?possible silent reflux- but also on comfort milk for constipation- plus irregular bowel movements - im confused what to do.

[Tiredemma]

DD is 5 weeks old. Really irregular bowel movements from birth and was extremely constipated (was on Aptamil 1). Gp prescribed lactulose- initial poo would remain hard like (plasticine consistency) but would then come through quite loose. I could however hear the milk literally 'hitting' her stomach and she would be constantly writhing around in pain.

HV suggested trying with Comfort Milk - initially this was all very good-

Now however I am concerned about the following-
DD remains irregular with bowel movements (every two / three days) and appears to be really straining to poo, however when she does poo its quite liquidy in consistency and tends to come through as an 'explosive fart' if you understand.

She is really 'windy" (very farty)

on occasion she will bring up an entire feed - this strangely tends to be her 7pm feed. I dont know why.

she hiccups a lot,

she spits a lot - especially after waking up.

Ive looked up silent reflux on the internet and she seems to have a fair amount of symptoms.

My quandry is now not knowing what milk is best for her. I dont want to take her off the comfort milk and put her onto anti-regurgitation/reflux milk in case I re-introduce the constipation?

My other concern is obviously her minimal bowel movements and then the explosive farts- I suppose im concerned about a greater underlying concern? (but I dont know what this is?)

I have my 6 week check next monday so will discuss this with HV and GP then, however just curious as to whether anyone else has had any similar experience and if they had any advice.

Hmm, that can also be a sign of an allergy or intolerance. Dd had dark circles, assumed it was just tiredness till someone posted about them on here. Other than that all your symptoms sound similar to how dd2 was. And we went through the milk and the comfort milk to no avail, and bingo the pepti worked miracles. I was so sure I was doing something wrong because she never smiled and I rebbe er thinking she's so loved how could she be so miserable.

I hope the dr listens to you, and gets your dd sorted x

She is so miserable, really struggles to raise a little smile.

She sleeps alot also ( I was worried about this but HV said not to worry as long as she is gaining weight (which she is), basically if she isnt asleep then she is miserable.

:( it's awful isn't it. It's up to the dr I guess. It could be either but my choice was to try milk first as although it's medication itself I felt that it was preferable to gaviscon. I could r see how the milk could be more traumatic on her runny than medication.

Couldn't

Update.

I feel a bit fobbed off by the GP that I have just seen. I described DD's symptoms- he launched into some spiel about 'Colic'- I said 'no, im not talking about Coli- im talking about reflux"- to which he suggested that they were 'very similar ailments'

he said I should use Gaviscon- I said she is already on thick milk, can he prescribe omeperazole or ranitidine, He said No- apparently you cant have these for children ??

He said again Gaviscon as it will also help with the frequency of DD's bowel movements- when I asked how he described the 'flow' of gaviscon and how it can 'expel' through the bowel (I have no knowledge of this but plan to look it up now)

He also said that I should have continued with the lactulose as originally prescribed for DD when she was originally constipated (approx 3 weeks ago- she had solid poo / like plasticine and was only going to toilet once every 3/4 days). I said the the HV had advised that I go onto Comfort milk and stop the lactulose and I asked what the point of lactulose was if her stools were now actually extremely runny?
He said that it would make her more frequent (even though it didnt previously)

So I have come away just being advised to re-introduce lactlulose as this will also help with reflux apparently as it will 'clear her out' and reduce build up of milk in stomach which is causing the reflux.

I have my 6 week check on monday with the HV's and the lead GP (who is a paediatrician). I just told the GP that I will discuss it with them.

You should of taken the gaviscon as it will help,

Omoprozole won't be given by a gp, it is for very extreme circumstances of reflux.

Your best bet would be to put her back on normal milk, get the gaviscon, use the lactoluse every day as advised do that for 2 weeks and then if nothing has changed you go back and ask for a paediatrician referral who will then prescribe ranitidine.

I think the comfort milk is causing the runny poo.

He wouldnt give me the gaviscon.

He said I have to try the lactulose first

thanks for reply- I was just actually thinking maybe I should change back again.

It was the HV who suggested I change milk.

argh.

can I get gaviscon for her over the counter?

No you need it on prescription.

Put her back on normal milk and use the lactoluse for 10 days (this is a decent amount of time for her tummy to adjust) then go from there.

I think you need to ignore the health visitor. I kicked mine out the house a while back. They have no idea what they are talking about and just read from a text book.

in between posts she just had another explosive poo. This one is more 'snot like' in consistency (stringy mucous)

My dd had that when the milk wasn't agreeing with her.

What a waste of time :(

I know.

Im not messing around with any of it anymore. I will wait until Monday when I have my 6 week check. The GP who prescribed the lactulose is the paed Dr so will see what he says.

Good luck. Sounds very similar to CMPI I hope the drs consider it :(

Well that GP didnt and was very offhand- so I will just see how the rest of this week goes and discuss next week.

Document all the symptoms. Even trivial ones like the dry skin etc just to make sure you don't forget to include them. Lactulose isn't suitable for lactose intolerant babies is it? So it very well could be part of the problem too depending on if it's proteins or lactose that's the problem.

I used to get infant gaviscon over the counter a couple of years ago.

Also, I might be wrong, but isn't it supposed to make them more constipated as it thickens the milk and therefore the stools?

Sorry if my knowledge is out of date though, it's been a year or two.