'Reflux' causing extra feeding and wearing parents down...

[Tallysmum]

My 6-week old DD has 'Reflux' which is getting worse since she first started being sick after feeds in week 3. She is now being sick a number of times after each feed, and is therefore hungry sooner for the next feed.

She is on Infant Gaviscon, but we struggle to get this into her before she starts being sick. I'm not sure its really making any difference, except in the EBM bottle she gets each evening where we add it to the bottle directly.

It's really wearing us both down, and disturbing DD's sleep paterns as she wakes up lying in her own sick. Does anyone have experience of this or advice on how to cope?

have you tried her in a sling? being kept upright may help her keep the milk down.
if things don't improve then do take her back to the gp and tell him/her that the gaviscon isn't working as i think there are different medications you can try

Definitely keep her upright as much as possible. Don't lie her down after a feed, even to change her, keep her reclined in a sling, bouncy chair or car seat and raise the level of the head end of her bed on books or with rolled blankets under the mattress so she sleeps on an incline.

Thanks, we have her cot on books to lift it up and I do try to keep her upright. But, she is often sick as soon as she stops feeding, so no time to put her up. She can also be sick ages after a feed so we can't avoid changing her.

Do you know what the other medication options are?

Hi Tallysmum.

We've just had Reflux diagnosed with my Ds who will be 2 weeks tomorrow. Isn't it heartbreaking.

We've been advised to change his milk and have been given a prescription for a milk called Enfamil. It is thicker than normal baby formula so therefore stays down. It is like gold dust though, or it is where we live so our local chemist has to order it in for us but like I said its on prescription.
The next step for us is mixing the gaviscon in with the milk and then if that doesn't work moving on to Ranitidine.

Obviously if you are breast feeding you may not want to give her formula. On of the mums on the August post natal thread had this with her ds. She had the gaviscon and Ranitidine. Also lots of propping up. You can get a sponge wedge for moses baskets and carry cots for sleeping. We have propped our carry cot up at the head end with some shoes lol! But it does help.

Hi YellowFeathers - what a shame your DS has it so early. We were slow to pick up on the reflux, which just grew worse over the weeks.

As I'm breastfeeding, the forumla milk isn't an option I want to try yet. But, we do find that mixing the Gaviscon with the milk helps - unfortuntely only when we give her a bottle. I'll ask my GP about the Ranitidine to see if thats easier to use with breastfeeding.

It's so frustrating, as I'm sure you know. DD seems to be sick no matter how upright she is and we're getting through the laundry at pace!

Good luck with your little one.

I'm with you on the laundry!
Thank god I bought Muslin cloths this time round. Bibs would have been useless lol!

I think we have been lucky recognising it so early but I put that down to the MW's and HV tbh. They mentioned it and when the HV came to see us yesterday she told me to call if it got any worse, it did and I called her first thing this morning and she got me in to see the Dr straight away.

I would definalty ask about the Ranitidine. I think its the same or similar to Zantac.
I've been reading up a bit on it and I have heard that it fades away usually when you start to wean onto solids, sometimes it can go away earlier.

Good luck with it and I hope it gets better!

Hey all, exactly the same situation with DD, almost seven weeks and we have just clocked the reflux and got her on Gaviscon.
I give her it before a feed (bf) but in a bottle, 2 sachets with 1oz of water as she is over 10lbs. - like Tallysmum i couldn't get it into her quick enough after a feed. HV said this should be ok and seems to be working, ok i suppose if your baby will take a bottle. She goes on the breast straight after. Although it does help with the vomiting, it is still important to keep them upright afterwards, even for 10 mins or so. Good luck to us all! x

Bellabanana, this is a really old thread you've posted on - dated from 2006. If you start yourself a new thread you might get more up to date support hth

My DS had reflux and nothing really cleared it up until he was about 10 months and was able to hold himself up a bit. It was so bad it defined his newborn months to the point that it's the only thing I really remember about his early weeks.

I couldn't have got through without the odd formula feed before bed. Don't be too prescious about it; you need help feeing your baby. One feed a day helped me carry on BFing him until he was nine months.

The laundry, the worry, the broken sleep due to the reflux pain was awful and I completely understand. I left Gaviscon as it didn't do much. I went to a Osteopath and maybe it worked a bit I don't know. All I can say is that you need to dig your heels in and try your best not to crack up with the pressure. It'll be a distant memory before too long. Good luck.

Reflux is absolutely horrible and my ds was found suffering from it at 10 days old... so we put him on Gaviscon and Ranitidine. Its heart breaking pumping chemical into such a tiny thing, but its more soul destroying seeing them distressed, hungry and helpless.

We are still struggling, and sometimes I'm in floods of tears but it is so common with infants (so I'm told) and we just need to be very patient, and do the best we can. Stick in there, you're not alone

Little refluxers is a fab website with lots of great tips and medcation advice.

My dd, now 21months, suffered terribly with silent reflux and it was quite an ordeal getting her medicated but once sorted the pain was much easier to manage.

An amby hammock saved us on the sleeping front as she could rock herself when needed and she wasn't lying flat.

The website helped us loads.