Managing reflux without medication

[MisselthwaiteManor]

We took DD to the doctor at 1 week because she was throwing up full feeds for two days and wasn't settling. They said she has reflux and told us to try infant gaviscon mixed into a bottle of expressed milk. I only managed to give her the gaviscon once or twice a day, and I hate it, it doesn't appear to ease her discomfort at all or stop her from being sick. It makes her vomit so thick that she chokes and makes her constipated and uncomfortable.

Shes 3 weeks now and I've stopped the gaviscon and I'm using upright feeding positions and holding her upright for ages after a feed, letting her have small and often feeds and pretty much never lay her down. Also winding her a lot (midwife in hospital told me BF babies dont need winding but her latch is bad because of lip tie so she gulps air, Ive only just realised this so shes been left in pain with wind up till now!) it's exhausting but she's been sick a lot less and I thought we'd cracked it.

Yesterday she was sick after every feed again. Would you go back to the gaviscon, do we need to be giving it at every feed in order for it to work? Or do we need to go back to the doctor for something else? Or is it normal to have a bad day and just ride it out?

If I can do without meds I would prefer to.

Im sorry if I made you feel worse op I just saw read at the thread title about being med free. I guess what youre aiming to do is manage reflux without gaviscon which as its faffy for bfing and causes awful constipation and wind. That can totally be done with ranitadine if its mild or if its severe like dd a heroic dose of omeprazole. Bear in mind that no drug will help if the irritant is still present in the diet and after milk and soya egg is the next most trouble some. People who say reflux can be managed with a sling and no drugs have not seen the scale of reflux I'm on about where milk comes out the nose an hour after a feed and the acid is so bad a baby goes blue limp and floppy. Dd was 13 weeks prem and came home on 16 meds a day by far the most imp of which was her omeprazole. As for worrying anbout eliminating too much from yr diet try a trial and reintroduction of each and you certainly dont need to consume dairy to bf - no other mammal does. Im coming up to 20 months soya and dairy free and were ok.

Been to the doctor and he wouldn't prescribe me anything, I asked for ranitidine and he pulled out a book and listed all the reasons why he wouldn't prescribe it to a baby of her age, including depression and impotence!! Shes 3 weeks old. He was a dick tbh. I'm to go back if she loses weight but apparently while she's gaining she's fine and it's only a problem for me. I don't know whether to go back to another doctor? He made me feel like I was being precious and dramatic.

I'll read up on Cranio osteopaths, I'll try anything.

Hi. I'd go back. My dd was gaining weight too (she was feeding constantly) but she was in pain - our doctor was sympathetic to this and was happy to prescribe ranitadine.

I saw 6 different GPs in 8 days in order to get a paediatric referral for DD's silent reflux. Don't give up.

Ask to see someone else cmpi and silent reflux are more recent diagnoses and older gps can be shite. If that fails go to out of hours where you have a better chance of seeing a paed. I had ds in the bad old days when it was called colic and they told you it should ease in three months. He gained weight fine so all my reflux worries were dismissed. He didnt sleep for 16 months, he still has mild issues with dairy and he has a niggling throat clearing thing he does that I suspect is from the damage from babyhood. Time to get awkward.

I had a dd w terrible reflux. It responed to huge dose of losec in the end, but something worth consideing is that there was a component of over feeding for us which will not have helped the vomiting - I used to put her back to the breast after a big vomit thinking that all the milk had come back out and she must be hungry only for her to vom it all up again.

Our paed explained this as that the mik soothes the acid temporarily (as is alkaline) so they will always opt for more.

btw - alison scott wrights book is v good on this

I'm going to take her to the walk in centre, we took her there when she first had the reflux and got sent to the paed ward so hopefully will happen again and someone will give us something better than the gaviscon.

She does go for another long feed after vomiting, I have wondered if she's taking too much too quickly, my milk comes out really fast. Even expressed feeds she drains the bottle so fast.

That sounds like a plan! I think you'll get much better advice & treatment there. GP's, in my experience, do not have the expertise to manage severe reflux. Mine used to tell me "all babies are sick". And good growth is not a reason not to treat it - fast forward a few months. & you'll have a baby that struggles with food/weaning.

Just another thought, based on experience: how often are you winding during feeds? With DS we had to do it every ounce of the bottle, otherwise he bought back vomit with the wind.

Ah, reflux is a nightmare. Ds1 was as you describe your baby - its awful to see them in pain.

He used to really guzzle feeds & over feed to try to soothe his throat, this is a bit of a vicious cycle as over-filling the stomach can exacerbate the reflux. Gaviscon did not work for him, he used to go to great lengths to spit it out however it was given. I bottle fed & had most success with carobel feed thickener, although this isn't an option if you're bf. We also changed to a comfort formula, which helped a bit with wind/colic but in retrospect I'm not sure if it was necessary really.

Raising head of cot, keeping upright after feeds and winding every ounce all helped, as did feeding lesser amounts more often. A lot of it is trial & error and I know it feels neverending but it does pass. Ds1 gradually grew out of it as he got better head control and then could sit etc. Weaning also helped.

Your GP sounds like a dick, I would go back & see someone else and push for a paed referral if you're not happy. Good luck x