Help with possible reflux for 7wo dd

[HopelesslyHopeful87]

DD is 7 weeks old.

We've had a nightmare of a time in these first early weeks. I have posted before and got good advice at the time but now we think she has reflux and I'd like some further help.

She started on aptamil first milk. By age 6 days she was constipated and having pains and was generally unhappy. We persevered but by 2 weeks old the hv advised comfort milk. The comfort milk made her ten times worse and she was screaming in pain every time she passed wind. She was prescribed lactulose.

Hv then advised moving to cow and gate. We did and used first milk. This had no improvement. Gp prescribed colief. This helped her symptoms but she had an allergic reaction to it and we were advised to stop it. Hv then advised cow and gate comfort. Initially this helped for about three days but then she was back to screaming all day and all night and in pain.

Then she developed a new symptom and started vomiting clear fluid. It would fountain out of her effortlessly. She was coughing a lot, grunting, squirming, thrashing around.

I then found out that aptamil and cow and gate are exactly the same and we'd essentially done the same thing twice with the milks. After advice here I moved her to hipp organic.

Gp prescribed gaviscon as the new symptoms sounded like reflux. Gaviscon instantly stopped the vomiting and she's generally more settled. She was prescribed 2 sachets per feed as she's over 10lb but this made her very constipated and this was an issue already so we use just one sachet in most feeds but two at the bedtime bottle. However, she is still grunting and writhing around.

Is there anything else I can do? Do I need to be asking for ranitidine? Or should I carry on with the hipp organic, gaviscon and lactulose?

If gaviscon isn't helping your little one may need ranitidine. DS had silent reflux from birth and screamed for months so I feel your pain. I was breast feeding and had to keep expressing milk to give him his gaviscon in and it was a nightmare and gp made us try that for two weeks before would consider anything else. Gaviscon did absolutely nothing for ds and he was prescribed ranitidine which was bloody amazing stuff! DS's symptoms stopped almost instantly. It was better for me to administer as well as only tiny bit needed in a micro dropper 3 times a day so really easy to give. I wish they'd just given me it at the start but I do realise they have to explore all avenues first/

If your baby is coughing at night and still seems in pain id demand rantidine. Anything is worth a try at this point.

Thanks for the replies.

I have an appt at my surgery this morning to discuss further so I will ask for ranitidine.

Although the gaviscon has taken away the vomiting and she is generally more content in the day with only a few episodes of crying, she's definitely no better at night. Last night I was up with her every hour as she would need winding or you could hear something coming into her throat as if she was going to bring up some vomit/milk then she'd swallow it back down, cough and cry, squirm and thrash and spend the next hour grunting. Rinse and repeat. I'm a zombie today.

She has only been on the gaviscon for three days though. Should I give I longer before I see an improvement with just the gaviscon?

Because she is naturally constipated anyway and we are at max dose of lactulose I don't want to compound things further as she gets so pained when she hasn't pooed. If it isn't one thing, it's another.

Im sat here in tears because I just feel like I'm failing her. I don't know how to fix it and we've tried so much stuff in such a short space of time. Half of me worries that were trying all these meds and it's the wrong thing as she's just so young still. Five different milks, lactulose, colief, gaviscon, all in 7 weeks.

Also, my understanding is that ranitidine doesn't prevent vomiting so would she need the gaviscon in conjunction with ranitidine? Or just one of them?

My appt is with an advanced skills practitioner/paramedic not an actual GP so I want to be prepared and ask the right things.

Sounds like it could be silent reflux. The gaviscon will thicken the milk to keep it down but the acid will still be activating your little ones throat. It can burn and cause so much discomfort especially when laying flat at night. Could you try laying crib on a tilt? We had that function so we could do that but if not you can get a wedge to go under mattress and they are really effective.

aggrivating that should read

You need to try Ranitidine. Also, consider an allergy/intolerance to cow's milk protein. You can try a dairy free formula (on prescription)/ go dairy-free if bf.

The fact that your lo had an allergic reaction to Colief makes this more of a possibility IMO. Some GPs are not very clued up about it, and may insist lo needs to have other symptoms, such as eczema, for an intolerance or allergy to be considered. This is not necessarily the case. A dairy-free trial would tell you on two weeks if cmpi/a is indeed the problem. Good luck.

