YummyMummy1208 silent reflux symptoms are exactly what you described. Also: hard to wind/lots of wind; crying when lying flat but OK when held upright; waking frequently crying; gagging, choking etc. Sounds like you need a second opinion too, good luck.

Yummymummy1208 the symptoms are as you are describing - my daughter would only sometimes throw up and it would be projectile vomiting. But silent reflux is harder to recognise because the ilk comes to the top of the throat and then baby swallows it down again. Other symptoms my daughter had were sneezing, coughing (dry cough) lots of hiccups and little saliva bubbles that she would try and lick (apparently this is the body's way of trying to neutralise the acid and a soother works in the same way). Also she was arching her back a lot when crying and this is because it lengthens the foodpipe when the acid is coming up so it is not as painful.