Could my baby have silent reflux?

[Strawberry06]

DS is 5 weeks old on Wednesday and can 'sometimes' be difficult to settle after feeds and I'm wondering about silent reflux. Obviously I will ask the HV/GP but just in the meantime...

He's formula fed (kendamil organic) on 4oz which is ususlly 4 hours apart but can sometimes be 2 or 6 hours apart. When we are out for example he'll quite happily be asleep in his pram the whole time. Other times he's still showing hunger cues after being unsettled and another bottle usually helps.

I'd say he's generally a good sleeper during the night. He'll wake up once or twice for a feed though when I put him down he can take a while to settle in that he'll keep spitting his dummy out, getting upset, until I put it back in. This can happen upteen times before he eventually drifts off, but no crying or excessive screaming.

I find him quite difficult to burp but when DH burps him he gets proper belches from him. I think I'm being too gentle?

He's put on over a 1lb when I got him weighed at 4 weeks.

He grunts A LOT

He often coughs/chokes during feeding but I think this is because he drinks very quickly? We feed him upright.

He can often get hiccups. He had them 5 times yesterday. But before that I can't remember when he had them last.

As I mentioned after daytime feeds he sometimes starts screaming and nothing seems to work. A dummy will help for a bit until he spits it out and sometimes refuses it back. DH can eventually get him to settle on his chest.

We tend to burp him via the sitting on leg method as over the shoulder he just wriggles about everywhere as he's also quite strong and lifts/face plants his head all over.

So I really don't know if it could be SR or just general newburn behaviour?

[Serene135]

It might be worth the HV taking a look at him because it could be caused by a number of things.

My eldest was always unsettled after feeds and it was because the milk didn’t agree with him. He is now on lactose-free milk because of an intolerance. He used to be really fussy after feeds and he used to suffer with excessive wind.

With your little boy it could be an intolerance, reflux, or it could be the milk you are giving him is not filling enough. You might have to do a little investigating to figure out why he is unsettled 🌺

[CadyEastman]

If he's not settling in the day after some feeds, could he just be overtired?

[Nopoppinginplease]

If he's not particularly unsettled, it doesn't sound like it's an issue, it all sounds quite newborn behaviour. I would suggest though thinking about changing to a more restrictive teat if you think he's drinking too fast.