Reflux

[BETHJOHNSTON]

Hi there, looking for some advice. My son is 5 weeks old. Was diagnosed with Reflux at 10 days. Reflux is not that bad, I would call it Severe Indigestion more so. Am BF SMA Gold and was advised to put Infant Gaviscon in bottles. Not much help. He is really uncomfortable for about 2 hours after each feed, crunching up, pushing etc etc. I researched about changing formula and have finally decided to start Cow & gate Comfort this evening. he's had 2 bottles so far, but hasn't got much wind up. have been told that changing formula causes Colic by Paediatrician. Have I made wrong decision by changing his formula????? really dont want to make him anymore uncomfortable that he already has been. Any advice would be really appreciated.......
BethJ

Hi Beth My DD is now 15 months old and started really struggling with reflux almost immediately, although it wasn't diagnosed until she was 6 weeks old. We were advised by paed to try carobel with infant gaviscon, as the carobel thickened the formula to stop her vomiting. A dietician prescribed a specific c&g formula for reflux but DD wouldn't take it, probably because she was used to SMA gold by then. It might be useful for your son though if he's still young and not set in his ways yet? DD also had domperidone and ranitidine prescribed but they didn't work for her - could be worth speaking to paed about it in case they could be useful for your son (depends how you feel about administering meds to a little one though).

Our paed finally referred DD on to paed gastroenterologist who was much more helpful, so if you don't feel like you're getting anywhere with your paed, you could ask GP for referral. It needs to be confirmed whether reflux is caused by something like lactose intolerance or like my DD, loose sphincter muscle, as there are specific milks available that are lactose free and symptoms could disappear almost immediately. I sympathise with you, as there's nothing worse than watching your baby struggle and feeling helpless. I hope your paed isn't guilt-tripping you about changing his formula. If so, I'd suggest requesting to see someone else, as you need support with this, not criticism.

Although it felt like a long slog, it did get a bit easier once DD started sitting up more and since she's been walking alone, it's completely gone. In the meantime, all I can suggest is trying to avoid lying your son down straight after a feed, as this seemed to make my DD much worse. We also piled loads of books under her cot to let her sleep at an angle, which avoided the horrible cries at night when she was either in pain or had vomited all over herself. Hope my waffling helps!

Sorry, just realised you'd mentioned using C&g comfort Ignore the bit in my post about that - it's my first day back at work after hols, so I'm brain drained now!