could my baby have reflux

[moosh]

Ds 7 weeks keeps excessively posetting with every bottle. If it was a little I wouldn't be posting, it is with or without a burp. He gets colic, but have been to see a cranial osteopath and colic seems to be disappearing.
It is a mixture of milk and with every bottle he will bring up clear mucus with milk in it, but that seems to have a real acidy smell about it, not the usual milky sick smell. I wouldn't worry but, like I say it is with every bottle and it is between 5 and 10 times over the space of two hours, then he has a rest then it starts again with his next bottle. It is not overfeeding he is about 10.5lbs and drinks between 4 and 5 ozs has a one holed teet and takes about 20 mins to drink it and is winded half way through. I thought it could be reflux can anyone shed some light for me please, sick of getting through 4 bibs a day and changing my poor baby 3 or four times. Thanks

Possibly. Have you tried keeping him upright between feeds, in a car seat or chair for example, and raising head of cot to see if it makes a difference. dd would take ages to drink any amount of ebm from bottle (45 mins for 3 oz at 12 weeks)but you could try a faster teat or variables. There are things that a gp can prescribe but success can be variable and it isn't really a cure. As long as he is gaining weight and not projectile vomiting it is more a a case of waiting for the stomach valves to mature.

hth

Thanks LIZS. We keep him upright until we feel he has brought it all up in his car seet chair. We did try a faster teet but the milk went down too quickly and even though he had less wind, he did projectile a couple of times so we went back to the one hole varible teet. I think he is gaining weight, (due to be weighed tommorow after a gap of 3 weeks) he feels heavier and will ask hv then. Any other mums opinions would be appreciated as well.

My ds had problems with vomiting to the extent that he was diagnosed cow protein intolerant, however, following his 4th hospital admission, his consultant recently put him onto Losec, an antacid and he gained 11.5 oz in 6 days and his vomiting has subsided! He is now 22 weeks and 11 1/2lbs so as you can see he has had serious problems with weight gain since birth. Do you have a good GP? I agree that some of the medications for some babies are not always that effective (ds was previously on Gaviscon - useless for his problem IMO)but it might be worth a visit. Hope things improve for you all.

DS has reflux and was perscibed gaviscon which helped a lot, but as LIZS points out, it's not a cure, it merely helps until he grows out of it.

Agree with LIZS about the keeping upright. DS has improved exponentially since he could sit up. Also try not to jiggle him about to much, ask friends and relatives not to bounce him around within an hour of feeding.

I moved to Dr Browns bottle quite early on which really helped with the colic.

BR
PS. Do you use plastic backed bibs? DO you have muslins?

Thanks everyone. Yes I do have plastic backed bibs and muslins thank god! Getting through about 2 of them or more a day constantly washing the bibs and muslin and baby gros. We keep him upright in the car seat chair or bouncer chair for a while after he has fed.
Doc has prescribed Gaviscon and reading the different threads it has had mixed results. Keeping fingers crossed it helps out my baby till he grows out of it.

Moosh,
I put DS in tops and trousers rather than babygros. Then you only have to change the top rather than the whole thing. Saves a bit on the washing....

BR

Hi back again, Gaviscon really shit!!!!! Not helping at all. But he had his last session at the cranial oseopath and she said that his diaphragm( crap spelling sorry) and entrance to his tummy felt a little tight and that it may not be reflux it could just be that the all the milk isn't quite getting into his tummy and so that is why it is coming up so quickly.
Do I carry on with the Gaviscon or do I stop, not sure more advice needed please guys. Thanx.

Hi, I am sorry to hear that your little one has the pukes. All I can say is:- when I asked my friends how many bibs I would need for my newborn, they said 'about 10'. My god. I listened to them and ended up buying about 70 bibs.

My little boy was a 'puker'. From birth and he is now 7 months old. He has the baby gaviscon but I don't want to give it all of the time.

I reckon you should just buy loads & loads of bibs (the plastic backed ones are best) they stop the baby getting wet when they puke. When he started on solids, he was a lot better. But he still pukes after a milk feed.

