Reflux and calpol. Any experience?

[lem31]

So, ds has bad reflux. The ranitidine stopped working, omeprozole hasn't done much.
Feeding has been the big issue, but now he is putting on weight I am turning to sleep.
Sleep normally consists of 1 stretch in the evening, followed by waking every 30 minutes to an hour for no apparent reason.
Yesterday he had his jabs so I gave him a preemptive dose of calpol. He slept amazingly well. Like, insane.
The other times he has had his jabs he also slept better I seem to recall, but I put it down to feeling rubbish and wanting to sleep. But as he is currently playing away, I'm guessing he isn't feeling rubbish. So that leaves calpol... (Or coincidence).
Anyone else found calpol helpful for a reflux baby? I'm wondering if the stomach pain is whats been keeping him up...

I'm sure the stomach pain is what is keeping him up. I don't think regular calpol is a good strategy though. How old is he and what milk is he on? Has CMPI been ruled out? Our experience is of there is an undiagnosed food intolerance even high doses of PPis won't work.

Thanks bakingtins. He is on neocate, although it isn't doing any good so we may come off it next week. He is 4 1/2 months old.
I'm not necessarily suggesting calpol as a solution, although if it works it means it is a pain thing not a behavioural thing which helps me understand whats going on. When he was on ranitidine he started sleeping brilliantly but then it wore off after 4-5 weeks and upping him to the max dose didnt help. Omeprozole has stopped the screaming at the start of feeds, so it must have helped, although he doesn't take much feed before he pulls off the bottle and cries. My gp suggested that it is still pain, just later in the feed rather than his oesophagus being inflamed. Poor little munchkin. Reflux sucks!

How long has he been on the Neocate? I'd give it minimum 8 weeks before you say it's not working. what dose of omeprazole?
It does royally suck. I would always assume it's pain until proven otherwise. I used to wonder what I had done to be cursed with such a miserable child. He actually has the sunniest disposition in the world when he's not being eaten by his own stomach acid

have you tried enfamil formula?
prescription milk- I had veryyyy refluxy DS2 and it was fan-tastic:)

Yeah, my ds is the same. Such a happy baby unless laid down or eating.
He has been on it for 4 weeks. You think 8 weeks can make a difference? Ill stick with it then. I just don't want the horrible taste to impact on him not eating. If it does work, what will I expect to see?
We have also started weaning which has helped the weight gain lots. He is really enjoying the solids which is good. Makes for interesting sick though lol!
I have always assumed pain, but the lack of sleep just makes me so desperate for a solution. And I just start thinking if it is behavioural maybe I can stop it... He is too young for drastic sleep training anyway, but after speaking to hv yesterday I'm trying o teach self settling. I think he already does it anyway and hv was a bit stumped about what was happening when I explained his overnight behaviour, but figured it was worth a try anyway. X

Is enfamil formula similar to neocate?

I don't think enfamil do an amino acid formula - they do have a hydrolysed one so equivalent to Pepti or nutramigen 1. There's also an added rice (AR) one which is thickened so may help if the reflux is purely a physical thing but not if he is CMPI.

Thanks for clarifying. I just so desperate for a solution, you know? I want my happy, chubby sleeping baby back! X

The paediatric consultant gave us permission to have to non-consecutive nights a week with DD dosed up on Calpol. We gave her 3 doses over 12 hours. The consultant worked out a dose based on weight not the dose on the bottle. She slept for 3 hours or so. Utterly amazing.

*two non-consecutive nights

I think I read your post here the other day. I knew I'd read it somewhere!
So maybe I am not crazy thinking calpol may be the thing making a difference.
Thanks. X

lem31 how much omeprazole is your DS on and how long has he been on it? My DDs reflux was fairly well controlled on 10mg omeprazole and me being dairy free, until her jabs last week. Since then her reflux has been worse then ever, she even screamed with it last night and was struggling to feed, she has never done it at night before. We upped her omeprazole to 15 mg last weekend and I'm really hoping it starts working soon.

He is on the max dose for his weight. It is sort of working in that he stopped screaming at the start of feeds but struggles to eat more than a few oz at a time. My doc thinks his oesophagus inflammation has gone down but he still gets the indigestion hence why he struggles further into the feed now. He is 4.5 months.

I hope the upped dose works for you. X

Sorry to hear about your poor DS. Just a little question - do you thicken up the neocate with anything? It might help to keep it down in his stomach so it wouldn't cause him so much pain? We used to use Carobel.

Is there anything else you could try other than Calpol? Scary article in the Metro this week about the amount of children's medicines that contain additives banned from food because of links with health issues if used regularly (apparently they get around it because they can say medicines are only for occasional use so the additives don't matter????).

Yes, we have been thickening with thick and easy (gotta love the name) and weaning to keep food down. To be honest the thickener gives him baaaaaad poos and the weaning just makes for more interesting vomit!
I'm not using the calpol to help him sleep, just for his jabs fever. I was just curious about the sleep. I guess the gp has weighed up the problems with no sleep to calpol more regularly for stargirl.

What are your experiences with reflux sleep generally?
Hv told me to do the self settling thing. I'm finding he can settle for naps and in the evening but overnight he is struggling. I do think he is in pain, but have no idea what to do about it. I just can't think of any other reason why he can self settle sometimes but not others.

Truth be told I'm struggling with this whole thing now. I see other people doing so much better than me with babies that are happy, feeding and sleep so much better. I just think I'm doing something wrong. And my poor ds is so good, he just doesn't deserve this start in life.

Babies tend to be sleepy after their jabs, it wasn't necessarily the calpol.

Yeah. After last night I'm thinking that.

DS was on Zantac and then Losec till he was 14 months, but what made the biggest difference to him was starting Carobel when he was 5 weeks. The first time we used it was the first time he got through a whole feed without crying.

Carobel had no effect on DS's poos.

We used calpol (in fact sometimes, whisper it, medised) for DS when he had severe reflux as a 1 year old (but a tiny one)

I discussed this with DS's gastro-enterologist and he was ok with it, although I did worry at the time. I would definitely discuss it with your DS's doctor first.

I never gave it prophylactically but always when he first woke up in the night - he would normally do a good stretch to about 11 but then wake up a lot. He was (still is) tube fed at night, so even when he wasn't awake, he was tossing and turning and making his pump occlude and alarm. I was almost at breaking point from lack of sleep, and he was in a lot of discomfort.

Maybe try again with thick and easy as Neocate is thinner than normal formula.

Don't beat yourself up - dealing with reflux is very, very tough, and you can't compare the experience to an unaffected baby.

Thanks guys. Been to doc today and they are taking him off neocate as it doesn't seem to be making the slightest difference. They suggested an anti reflux formla which he was on before and it really did seem to help so fingers crossed the crazy combo of drugs and foods will turn this all around.
How worrying for you having your baby tube fed. That must be terrible. His sleep pattern seems similar to my ds though, a good stretch followed by lots of waking. No wonder you were so tired. I probably get an extra hour or so with him waking between 12 and 1 but it is so exhausting. I can only imagine how that would feel at a year! I guess it makes sense if they are in pain that it would help.
Reflux sucks so much.