reflux in a 5 week old

[twpsyn]

I'm after some advice for my sister who has a 5 week old baby with reflux. She is breastfeeding him and the doctor has prescribed gaviscon. He tends to feed quite a lot, doesn't bring up alot of wind and sleeps very little. Does anybody have any tips I can pass on to her. She's getting pretty desperate.

Osteopathy. It really works. My three children had reflux and colic and it REALLY worked. I can't recommend it enough!

Actually he did have quite a difficult birth and was in the scbu for a week after. Maybe that has affected his digestion/diaphragm? Did the Osteopath say what can cause the reflux? And do you know where I can find a reputable childrens osteopath directory?

you could try - www.bso.ac.uk - the british school of osteopathy to recommend or point you in right direction. an osteo helped a friend's baby with constipation and incessant crying so think its definitely worth a try

my baby who is 14 weeks now, was bringing up all her food at first, but settled down at 7 weeks - when i stopped BF. i think it was just her digestion system getting used to food. she still possets alot, but nothing like the early days when whole feeds would come up.

my friend's baby has been prescribed gaviscon for exactly the same reason and is the same age as your sister, and its not helping them at all, just complicates feeding. hope osteopathy helps, good luck.

hi there are loads of old posts from me on my experiences bf a baby with reflux. The Gaviscon never helped us much, and it's a real pain giving it to a bf baby too, but there are lots of things you can do to help . Try going to pollywogbaby.com for a start and downloading the pdf file called 'Living with Infant Acid Reflux' from the link underneath the picture of the red-faced baby.

Ds2 is 2 1/2 now so there may be things I've forgotten. but off the top of my head, you can try small, frequent feedings, keeping the baby upright as much as possible, using a sling, raising the head of wherever they sleep, no bouncing around, avoid clothes that put pressure on the tummy area, try infant massage and try different nursing positions (there are good pictures on debbie frost's site here ). There are several discussion forums for parents of refluxing babies, including a yahoo group for women breastfeeding babies with reflux here

If the Gaviscon and the 'lifestyle' measures don't make enough difference I would say go back to the doctor and pressurise them for a referral to a paediatrician. It might take a lot of pressure, as I have heard the primary care trusts prefer GPs to deal with as much as possible, as it's cheaper than using specialists. I had to go back 5 or 6 times before they were convinced that ds2 was really having problems and we finally got referred to a paediatrician. But it made a huge difference when he was put on the drugs (ranitidine and domperidone at first).

As I said, there are plenty of old posts from me regarding reflux (as MummyPig or SamN). If you want to CAT me I would be happy to exchange e-mails as I know it can be an awful experience and there isn't much support out there.

Thanks very much for all the advice and tips. I,ve passed them on to my sister. She's trying them all! I think she's got a recomendation from a friend for a reputable Osteopath to see (bit of a wait for an appointment and not cheap either) but she's willing to try anything. Fingers crossed that he improves. Thanks again .

My DS1 had silent gastric reflux and cranio-osteopathy did absolutely nothing for him at all. Worth a try though but do warn you sister it may not be the miracle cure.

Just wondering, how does cranial osteopathy help with reflux if reflux is to do with the valve at the top of the stomach being under-developed or 'floppy'. I don't know much about cranial osteopathy and would be interested to know? My dd had reflux but had thankfully grown out of it now. Sorry for hijack, just interested to know..

I posted a thread about this as well. However, the advice to keep ds upright, feed little and often did not work for him. I had the same thing as a baby and my mum said if he is sleeping, let him sleep as he is keeping the food down and lie him flat, not upright. This has really worked for us and he has put on 6oz in a week now. Also I do not wind anymore, again this seems to be working well.

I have a paed appointment in 2 weeks.