Does this sound like silent Reflux ?

[Echocave]

I'm wondering if anyone with a baby with silent reflux can help me.

I think dd2 might have this and would like any opinions.

She is 4 months old and her daytime sleep is very disturbed. She will sometimes sleep for only 30 minutes then wake up crying. She will sometimes go to sleep again by herself but fidgets for about 45 minutes in between. Today for instance she slept 12.30-1 then 1.50 to 3.

At night she's fine though we haven't dropped the night feed yet.


The reason I am wondering about silent reflux is that she's always been very windy, has hiccups very often and during feeds has to be winded constantly. She will also drink only 100 ml on average per feed although I breast feed twice a day so not sure how much she gets then. Her burps can take ages to come up and she will scream an hour after a feed then burp.

She's always sneezing too and does choke during feeds. She will also arch her back during feeds until we wind her.

Does any of this sound like reflux or either a cmp intolerance? She's fed expressed milk with 1 formula feed a day.

Sorry this is so boring. I just can't work out if there's a problem.

[Echocave]

Thanks Hangingbelly (I'm sure it's not!). I'll look into that. We tried gripe water but it didn't really seem to make much difference.

[Hangingbellyofbabylon]

Have a look at baby probiotics. Dd had severe silent reflux symptoms and was taking domperidone and gaviscon. The probiotics have massively helped. I wish I had known about this before as all of my other babies really suffered with windy tummy.

[Doodle1983]

DOH! What I meant to add was that he has a tongue tie and it's interesting to read that some symptoms might relate to that... I've a referral to get it snipped

[Doodle1983]

I also tried raising the Moses basket and he wiggled himself up and across and got wedged across the middle ! He is a teeny baby (just 6lb4oz at almost 5 weeks) haha x

[Doodle1983]

Interesting comments here! I went to the dr wkth Ds thinking he had reflux and dr said it sounded like wind. Problem is mainly at night he won't settle to sleep very well.. He falls to sleep but then is wriggly - constantly.
He was being sick lots and hiccoughs- HV suggested comfort mik (he is ff) which has stopped the projectile vomiting and reduced hiccoughs dramatically (some days doesn't even get them at all now).

Dr said he won't prescribe gaviscon unless he has to - he thinks it's wind as said he would be crying if he was in pain. Me and DH have just bought some new bottles to try and reduce wind - dr booth. First night on them and not sure I can see an improvement. He is still wiggling about and had been a bit more sicky than usual. I don't know of it's the teat though as we have gone from a level 2 to a level 3 as I heard the dr booth teats are smaller than tommee tippee (we had to use level 2 with the comfort milk as it's thicker).

Bottom line is I've absolutely no idea what the frigging problem is, only that last night I had an hours sleep at 4:30am. I'm prepared to try anything and will be back at the dr if I can't get anywhere with this new (and super expensive) bottles

[Athrawes]

I'd say not because she sleeps at night and you are not yet utterly sleep deprived to the point of insanity.
However - best way to diagnose is to try infant gaviscon after a feed and see if the symptoms stop. Mix with milk or water and inject into the back of her cheek. Having her cot raised won't hurt but on it's own won't make enough difference to cure reflux.

[Echocave]

Thank you. We've tried raising the cot and holding upright.
Is the first port of call usually Gaviscon and is reflux diagnosed on the basis of whether the antacid works? (Sorry, am peppering you with questions!).

[Pocket1]

Yes describe symptoms and if you think medication is needed or would help, don't leave without a prescription. Reflux is a v common complaint so gps are dealing with it often.

You can also try tipping up dd's cot at one end with some books under the cot feet so that her head is higher than the feet. And maybe hold her upright for a bit after each feed.

Good luck

[Echocave]

Pocket, your poor little one (and you). That sounds awful. And very difficult to have to fight for medication. I think if there is any reflux it is mild (certainly compared with what you describe) so I'm not sure a GP would take any action. Is it just a question of describing symptoms and seeing what they say?

[Pocket1]

My dd suffered terribly with silent reflux as a result of undetected dairy intolerance. She never settled day or night, only took small feeds, hated sleeping on her back (slept loads better on her tummy - i known that's not advised but it helped her).

It's interesting that your dd sleeps okay at night - I would have expected consistent symptoms day and night. But I am no expert.

My dd also had poor weight gain. 3 gps, 4 health visitors and a breastfeeding councellor never picked up the dairy intolerance so she suffered for months. I had to fight for reflux medication too.

When you see you gp next week don't take no for an answer. And ask them to thoroughly check out your dd

Good luck, hope the little one settles soon

[minipie]

Honestly I'm no expert! It's just that she sounds very windy and wind can often cause reflux-type effects due to the air coming up with acid. So I'd be thinking it was the wind that was the underlying problem rather than "inherent" reflux if that makes sense. Also you say she sleeps for 30 mins then wakes and fidgets for 50 mins... I'd expect a child with reflux to scream tbh not fidget...

[Echocave]

Oh yeah. That makes sense [dim]. Thank you again. May I ask what it is that makes you think it's not reflux?

[minipie]

I think a smaller hole can mean they swallow more air actually because they are sucking so hard to get more out iyswim.

yep agree you need to check off any physical issues first.

[Echocave]

Thanks Mini. Really helpful. I am taking her to the GP next week to see what they think because I don't want to be trying to encourage her to get through the sleep cycles if there's a physical problem in the way.
Would a bigger teat not allow her to guzzle more?

[minipie]

It does sound like wind on the naps plus also maybe a bit of habit (she's in the habit of waking fully after one sleep cycle rather than going into the next sleep cycle iyswim), possibly the habit is due to being disturbed by wind.

Latex teats usually have size 1 hole don't they? Maybe try size 2 and see if that helps at all?

It could still be reflux, I don't want to rule that out because it is possible, though it does sound more like wind. You could ask your HV/GP?

[Echocave]

She uses latex teats. She's not particularly dribbly but she does guzzle. When she breastfeeds she really chugs it down and always has wind problems afterwards.
That's partly why I bottle feed her. I've found once she's fed for a few minutes and been winded she won't go back on as if it hurts to lie down ifyswim. But will have milk from a bottle.

Do you think the wind is what's disrupting her naps? Thank you very much for the reply by the way.

[minipie]

Ah right, probably not that then I guess (though if it's easy to get it checked for reattachment, I would do).

Yes, it could be reflux - though overall it does sound more like a problem of taking in lots of air, and being unable to get it up, rather than a leaky stomach problem iyswim. What bottles are you using? How is her attachment on the bottle - does her mouth make a good seal, does she feed "cleanly" iyswim or is there lots of leaking and on and off?

[Echocave]

She had her tt snipped. I don't think it's reattached.

[minipie]

It could be reflux but it could also be tongue tie (statistically much more common). Tongue tie can lead to a bit of intermittent reflux as they swallow lots of air due to poor latch which brings up acid when it comes up.

Have you ever had her checked for tongue tie?