Gagging & v distressed 11wk baby when feeding

[colmargirl]

I've been fobbed off twice by my gp in the last week & I'm at the end of my tether so turning to mumsnet wisdom on desperation!

My 11wk old dd already has colic and is a sicky baby, both of which we're dealing with. I'm aware she'll grow out of both, the colic only occurs late afternoon & she is generally soothed by rocking. We feed her upright, keep her upright after feeding & give her breaks between feeds to deal with sickness, etc - nothing we can't deal with.

However, in the last 2 weeks she has been having episodes of severe pain, approx once or twice daily, though sometimes she can go two days without incident. She goes rigid as a board, arches her back, is hysterical screaming in pain & cannot be soothed in any way with the techniques we use when she has colic.
She refuses her bottle, gags when it is put in her mouth & refuses food even though she is clearly starving hungry & due a feed (bottle fed on aptamil comfort anticolic milk). Yet at all other times she will happily have her feed & drink normally.

The doc gave us infant gaviscon which has stopped the sickness but the pain & distressing episodes are still happening. The go fobbed us off today by saying it was colic, but it is completely different to the colic she already has, & that is minor & completely dealable with.

I'm at the end of my tether as don't know what to do if the gp won't do anything. If she us going to grow out of it, fair enough, but there must be something I can do to lessen the extreme pain in the meantime?

Sorry for the essay, but please can anyone offer any words of wisdom?

But

Does she have any other symptoms? Permanent cold or dry skin/eczema strange poo? Etc is it pisible she could be allergic/ intolerant to the milk does she get bloated? Colic is sometimes a misdiagnosed dairy allergy .

Possible rather

No, she seems perfectly healthy otherwise. When not having these episodes she is happy, smiley & content. She doesn't have any skin complaints, or anything that would suggest she has any allergies.
Before trying the gaviscon she would sick up entire feeds, but not every time, & she was putting on weight.
We tried infacol, dr brown bottles etc for the colic, but the symptoms of what is happening now are different to when she has colic & draws her legs up etc.

Am sure it's reflux, but if the gaviscon isn't stopping it, then can it be...?

Don't know what to do!

If you think it's reflux might be worth trying one of the stay down formulas on the market or asking the doctor for an alternative medicine. There are also milks available on prescription :)

Sounds very like reflux to me. My dd had it really badly, gaviscon did absolutely nothing for her. There are other, better meds out there - ranitidene, domperidone, omeprazole etc. Doctors often don't recognise it though, so you really need to push hard - I was at the end of my tether and took dd to A&E in the end, with a list of symptoms, and eventually got her referred to a paed consultant.

My dd would particularly find afternoon feeds difficult, for some reason. It's because feeding causes the reflux pain, but they want to feed all the time because sometimes it does sooth them - its a vicious circle.

There's a really good book called "Colic Solved" by Bryan Varabedian (American) which basically says colic doesn't exist, it's all acid reflux - it described exactly dd's symptoms and was a lifeline for me.

Also, look at the reflux threads on here for advice. Good luck - it's hellish, but you will get through it if you get her onto the right meds.

Thanks where'smycaffeine, & Liverpool, advice much appreciated.
Liverpool, your post resonates particularly with me. Sounds like that must be it, as v similar to your situation. I'm fed up of people saying "oh it'll be colic, it'll ho off soon" & looking at me' like I'm a clueless hysterical 1st time mum. I know what colic looks like, as she's got that as well, but the distress she's in with the reflux is significantly worse, & as you say, the gaviscon isn't doing anything.

Guess I'll have to go back to the gp, though she told me' not to come back unless it was during a time when the baby was 'actually in distress', as otherwise she couldn't see anything or see what the problem was... Argh!

Really appreciate your advice, thanks

Hope you get it sorted. Don't be afraid to push a little with the gp. Your the mum you know her best :)

My friends ds had reflux and what you're describing sounds exactly like him. He's on ranitidine now and it makes a huge difference.

Has your dd grown a lot since the Gaviscon was prescribed? After a growth spurt the dose needs to be increased.

Hth

colmargirl, I'm so angry your GP said to 'come back when the baby's in distress' - how likely is it that your GP would be available to see you at the precise moment your dd's in distress?!! I used to feel so frustrated by this too, as dd always seemed fine when I took her to my GP, who just spoke down to me like I was a neurotic first time mum.

One thing I really wish I'd done was to video dd when she was in particular distress at night - she used to get so bunged up with mucus (the book I mentioned confirmed that this is another serious reflux symptom) that she couldn't breathe properly, and was in a lot of distress with this and the pain from the acid, but the GP just would not believe me. Why don't you get a video camera ready to film your dd when she's in distress, and then play that back to your GP.

Infacol didn't work for my DS but a mixture of Colief and Gaviscon did. He had terrible reflux and wind. Grew out of it. Funny I don't even remember when , even though at the time I was fraught and broke down in the doctors. My GP was very good though.

Sounds like silent reflux to me - its pain caused by the acid coming back up from the stomach. My DTs have it and its controlled by Ranitidine (zantac), they are also on gaviscon and were on domperidone as well when they were younger. We also found that the gaviscon made them contipated but using infacol seemed to counteract this. DTs were diagnosed when in SCBU so were lucky in that respect - there are so many stories on here about GPs not doing enough, its a miserable thing to go through. I hope you get it sorted soon.

Sounds like silent reflux to me - its pain caused by the acid coming back up from the stomach. My DTs have it and its controlled by Ranitidine (zantac), they are also on gaviscon and were on domperidone as well when they were younger. We also found that the gaviscon made them contipated but using infacol seemed to counteract this. DTs were diagnosed when in SCBU so were lucky in that respect - there are so many stories on here about GPs not doing enough, its a miserable thing to go through. I hope you get it sorted soon.