reflux in older babies

[KleineMaus]

I've posted about this before, without much response, but I'd love to know of anyone else's experiences with this. DS2 is now 16 months, on omeprazole (which really doesn't seem to help much, although he now only wakes 2-3 times per night instead of 6-7, which is an improvement). We are seeing the hospital, but it's very slow when you have three months between appointments and things aren't getting any better. He's on the highest dose of omeprazole at the moment so I don't know what to expect of the next appointment, what they will suggest next. We certainly can't go on like this. It really isn't fair on poor DS. Basically as soon as we lie him down he starts burping and squirming in discomfort (sometimes quite violently). HIs stomach makes very loud gurgly noises and you can hear him swallowing back a lot of liquid, this happens every few minutes for up to an hour. If you hold him upright this helps a lot, but he can't sleep like this. The doctor at the hospital has agreed that it sounds like silent reflux, but no investigations have been done. If you have any experience with this I'd be very grateful to hear it. Thanks.

Have you investigated allergies/intolerances? It certainly seems unusual that his symptoms are still so severe at his age.

There are also other drugs that you can add in including domperidone.

Apparently this guy is a real expert:
www.paediatricgastroenterologist.co.uk/home.htm

Not sure how far you are from Sheffield and if you can get an NHS appointment with him?

You might get a better response if you try posting in feeding issues? I think there is a reflux support thread somewhere.

Good luck.

Kleinemaus DS2 is 14 months and still showing symptoms - he was sick yesterday morning after breakfast, constantly burping and swallowing etc. etc. How much omeprazole is he on? Mine is on 17mg I think. What time are you giving it to him?

I was told to investigate allergies but tbh his eczema was only really mild, his bowel movements are normal, although he gets lots and lots of chest infections / ear infections / tonsilitis this might be as much to do with the milk hanging around as anything else. I tried going dairy free when he was a bit younger but he wouldn't tolerate any dairy free formula. TBH he seems no worse when I give him a bit of butter / cake etc.

DS2 is at the hospital soon too - can't think what can be done though. Can your DS walk? I think they are waiting for mine to walk because it might be better then.

Its so hard isn't it. Its supposed to get better on weaning; then sitting; then at one year, etc etc.

My DS is 15 months and it did get dramatically better when he started walking with the walker - he doesn't walk on his own yet but does love running around with his walker. He stopped waking up crying around then, he does wake most nights but doesn't need our help getting back to sleep.

Funnily enough though he had a really bad episode last night which seemed like reflux to us (hasn't had one for ages). He's getting a lot of teeth through which isn't supposed to help. We also get a lot of ear infections, chest infections etc - I think this is fairly common with reflux due to the ear/nose/throat connection.

My dd had reflux right up till after she was 3.
She started off needing prescription milk and once weaned she would eat and basically vomit it back up. (rather embarrassing when in pizza hut etc but we became masters at cleaning up quickly and recognising when she was gonna blow!)
We had medication and was referred to the hospital and was told she may need an operation to tighten the valve at the top of her stomach. Luckily by anout 38 months she had grown out of it. (GP had said that she may grow out of it hence why he left her so long before referring to hospital)