All new deluxe reflux support thread

[buttonmoon78]

Welcome one and all!

she screamed day and night. I would visit the Drs weekly say she wasn't right

Bubalie I would ask about the gaviscon possibly causing more problems than its solving. We came off it for a while as paed said that if there were sore patches then the thickened milk could be sticking to them for longer than unthickened milk so allowing the problem to persist. We're back on it now as we think he may be better from that pov and he was puking so much (even with domperidone) that his nappies were getting quite dry.

So - we're off the ranitidine, back on omeprazole and gaviscon along with domperidone. I look like a flipping pharmcay store!

We're also to avoid fruit as it's def contributing to his eczema and possibly his reflux too. He ate parsnip like a trooper last night and only took 2oz overnight!

Poor love is covered in eczema though. His little hands go straight to his tummy and scratch scratch scratch the minute his nappy/vest is off. He's got raw patches behind his ears

Off to do some Christmas shopping today!

He has been dx with reflux and probable CMPI but this fruit thing has come out of left field! I've been a bit more alert as his 1st cousin has lots of allergies, but fruit?!

My DD1 had bad reflux. It didn't bother her particularly but it was bad in the sense that it made her lose weight etc, but once her drugs were established, she was so much better. There was a huge leap at about 5m and then by 9m it was almost all gone. I hope that gives you some hope!

mama sorry should have said 15 mths is where we are at now. The screaming, the sleepless nights, the vomitting stopped at around 6 mths when she was weaning and sitting up more, we had a couple of flare ups between then and now but it was a couple of days at a time, never long periods and we all know when you get enough sleep you can cope with those flare ups. I really didn't want to make you feel you had to wait 15 mths sorry! Didn't want to scare you!

MissTulip the instructions on the gaviscon packets are a load of c**p. My LO was hospitalised with reflux and the paed nurses did something completely different...

They mixed the full 6 packets max dose for 24 hours in a bottle with 30mls cooled boiled water each morning and syringed in 2.5mls of this before each feed then chucked out what was left at end of the day. This solution is thicker than the packet recommends but is still a liquid and easily syringed and swallowed. 15mls is too much to feed a small baby each feed, takes ages.

Bleugh. 4 month sleep regression. Double bleugh.

I was dreading DD waking more at night, couldn't face the 20 mins sitting upright after each feed I was doing in early days. So I didn't. We moved to cot rather than crib/bassinet over the weekend. I have tilted the whole side car cot up on big books to about 15 degrees and fed her lying down then left her. It worked. She is SR not a spitter though. I had really missed co-sleeping with this LO having done it with a sidecar cot with DD1. I didn't think it would be possible to feed her lying down or have a full sized cot tilted up enough.

We've also just got out the high chair, it reclines and she sits supported pretty well aged 17 weeks. Off to see her peadiatrician for a review tomorrow. Got a load of questions about weaning and growth.

Sorry Sargesaweyes I EBF so can't help with volumes of formula. I don't think the volume of food consumed in the day has much to do with STTN tbh.

Working backwards over the last week, DS (20 wks last Sat) has had 26, 34, 21, 25, 36, 29 and 29oz. For his weight (17lb1) he 'should' be consuming 31-47oz per day.

Yeah right

It's more to do with their weight TBH.

Work out the weight in kgs. Then multiply by 120 and divide by 30. That's the min recommended. Do the same but multiply by 180 instead. That's the max recommended.

my baby is 20 weeks too and drinks anywhere from 20 oz to 30 oz in a day. need to get about 27 oz in the day to know i will be getting a full nights sleep otherwise i expect a night waking. her weiht gain is slow but still gaining so obviously no one is worried about it (even though the only reason she is drinking and putting on weight is becuase i sit in all day feeding her little and often)

am getting a bit fed up with it. i am pretty sure her reflux is well controlled now as she doesnt cry or grunt/chew fist after feeds but she still wont take more than 4 oz at a time. trying to split feeds so i offer her more 40min later but sometimes she takes it and sometimes she doesnt which means i can't leave the house as i know she will start screaming at some unopportune moment demanding to feed 2-3 oz.
i officially give up. just waiting for weaning to come and reduce number of bottles she needs so dont need to do these daily battles.

anyone else started weaning and found things better? did they have problems getting minimum amount of milk into them

thanks mamalamoo, I agree completely and have been happily disregarding the instructions after 2 tries at following them - felt confident enough to do so mainly cos of advice on this thread including the 30ml nurses' strategy you'd posted upthread (thanks for posting again for me). I make it up in 5 mls, have managed to get 5mls in approx twicev so far. Great feeling of accomplishment compared to usual maybe 2.5ml in, 2.5ml coughed/spat out... Noticed ds getting wee rash round neck line, prob from gaviscon trickle.

Had hellish weekend esp Saturday. 12hrs screaming/grizzling/wantig to feed hrly. ended up phoning ooh gp as we were losing our marbles. Didn't need to be seen in the end as he fed again, then slept at last for nearly 5 hrs (!) - we'd agreed to take him to gp in an hr if he hadn't settled. Thank god dh was off all weekend.

So after that booked appt with gp today and we're on zantac. So fingers firmly crossed that we'll see a difference soon!

