Really needing support through silent reflux

[deborah86]

My little girl is 10 weeks today And has silent reflux. it's a constant battle to feed her. We can get to 2 oz most feeds with no problems but after this she screams anytime the bottle goes in her mouth. I've had to wait till she sleeps to get some more into her and sometimes this doesn't work either she wakes up and starts screaming again. Her weight gain has slowed right down again, she started on the 50th percentile and is now down at the 9th percentile. Hv was here the other day said we'll keep an eye on her weight gain and it'd be checked in 2 weeks time. I find it really stressful and worry that she's not taking enough since her weight gain slowed down. Doctors at first gave us infant gaviscon seemed to work for a week then it all started again. We have now got ranitidine but told not to give her gaviscon when she's on this. Shes been taking it for 2 days feel like its not made a difference. I don't know what I'm asking for here but I need support or story's of people who have gone through this before and got to the other end. I don't want to keep dreading every feed that ends up with us both crying at the end. Please help it's really getting me down. Feel like I'm Doing everything wrong as her mum. Please help me

Hand holding deb, you sound really down.

You actually sound like you're doing everything you can to be the best mum to your DD. You're concerned enough to take her to the docs and get treatment. You're doing great :)

It's a cliche but this will pass. You're doing everything right. Hopefully a fellow wise MNer will be able to pass on a story or two of success. Good luck x

DS was hospitalised with reflux at 10 days, he had gaviscon in 6 out of 8 bottles AND ranitidine 3 times a day, check with your doctor again, they can definitely have both?

You have my sympathy it's rubbish rubbish rubbish x

Oopps, forgot to add, it took DS a week or so of being on both before we noticed a difference and the projectile vomiting stopped he was so bad that he couldn't sleep on his back and only in his bouncy chair but after around 2 weeks he was back in the Moses basket and ok.
Try and stick it out a bit longer to see if it makes a difference but I do think your little one can have both

My DD had silent reflux and it was very hard, one of the worst things I've gone through. She was born on 75th centile, when she got down to under 9 th centile, which was at about 4 months, she was prescribed omeprazole, which helped, though not completely. Before the omeprazole she was generally too hungry to sleep for long, I ended up feeding her nearly every hour, I was a wreck and she was so miserable, it was awful. From 4 months I could settle her for a couple of hours after a small feed so it was better, but she was still very uncomfortable and just a tiny wriggly wailing baby. Things got better when I weaned her quite quickly, but though I tried to wean from 15 weeks, it didn't work as she got very constipated on tiny amounts of puréed fruit, so I had to give up. At about 6 1/2 months I tried to wean again and it worked, she was now able to digest the food properly, and she just went for all the food she could get, refused milk completely, and was on solids only by about 8 months. This caused constipation again as I couldn't get her to drink enough. In the end I gave her fruit smoothies in desperation, and they worked, she drank them and they helped with the constipation. I felt so sorry for her, it's not a pleasant way to spend your first year having silent reflux, but once weaned she got much happier, cried less and less and by 1 year, was basically fine, though I continued to have problems with constipation for another year or so. She's 8 now and loves food. She started drinking milk again at around the time she started school. She does still get refluxy days , and if she's ill is likely to get reflux too, but she is a happy busy girl now. Good luck, reflux does get better but it's no fun for anyone concerned until it does. Keep nagging the doctor and HV, you can get help from them, though it is not easy. The day I got the omeprazole prescription DD had spent half an hour full on screaming in pain in the waiting room and then in the doctors room while I tried and failed to feed her. I reckon this is why the doctor prescribed it. We had used gaviscon to little effect before that.

My twins had silent reflix and it was awful, awful, awful - feel your pain completely.

Firstly - it passes! Mine had a terrible phase from 15wks to about 20. Saw a paediatrician and were prescribed ranitidine (Gaviscon did nothing but cause constipation).

We had to feed the babies asleep in the day - meant I was tied to staying at home / within a short distance from home. It also meant we really caused sleep problems for them and they'd only nap on my lap. The good news is we are now completely beyond that. They're not wild about milk, they drink enough and they're great with solids.

I'll find the thread I posted at the time; lots of helpful pointers from others.

Once again - it'll pass.

Silent reflux, damn autocorrect.

It's so hard. DS suffered horribly but is thankfully much better at 13months.

I have to say, ranitidine has a cumulative effect and did take about a week with us but really did make a difference after so it might start to work soon. Hopefully when your DD starts to feel better she will have less negative association with feeding and will take a bottle better?

What formula is your DD on? Have you considered a milk allergy?

Oh, and you are doing just fine.

Thanks everyone! she seems happier the last couple of days so I'm hoping the medication has kicked in. it really helped me that you all took time to give me some support. Hoping this is the start of her getting better :)

Glad to hear she is seeming better! Big relief when it all starts to improve!

That's great to hear!

We had the same thing with our son (now three). It was the worst period of my life, no question. It started off just as you describe with him having a little bit of milk and then refusing and screaming. By about 3 months old he wouldn't really take any milk when he was awake, we had to wait until he fell asleep and then stick a bottle in his mouth and hope he took some. The only thing that worked in the end was Omeprazole and Neocate formula. He still can't have a huge amount of cow's milk now. Even on that combination of meds and formula it took about 6 weeks for him to start drinking milk in more normal quantities - apparently it takes about a month for all the dairy to leave the system and then I think he had to realise that drinking wasn't causing him pain anymore. All I can recommend is that you keep pushing the doctors and health visitors, don't let any of them talk down to you or treat you like an over anxious mum (I had one paediatrician who basically accused me of causing the problem by being stressed. Grrr) and don't expect things to work immediately as they can take more than a month to really kick in. Good luck!

Deb, we're battling reflux with DD now (posted about it on Sleep) and are currently waiting on a paediatric referral. DD is on omeprazole once a day ATM and we're waiting for it to kick in. Gaviscon did nothing and Ranitidine only worked for a short while.

It's so hard when you're in the middle of it and we keep telling ourselves that this too will pass. You're doing everything right