Paediatrician appointment for reflux

[gallicgirl]

We have an appointment in a couple of weeks and I wondered if those parents who have already been there, can suggest questions I should ask or information I should be ready to give.

The reflux doesn't seem to be a bad case but I know things which are wrong can become very normal IYKWIM so something I might think is normal and trivial might be quite important. the reflux is intermittent too so I was wondering whether to keep some form of diary for a couple of weeks so it's easier to quantify how bad the problem is.

Any ideas?

Hi gallic,

What sort of things have you tried so far?

We're using gaviscon which has helped but we still have days when we all change clothes several times!

Weaning may well help enormously but DD is only 5 months and it could be another 4 or 5 months before she's eating enough solids to make a difference.

I'm going to keep a note of how many doses we use and how much milk she drinks and also when she gets acid.

My baby has the silent type so no vomiting but i found my consultant listened to me describe her symptoms and highlight what problems it was causing us eg DD couldnt settle after a night feed so a 3am feed could be the start of your day iyswim? Have to say omeprazole has worked wonders for us,dd is just like a nornal baby,dont even keep her upright after feeds anymore,she is 22wks.

i think keeping a diary for a couple of weeks sounds like a very sensible idea

Gallic, I assume that she's FF as you say you're keeping track of milk intake? What type are you using? If you're bottle feeding (EBM or F) is it because you chose to, or because you were unable to because of pain/damage?

There's a theory that reflux is related to tongue tie, you see, so I am just throwing that out there and of course many babies with a TT end up bottle fed because sometimes they can't latch well enough and their mums can end up having horrific BFing experiences.

It can also be triggered by a food intolerance - often dairy or wheat. If she's FF then it could be the cow's milk protein in the formula. If you're expressing then it could be either wheat or dairy making its way into your milk.

Or it could be a whole load of other things but I thought I'd offer some suggestions :)

Thanks everyone.

She's FF. Not exactly by choice but we managed to BF for about 3-4 weeks so she got some goodness. I did raise possibility of tongue tie with gp at a point when we were mixed feeding. He was convinced she didn't have one and wasn't prepared to take it further as she was bottle feeding ok. :( I didn't have the energy at that point to push the issue.

I don't think it's an allergy as there are no other symptoms - poo and skin ok, but I will raise possibility. Thanks for reminding me. :)

Gallic read through all the posts on the reflux support thread that will give you some idea of what is refluxy behaviour. Then make a list/keep diary of how your LO is behaving.
Also head to website - crying over spilt milk, it's a NZ based reflux support site. There is an excellent diagnosis pathway that I think should be hammered into the medical profession over here as I think it is all too easy to just medicate immediately.
I read some medical research that suggested that over 50% of silent reflux cases were caused by cows milk intolerance and that symptoms are very difficult to pinpoint/diagnose.
Anyway good luck with your appointment.

Interesting link, thanks for that.

She's only ever had a few of the symptoms: coughing, arching back/screaming but before feeds, vomiting.

Not sure if this points to a mild case only or something else entirely.