reflux

[x6bec]

Hi,
My son has a really bad cough when feeding and regularly projectile vomits. He is on gaviscon prescribed but it doesn't seem to be helping. I bottle feed him with cow and gate 1 in the day and 2 at night with Dr browns bottles, he is still just as sick! The Dr has asked for a urine sample, ha! Try getting that from a 10 week old.
Any suggestions and other experiences with this greatly appreciated. My daughter had bad colic, can't seem to produce children without feeding difficulties lol may need to stop at the 2.
It breaks my heart seeing him so uncomfortable all the time.
Help

Could he be Dairy Intolereant? Both of mine were, my son had severe colic and reflux on breast and bottle but I didn't cut out dairy and my daughter wasn't great... they both went on to hypoallergenic formula and were so much better! Maybe worth trying to cut out dairy if breast feeding?

I didn't want to read and run, I can't offer advice on the reflux, although my two ds's have had silent reflux, it's a different kettle of fish to reflux. Just keep going back to the drs until you get a solution. I had to fight tooth and nail to get treatment for them and just kept getting fobbed off with gaviscon ( which does sod all IMO) I even had to pay to see a private paediatrician with ds1 as I was getting nowhere with the GP. Best £150 I ever spent!

Wrt the urine sample, feed him with his nappy off,( with a towel on you to stop you getting soaked!) and have a cup ready placed for when the inevitable happens. Hopefully he'll wee before he throws up so you'll only have one thing to deal with. Good luck!

And remember, this too shall pass, it doesn't feel like it now but it does get easier.

Wee sample:- cotton wool balls in the nappy over the willy area and squeeze out into pot. Unless they need it to be "sterile" then you have to catch it in a pot they should have provided.
Puking:- ask to be refered to the hospital to see the specialist. reflux is horrible gavisgon does nt touch it.My son had omeprazole once a day for his first year it did nt stop the puking but no more screaming .Good luck

Have thought about the dairy intolerance but not sure what to look for with this? He is pooing fine, a bit less sloppy with the gaviscon. And yes I agree that's not doing anything. What's silent reflux? It's so hard to do things like feed him without nappy on because I have a 14 month old to run round after too. Don't get me wrong wouldn't change it for the world but just want my little boy to be more comfortable. Will speak to hv tomorrow about poss dairy intol as need to get him weighed. Docs haven't helped at all, just keep saying as long as he hasn't lost weight etc. What about his discomfort! Poor baby. Thanks for replies ladies x

hi x6bec, sorry to hear things are difficult with your wee boy - reflux sucks and it is horrible when you know they are in pain but so little helps

there is a reflux support thread in this section, sorry, no idea how to search / link it (v sleep deprived as well, doesn't help), which has lots of useful advice.

imo, gaviscon is pants, made absolutely no difference to ds and we persisted with it a bit too long! Then we got rantidine which has helped a lot (and is easier to get into him!). Most GPs seem able to prescribe it.

If he's doing a lot of projectile vomiting, ask your GP to check him for pyloric stenosis which is a rare thing but important to pick up.

Fingers crossed as he gets bigger, things'll improve - ds is 15 weeks and things have been getting better as he gets bigger (hopefully haven't just jinxed things!)

Wee sample - ubag from your GP and a sample bottle.

Reflux. Ranitidine or omeprazole. GP is more likely to prescribe Ranitidine than the Omeprazole as that is generally a Paed prescribed drug. The other thing to try is positioning, keeping him upright, also to consider dropping the volume slightly. He could be full and not realise it. My DD had horrendous reflux, so I do understand.

Silent reflux is more of an acid indigestion condition than reflux- they don't vomit as much but are still in a considerable amount of pain.

Keep on at your drs, I had one who told me I wanted to put ds on drugs so I could get more sleep no, I want to put my ds on drugs to stop him hurting. Needless to say I will never see that GP again. Are there other gp's in your practice you could go and see?

The next step is to try ranitidine or domperidone (which iirc helps food move faster through the stomach) although I didn't have too much success with that for ds1, with ds2 ranitidine seems to have nailed it, thank god.

Be the squeaky wheel and keep trying with your docs. Keep baby as upright as possible and try and feed little and often as a pp said

As DS is bottle fed, you may want to consider trying an alternative formula which can help with reflux. We used Enfamil A.R. (anti-reflux) and it simply made our massive feeding issues a thing of the past. Enfamil AR is available from independent pharmacies and also from Boots, though you need to ask for it/order it in. It doesn't contain medication, just rice starch which thickens the formula so it stays in the baby's tummy rather than being regurgitated. You need variflow teats as it is thicker than regular formula. You can't use the gaviscon at the same time though. We found we didn't need gaviscon or any other medication once we switched formula. Best of luck.

