needing support through silent reflux

[deborah86]

My little girl is 10 weeks today And has silent reflux. it's a constant battle to feed her. We can get to 2 oz most feeds with no problems but after this she screams anytime the bottle goes in her mouth. I've had to wait till she sleeps to get some more into her and sometimes this doesn't work either she wakes up and starts screaming again. Her weight gain has slowed right down again, she started on the 50th percentile and is now down at the 9th percentile. Hv was here the other day said we'll keep an eye on her weight gain and it'd be checked in 2 weeks time. I find it really stressful and worry that she's not taking enough since her weight gain slowed down. Doctors at first gave us infant gaviscon seemed to work for a week then it all started again. We have now got ranitidine but told not to give her gaviscon when she's on this. Shes been taking it for 2 days feel like its not made a difference. I don't know what I'm asking for here but I need support or story's of people who have gone through this before and got to the other end. I don't want to keep dreading every feed that ends up with us both crying at the end. Please help it's really getting me down. Feel like I'm Doing everything wrong as her mum. Please help me

Here you'll find a whole website dedicated to reflux with stories, tips, medication, .... www.cryingoverspiltmilk.co.nz. It helped me lots with DS2. He had the worst reflux ever. Ranitidine did very little for him and he was put on Lansoprazole twice a day.
To be honest, we had 8 horrible months. Even with medication, we would have vomits, apnea, infections due to vomit in ears and lungs, and once we started weaning very acid and smelly poos (not normal weaning poos, but so acid and pungent, I had to change his bed sheets even if they weren't dirty.).

I understand that what I just wrote isn't going to help you. So my piece of advice would be to feed her for a very short time, then walk tapping her back for 5 min, then again a short feed, more walking and tapping, try to keep her as vertically as possible, even during feeds. Try to raise her bed head.
Many reflux babies are lactose intolerant, so you could try switching to a lactose free formula.
Hope this helps a little.

Oh gosh this sounds really familiar! Firstly you are doing an amazing job if you've already got it diagnosed. My daughter had it and it was weeks before it was diagnosed. I think persistence is the key here, try switching back to the gaviscon and back again if need be. There are also formulas designed for reflux babies, they are thicker. Keeping her upright is the key, feed her in an upright position and keep her Moses basket or cot elevated at one end so she isn't lying flat. Don't elevate too much (like I did) and baby slips down the end in a bundle! The main thing to remember is that this is a temporary condition and although it is awful, it will pass and you won't remember these days (you'll be onto to teething or another issue). Remember persist and keep your chin up, it's easy to get very distressed when you see your darling baby suffering. Big hugs

I'm guessing she is ff, as you say about ozs of feed? My first thought is of an intolerance to cows milk - the protein in it is a common problem for lots of babies. I would make an appt with the gp, especially as her weight is falling. Write down all the problems or concerns you have had, and discuss them. They may prescribe you a more "broken down" formula that is easier to digest.

If you are bf, I cannot suggest strongly enough trying a dairy free diet. Am sure you would see improvements.

It is so tough, you have my biggest sympathies - it took us months to get things sorted with my dd.

Lots of support available here.

My wee one had silent reflux and the story you tell of almost dripping milk in is like going back in time.

With my dd she clamped her mouth shut at 4 weeks and refused to feed to the point where she was tube fed. In some ways this helped as no one had any choice but to take her seriously.

She had infant gaviscon, ranitidine and domperidone for heR first few months and this helped massively. She was still hugely fussy with feeding and I was terrified to take her out during the day as I could never tell whether the screaming, arching etc would happen when out and people would stare. In the end she dropped weight again and was put on omeprazole and we never looked back. She upped her milk by 50 in 24 hours of going on it.

Other possibky relevant info is that my dd was impossible to bf (to me anyway) and reacted quickly to formula. She ended up using nutramigen which helped quickly.

we tilted the Moses basket and held her up for at least 15 minutes after every feed for a long time. She was introduced to dairy well after her first year.

I am not sure if This recount of my DD's exoerience is helpful or not but I found the support of others (like bigpig) genuinely saved my sanity

Just know you are not alone! This is very similar story to my first baby - in the early weeks she would have humongous vomits - more than I could believe she had consumed all day. The vomiting slowed at about 2 months but then the horrible screaming and making choking sounds during feeds started. She would arch her back and scream until she just fell asleep. I tried gaviscon but it didn't help and made her constipated. One thing I would say is that it can take a while for the drugs to work so you should discuss with your doctor how long to persist before trying something else. My daughter was breastfed and I found that going dairy free is what made a huge difference in the end. We later confirmed she has a significant milk allergy. My pediatric allergist actually told me that silent reflux isn't really a real thing on its own - usually it's a result of a milk allergy. GPs are actually not very well informed about allergies - I suggest you get a referral to an allergy clinic and insist on a trial prescription for nutramigen, a formula made for babies with cows milk allergy. It's really horrible to suffer through this, especially when it can sometimes seem that the doctors and midwives don't believe you or say that it's just normal for babies to spit up or cry.

I was very lucky that HV and Doc agreed with me that DD had reflux. She got the medication. After 3 months I didn't have the mental or emotional strength to feed every hour. Switched to anti reflux formula.
She's a bonny 13 month old now.
I promise it will get better. Even in my darkest hours I didn't believe it would but it does.
As PP have said be kind to yourself.

Thanks everyone! she seems happier the last couple of days so I'm hoping the medication has kicked in. it really helped me that you all took time to give me some support. Hoping this is the start of her getting better :)