Not sure what to do

[shufflebum]

Not sure if this is better here or in allergies...
Ds is 6 weeks tomorrow, has been mixed fed from birth to 4 weeks and now ff. From about a week old he has been unsettled and uncomfortable. Initially I thought colic but it didn't really fit as his screaming was sporadic through the day and night. Some mnetting, a trip to the HV and GP led to a vague diagnosis of silent reflux, prescribed gaviscon. Stuck with that for a few days but ended up with 2 trips to the out of hours clinic as he was so distressed. First doctor who saw him there and has worked in paeds agreed with silent reflux diagnosis but said to give the gaviscon more time, second doctor was very dismissive said I would just have to put up with the screaming as I just had a windy baby and rolled his eyes when I mentioned silent reflux.

We have since been back to our regular GP practice but saw the registrar who has just come out of paeds in the hospital who put him on ranitidine (0.7ml 3x daily). We've done 5 days of this with no real change. She said she didn't want to see me back for 3 weeks as it would take this long to see an effect. To be honest I'm not sure I can take another 2 weeks of screaming, arching, frothing, unsettled sleep and winding. He comfort eats at night every 2 hours and is not sick very often so as a result is packing on the weight so healthy in that respect. I get the feeling the GPs aren't going to do a great deal, I have an appointment with the HV tomorrow and my 6 week check is next week but I'm not sure what to ask for or do. I'm happy to pay to go private if necessary but I don't know how to go about it. Can anyone shed any light?

Poor you! What formula are you using? I looked after a baby who was diagnosed with silent reflux at around 16wks. Her Mum took her to a private Doctor in London and she was prescribed Ranitidine and Pepti Junior which is a formula made by Cow and Gate. Both these seemed to really help and we saw a massive improvement within a week or so. I think you can only get Pepti Junior if it's prescribed or you can order it through a chemist but as it's very expensive ( £36 a tin from what I vaguely remember back in 2008 ) it's probably best to get a prescription. I have heard C&G Comfort is quite good too. Maybe ask your HV about a different formula although from personal experience our GP and HV weren't terribly clued up on it and it was only the Private Doctor who had experience of it.

Thanks for your reply, we're using the cow and gate comfort but no joy. FOrgot to say we are also trying cranial osteopathy, he had his 2nd session today. He is very blocked through his diaphragm but otherwise okay. I haven't noticed a difference but am going for one more treatment next week.
Ebb do you happen to know the name of the doctor or how they went about getting seen. I have been googling but not really sure what I'm looking for!

.

I'm sorry I can't remember the name of the Doctor. It was my ex- Mum bosses family Doctor in London who was private. Try asking here. On a few of the threads on the forum are names of various Doctors people have seen. I think the Portland hospital is mentioned a few times.

You say you're mixed feeding OP, do you mean still BF-ing a bit?

If so could you bear/cope with trying solely BF-ing just short term to see if that helps?

Not being anti-bottle but just thinking if his little tum is struggling with formula it would maybe give him a chance to settle down a bit, give you all a break & some sleep & then try re-introducing a different formula. We tried a soy/non-dairy formula for a while for that very reason & it did work.

Awful time for you, hope it all settles.

Have found quite alot of info from a site called Little Refluxers.
HV came today and was very supportive, saw DS in full flow and recommended trying a different formula. She suggested Aptamil Pepti or Nutramigen, couldn't get hold of either of these but did manage to get some Neocate. He's had 2 feeds and fingers crossed so far so good...just have to hope like hell that I will be able to get it on prescription as it's £37 for a 400g tin [hshock]
Bossy I stopped feeding at 4 weeks due to needing to go onto medication for a flare up of my crohns disease. We weren't the best at BF to be honest hence the mix feeding and it was quite a relief to stop.