DH gave DD 2 big bottles in 2h and she's been unwell since

[seeingdots]

DD is 4 months old and mix fed. Usually one bottle of formula at night, if she's in the mood to take it. Last Friday I was exhausted and DH sent me to bed about 9:30 and he stayed up to do the dreamfeed (usually about 10:00/10:30 and settle her back to sleep. She'd already had a big feed at the breast about 7pm before bed. He woke me at 11 with DD wide awake and told me that despite giving her TWO 7 oz bottles she still hadn't settled. I've no idea how that much milk fit in her. She vommed a bit of it up soon after but relatively little compared to what she'd had.

Since then (a week now) she's been troubled with reflux. About half her feeds descend into cries and back arching and very little actual feeding. At least I think it's reflux since she's spitting up and I hear her bringing up milk even when she doesn't spit it out. She's not happy to be sat up after a feed though and strangely none of this happens at night and she's happy being laid flat in bed. We've been giving her infant gaviscon but it doesn't seem to be helping much.

I'm worried that giving her such a massive feed might have caused damage to her oesophageal sphincter or something. Do you think this is possible or is it just a coincidence?
Just to make it clear this is not a DH bashing thread (I know there have been some similar posts recently where people have felt the mum is undermining dad's parenting) . I don't think giving her that much was a very clever idea but he was just trying his best to settle her and give me a break. All he knows is demand feeding and she was obviously taking it happily enough so he thought it would be ok cos she wanted it. Sorry for the long post!

I'm not an expert but I do have 2 DC who both had reflux. I really don't imagine giving too much milk on one occasion would cause problems a week on.

The arching and spitting up sounds like reflux but being happy to be laid flat and settled at night doesn't correlate with my own experience. You say you are giving gaviscon, I presume that means you have seen a Dr about this this week? Did you voice your concerns to the Dr about the excess milk intake?

Thanks for your reply fallen. Yes it seems strange that there are some classic signs of reflux but she's totally fine at night. Still waking lots as per usual but no signs of discomfort. She had a touch of reflux a few months ago and we had the gaviscon left over from then. At that time it was pretty mild (not affecting her feeding too much) and I probably wouldn't have taken her in about it, I'd just mentioned it whilst we were in for something else. It cleared up a couple of days after and she's not been bothered by it again until last weekend.

I don't know whether one feed could damage the oesophagus (I suspect not) but I do sympathize with having a DH who is never done feeding the baby!

My DS is almost four months old now. When he was very little I suspected reflux (back arching during feeds etc.) but the dr said colic and he was never medicated. It seemed to sort itself out until about a month ago, when it reappeared - no back arching or discomfort this time, but dear god the vomit! So much vomit from such a little person.

It's never bothered him that much and he's generally sleeping ok. The dr prescribed Zantac, which has definitely helped. I read somewhere that reflux peaks at four months, and in my experience it can come and go, so perhaps a similar thing has happened with your lo?

It could be not related

4 months is a typical time for growth spurting, developmental leaps, sleep affected.

When feeding, bottle or breast, is the flow fast? Sometimes that can have an impact on how well they digest it. Certainly for breastfeeding, fast flow (and oversupply) can give the same symptoms as reflux because they're taking it quickly and having to digest it eg, pull away, arching, sick.

If she took 2 bottles last week, she was probably hungry - and if you demand feed anyway, that would make sense.

It is hard, but try not to worry. It's easy to want to diagnose something but it may be she's just being a 'normal' baby growing and developing and you've linked it the two bottles.

😌

OP, I think if the wee one took two bottles it's because she was hungry and everything since then is a co-incidence.

I won't suggest you try not to worry because you will but try to just keep in mind you really are doing a great job x

Thanks for the replies, it's so good to get others' perspectives when you're paranoid and sleep deprived! You're all right of course, I think rationally I knew the worst case scenario from a big feed was the excess being puked up but the timing threw me.

Fatniss that's interesting to hear that 4 months is a bit of a peak time for reflux, here's hoping this is the last episode for both mine and yours (if that's what it is).

DrLockhart I hadn't connected the reflux symptoms with developmental leaps but it's become clear since I posted she'a definitely having one - she rolled for the first time last night, and today has been blowing raspberries all day and trying to master new vocalisations.

Peelywally it's interesting you should say that. I'd never considered before that I'd have an issue with over supply or fast let down as I've never had much joy with expressing, never shot a stream of milk out, haven't had much issue with leakage. But the last few weeks she's been gagging sometimes as she goes on so maybe my supply has increased probably due to the incessant night feeding. I'll need to look into that more. She can't handle much flow at once (still on stage 1 teats when having a bottle) so I suppose even a moderate speed let down might be a bit much for her still.

I'm going to give the local lactation consultant a call tomorrow and ask her about all these possibilities. I suspect it's probably a combination of these that we'll just have to wait out.