A 'solution' for my DS's reflux?

[ToTheMoonAndStars]

Ok. My DS has reflux. He vomits after almost every feed. He is EBF. I'd say about 1.5oz of milk comes up between each feeds on a bad day. He will never not vomit between/after a feed.

We have been to the doctors several times. They don't seem to care much. He is on gaviscon and ranitidine. The gaviscon does nothing! The ranitidine helps in that he isn't in pain when he vomits, so that's good. I have been dairy free for 2.5 months as we suspected a cows milk allergy. I'm not convinced as it didn't change much. Scared to have dairy again now though.

He was between the 50th and 75th percentiles when he was born. He's now 16 weeks and has dropped to below the 25th :-( the doc and health visitor don't seem bothered as it's not quite 2 percentiles he's dropped, so according to them he's fine. I feel sure that if he didn't vomit as much then he wouldn't have slipped.

When he feeds he has started groaning and crying. He latches on and off, nibbles away and often cries when he comes off. It's not pleasant for either of us.

I'm not really willing to just keep going the way we are and wait for him to drop the full 2 percentiles, it seems unfair on him. So I am considering a few options to try and would love some feedback if anyone has gone through this before.

1. Try him on a regular anti reflux formula.

1. Persuade the doctor to prescribe a hypoallergenic formula.

1. Begin giving him small ammounts of baby rice to help him keep his milk down. (Would this even work??)

It could be that none of these options would work, but I'm at the end of my tether. I want to bf him but neither of us enjoy it and it's so upsetting to seem him vomit so much after each feed :-(

Any words of wisdom grateful received. I'm desperate!

I completely understand - my DS had terrible reflux as well. It got to the point he refused to eat. His weight went below 2nd centile so we were taken quite seriously by medics but it still didn't help with weight gain.

At 4 1/2 months I started putting a small amount of baby rice with expressed BM and that was the beginning of the end of it. Weaning was his saviour.

Be assured that he will grow out of it and it won't affect his development - DS is now crazy and bright 6 year old, and also if he does carry on losing weight take him to the doctor.

For us, nothing like Baby Gaviscon or drops etc worked. In the end I asked if we could try a milk thickener. And after months of angst and pain this simple powder transformed our lives. Cant recall the name but it worked miracles.

Forgot to add we got Nutamigen on prescription x

The neocate, which is basically sugar, gave him a yeast overgrowth

sleepywombat, neocate is not 'basically sugar'

It's a nutritionally complete infant formula but where the proteins are synthesised 'free amino acids' rather than from a milk source.

(On the other hand, a formula like Nutramigen has had the milk proteins broken down so the body might not recognise them).

Just so any parents with kids on Neocate hasn't had the frightners put on them .

Doctors often try babies on Nutramigen first and then, if not effective, go onto Neocate as it is very expensive.

fazool, just searched and it looks like you can get Nutramigen on the internet, but again, it's pricey.

Wow thanks everyone. I've just been through and read all the replies.

It seems like dairy intolerance is very common. My doctor advised giving up dairy, which I did. I also cut out soya. I was dairy free for around 2 months. It really didn't seem to make a difference but it's so hard to know as some days are worse than others.

Because the HV and GP seemed not to care about him dropping percentiles, we have had to take matters into our own hands. We tried carobel (a thickener) but guess what, his sick just became thicker!

We have started topping up with 1/2 formula feeds per day. He seems to tolerate this well and vomits less after these feeds. Its a bit disheartening!

I have wondered about tongue tie too, I'm not in pain when he feeds but he does latch on and off and smack about a bit.

My milk flows v fast so not sure if that also plays a part in it?

He is on ranitidine but we stopped that this week and he seems no different. The acid isn't bothering him anymore. Indeed he rarely seems in pain, just mild discomfort when sitting/lying/vomiting. I know it could be a lot worse pain wise. Doesn't seem to be a typical reflux baby as he's happy enough lying flat, it's just sitting he can't tolerate!

It's just so hard to see him drop further down the chart every time he is weighed, and have everyone tell me he is fine and 'thriving' when at home I have a constant stream of vomit that seems anything but fine!!

S'ok, sleepywombat, sorry if I jumped on you a bit in my enthusiasm to defend neocate . It obviously wasn't right for your DS. I hope he is on a more even keel now.

ToTheMoonAndStars, it's weird about the formula isn't it? I breastfed my other children to 13 months but with my DS1, it just seemed that he was more unsettled on the breast, and breastmilk, than anything else.

