help (again) please - not sure what to do re constant feeding, reflux

[Gavotte]

Hi, I've posted before as my daughter wasn't putting on enough weight due to reflux and milk supply issues. Her weight gain is now fine (huge relief) but her reflux is terrible again despite medication. It means that she is feeding pretty much constantly - last night my longest stretch of sleep was 45 minutes. Am at wits' end. To boot, she is now also teething (at 11 weeks!!). I went to a breastfeeding support group today and was told I was doing everything right - asked how to space out the feeds and was given nothing concrete apart from 'had I thought about Calpol for the teething' - yes, of course, and 'it will get better' (I have been told this since she was born) and 'whatever you do don't give up' (I can't see how to avoid giving up unless I can find a solution to the constant feeding). She's being sick so much that I feel that I can't let her cry it out and I have to feed her - but have no idea how to get her to go longer between feeds. I make sure that she eats fully, from both breasts, at each feed, I try to distract her with walks, play, etc - nothing seems to work.

hey, that sounds rough...have you tried a dummy???

just had another thought...could ds maybe give a bottle or 2 overnight so you could get a bit more sleep...formula if necessary??

Poor thing - I went through exactly the same, including the early teething! What I was told by the paediatric gastro was that the constant feeding was because bm has mild antacid properties.

What meds is she on? It sounds like they aren't quite working well enough. How long has she been on meds?

Something that helped ds (alongside the meds) was eliminating milk products from my diet - apparently most babies with reflux have at least a mild milk protein intolerance. It's rather painful, need to eliminate not only all dairy but also beef, but it was worth it for me.

I would not go the way of giving a bottle, ime that just made the reflux so much worse that it was terrible.

Good point ib, the bottle may well make things worse...

My DS1 had horrible reflux, they gave him gaviscon powder and I was told to mix it with EBM and give after a feed. It didnt really help much and just made him constipated. So I was told to stop BF and swap to formula and we tried the thickened versions, which didnt work either, and I was very upset about stopping BF.
Finally the thing which helped us was I was told to never let him lie flat, always on an incline. That night he slept in his bouncer chair and slept 6 hours straight. He slept in there until he was 7 months old and was too big really, so we propped up the end of his cot till he was 1 year old. By that time, the reflux had pretty much sorted itself out.
I know its rotten, but trust me when I say that the formula may seem easier, but its a double edged sword, yes, you wont be BF him all of the time, but you will be constantly washing and making up bottles.

Sorry, that should read BF HER all the time. I am awake, honest.

Thanks for ideas. She's on Gaviscon, Ranitidine and Domperidone - agree that they're not working properly, but GP hasn't been a lot of help. Am going to try going back to the hospital (where they were originally prescribed) next week. She does sleep propped up. I haven;t tried a dummy yet (have a, probably unfair, inbuilt mistrust of them) but am desperate enough to change my mind!

I think you really need to push to be referred to a specialist - a bad case of reflux is not something gps are likely to deal with effectively. And nobody will pay any attention unless you seriously make a pita of yourself.

But it IS a big deal, quite aside from the immediate feeding issues, the acid can be damaging her oesophagus, and that's not something to be ignored (with ds we were told that it would be another ten days after the meds kicked in before his oesophagus would heal enough that he could start feeding normally)

If she's only been on the meds for a short time it may just be a question of waiting, with ds it took a good few days before they really made a difference.

Oh, and on the Gaviscon, the paed gastro told us to take ds off it as apparently it only neutralises the acid very locally, and the body compensates by producing even more acid.

Hi Gavotte My little one had reaaly bad reflux, a dummy helped a lot. I was also told by an old lady that in the good old days they used:

to boil fresh water
Put in into a container
add a peeled onion and let it cool
remove the onion and bottle the water
Give some of the water to baby before feeds

Might be worth a try

She's been on the meds for 3 weeks now - they seemed to be mildly effective for a week or so - agree, definitely time to go back to a specialist. I didn't realise that Gaviscon had that effect - we will try her without.

I'd also forgotten that dairy might have an effect. Had thought of it as a 'last resort' option (especially as I don't eat meat so dairy often a main source of protein), but I think we have reached the last resort. Will try it for a couple of days and up my chickpea and supplement intake!

Thanks again for the advice from everyone. I know that improving the reflux will help to space out her feeds, but does anyone know any good ways in the meantime?

Cutting out dairy can be bloody tough. I'm afraid you probably have to give it a bit more than a couple of days to know for sure, it takes at least a week and can take up to a month for all traces of the guilty protein to leave your system.

I did see some results pretty much immediately though.

Need to stay off soya too apparently, as the proteins are too similar (which just makes it even harder if you're a yoghurt addict like me)