Does my baby have reflux?

[zambooloo]

My 12wk old dd was diagnosed with reflux last week. These are the symptoms...

• feeds ok generally for first part of feed then rest of feed she is screaming, kicking, wanting the bottle but screaming when she has a couple of sucks. We then cannot get rest of the feed down her.
• she is sometimes slightly sick but hardly at all
• she is very gurgley at night
• she is very happy the rest of the time when not feeding

My LO has reflux and does that with his feeds, if he does I stop feeding him (giving him his dummy or a bit of knee bouncing/back patting so he just thinks he's being burped and relaxes) it means some days he just has smaller amounts more often. I just Sterilise a few extra bottles at night incase we need them and take out his usual feed plus a bottle and ready made carton for if he does it when out.

I keep him a bit upright after feeding by either holding him or putting him in his bouncer. Ive also had to put his pram up a stage (my hv told me not to but damned if I'm going to have him scream the place down and I can't carry him all the time), if you've got a travel system maybe you could try that?

thanks for your reply - is your lo on any medicines for the reflux?

He's been on gaviscon for a few weeks which has helped, I also changed his milk and thats helped him more.

what milk is he having?

gaviscon made her constipated - are you having this problem?

I moved him from aptamil to hipp organic (bloody cheaper too)! he still gets some expressed milk too.

His poos have been erratic since he started formula, he poos once/twice max a day but has sometimes been going two days and seeming a bit uncomfortable, I try and rub his tummy everytime I change him!

I know this might sound weird but is your dc fussy about the temperature of her milk? I worked out after awhile that my dd will only drink her milk if it's warm and that sometimes when I tried to feed her with milk that had cooled down (our house was pretty nippy during the cold weather) she fussed and cried. If I warmed it up again, she was fine.

silent reflux? Does she arch her back / protest about being laid flat? It can be pain as opposed to vomit. Gaviscon will help keep it down but not acid pain which will need different meds. Could it be bad wind, are you formula or breast feeding? Have you tried infacol, which, in my experience, counteracts the constipation caused by Gaviscon?

silent reflux? Does she arch her back / protest about being laid flat? It can be pain as opposed to vomit. Gaviscon will help keep it down but not acid pain which will need different meds. Could it be bad wind, are you formula or breast feeding? Have you tried infacol, which, in my experience, counteracts the constipation caused by Gaviscon?

Thanks - might try changing the milk - how long did it take before you noticed a difference?
Think it is silent reflux as she does all those things. We have infacol but stopped using it as I felt we were giving her so many different things. Will start it again though if it stops the constipation.

Colief! Godsend for my ds. Used it along with Gaviscon. I bf exclusively and could add the two drops when my ds was latched. He is 5 months old now and I don't remember when he grew out of it.

I noticed a difference after a few days (changed the colour of his poo though, went lighter/yellower). We're on infacol too so maybe that's what stops him getting too constipated!

I'm going to ask about his silent reflux when we go to the docs next week, I kept being told it was wind but it's not! Not sure I want to medicate him even more though :(

I got colief but wasn't sure how to use it with expressed milk? Plus it's really expensive and I get his infacol on prescription!

Never lay flat with reflux. We had cot propped up one end by books for months and I used baby bouncer in the day/raised changing mat. Try googling 'reflux baby whisperer' for more info, the Haberman Feeders are a good investment as are a couple of wedges if you don't want to use books and cushions .....

Colief is free on prescription. My ds has never burped. I spent ages trying. Colief you add one or two drops to the milk or, I either dropped it onto his tongue or slipped it through the side of his mouth during him bf. It definitely worked for us. I also fed ds slightly sat up. Good luck with it all, it does get better promise

Worth checking to see if she has milk protein allergy - often if babies have reflux they have this too. Her symptons sound very similar to my dd, only it wasn't til she started having yoghurt and cheese that I realised the connection. Does she sound a bit rattly and wheezy sometimes/ have a runny nose? You can get formulas on prescription that don't have milk protein in them ( it is usually this rather than lactose in babies). Also try cutting dairy from your diet and see if it improves with the breastmilk.

Hophop, I thought about that a while ago tbh.

We went to the docs on Friday as he's now 12 weeks and I kept being fobbed off that his congestion and wheezy-ish chest was mucus. Was a new doctor and she couldn't understand why I kept being told that!

She had a good listen and sent us down to paediatrics, they monitored him and his lungs and blood oxygen were great (as I thought, hed been there twice before and been checked by gps too). Spoke to the consultant and they think it is caused by his acid, I'm not convinced but giving ranitidine a shot for a couple of weeks and they said to visit again if it wasn't better.

I think he does have a bit of reflux but not yet convinced thats the real reason!

Hophop, was your lo putting on weight ok? He is huge which is maybe why they've dismissed it?

He won't bf (was exclusively screaming on the boob and losing weight + green pio galore for 3 weeks then onto top ups and bf just got worse to where he would actually refuse). I express three times a day (ish) so he gets about 1 and a half expressed feeds a day. if he turns out to have a milk allergy I'll probably give up tbh.

My dd is small (9th centile) but has always steadily put on weight. I went to the doctors about four times because about once every six weeks she was sick with what looked like coffee grounds - it was only seeing on the internet that it could be a sign of milk allergy it all clicked into place. She was very mucusy straight from birth. She also would poo about 4 times a day - about 3 weeks after cutting dairy, she was down to usually only 1.
He may well have both reflux and the allergy. Suggest it to them and maybe ask to see a paediactric dietician too.

My DS had reflux and was only able to feed for 5mins or so at a stretch. I insisted on a referral and at the hospital we were given domperidone to move the feeds through quicker and ranitidine to help the pain the acid was causing. He was like a different child once we had started on those.