My mum used to say (bless her) 'better out than in' and if your littlely doesn't want it then they will puke it.

hi, its just so nice to log on and see that others are experiencing the same lows that you are. I'm sure that many people find it hard to believe how tiring it can be when your child is constantly being sick. my ds in now 5 months old and his sickness has definately improved but at its worst he was being sick probably 10 times between feeds and the constant changing of him, me, carpets, settee covers, car seat covers really got me down. I went to see the gp and just burst into tears and felt that she must have thought i had post natal depression but it was just a build up of all that was happening, did prescribe gaviscon but I decided to give myself one more week and cut the breastfeeds down to 15minutes and this seemed to help. he has continued to gain weight and now he is sitting up a lot more the improvement is great.
keep you spirits up and when people try to minimise/dismiss what you are going through explain how very tiring it is. Hope that things improve.

immyj

I can identify with the frustration and tiresomeness of the throwing up. When dd was born we'd just moved and ds started preschool so was anxious to try and get involved with other mums and get out and about. However I found the fact that she was likely to puke and the mess, smell, inconvenience involved so overwhelming, on top of dealing with the general effort of getting out with a baby, that in the end I largely withdrew from the social scene. I don't think the other mothers, some of whom also had older babies, could understand this and I have felt that I never made up the lost ground with some of them.

Do make the effort to get out, even if only for short periods, as there is a real danger in isolating yourself and then making this into a bigger deal than it should be.

when does it get better????? ds, 5 months old, has just thrown up on me (actually, down my sleeve this time, nice) for what must be the 20th time (no kidding) this morning - we got up at 8. I am so fed up. Everything is covered in sick in seems and the washing is unbelievable. He's even managed to be sick on his sisters' heads at times when I'm holding him and dd1 or 2 happen to be standing next to me. I've really had enough. Am a hardcore breastfeeder normally but would cheerfully switch to thickened formula if it helped.

It sort of got better when dd could sit but the additional mobility from rolling etc still caused problems, so most markedly better once she could pull up and walk. She was able to eat properly (ie non-purees, lumps and finger food) from about a year and by 15 months she was generally ok, although can still puke pretty readily from a cough or bumpy travelling for example.

You could try a thickener in ebm to see if it would help - I did a mixture of thickened formula and bfeeding from 7ish months.

My son still has it at 10 months. I used to put a plastic backed bib between his top and vest so his chest didn't too wet and the bib didn't get in his way when crawling. It was like a bullet proofed vest! It has got slightly better when he started solids and when he started standing and stitting upright more but we still need the gaviscon. I ran out today and there was a lot of sick after lunch. I wonder how long it does last for as the packets scarily have instructions for children as well as babies. I found it really annoyingtot give after breast feeding before 6 months when you have to use cooled boiled water but now its slightly easier. Its so bad at dissolving in formula and water though; why can't make a nice liquid like they do for adults?

At its worse, 20+ times a day it would really get you down and the carpet is ruined!

Can I ask wiltshire, why you didn't want to give it all the time? Is it just because its a medicine or do you know of some side effects?

LIZS, Hi, I suppose in some ways I am lucky as I already have a four year old who has to be taken dancing, pre-school etc etc so the issue of staying at home and feeling isolated in that way didn,t happen to me, but as you say going out brought up (pardon the pun)the problem that if I fed him and quickly rushed out he would throw up time and time again and although most of my friends have children I still felt slightly awkward when the sick was flying everywhere. Even if ds had been fed for a while the sickness was still there so there was never a particularly good time to go out, but as I had too I just did, taking muslims, bibs and changes of clothes not just for son but for me. As I said it has improved with the sitting up and cutting down on the amount of feed but is still sick regularly. Now weaning has started its just a bit more multicoloured. I think each child like in most things will improve at different ages and for us the difference now he can hold his head and sit up had been quite marked

Hi immyj,
I didn't mean to imply that I became a complete recluse !! As ds was in preschool I still had the school run to do twice a day, and attended classroom events etc. It was really the coffee mornings and group outings (in particular a group who would meet each week for a hike) where I found it most difficult.

Well as I said my DS is a 'puker'. The fact that load of other babies are still doing it really thrills me as I was just about to go to the GP again. So my mother was right then 'better out than in'. My littley throws up on a regular basis. However, I have the baby gaviscon, but really don't want to use it all of the time.

This is one thing that I would like an answer to. When any of you give your baby juice/water. Are they sick???