Can I just ask what ds means please? Sorry, New to site even with second baby.
Gonna take all advice to hv tomorrow so thank you. Oh I've just guessed at daughter/son?
Thank you all x

Will drs prescribe enfimal? Is it expensive? Not that it matters if it works x

Yes you got it. There's a list of acronyms here

Yes, DS, darling son!

Dr can prescribe Enfamil A.R. and it won't cost as much. Just want to stress it isn't medication though, you don't need a script to order it. I think when I bought it off script it cost about 5 pounds for a tin, but it's smaller than a regular formula tin. Not very expensive and for us it was totally worth it. Not saying it would definitely work for you, but I was glad to try something non-medicinal before trying drugs...which it turned out we didn't need.

I think people are overly quick to point at intolerances (even some paediatricians). Yes, they do exist but they are comparatively rare compared with the "normal" reason for reflux, a weak sphincter at the top of the gastro intestinal tract. They also generally produce other symptoms such as rashes or poos of odd consistency. You need to get a referral to a paed and add ranitidine or omeprazole to counter the acidity, in addition to a food stabiliser like gaviscon. I assume that they have rules out pyloric stenosis, as a poster mentioned above.

How is your son's weight doing? Reflux is a real pain, both for the poor baby and the parents. Not much in our house survived the curse of baby vomit but it does generally self resolve between 6 months and one year.

Domperidone. Ugh! My daughter was on cisapride before they banned it as it caused heart issues and was switched to domperidone. Domperidone is a motility drug, which means it forces food through the digestive tract quickly. In my DD's case it was so fast that she literally pooed her feed as soon as she had it. No surprise that she didn't put on any weight for a year, and no one could work out why except me.
Silent reflux - DD has night time reflux and it wasn't uncovered for years, as she had stopped refluxing after food. We couldn't understand why she always had a coughing fit at night and constant chest infections. It wasn't until a CT uncovered that she had a collapsed lung and a ph probe over 24 hours revealed that she had been refluxing at night in her sleep for 30 minutes.

Try going back to the gp, my gp got fed up of me and referred me to the peadiatricians "as maybe I might listen to them that nothing was wrong" my little boy threw up all over the peadiatrician after being fed three hours before and we came out with meds, (ranetedine and hypoallergenic formula) and support! We were referred to a clinic where he was skin prick tested and blind tested for dairy too.
It was a long haul but it was easier to get my second referred when she started showing similar signs. Neither lost weight and looked healthy (which is why my gp was reluctant to say anything was wrong)but partly because I was breast feeding lots to sooth/calm them to stop them screaming. Our colic was 24/7 arching of back, it was awful to watch feeling like I couldn't do anything to help, followed by vomitting up to 30 times a day! It was much harder for me and my family to watch as my children are both fine now, can tolerate some dairy and have no memory of those days! Keep going back to your gp even if its just to get some more support.

Hi all,
Had him weighed today, he weighs same as he did 8 days ago. Going back to gp in morning, snow permitting! Hv doesn't think its reflux because its the cough that's making him sick rather than it just coming up? He still has a lot of mucous, was told by another hv this was because he was born quickly and can take ages to clear. However hv today said if it was from birth would have gone by now! Hate getting conflicting info! What can you do

Hi All. Newbie here so please bear with me lol.

DD is 7 weeks old and I already think that I have been labelled as a neurotic first time mum after a dash to A&E at Xmas (emergency doc phoned for ambulance)! She is currently violently hiccuping on my lap!- bless her - along with being sick. First it was silent reflux, then after being prescribed Gaviscon she is constantly being sick. Doc seems to think that's fine as she is "thriving" (due to the constant feeding with silent reflux!) Poo is still explosive (sorry TMI) ranging from painful "playdoh" to loose scrambled egg. Really worried about this but HV and Docs don't think this is a problem (but they aren't dealing with a screaming baby in pain.) Could it be intolerance to formula (on Aptamil)? Help - health professionals aren't listening!

Hi dontdomornings.
Is she still putting weight on? Have you tried anti colic stuff? Dentinox, infacol, gripe water? Does she burp ok? It may be worth trying Dr Brown bottles, I used them for both of mine and really rate them. It may be worth looking at comfort milk too, its easier to digest for them. Strange that her poo keeps changing. Are you giving her gaviscon in every feed? Don't worry too much if she is "thriving" although that doesn't help when you have an uncomfortable baby :(

Sorry, hate to be a contrarian but cow's milk protein intolerance is relatively common in infants, with an estimated incidence of at least 2-6%. The absence of skin rashes is not a cast-iron indicator; in our son's case he just stopped feeding really, and was clearly in a great deal of discomfort. He did have an awful lot of mucus from both ends though.

