Breastfeeding reflux babies

[ScaredyCatMum]

Hi, can anyone advise me please who has a baby with reflux?
DS was finally (it feels like a long time, although he's only 12.5 weeks) diagnosed with reflux 3 weeks ago and put on meds, which kicked in last week. He had gone through 5 weeks of only putting on 7 ozs total over this period and was hospitalised before they diagnosed him. In first 10 days on meds only put on 2 ozs, so I was made to top up with formula feeding as well as BF (told if he didn't put on weight last week, he would be re-hospitalised to find out cause). Anyway, last week he put on 1lb and 2ozs!!!! even though he only would take maximum 1 or 2 120ml bottles per day top-up. Now, I would like to get back to exclusively BF, but have two questions:

1. How best to make sure my supply meets his demand (I find he usually takes bottle when he has fed from me then refluxed badly and is hungry again and I have nothing to give)
2. Has anyone found that it is better either a) feeding little and often with reflux, or b) feeding with longer gaps, e.g. every 3-4 hours?

Thanks

I found the follwoing helpful (though ds2 had fairly mild reflux)

• raise the head end of the cot *hold him a little more upright when feeding and keep him in that position for around 10 mins after
• little and often for feeding

hope things improve and that your washing machine is holding out!

Agree completely with popsycal - we got great use out of a bouncy chair fixed quite upright and a Baby Bjorn frontcarrier to help keep dd upright in the day and wedged her cot up on toilet training steps from ikea and rolled sheets and towels under the mattress. Don't even lie him flat to change him, make a slope by placing something under one end of the mat. To answer your question little and often is better undoubtedly. dd only ever took 120 mls of ebm maximum. hth

Thanks ladies - sorry for delayed response, went off to have dinner before got too late and then got distracted by phone calls and "Love Actually". We have cot propped up and change mat, so will try little and often feeding too, to see if that helps.
Thanks again

I got a special feeding pillow (wedge-shaped) for ds, which really helped with the previously difficult bfeeds. The best position is supposed to be at a 30-degree angle with the spine dead straight as well. We found that to have any effect at night we needed to raise the end of the cot so much that he would slide down it! So we also bought a 30-degree pillow with a harness on it which he has slept on since - it looks odd and uncomfortable but the night we first used it he slept through for the first time . I had to order both pillows from the US as couldn't find them here. They are quite expensive but for us they have made a big difference.

Nursing positioner

AR positioning pillow

I posted a thread about poor weight-gain/reflux and was advised little & often feeds but it really didn't work for ds. It really unsettled him and he just wouldn't put on weight. I went to the doctor and she prescribed gaviscon which seems to be working.

I don't wake him up (when he's sleeping he's not throwing up my precious milk), I don't wind him and I try to lay him pretty flat (not upright in a bouncer). He seems to feed a lot longer now, when he is awake, and is not nearly as sick.

We have now come out the other end with a reflux baby! DS is now 7months old and none the worse for having reflux. When I was exclusively breastfeeding him, he was propped up slightly with a feeding pillow and when bottle-fed, I sat him up fairly upright or fed him in a bouncy-chair with the back leaning against a dining chair so that it didn't sag as he got heavier! To wind him, I never did it across my lap (carpet couldn't take the deluge for him!!) but instead of tapping his back, we rubbed it in a circular motion or in an upwards motion - it took longer but always worked. Again, we never lay him flat for at least 30mins after a feed.

Paediatrician recommended Omno Comfort formula if we couldn't keep Aptamil down but we seemed to manage ok.

Take heart that when we started solids and he now sits us, no more probs with reflux, Hurrah!!!