Does this sound like silent reflux?

[Dennisreynoldsduster]

Ds is one month and paediatrician said it’s likely he has silent reflux as you can often hear things come up but not come out after feeding, and he pulls a face like something tastes bad. He also grunts quite a lot and it sounds like a throat clearing noise which the doctor said is where the acidic milk has come up and coated his throat.

The other thing he does - which is what I’m wondering about - is go really red after feeding, kind of tense up and stiffen or curl into a ball, arch his head and his head goes back, kind of squirming and pulling faces, then cries - and it happens after every feed. He also seems to squirm and gripe when he passes wind (mainly farts, burps don’t seem to bother him!).

I just wondered if this was to do with the reflux as he often wants to feed again which seems to soothe him but then obviously he does the tensing/curling discomfort thing again immediately after.

We’ve been given gaviscon and told to put half a sachet in with formula feeds and on a spoon for breast feeds, six times a day, but it doesn’t seem to be doing anything to ease this :(

My DD is 9 weeks and suffering in an almost identical way to your DS. It had steadily got worse over the last few weeks and she now screams, writhes and goes stiff after every feed. She is also very windy which seems to cause her a lot of discomfort. It is truly heartbreaking to watch, particularly after Bf as it feels like you've caused the discomfort! And it's a vicious circle - feeding causes pain and wind, wind passes and baby wants to feed, which causes pain and wind etc.

I'm currently on week three of cutting out cows milk from my diet to see if it helps, doc recommended I try that along with gaviscon. Gaviscon didn't do much except cause constipation. We also use infacol and occasionally gripe water which help a bit with burps but overall I don't think they do much.

I would keep pushing the doctor, I plan to go back once I've completed a month off cows milk (it has made no difference as far as I can see, so think it is just 'standard' reflux) and ask for some proper medication to help. A baby should be sleepy and content after a feed, not screaming in pain.

On a similar point - I was sitting on the floor pouting over some paperwork and had the most hideous rush of acid up into my throat.

Oh my god it was horrible - those poor little babies! Sitting up straight helped but it kept ‘burning’ for a while after.

Hi OP, I know it was years ago but did your little one improve, and can you remember when? Currently experiencing exactly the same with our 8 week old and it’s heartbreaking.

Come here for the same thing. Ds is nearly 8 weeks old and is in horrific pain all the time, constantly straining, grunting, struggling to burp/pass wind. Got the gp today at 4 but we’ve taken him 4x already and they keep tellling me it’s normal! He was up the last 2 nights 1-7 screaming! It’s so heartbreaking

@GhostCookies @teap0t13 did you ever get to the bottom of this? Experiencing very similar issues!

@Sunnydays44 I’m sorry you’ve got this stress! We were never properly diagnosed with silent reflux and we saw many specialists who didn’t seem to be that concerned as he was gaining weight and seemed healthy in every other area. We briefly tried Gaviscon but we never properly medicated it as I didn’t want the baby to get constipation, which would’ve made reflux much worse. I think it resolved itself about four months when he could sit up and seem to hold milk down a bit better. A book that really helped me was called Why Infant Reflux Matters as it reassured me that he probably wasn’t experiencing throat burning as they feed so often that stage the breastmilk has properties which line the throat. Good luck with it all - I imagined in a few months time it will be a long distant memory!

Hello! My son is now 20 months old!
Im not sure what the actual cause was, but we started giving him optibac drops not long after I posted & within a week he was a new baby. Happy, content, no more withering or crying, and he starting pooping normally. We continued them for about 6 months then stopped and the issues never came back! The optibac was for gut health and I read prem c section babies can have gut health issues so honestly I dont know what it was as gps kept giving stuff, medicines, different milks but nothing worked except that!