I am new to this site and am in need of advice.
My 9-week old DS has silent reflux. Usual symptoms include difficulties winding, cries after most feeds (BF almost exclusively so far), cannot be laid down flat on his back so he sleeps on my chest, has saliva bubbles, sounds congested etc.
One evening before we understood what was really happening we took him to A&E as he had been crying most of the day, which was unusual. The paediatric doctor there prescribed Gaviscon Infant and also Ranitidine in case Gaviscon did not help. We put him on Gaviscon Infant for 2 weeks, although on a slightly lower dosage than recommended as we were concerned about constipation - we did not want to make him worse than he was already. It helped very slightly as he did not cry as much as before but overall there was no change. We stopped for a few days and have decided to start again to ensure that the acid reflux does cause harm to the tissues around his oesophagus.
We are not keen to get him on Ranitidine because of what we have read of the side effects (allergies, neurological issues etc). But this is what I would like to hear from parents whose LO have suffered silent reflux in the past and have taken Ranitidine:
- Did Ranitidine stop silent reflux or improve it?
- How easy/difficult is it to give?
- How long would a baby be on Ranitidine for typically?
- Are there side effects that you noticed immediately?
- What about LONG TERM effects? Have some of you noticed any adverse effects on your LOs once they have grown out of silent reflux?
- Finally, I need all the hope I can get, when does it actually get better?
Many thanks in advance.