how much to feed a comfort eating reflux baby

[scahillk]

Hi,

I have a 4 week old who I believe has silent reflux. He shows signs of wanting to eat all the time (is bottle fed on Aptimil 1). he was 8.8lbs at birth and I went to HV when he was 3 weeks old concerned that he was eating so much (taking 4oz every 2 hours and would have taken more if offered) at 3 weeks he weighed 9.11lbs and HV just said he was a hungry baby and to feed him as much as he wanted as often and baby would push away bottle when full. So I was then giving him 7oz bottles which he would drain (I refused to give more as this felt way too much) and he was wanting bottles every 2 hours.

I read some threads on here and internet about reflux and that some babies with reflux can overeat as the sucking soothes the pain. So I have started giving him 5oz every 4 hours and when he is looking for bottle in between those 4 hours I give him a bottle which seems to pacify him.

My concern is, as he never pushes a bottle away no matter what the volume, and can be pacified on a dummy. How do I know if he is hungry, or if he just wants to suck, and how do I know if 5oz every 4 hours is enough or too much???

Have made an appt with Dr to see if reflux can be diagnosed and any medication is needed but wondering if any mums have any advice??

He is not sleeping well, especially at night, and has cold and makes grunting noises and goes red in face, raises his legs and generally looks in discomfort.

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks.

If he's uncomfortable, have you thought of switching to another formula?

He sounds very much like my ds.
My ds would guzzle and guzzle he was also fed on Aptamil.

I took him to the cranial osteopath but not convinced it did any good. One good thing I picked up though was with reflux your baby just feels discomfort in the digestive system and they can't differentiate that pain from hunger pain, hence the constant feeding.
I tried a wedge thing to elevate his head up but all that happened is he ended up scrunched at the bottom of the cot.

He was prescribed renitidine(?) which fortunately helped, we winded him loads every 30 ml or so. He was a bad sleeper too and after much agonising we started to put him down to sleep on his tummy. He was as happy as anything and could get comfy. I know the advice is to put them on their backs but he would literally be up all night grunting and writhing around. The tummy thing is obviously your call but it worked for us.

DS 1 had bad reflux but the opposite problem - he would only take a couple if ounces at a time for months which is often the case as being too full causes the feeds to come back up.

Think changing formula, baby massage and a trip to the GP all sound like a good idea.

I would ask the GP for Ranitidine.

Thanks for all replies. I went to GP and she said as baby is not losing weight that he is fine and she doesn't think it's reflux. I don't agree as he definitely looks in pain at times and goes red in face, raises legs, grunts and various other symptoms. Very frustrating!

Going red, raising legs and grunting sounds like wind rather than reflux. Have you tried tummy massage and bicycling his legs? Infacol might help.

This sounds just like the trouble we're having. I definitely recommend trying infacol. It's not been a fix for us but it's certainly helped a little. If you find anything else that helps please report back as it's heartbreaking watching them squirm around screaming at night. You could also try switching bottles. One of my midwives recommended trying dr Brown's bottles as they're apparently good for preventing trapped wind. We haven't tried them yet though as we were giving infacol a go first as its a cheaper option.

Definitely sounds like wind. Try cycling his legs/holding them up to his tummy.