I think a lot of paeds want to rule out CMPI before going down the reflux road, which is right really, because CMPI is easier to fix and doesn't run the risk of the baby experiencing side-effects from medication.

Having said that, it could just be plain old reflux. Gaviscon I always found utterly useless. Like others have said, omeprazole is far more effective but has more potential side-effects. There is a medication called lansoprazole which is very similar to omeprazole but has the benefit of actually being soluble. Omep is a total pain to administer so you could always ask for lansoprazole fastabs instead if you end up going that route.

Second what others have said about pyloric stenosis. This needs to be excluded, especially given your baby is a boy and especially if the projectile vomiting is getting more forceful over time.

dontdomornings - I would consider trying a different formula to see if it agrees with DD more than Aptamil. DS had weird runny poos for over a week while on Aptamil (after months of Enfamil A.R.) and my helpful GP told me it would be worth trying a different formula as sometimes babies fare better on one over another. At that point we tried SMA and he was fine on that, poos sorted. That was after the months of silent reflux had passed. The paed thought there wouldn't be any point trying SMA over Aptamil as they are both cows milk based so in his view not much different.

No harm trying, though you have to give allow a couple of weeks to adjust to new formula and you aren't meant to keep switching. I would actually give enfamil a.r. a try. Some babies experience constipation as a side effect, as there is rice starch in it. Though as my paed (for a change) insightfully said... it's much easier to get it out (the poo that is) than it is to get the food in. We had to use a little lactulose every couple of days to help move things along.

Don't want to suggest Enfamil AR is the silver bullet for everyone, but there are other options out there, not just Gaviscon/medication.

Demand a lead referal, all those whose docs are useless. Reflux is awful, I had a massive row with one gp who said DD was putting on weight (permanently comfort b/feeding) so ok. I told him he was a cruel heartless man to leave a tiny baby in so much pain! He grudgingly prescribed ranitidine and did our referal. At nearly 2 DD is still on omeprazole and ranitidine.

pead referal,not lead!

I saw a different GP at my practice with ds2 who seemed a bit more clued up on reflux ( ie believed it existed!) and he said that ds2's chesty cough and wheezing was all part and parcel of reflux. Sure enough, when he started on the meds his cough cleared up. I did aquick google when i got home and found a useful site, I'll try and find it again and link.

Op, hope all goes well if you get an appt today

here you go this lists the symptoms, and remember, a baby doesnt have to have all the symptoms to be considered to have reflux.

Just remembered, my dr said not all babies lose weight when they had reflux, as evidenced by my 91st centile porker ds!

dontdomornings and op, just keep on and on at your drs until they treat the reflux to get rid of you or get a referral.

Thanks for the link Birnamwood. Has most, and more that I found on littlerefluxers site. Poor little mite
Hi X6bec - she is gaining weight but this is from all of the comfort feeding. Been through all of the anti-colic with no improvement...already using Dr Brown which has helped with her trapped wind have to say! Apparently comfort milk is just like ordinary formula plus gaviscon so it wouldn't be any use (so they tell me).
Hi Black Swan, seriously considering change of formula...she's had watery poo's on and off from day one on it - well until she was put on Gaviscon (and now they are always a surprise - but always explosive!)
Hi Narmada - She does also have "a touch of eczema" (according to doc no 1) so I ended up buying junior oilatum (no offer of a prescription!) DD has now started to refuse her food since last night - has just taken 1/2oz and nappy exploded (sorry TMI) - she eventually took 3oz instead of her usual 6oz, and she has always had a fair bit of mucus too.
Hi Paranoidandroid - been told today that unless she starts to lose weight she won't be referred to Paed as my little chunky monkey was 50th born and is now 75th - grrrr

Had a bit of a night with neither of us sleeping. If she drifted off she woke herself up screaming or sobbing (and her tears have just arrived - my poor heartstrings!). Full blown "runs" last night all night - coupled with the vomiting....got an emergency appointment at the docs (doc no 3) who suggested it may be a bug as it's only got worse in the last 24 hours and could last 5 days...I said she's always had problems with her digestion... Then he said it might be cows milk but probably isn't (and ????) his suggestion to water down her feed 50% as it may be too rich - didn't listen when I said I was having to thicken her formula as she has reflux. His parting shot was if she gets any worse I'm better taking her to an out of hours clinic rather than A&E as they are more sympathetic. Is he for real??

Anyone got a hard brick wall that I can bang my head against????

Hopefully my HV (and her trainee) will turn up on Monday as planned (but not holding my breath as she has cancelled 2 visits already - been off sick and no one to cover!)

Thanks everyone for your input - really appreciated!