Calpol for reflux? Please don't judge x

[Halleberry]

My 3 week and 4 day old baby girl has severe Reflux. I mean really severe. We have tried everyrhing and are still trying everyrhing. My friend suggested maybe some Calpol (not all the time) but on occasion when she is at her worst. I'm just wondering anyone has tried that and if it helped? Is she to young? I'm at my wita end trying to settle her and if I thought it would help her pain Id try it x any advice? X

It's NOT you.

My DSs was reflux and cows milk protein intolerance together. What ethnic group are you and your DH from? Interestingly different ethnic groups can have different reactions to cows milk...

www.thesleeplady.co.uk/silent-reflux-tips/

How is the poo?

dd used to strain and grunt all the time as if she was constipated except she wasn't. her poo burnt her bum. It was the foulest smell. acidic. It literally woke me up it smelt that bad.

Does your baby have dry skin? or is snotty?

My DS didn't vomit or have the runs either OP. Just my opinion but I think you should push for non-dairy milk on prescription. (Can't remember the name sorry).

We had aptamil pepti.

There's cow and gate pepti junior

or nutramigen.

Do NOT by the soya formula

Giles Neonate? is ringing a bell...

neocate

That's the one.

milk intolerence or allergy is often misdiagnosed as reflux.

not to say reflux doesn't exist obviously but often it's a symptom and not the diagnosis.

except gaviscon is cheaper than the milk so.......

I think.its worth pushing for a trial. It can't hurt and it's gotta he safer than drugs???,

I took us a year OP, please be assertive and push your GP, Giles makes a good point about the cost issue.

Neocate amino acid milk - totally stinks but stopped the colic.

Poor you! It's absolutely not you. Reflux makes babies and parents miserable. We had exactly the same with DS, and I remember wailing when he was about 3 weeks old because he didn't ever seem to be happy and I hated to see him in pain. Please don't feel bad for admitting you're not enjoying things at the moment -- it's completely normal and understandable to feel that way when exhausted, hormonal and faced with a screaming little person you desperately want to help but don't know how. It's really unpleasant.

Things that helped DS: a whacking dose of ranitidine, Infacol, ensuring he was NEVER flat (even the changing mat had a foam wedge under it to raise it up) and keeping him completely upright for 30 min after a feed. We also wore him in a baby bjorn or ergo almost all the time. Being held all the time meant he was particularly crap at sleeping on his own, but that was the price of relieving his pain. We ended up co-sleeping -- managed to find a way to prop him up on DH's shoulder so that his head was elevated and he couldn't roll into DH's arm or body to either side (nor could DH roll either way). I know you've tried a lot of this already, but in our case it took a few weeks to see any difference (and even then there were days when nothing really helped, unfortunately).

Plead for a stronger reflux med if current ones aren't working, and hang in there! Have you got plenty of help so that you can get a break from the crying? Sending you and hoping things get better for your DD very soon.

She grunts all the time and sometimes her poo is smelly and green with bits and other times it's a hard ball with spots of blood. And she is very snotty and her skin on her face is dry. Is that a sign of milk intolerance? Why not soy milk? Thankyou all for ur replies. It's so good to know I'm
Not alone. We are really struggling and it's making us all Miserable xx

We are both from Scotland but I do have a long generation of African American stemming back years ago. And my brothers so is allergic to milk and on prescription milk to xx

Spots of blood?

Contact your local midwifery team ASAP

Just picking up on something you said earlier. We found gaviscon made DS terribly constipated and he ended up on just ranitidine. It stopped his pain :) He went from very unhappy to happy in a few days. He had ordinary reflux so he was sick a lot (which I could cope with as long as he wasn't hurting) but you might find just ranitidine helps.

The one at the hospital where you gave birth.......

What serendipity said mainly.

I will add I did use calpol on really bad nights. When we'd got the reflux meds sorted, but she still had nights where she'd howl in pain. I did it as a last resort, and it saved my sanity on those nights- the pain relief meant she settled to sleep.

In one so young I'd ask a pharmacist or Dr. first to check dosing.

Btw never, ever use ibuprofen on a reflux baby. It increases stomach acid.

The green poo, snot and dry skin do sound more intolerance/allergy than reflux in my very limited experience though.

I agree call your midwife, ASAP.

My uncle is from Barbados, I noticed when I was over there that at least 50% if the formulas on sale were lactose free. Apparently lactose intolerance is very common within the Bajan community. Given your family background, its worth noting.
My DS's cow milk protein issue runs through the Chinese side of my family.

I believe Soya can cause hormonal issues.

Sounds like my dd who had silent reflux too.
She ended up on Rinatadine, gaviscon and omeperazole.
The thing is that yes the meds make them constipated but you have to treat that as its really important that the reflux is treated or the osophegus can end up damaged by the acid.
We gave dd lots of extra water small amounts of Apple juice to help this, she had small amounts of Apple sauce at around 3 months too.
It's horrible but dint give up on the
Meds.

Halle My GP also insisted that my Ds couldn't possibly have a milk allergy and that it was just a bit of reflux

I ended up taking him to A&E at 9 weeks old (two weeks ago) and within 24 hours he had been diagnosed with a Milk Allergy and was put on C&G Pepti Junior , he is a completely different baby now though he does still have his moments as he has silent reflux as well .

Don't sit round waiting/wondering while your Dd is in pain go to the hospital it's what they are their for , I felt completely stupid taking Ds and I thought they would think me an idiot but they didn't & I'm glad I took him .

That's what I done Elephan. We were over there and she was observed for hours (annoyingly enough she was quite calm that night so they never seen really how bad she can be til near the end) but after hours they insisted it was reflux and not the milk. My brothers wee baby changed to prescription milk and within two days he was a different baby. Same synptoms as my we girls except more sick and diarreah xx

The symptoms sound a lot like a milk intolerance/allergy. The only health professional who will really be helpful is a paediatritian so you must push for an urgent referral to one. If your GP is reluctant to do this then I would simply refuse to leave the office until it is done. Unfortunately I found with reflux you have to make a bit of a nuisance of yourself with the GP.

As posted above, you need to ask for the maximum dose of ranitidine for her weight. They tend to start you off on the lowest one. Or demand to be given omeprazole (Losec).

In the meantime, if the gaviscon was unhelpful or caused constipation then you can ask over-the-counter for a product called Carobel. You add it to the milk to thicken it so it stays down better and can't come up causing so much pain. I used to make it really gloopy for DD1. You would need a variflow teat though.

Also, I don't know if you are using Infacol, but it is not recommended for reflux babies as it acts to reduce wind by relaxing the muscle at the bottom of the oesophagus - really not what you want for reflux. If you suspect wind is a problem, try gripe water, which is also a mild antacid.