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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

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Original poster

Severe silent reflux advice

23 replies

W893xump · 29/12/2019 00:30

My baby girl is now 11 weeks old. At 9 weeks she stopped breathing, was admitted to hospital and diagnosed with gastro-oesophological reflux disease. She has been prescribed Omeprezole and gaviscon infant powder to add to her formula. Unfortunately the Gaviscon sachets have now caused severe constipation in addition to her silent reflux. As you can imagine my child is in quite alot of discomfort. She has now got lactulose on top of the other medications. And even that doesn’t seem to be working. Has anybody come across any other medications or formulas that have worked better for their children. I’m open to suggestion as she can’t go on like this. We have tried pace feeding, Obviously burp her a lot, she also is now having smaller more frequent feeds And we leave her up right as much as we physically can.She sleeps through the night so only feeds in the day which doesn’t really help the spaced out feeling.Thanks in advance

OP posts:

TildaTurnip · 29/12/2019 00:37

This is so similar to how it was with DC1.
What worked for us:
-Omeprazole
-No Gaviscon (the constipation was awful plus hard to do with breastfeeding)
-me going completely dairy free
-holding DC1 upright 24/7 until 7/8 months old (we slept in shifts and the awake let the baby sleep upright on them)

It was a challenge so I do feel for you!

Boobahs · 29/12/2019 00:39

Ranitidine!! Took a few days to kick in but my baby changed so much after it did!

mangotango15 · 29/12/2019 00:43

What a shame for your little one.

My DD has terrible reflux as a baby. It finally cleared up around 13 months.

She was initially prescribed ranitidine, but changed to omeprazole when she was around 4 months.

The thing I remember is the omeprazole dose was dependant on her weight. Our health visitor came out every fortnight to weigh her at home. That meant we could change/increase her dose as she gained weight.

We didn't use the gaviscon sachets, we used the Aptamil Anti-Reflux milk.

We also used a chicco next2me cot. We used to put it on a tilt as that apparently helps babies with reflux.

Holjad · 29/12/2019 01:15

Thank you for replying. I seem to hear quite frequently the Gaviscon powders were not effective and caused more harm than good.
I may change her milk and try that. Rather than use the Gaviscon? There is a lot of my family who have dairy allergies? She doesn’t seem to have the usual symptoms of an allergy however, when I consume too much dairy I also suffer with acid. I’m a little stuck really for what’s best to do. We have propped her. Crib slightly, much to the disapproval of the health visitors. That does seem to help a little.
When did everyone wean their babies? I understand the current advice is between 4-6 months. I already give her a minimum of 2 oz of cool boiled water per day. That seems to help too!

Tolleshunt · 29/12/2019 01:20

I’m really surprised the HCPs haven’t suggested a dairy free trial. That could be the game changer.

Some babies do better on Lansoprazole than Omeprazole, but if you really haven’t seen much of a difference on Gaviscon and PPI it has to be time to think intolerance/allergy.

Also, have you tried a probiotic like the Baby Gaia drops? Won’t affect any intolerance or reflux but could help with the Gaviscon-related constipation. Also, make sure she is on the max dose of Lactulose allowed. You may think the Gaviscon isn’t doing much, only to realise it is actually a bit helpful if you take her off it.

Also, do you hold her upright for 45 mins after a free? This can reduce the reflux and hence the pain.

1plus2equalstrouble · 29/12/2019 01:21

Gaviscon worked wonders for us but the alternative is carobel, which is a thickener
Totally didn't work for us but I know it did for lots of people.

Omeprazole, are you on tablets or liquid? If you can convince your GP to give the liquid I would. Pour unlikely to get ranitadine instead atm as there's a shortage.

We used a foam wedge under the mattress so we didn't bugger the cot by raising two legs.

TildaTurnip · 29/12/2019 01:22

We weaned at 6 months. The cutting out dairy had the quickest impact. Ranitidine didn’t do much at all-keeping on top of the weight/dosage for omeprazole was also key.

Tolleshunt · 29/12/2019 01:22

Btw, don’t be fobbed off by HCPs telling you it ‘can’t’ be a reaction to dairy if there is no skin rash. It very much can be! As verified by the allergists at St Mary’s Paddington who diagnosed it in DD.

TildaTurnip · 29/12/2019 01:27

I second what Tolleshunt said-the only symptom DC1 had was GORD.

RagingBall · 29/12/2019 01:27

I feel for you.
We tried gaviscon, then caroubel, then some anti-reflux formula.
Then moved on to renitidine & domperidone.

