Silent reflux

[serendipity16]

I was wondering if anyones child has this & how it was diagnosed? Also was your child given any medication.

My husband took our 8 week old son (6 weeks prem) to the doctors yesterday as he's coughing up phlegm, being a bit more sicky than normal & his feeds has dropped from 3-4ozs every 3 hours to 2-3ozs every 3 hours.
I just wanted him checked out to see if he had a chest infection or a sore throat.

Whilst he was there i said to my husband to mention to the doctor about reflux as i think he may have it..... nothing related to being unwell at the moment.

Anyway she checked his chest & temp all ok, not dehydrated but didn't check his throat.... although i'm not sure if doctors try to look into small babies mouths.

When my husband mentioned the reflux, she wrote him a letter & told him to go to a&e . I just don't think a&e is the place to be taking a baby for reflux... or is it?
She didn't mention any medication for the reflux or give any tips to help with it just said to go to a&e.
She seemed to think the coughing, phlegm, reduced feeding was due to reflux .
The above things only started on Friday/Saturday so i ( i know im not a doctor) don't think it has anything to do with reflux.

Sorry for the long post

Gaviscon do an infant version that you put as powder in their bottle, not sure what age from, but DS1 was very gurgly and screamed after feeds and was always barfing up half digested feed and this worked wonders!

I think you have to ask the pharmecist for it but I don't think it's on perscription only.

In my experience, GPs don't have the specailist knowledge in this area. So she needs to see a pead. She can either go to A&E and be seen in an hour or so, or wait 3/4 month (the average wait it seems) for an appointment. Go.

Thanks.

I only ask as i thought that the GP would try some form of medication first to see if that worked first before sending us to a&e.

I'm not keen on that doctor (wasn't who my son was supposed to see yesterday) as she's very indecisive & a bit clueless. When i had a miscarriage a few years ago she told me she didn't know what to do & asked me what she should do. She also asked me what Menorrhagia meant as she was reading my file.

Anyway will go a&e & see what they say.

hi there,

i think it is def worth going to a&e just because they will look into everything properly and if it is silent reflux you will get the medication prescribed by a paed who know what dosages to prescribe for a baby my gp is always shocked by the dose of my sons medication for his reflux and says there is no was she would give that dose, but then she hasnt got the experience the paeds have!

my ds has severe silent reflux, what you describe seems more to me like he is just unwell at the moment? unless of course you have noticed other symptoms? ALOT of screaming, back arching, gurgly noises, swallowing noises, hiccups, difficulty feeding and sleeping just to name a few..

there are lots of medications you can try if it is reflux gaviscon usually being the first if it is mild this may be all he needs.

defintaley though i would advise anyone who has a baby displaying symptoms of silent reflux to go to a&e GPS in general just do not have the knowledge to diagnose and treat this condition and as the other poster said otherwise you wait weeks and months with a baby who is suffering and a mummy and daddy who are pulling their hair out lol!
good luck

We ended up at a&e as DD (6 days old at the time) hadn't settled for what seemed like a year, with her being our PFB we were unsure what to do so went to a and e and they admitted her for the night to keep her under observation.

She has been on ranitidine ever since and has been great. But again, my GP 1. didn't know ranitidine liquid existed and 2. thought the dose was too high when he found out there was one!

Good luck.