Has anyone else found their previously unused birthing ball a lifesaver? Bouncing on it is one of the few reliable ways to settle ds, esp when windig him is proving tough.

Nursery nurse advised giving some fennel tea - 2 bags in pint water, infuse for 25mins before takimg bags out, keep in fridge. Balls, can't remeber anything about how often u can give it! Sorry. Just that u can give the gavscon in 30mls by bottle and get gaviscon in, fennel tea in for sore tum and extra fluid to off set the gaviscon constipation (replacing the fluid gaviscon draws out of the bowel). She was vvvvv helpful.

Anyone used the dummy with a built in syringe for giving meds? think it's called easimed, random amazon find, ordered it but would be good to know if anyone has good/bad things to say about it.

Sorry, this turned out long n rambling - v tired today. After horrible weekend, now have v sore nipples and a nice red break in right nipple. Right breast is aching today, am hoping v hard that it's not mastitis. Struggling to cope as it is without getting sick...

hope everyone else having good day.

MissTulip - Birthing ball been using that since the start, even take it and pump with us when we go stay with someone. So much less tiring than pacing the room.

Persevere with the zantac, it took several days for it to calm LO and a full fortnight for complete effect to kick in, then she started sleeping 8 hours a night. Glad your GP is on the ball and not faffing around about paed referrals etc.

Have tried the easimed dummy with DD1 to get calpol in, she wouldn't drink off a spoon until 11 mo (bizarre child), if your LO uses a dummy it makes sense, works just as you'd imagine, can be a bit harder to control the flow than a syringe as the plunger is shorter and there is no guarantee they won't spit it out. With syringing the position I squirt it in makes quite a difference, into the side of the mouth at the back or up to the roof of the mouth (like breastmilk). My LO now 17 weeks is a pro and drinks it up if I place the syringe on the tip of her tongue. She also drinks off a spoon no problem as a result of all this swallowing practise. See reflux has some advantages .

Oh yes, gaviscon is an alginate - it forms a jelly in reaction with the stomach contents, it thickens and makes feed heavier, it can't draw water out of the bowel, not sure why your NN would say that. EBF baby wouldn't need more water on a regular basis. I'm a bit about people suggesting fluids in addition to BM if you are BF. Is this your first baby?

Your baby will adjust to the thicker fluid in their intestines and poop daily after a while (about 10 days of no poo, no poo, playdough poo in our case). A tiny amount (1ml) of lactulose in about 9mls of water is all I use now on the odd occasion she hasn't pooped for a couple of days. A EBF baby on gaviscon will not poo some days just like and EBF babies do normally anyway. DD1 (no reflux) didn't poo for several days once, she was fine.

Anyway, hugs for your dreadful weekend, you have got all the right meds in place now, hold your nerve and stick it out for a week. Then you can come on here and tell us how it is much better .

I think MN need to create a [guilty] emoticon.

We had to go out last night and half way down the motorway I discovered (when trying to make a bottle up) that I had left the powder pot at home

Of course you can't just buy nutramigen like that so we decided to get a carton of aptamil as a desperate measure. Well, it has proved his CMPI. His eczema is terrible [guilty]

Actually, it has proved useful as DH was questioning the paed's decision that he has CMPI so now he's a believer. Ho hum.

why is it husbands never truly believe the problem until you prove it to them??? I swear my husband just thinks i am neurotic.

Because it is always better when someone else is around. Because they (mine, anyway) seem to thing that babies are just being awkward when they cry - it's not because of pain or anything.... Because (often) they rarely see the problem to the same extent ie all flipping day!

What's worse is that the gp would only give us a 15g tube of hydrocortisone ointment on Friday which was all gone by Sunday pm. So I've been using some less effective hydrocortisone cream all week awaiting the repeat. Only to be told today that the gp won't do a repeat - they need to see him again. How the hell do they expect a 15g tube to last him for a week when he's covered in eczema?!

Does anyone else find that just when you think things are improving, your LO has a terrible day?

Mine has just spat, coughed, spluttered and cried through a mere 60mls of a feed (she will normally have at least 120) and promptly gone to sleep like she's trying to shut it all out. She was making sour faces and holding the milk in her mouth rather than swallowing, then spiting it out and crying - heartbreaking.

Does this sound familiar to anyone?
She's not been this bad for a bit and thought we were seeing improvement but she did this yesterday as well - its not at every feed, but we had just come back from a walk and she was a bit sick when she woke up, so i gave her some time then tried to feed but she was definitely in pain.

Has anyone on here weaned their babies yet ?

Yes - I am, been weaning for a few weeks now. DS is 20wks. It making no impact on his reflux yet but then its not meant to be a rapid cure all. And it's bringing as many problmes as it might solve as it's throwing up (pardon the pun) lots of allergies/intolerances.

We have good days and bad days too. It's not much fun! Am also going to start splitting his omeprazole into two doses so the half life effectively covers him for the whole 24 hour period.

Oh well I started Monday with baby rice and we had severe vomiting all afternoon yesterday.. Ds reflux presents itself as mostly pain so vomiting isn't really a problem . I have decided to stop as I'm not putting him through all that. I was told it would get better with weaning so I'm a bit confused. He was prem so I started at 6 months actual as instructed but I think I'll wait til the new year to start again.