Suspected dairy issue (no rash, just bad nappies & vomiting) so changed to hypoallergenic formula. Things improved slightly.

Then changed to omeprazole.

Eventually he grew out of it.

But it was hard work.

Try to get your gp to refer you to a dietician to discuss dairy intolerance

Holjad · 29/12/2019 01:31

Yes, they have already said, can't be an allergy she doesn't have a rash. My sisters 3/4 all have strong intolerances to dairy. I'm the only one who does not! None of them developed a rash.
The omeprazole does seem to be working. Around a week after taking it, we saw a massive improvement. Since beginning smaller more frequent feeds we have also seen a vast improvement, however If she drinks more than 20 oz in a day her reflux is unbearable for her.
The HCP haven't offered or suggested to keep track of her weight to increase dosage. ( I am insisting they keep and eye on her weight as I'm concerned if she's getting enough milk since reducing the quantities of her feeds ).
I did consider a wedge under her mattress earlier today. But she now has a breathing mat since her episode the other week. I didn't think the mat would work effectively with a wedge?

TildaTurnip · 29/12/2019 01:35

I didn’t use a wedge for that reason too. Hence the sleeping in shifts set up. But I wouldn’t necessarily recommend that either as it was exhausting.

Holjad · 29/12/2019 01:37

Oh I can imagine. I've sat up with her tonight, she's just settled off finally as the reflux has subsided. I don't know how you did it for all that time!

1plus2equalstrouble · 29/12/2019 01:37

Could you try a hungry baby formula as u assume they have a higher calorie count so she's need less volume?

Holjad · 29/12/2019 01:39

Possibly! I hadn't considered that?
The Gaviscon apparently also thickens the milk according to the GP. So they advised not to use that with the anti reflux formulas. So as long as I didn't mix that in it would be ok.

TildaTurnip · 29/12/2019 01:39

Oh I can imagine. I've sat up with her tonight, she's just settled off finally as the reflux has subsided. I don't know how you did it for all that time

Me either now and certainly couldn’t have if I’d had more than one! We felt we had no other options tbh. Each month there were improvements -age and size help!

Holjad · 29/12/2019 01:45

Tildaturnip- I completely understand. When her reflux is at its worst, I don't leave her side. The thought of falling asleep terrifies me.
The thing that's got to me the most throughout this process is, we have known she has had this from day one. But everyone just looks at you in the same way... " oh yes my child had colic and reflux- they will grow out of it. There's nothing you can do " so I considered it to be a normal health issue that's very common. However what HV etc don't tell you is how dangerous, painful and upsetting it is. Unfortunately we found out the hard way when my child stopped breathing.

anon2000000000 · 29/12/2019 01:47

Gaviscon is horrible stuff for babies. It makes them so constipated.

Ranitidine works best for us but it's all been recalled so we're on omeprazole. It's shit. We're going back to the GP again to see what they can do for dd and her reflux.

TildaTurnip · 29/12/2019 01:50

Unfortunately we found out the hard way when my child stopped breathing
Same for us - terrifying and still makes me panic years on.

Holjad · 29/12/2019 01:56

Anon2000000000 - do you use anything other than the omeprazole? ( we are currently using 5g. So we have to split a tablet and dissolve it in water )
Which milk does your child use? Ideally I really don't want her on the gaviscon.

MilkRunningOutAgain · 29/12/2019 22:02

I used just omeprazole. Gaviscon caused awful constipation. I breastfed and went dairy free. She has not presented with a dairy allergy, she’s now 13 and eats all dairy happily, but nonetheless me going dairy free really helped her, as did omeprazole. Good luck, it was a difficult time. My DD improved enormously on weaning, though still has reflux now, it isn’t so bad and isn’t burning her oesophagus.

hazeyjane · 29/12/2019 22:09

Gaviscon did nothing (except make constipation worse, which in turn made reflux worse)
The best 'cocktail' ds has had is lansoprazole and Pico sulphate+movicol for constipation.
We found sleep wise, sleeping nearly upright on one of us or in the buggy was as good as it got.

Holjad · 29/12/2019 23:43

Thank you, I've took her off the gaviscon from today. Hoping to see an improvement in the constipation over the next week. I'm giving the anti reflux milk a go as it's worth a try. We also keep her up with us for as long as possible. 😞💔 it's so hard for them. I'm finding water before bed is helping to neutralise the reflux. She doesn't seem to be in so much discomfort with it if she has water before going down for the night.

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