Reflux medication

[adeleismyname]

Hello fellow mamas and specifically those with silent reflux. My baby is now 13 weeks old and has been on PPI medication called zoton for about 6 weeks because of colic and symptoms associated with silent reflux.

it’s very hard to know if the PPI medication is making a significant difference although the colic has improved a lot but that could be the fact that he’s getting older and growing out of it.

He’s also on comfort formula with gaviscon as well as the PPI medication but poops everyday so no issues with constipation. One thing I notice is that if we stop the gaviscon he tends to get unsettled because I think the gaviscon helps thicken the formula and when it’s not thickened he doesn’t like it. Fights the bottle a lot more.

But the main problem we have now is that he suffers terribly with trapped wind. It bothers him all day and disturbs his sleeps day and night despite tummy time, tummy massage and moving his legs etc. He really struggles to get rid of the trapped wind. I think it’s the PPI medication causing the excessive wind and I wondered if any of you changed your little ones PPI medication to try and improve trapped wind for your baby? Thank you x

Have you explored possible cows milk protein allergy?

Hi there. It has been mentioned by an osteopath and when looking up his symptoms a few weeks ago it did come up but the problem is there is such a cross over of symptoms when it comes to colic, reflux, tongue tie, cmpa that it’s hard to know what road to go down

Also, when I mentioned it to my GP she sort of dismissed it but did refer him to a paeds clinic 6 weeks ago but only just got an appointment for next week

Has he been checked for tongue-tie by a specialist? If that's contributing, it's a straightforward fix.

For CMPA, any skin problems? How are his nappies? (I recognise that may be hard to judge if he's your first and you're not sure what's normal.)

Has the GP given any indication of when you would try reducing the zoton? Usually the goal is to try to taper it down as they outgrow the reflux. 13 weeks would be a bit earlier than most, but of course he's also having the gaviscon – it may be that he no longer needs both, now that he is that little bit older.

He hasn't been checked for a tongue tie but will get that checked next week.

No skin rashes. His nappies are dark green and either one firm lump or sticky.

With the zoton, he started on 3.75mg dose so quite low. But then last week he started to regress quite suddenly and the colic type screaming started again. I got him checked in A&E but all good and came to conclusion that his PPI medication needed to be increased now he's getting bigger. I'm just not convinced the PPI is having much of an affect. He's still a very unsettled and uncomfortable little guy and still doesn't like his bottles. He often squirms and fusses away from bottle like it's causing him discomfort

I think green poo can be normal with some types of formula, but I think it can also be a sign of CMPA. A firm lump definitely sounds harder than is usual for a young baby. My two were breastfed, but I thought for formula-fed, it was supposed to be more of a paste texture, so you might still have some constipation issues even though he's going every day – that might be linked to the trapped wind.

It certainly sounds like there is something still not right for your wee one. If adjusting the zoton up stopped the screaming, that suggests it's doing something, but perhaps not getting to the root cause of it.