reflux nightmare

[offmyrocker]

I'm a new mum of a 3 wk baby girl who has bad reflux. Her feeds are completely sporadic as is the quantity she can get down her. I keep a log and there's not one day that is the same, and the nights are pretty bad too. What should I do? I live abroad so medicines are different, but my (disinterested) doctor suggested Gastrofluss, however, the problem is that she spits it right back up again. I also feed her in an upright position, and her mattress is at a 45 degree angle, I burp her throughout her feeding and I give her Aptimel. But still she's absolutely miserable, and SO AM I! What can I do? Please mums help me out I'm truly struggling to keep my head above water, but it's come to the point that I'm too frightened to go out in case she screeches blue murder. HELP!!!!

Have you thought about switching formula? DS1 could not tolerate aptimel (silent reflux) but was very content on SMA Gold. Also, you could try Enfamil Anti-Reflux - it has a rice thickener in it so is harder to regurgitate (you will need a much bigger teat though).

Finally, keep an eye on a dairy intolerance (DS2 has this + silent reflux!!). He would vomit whole feeds and now is on a dairy-free formula and the vomiting (and diahorrea!) has stopped.

thanks for your reply frazzles,
could you tell me what signs your ds2 showed as dairy intolerance. I've noticed that dd has slight blotchiness on her face and tiny rash of spots on forehead and nose, but that could be due to her crying and general upset. Is diahorrea also a symptom of dairy intolerance? Because dd has the opposite and is lucky to do a poo a day.

Did you also go through the almost hourly feeds day and night, and if so how an earth did you get through it to tell the story???

Are you BFing at all? If not would you consider re-lactating? Reflux is often linked to dairy intolerance so going off formula and back to BFing (and you would need to remove dairy from your diet) may really help.

unfortunately breastfeeding is not possible - I won't go into details if you don't mind...
However, I am going to try a non-dairy formula that I've ordered from Germany hmm, I'm desperate, the only prob being it'll take time to arrive so in the meantime I'm still stuck. But I'm still unsure if it is a dairy intolerance - what would the symptoms be? I thought reflux had to do with a newborn's spinchter muscle not being fully formed in some babies... all I can be sure of though is that it's truly heartbreaking to see her writhing around in so much discomfort during every feed. DH is going in search of a replacement for Aptimel as soon as the shops open tomorrow morning. So fingers crossed.

DS is now 6 months and (we all!) suffered the most awful silent reflux. Started with gaviscon- fine for a week then back to square 1. Then enfamil AR. Fine for a week then back to square 1. Then Zantac. Fine for a week then back to square 1. Then gaviscon with Zantac. No improvement at all. Then different doc who listened to his chest and said DS was regurgitating his feed, swallowing it again but it was going down wrong tube and now was settling on his lungs . Long story short, antibiotics to clear lungs, LOSEC and CAROBEL have TOTALLY transformed him. From feeds of 1 oz at 14 weeks he now slurps 8 oz and is weaning quite nicely (ish!)Understand procedure is prob different where you are and that docs need to follow steps with medication but if we'd been given losec early on I might not have been tempted to up and leave. Totally sympathise

Turk1 - What a nightmare!
Was on the brink yesterday, ordering expensive formula from germany and getting DH to traipse round town for anything that might keep us going until the order came in, but guess what? Today DD has had some sort of miraculous turnaround and reflux is nowhere near what it was the last few days ??? What is going on? Now I'm left wondering whether I should start her on this expensive milk or wait it out and see if maybe she was just going through particularly bad time. We'll see. Will look into losec and ask Doc. Thanks for the suggestion.

So glad that today has been easier for you... wish I could suggest why but these babies totally do their own thing and there is no reason with them. On a good day you look back and wonder why you were so highly strung. Then it starts again! You analyse every last thing you did differently- it got that I dreaded feeding time. My mum had to step in at one point as she witnessed me hurl the bottle across the room (not proud). I have to say that without my family about I doubt I would be so chirpy about it even now I suggest trying the new milk. You never know, it may do the trick and all will start to settle. If not you know to try another approach. Try to enjoy your daughter though- I spent ages wishing my son older and I now regret not cherishing the newborn phase. Sounds arsy but just couldn't. Too stressed.

Reflux is often described as the "reflux rollercoster" becuase you can have 3 hellish days folloed by 3 where you think you've finally cracked it and it'd gone. Hopefully that is the case for you but would suggest that you try and get stuff just in case it's not.

We have a prescription for omeprazole (Losec is the brand name) along with Domperidone and it has really helped.