Reflux Questions

[Jellyphants]

Just wondering if anyone can share their insight into reflux babies! My DS is 12 weeks and has had suspected mild reflux since birth. But he also has other digestive issues like painful trapped wind & difficulty passing a BM, so sometimes I don’t know which issue he’s crying about when 🙃

GP prescribed Gaviscon which we used a couple of times but gave up because it didn’t stop him being sick and I’m petrified of him becoming constipated, which is a side effect. He really struggles to poo as it is, and his poos are classic BF runny korma type. I’m really afraid of how difficult it’ll be if we make his poos thicker. So he’s currently not on any meds.

With reflux babies, did anyone notice that they had days when they were fine & not much sick/reflux symptoms and then days when it seemed to flare? This is how it is for us. Eg, We’ve just had 2 days of him pretty much puking constantly unless he’s asleep, and crying as if it’s painful. But before that we had a day or so where there was hardly any sick at all & he was content.

I don’t know if I should be going back to the GP, or if it’s best to ride it out. I know that meds like Omeprazole come with side effects too, so I’m pretty keen to avoid unless necessary. Also because it seems to come and go I’m hesitant to put him on unnecessary meds.

I’m banking on us being able to ride it out & he’ll grow out of it soon. What were others’ experience of when reflux started to improve? As I mentioned earlier sometimes I don’t know whether he’s crying about reflux pain or trapped wind pain, so even if I did try Omeprazole it might not solve the issue.

He’s also very healthy & not losing any weight so not sure whether GP would be willing to prescribe more meds.

Not sure what I’m asking here, just a long ramble about reflux 😂

Constipation from gaviscon is not as bad for BF babies as their poos are naturally runnier.
Our BF son had 3 or 4 doses a day and his poo was definitely thicker but still very soft and he didn't struggle with it.

He grew out of his silent reflux symptoms around 4 months but he was still unsettled most of the time until about 6 months. Much happier from then when he could hold and chew toys and food.

Just keep an eye on his weight if he's being sick that often. Also had you considered it could be something in your diet?

Thanks for replying. I didn’t know that about BF babies, may give Gaviscon another try.

He’s generally not bringing up whole feeds when he’s sick, it’s just a lot of possetting, and he feeds well. HV has advised weighing once a month.

Diet had crossed my mind but up until now the symptoms didn’t quite match imo. But this week he’s come out in an eczema type rash on his body, so waiting to see the GP about that, I’ll see what they think re allergies.

@Jellyphants following with interest. My boy is 4 weeks and exactly the same as you except formula fed.

we have had a tough 2 weeks and like you are unsure what’s causing the issues. I think he had mild silent reflux as well as colic and fussiness and severe trapped wind/gas/digestion. I have tried everything, Infacol, colief, Dentinox. He didn’t poo for 4 days and screamed non stop so we went to a&e who said it was normal and colic. GP disagreed and put him on gaviscon which I was reluctant to do but they wanted to start here. Also gave me lactulose. Lo and behold within 1 day and only using 3 sachets, constipated and full of wind and no movement. Taken him off it now and will ride it out til our next appointment Monday as dealing with constipation is much worse.

Currently on cow and gate comfort milk with colief drops and have started to use gripe water if I think he has trapped wind at night. Seems to be the best thing for wind so far, I didn’t see any improvement with Infacol or want to use Dentinox as so thick and smells so strong! It’s sooo hard to know what they are crying for, especially as I think my boy is colicky and fussy in general!

Following with interest too! My 6 week old has “mild” colic and reflux, but it feels like it’s getting worse and doesn’t feel v mild. When I lie him flat in his bed, he squirms and moans and is v uncomfortable. During the day I manage with bouts of holding him in the sling, but the really difficulty is at night, when he is worse. He also throws up a lot, not every feed but sometimes at a v large volume, and he is always sick during the night when I put him down asleep. I can hear him gargling and squirming and then the sick comes. I manage to get what seems like a large number of burps out, but it’s never enough! We’ve been in infacol for almost a week, no real change yet.
don’t know what else to try!

@JoanieCD please try colief. I think this has made the biggest difference. First time last night my baby slept 10-2 then 3-6.30. I think the colief just helps digest the milk easier for them. And my baby has mild reflux too and that sleep was on no gaviscon! Gripe water is also really good at getting wind up. I just once it once a day before bed to make sure all wind is up after spending about 30 mins doing it.

I found baby ds constipation was worse with omeprazole than gaviscon but both still caused it. He was also ebf so gaviscon was a massive pain to make
Infacol works great and for the silent reflux when you can't get rid of hiccups, gripe water 😊

@twoandcooplease did you use infacol
and gripe Water at the same time?

@H44123 thanks for the tip! I’ll definitely get try colief.

Regarding making up the gaviscon, I just mixed 5ml of cooled boiled water per packet (dissolves better while still warm) and gave it on a spoon or sometimes syringe.
The instructions they give seemed too much of a faff to me. Checked with Dr too and he said this way was fine.

Thanks for all the replies. It seems to be so common but no solution for it 😄

Does anyone notice that the reflux symptoms come and go, or are they consistent every day? Feel like I’m going round in circles with it. We’ll have a couple of bad days and I’ll decide we need to start medicating again, but then he’ll suddenly be a lot better with hardly any sick and I’ll wonder what I was panicking about. Today has been a better day 😅

Colief is about the only thing I haven’t tried yet, so I’ll perhaps give that a go.

We were at the GP today & she didn’t think cows milk allergy was the culprit so I guess we’ll wait it out a while longer & see what happens.

Part of reflux is down to babies digestion developing, part them being laid down a lot, part gulping down milk (particularly if bottle fed)

Some of those things just improve with age. As their digestive track matures. As they sit up more etc.

It could be the case for your baby that as they get older it just gets better.