In my experience gaviscon did nothing for ds as he had silent reflux from the start (with silent they don't spit up and the acid burns the throat.) Ranitidine works actually by stopping the stomach producing acid in the first place so if it's acid that's making your little one throw up than that will stop.

gaviscon thickens the stomach contents to stop it coming back up but doesn't stop the acid and in some babies this acid still affects the esophagus and gaviscon isn't enough.

I would try ranitidine first before considering any intolerances. That was advice from my doctor. They try that first than you can consider something else if that doesn't work.

Going diary free is extreme and could prove unnecessary. That is a last resort if the ranitidine doesn't help. I would try ranitidine first as that may be all your baby needs. It works great for DS and he's great with diary. I wouldn't remove it from he diet as it may not be the problem.

Forgot to mention gaviscon can also cause constipation especially in formula fed babies. We just came off it and went with the ranitidine. See what the doctor says but ranitidine alone may be fine, it was for my ds and he used to scream all day and night long.

My ds had reflux and was BF so we just used ranitidine alone. I didn't manage well with expressing so couldn't have tried Gaviscon alongside. He improved almost instantly, though was a little older (around 20 weeks).

On day one of the gaviscon, even having had 3.75ml of lactulose, her poo was like moonsand. By the next day she was passing only small hard pellets. So upped to the max 5ml lactulose and yesterday back to sand again.

Her allergic reaction to colief consisted of a rash all over her face, neck and chest which was just fobbed off as heat rash to begin with. It cleared up within three days of stopping the colief and she's just been left with dry cheeks which is improving with aveeno. The colief also gave her diarrhea which was obviously unexpected and as we were already using lactulose you can imagine the explosions from that!

She sleeps peacefully in her car seat after a car journey for a couple of hours. I don't like to leave her in there too long. She seems OK in her bouncy chair. She sleeps on her side mostly on her basket. I did prop up the basket but she seemed to settle worse then.

I have wondered about allergies but I don't think she has any of the other symptoms.

Another one here with reflux. We ended up on gaviscon and ranitidine. Please push for the rantidine. Our nights got so much better. The grunting and everything stopped once we had that and we went within 2 days from been up and down all night long to sleeping all night it was amazing! Of course your lo is younger than our dd when she was put on ranitidine but we really had to fight for it! It took nearly a year to get the ranitidine as they just wouldn’t prescribe it (yep a whole year or unsettled disturbed nights!) Our neo natal consultant stepped in in the end at one of our appointments. Also we put our lo on liquid Pre made formula as it seemed to help her tummy more than the powder formula. It’s more expensive but was worth it. Regarding the constipation our dd suffered with this all the time nothing really helped except cooled boiled water. It got better when we weaned her. Hope that helps sympathy for you it’s a rotten time with a newborn with reflux I was so envious of our friends who had sleeping babies! Xx

Also can anyone advise how often the dose of ranitidine needs to be altered?

She was 10lb 11 at her six week check last Thurs. She has her 8 week check and imms next week.

I used to work at the surgery we're registered at so I have some oomph behind me to get what I want appointment wise but I'm seeing someone I don't know so she won't know me either. I want to make sure she gets the right dose for her size and age and I want the correct info as to how often she needs weighing to get it changed if it does work.

I just feel like if I can control the acid and keep her pooing she will be happy. After she pooed a big sandy poo after the pellets yesterday she was much happier and did a half laugh and I just cried because it was the first time she genuinely looked happy. Within an hour she was crying again. The bath settles her. It's the only place she's calm.

For context, she was 7lb 1 at birth so has gained well sitting between 50th and 75th line

The dose increases be 0.1 every time baby gains 2 kg so not that often and given to my ds x3 times a day. It's very strong and only a tiny dose they get in a micro dropper.

by*

The gaviscon may not be helping your little ones bowels.

No ranitidine 😔😭😭

It's not licensed in children her age 😐

My little one had reflux from birth until about 12 months! The only thing that works for us was Omeprazole, which neutralises the acid in the stomach.

HopelesslyHopeful87 Oh no! Where do you live? I'm in the UK. Do they have an alternative medicine?

My little one had ranitidine at a similar age to yours?! Are you in the UK?

Yes I'm in uk!