mixed feeding and reflux, 13 weeks

[hostelgirl74]

Baby is 13 weeks. He has always been a difficult baby - cries alot, ages to settle, wakes up screaming etc. Until 6 weeks he was solely bf and then as he was taking forever to settle, i introduced an additional formula bottle at 6 weeks as an evening feed. He had started to sleep for 6/7 hour blocks but recently this is all very random - anything from 2 hours to 7.5 hours. I wondered if he was getting hungrier as he is 91st centile for height but only 25th for weight despite being 8lb 10 when born. I introduced a 2nd formula bottle and he takes it fine but it seems to have made no difference to his irritablility. The gp has recently told us she thinks he has reflux. He has many symptoms certainly - i think i notice the vomit more now as he has a larger stomach so there is more of it. Recently he has started to go off the breast in the daytime. He has gone from feeding like crazy to not really wanting it/feeding for 5 mins then turning away in frustration. He seems to much prefer his bottle. Even when i express into a bottle, he seems to have more difficulty keeping the breast milk down as well. The only time he seems to have no problem feeding from the breast is middle of night. This makes me sad and quite emotional as it feels like i am not giving him what he needs. I did put him on a variflow teat rather than the 0 - 3 month for the expressed and formula feeds thinking he could get what he wanted quicker/settle better but i read this may make things worse and him more likely to prefer it. I am not sure what to do now. I don't really want to give him more formula bottles as i know the breast milk is better for him but without him feeding regularly my supply is going to dry up. Certainly in the evening just after i put him down, i can express but this is not something that is convenient in the middle of the day whilst out. I got my period back today as well and this makes me think my supply may be dwindling soon. Should i cut the additional formula and have him chucking up left right and centre or keep it and change teat back to slow flow? I would appreciate some advice please.

Hello - ask your GP for infant gaviscon. It really helped my DD.

I gave up EBF at about 8 weeks and once i moved onto two bottles of formula a day DD started refusing the breast and ended up on FF quite quickly. It's easier to give the gaviscon in bottles as you just mix it in. with BF you have to mix it with water and spoon it in or use a syringe.

There are some very good treads about reflux and BF so have a search through past threads. As I didn't manage to keep BF going I am not the best to advise on that.

One thing I found really helped was keeping DD upright after a feed and keeping her propped up slightly as that stops the feed coming back up to their throat which hurts. We put telephone books under the cot legs to put the cot on a slight angle and use a bouncer chair during the day.

It does get better with reflux - by the time DD was 6 months it was more or less sorted but I feel for you when you are in the thick of it - its horrible seeing them so upset.

thanks - am currently trying to avoid certain foods and see if that makes a difference as well as i know a couple of times i have had chillis when he has been worse. Anyone else any experience of whether that works?