Sorry - the 'thrill' came from realising that I am not alone! It wasn't as patronising as it sounded.

Hello there,

My ds was also sick all the time and he is now 8 months but has been prescribed Gaviscon. I found that whatever he had to eat or drink caused him to be sick but now that he is on Gaviscon it has much improved. Sometimes he is sick but most days he can go all day with maybe just a dribble. It can be very difficult especially when they start to move around on the floor as this can increase the number of times they are sick. Since using the gaviscon I am now more relaxed about letting him wander around on the floor all day.

just reading your posts below I wanted to let you know that although it feels like it lasts for ever, it doesn't!! Both mine had reflux quite badly and it has completely put me off having another child (I know that sounds harsh, but its true!). My daughter (now 3) was so sick that all our carpets stank (and she was on Nutramigen formula which is extra smelly) and I asked the paed if it was likely that my second child would have it and they were very non committal but of course he did have it.

All I can say is as they get older it DEFINITELY gets better - especially when they start to walk which is apparently when their stomach muscles really start tightening up. The downside is that quite often (and in both my kids cases), if they get bad colds where they cough alot, they still puke up everything. That still happens now even though my dd is 3 and ds 2. But that really is the only time it happens now. I remember how awful it was at toddler group when mine were both constantly covered in puke (and me!!) but it doesn't last for ever and soon your washing loads won't be half as full as they are now

oh god the vomiting with cold thing is hideous. My son has done it about 3 time in the last couple of weeks. One time he tried to dip his hand in the bowl to retrive the pasta! It was worse cos we had given him medesed for his cold and he had had it once before but this time it made him cough and heave and we couldn't give any other medication for hours!

My ds had projectile vomiting for the first 2 mths - it was so bad I used to sit on the floor covered with a groundsheet with just our two heads sticking out (bottlefed) and even then the vomit could hit the picture rail on a good day. My GP advised tilting him to one side when winding him (sorry, can't remember which side) and I think starting on solids helped - that was at 4 weeks which I know goes against all current advice but that's what I was recommended by HlthV in 1972. (Ds is now a very healthy 32). Even after so long I remember very clearly what it was like but it does improve, honestly.

Hi, I have just been reading every-ones messages and feel slightly relieved. I have an 8mth old son and he has not stopped puking since the day he was born! I weaned him early because I thought it would help (it has not) He is sick after every meal and every bottle. Obviously now that he is on 3 solid meals a day it is proper sick, smelly and horrible, every-thing comes up exactly the same way it went down. I am constantly covered in sick, so is he, I go through about 15 bibs a day and sometimes 6 changes of clothes! Always wiping sick of the car seat, push chair and carpets. Its awful, some days I just cry, I know its not his fault but its soooo draining. He has been prescibed Donperidom ( excuse my spelling )
it has not really helped. Im really feeling quite drained by it all. Does any-one know any tips or any other medication that the Doc might prescribe.

My DS is 10 months this week and just grown out of reflux (yes it does happen!). He was on Gaviscon which helped with stopping him being sick, but the Ranitidine helped with the pain he got from the acid/retching/gagging/chewing/sneezing/coughing. This pain bothered me so much more.

Not read all of the posts (sorry!), but we also found following helpful (prob repeating here):

Hold upright for 20 mins after feed
Car seats didn't help, as DS stomach was hunched over
Double bibbing, i.e. putting two bibs on (i.e. then if it is bad, you have a plan B)
Not overfeeding
Winding gently
I avoided brocolli / cauliflower - I think this made him more windy (he was breastfed)

Just to say it is crap and it really gets you down. Some days I just sat there crying, after changing him and changing him. It all seemed so futile. But it doesn't last forever and it is a totally natural process, just some babies take longer than others. I tried to remember to myself that there is no lasting damage and in every other way, he was totally healthy.

See your Doctor if you feel like your baby is in pain with it. The sickness I could just about deal with (although it was a load of washing every day), but it was seeing my LO tasting/regurgitating the acid that broke my heart. But there are meds available if you want to go down that route.

I do think the sick gets easier with time. It used to bother me so much at the beginning from a mess point of view and putting other people off. But it is just sick and I just ended up being so practical about it all. It gets easier with time and then it gets better.