Part of it was flow I think. But even after he was under a paediatrician and they strongly advised bottle feeding (to assess accurately the amount he was drinking per day), I expressed for another two months, and I still felt that he was more unsettled after the EBM feeds than bog standard Aptamil. This was odd, because then they diagnosed him with a milk allergy . But his gastro (different hospital) never thought he had a milk allergy. It think it should always be tried and ruled out, but is not always the cause of reflux.

It's so hard fretting about weight, I do remember that well. As you say, he is still within 'normal' weight adjustment. Do you have any idea what his genetic centile is, according to you and your DH's heights? Is he meeting gross motor milestones? If so, I would just try and keep doing what you're doing, unless he falls lower down the chart, in which case try and push for a referral to a paediatrician or paediatric gastroenterologist.

I would keep on with the ranitidine even. You don't think it's helping. If he is vomiting loads then the acid could damage his oesophagus (sp?) and teeth in the long term so definitely worth taking it. I have a friend with an 8 year old with quite badly damaged teeth and who still suffers with reflux (although that is an extreme case) and her paediatrician said that the acid control is the thing he is most concerned about to prevent further damage.

Try the tea if you are BF. It may help.

Could he be allergic to something else (like eggs? Apparently this is the next most common culprit after CMPI). Could explain why he's ok with formula? (Assuming that formula doesn't have any ingredients derived from eggs).

Bauer that's a good point, I will go back on it. He's only on a small dose and is happy to take it so not a problem :-)

Latin I'm not sure what his weight line should be. Instinct says not the 25th though. He was almost 8lb when he was born 3 weeks early. Now at 17 weeks he's only just reached 14lb. Over two weeks at Christmas he only put 5oz. Up until he was 6 weeks old he was putting weight Iike a real trooper, hovering just above or on the 50th percentile. Since then he's dropped further down every time I've taken him for a weigh in.

My DH is well built and heavy with a bit of extra weight but he's not overweight. I'm slender and so is everyone on my side of the family. We are both taller than average but not tall tall.

Funny thing is I was a heavy chubby baby even though I'm slim now I didn't slim down till way past 1yr old.

fazool No eggs in formula, so you could be onto something. I'm reluctant to keep giving things up though as its so hard to know through elimination alone. I could give up eggs, but not eggs and dairy together!!! I wonder how long I'd have to trial it for to see if it made any difference.

I have some anti allergey aptamil pepti 1 formula so im going to give that a whirl tomorrow.... Let's see how we get on.

I haven't read the whole thread but have you pushed for a referral? Our gp was supportive but it was the paed who sorted out the mix of meds that worked for out dd. No more vomiting and finally some sleep. By 7 months she was only waking for a feed then going back to sleep again. It was a miracle. Keep seeing different doctors until you get one that will refer you.

In the meantime bf is best as it is digested quicker so more comfortable for the baby.

Hi. sorry to hear about your troubles. I remember going to a class with son and then meeting friends in the park after. He threw up inside my top (right in my bra) and then later on my lap in the park. I stank and looked like I'd wet myself - definitely not just a laundry problem.

The first thing I'd say is that you said your child wasn't unhappy, remember this as this is the most important thing. Sometimes the sfinter just isn't developed enough and it takes a while for it to resolve itself. My doctor said 90% outgrow reflux by the time they are 1. My son had horrible reflux and tummy hurt so much we couldn't even lie him down without him screaming. We did find ranitiidine settled his tummy and stopped his stomach acid hurting his throat so we could lie him down without upsetting him. We also found gaviscon helped keep more if the milk down but did not solve the problem. We always co-slept with him as we couldn't lie him down without milk pouring out of him it wasn't till he was 7 months old that we encountered a reflux wedge. It's a foam wedge that he lies on to keep him inclined (baby reflux.co.uk I think)
we also bought a velcro wrap to stop him sliding down the cot. This was the first time we managed to get him to sleep inHis own cot. My sons reflux didn't completely go till he was around 1 but he is absolutely fine now.

Unfortunately it may be a case of waiting it out. Please remember that your child isn't unhappy. I would think that if there was another underlying cause he might be more upset in general.

Things do improve a bit when they are more upright but be warned food vomit is much worse than milk vomit. Just a case of lots of bibs (I liked bibette ones that had a waterproof back but still machine washable

Have you given up soya? A third of cmpi babies react to that too and it's far more likely than an egg allergy. I was Df and sf for 2 years and it was totally doable, and dd still is. Has the ranitidine dose increased with weight gain? I'd ditch the gaviscon full stop as it tends to do nowt other than constipated them. I'd avoid the peptide formula too. The dairy is broken down to the same length as the dairy from a bf mums diet so what's the point in going dairy free yourself then feeding it to her directly. You need to try a non milk amino acid formula like neonate.

Oh and solids made my dds reflux so much worse :(