Reflux, changing to bottle feeding/baby feeds to sleep & settle

[lauraSW]

Baby girl, EBF, 4 weeks with reflux. Vomits after every feed, can be little bits, can be enough to soak a couple of muslins. Can still be mouthfuls coming back 1-2 hours post feed.
Good weight gain despite this.
She hates to be laid down, will not settle in her crib at all & hasn't since coming home, she only really sleeps on us or up to an hour if laid next to me (which makes me very uneasy so I don't sleep anyway).
Last night every time I lay her down next to me she started wriggling away & either vomited then cried or cried & needed winding to vomit. Despite having been upright 30-40 mins post feed & repeatedly winded. Then the whole settling process starts again. We still feed 2 hourly to try and reduce the reflux.
It's been similar tonight & I feel like I can't continue like this. I'm getting 1-1.5hrs sleep/night & relying on family for a day time nap of an hour or so. It feels like doing night shifts & relentless on so little rest. The reflux & sleep deprivation is really starting to affect my mood & has impacted bonding as I spend so much time feeling like I can't cope/in tears.
I think the right thing to do is switch to bottle feeding so I can have more of a break with family/dad's help in the day to cope with the nights.

1. Has anyone swapped breast to bottle with a reflux baby & how much worse was the vomiting/distress? I worry a lot about making her worse but don't think giving myself PND & not bonding is any good for her either.
2. Baby is normally fed to sleep, going from breast to bottle how do you manage this, especially when LO wakes frequently, how long does it take them to get used to other means of settling & what do you do?

Sorry for the long post & thanks for any experience/advice.

I did. It transformed my baby. We out him on anti reflux milk. It's heavier and he was able to keep it down and was instantly more comfortable.

He was on medication for reflux which helped a little but he was still bringing up lots of milk. Changing to formula meant we could stop the medication.

We settled him by rocking him with a dummy. Worked really well for us.

I felt so so guilty when I stopped breastfeeding but it was honestly the best thing for my son. He was so much more comfortable and happier. It had a good knock on effect on me too!!

This sounds really tough OP. I'm still breastfeeding but wanted to suggest you go to a clinic or the GP for medication for the reflux (assuming you haven't already!) but life was so much better after ranitidine. Hang in there.

I changed to bottle about that time, although reflux was more mild. He slept on his front on a wedgehog which really helped him. It’s such a hard time and bottle feeding helped me get some sleep, to feel vaguely human!

Sorry, meant to say after 6 weeks he didn’t always need to be fed to sleep and would be upright for a while before getting sleepy, and then it increased from there x

I've been there OP and you've got to do whats right for you. It is so tough. Just wanted to also say that I was prescribed ranitidine for DS and he is way better though and still bf. 6 mo now.

Would recommend seeking out meds if you haven't already. Gaviscon can thicken your breast milk the same as a "heavier" formula (if you decided you wanted to keep bfing). Ranitidine reduce acid so the pain is not there.

Can I ask why you're feeding 2 hourly? Reflux babies will feed more to try and soothe their throats so can tend to overfeed. Hugsas it's really a tough job caring for a reflux kiddo. It gets better .

Thank you all.

Can I ask those who went to formula which one you used?

I'm not keen to try gaviscon as struggle to express with not being able to put her down much & it sounds very tricky to make up/give while breastfeeding. Also I suspect she'd be constipated & even less settled as sometimes she's just bringing back little bits for hours rather than the huge vomits - which I think gaviscon would be more help with. I have an appt & hope to try ranitidine & hopefully the little vomits will upset her less.

We're feeding 2 hourly so she takes less, the longer we go between feeds the more sick she is - volume & duration. It's really distressing to see as she chokes a lot with the large vomits.

I might try the wedge, I have been tempted to try sleeping her on her front too but scared off by the SIDS advice. She has good head control though & is sleeping chest to chest on us & that's the only way she sleeps for any length of time so clearly more comfortable for her.

I have a 5 week old bf baby with reflux. It's hard, I totally get it. Mine sleeps at night in a sleepy head in a co sleeper cot. After feeding her I wind her for a while and then put her in the sleepy head on her side. You're not really supposed to do that but it seems to work and I'm right there beside her to keep an eye. If i put her on her back she tends to splutter and vomit.

We warm the sleepyhead with a hot water bottle first and she wears a sleeping bag so the transition isn't too sudden.

Have been giving one dose of gaviscon a day, usually the evening. It seems to help slightly. I syringe it into her as can't find the time to express either. Going to talk to GP about ranitidine at her 6 week check and see what they think. Another thing we might try is a bottle of anti redlux formula before bed.

OP, it's very hard and the sleep deprivation is unreal (my last baby had terrible reflux too and could not get her wind up at all). It does usually pass though. We started solids soon after 5 months and it went almost straight away.

We have some ranitidine to try so we'll see how we get on. She's been much more unsettled today so glad we saw the doc.
Think we'll be trying thickened formula on an evening next too.

I keep umming over the sleepy head. Maybe it would help her settle in her crib but the crib already feels like a £180 waste of money without risking another £140 on essentially a fancy pillow if she doesn't take to it! How old was your little one when you bought it? Thanks