Help - worried this might be silent reflux

[LaDenf]

Hi all, first time poster. My LO is now 2 weeks old, ever since starting to BF at 1 week old (LO was in neo natal for 6 days), about an hour after each feed he strains, grunts, pulls legs up. He frequently makes gulping/swallowing sounds, he doesnt cry too much when this goes on, more an anguished cry until he stops straining then he calms for a bit. This repeats every 20 mins for an hour. He gets hiccups frequently too. Often he is a fussy eater and can take up to 2 hours to feed, often making loud gulp noises

Trying to settle him can be difficult. He has slept on hubby or my chest every night because he will not settle on his back. We have tried raising his Moses basket on an angle which has not helped. He will start to get upset until picked up. He will sleep on his back whilst cradled but when put down wakes up.

He had a tongue tie snipped which has helped a bit with the feeding however this was done 1 day ago and no other things have changed yet

We have him on Infacol which gets a lot of the wind up but does still have the regular pains etc as described above. We are going to try colief too.

HV and GP just say he is colicy but I think it could be more than that.

I hope it is just wind problems but this sounds like silent reflux however his symptoms could mean other things too.

Sorry for the ramble but we are getting desperate to work out what could help LO sleep without needing to be on someone's chest. I appreciate any thoughts you may have.

I have to say it sounds like it could be silent reflux. I'm not an expert though! I would say do keep going back to the GP if you are still struggling and not getting the support you need. Not all GPs/health visitors know as much about reflux as they should do-don't assume they know better than you do. In the meantime, a swinging chair is supposed to be good for refluxy babies and our HV suggested sleeping DS in his car seat for the first 90mins afer each feed at night so that we could all get some sleep. Have you tried a dummy yet? Can cause nipple confusion I understand, but worked for us without problems. Good luck! I hope things improve for you.

It may be more down to overfeeding & overtiredness, or if reflux then these can aggravate it. A baby that age should not really be awake more than 45mins to an hour so feeding for two hours will really tire baby out. Also you may have a bit of an oversupply. Are poos greeny or foamy too? This can be a sign of oversupply.

We had similar symptoms with DS2 now aged 10weeks but he has settled down a lot & we are now not sure if he even has reflux. A lactation consultant recommended us to try feeding for up to 40mins every 4hrs, burp after feeding, keep bub upright for 10-15mins for quiet time then a bit of playtime before putting down to sleep. Then wake to repeat the cycle except at night when there is no playtime & babe can sleep as long as they like. If babe is not settling to sleep at all then get them up & start at beginning of cycle. This gives them a chance to rest & not overfeed thereby regulating your supply. Our DS2 improved with this & we relaxed it after about 2 weeks.

Speak to a lactation consultant or bf counsellor if possible. They usually don't think about reflux until a bit older. Hope it improves soon.

Forgot to add, don't try restricting babe's feeding without some sort of professional guidance unless you are fully confident there is a good latch & babe is sucking & swallowing properly or there are any other health concerns. Kellymom.com is widely regarded as a great online resource for bf-ing incl good latching, oversupply etc & has links to videos.

The above routine I described sounded quite draconian for a newborn to me as I was trying to feed on demand as I had with DS1 - however DS2 was a mess & so were DP & I because of it. If you think trying it might help, you should see some improvement within 48hrs cos babe will be getting more rest & relatively better feeds - if no difference or worse seek further help.

Thanks for the input so far.

Yes Idlevice, LO regularly has green stool (at least once/twice a day). I have been thinking it might be an oversupply / foremilk/hindmilk imbalance. He has been getting fussier when trying to BF and the more I pay attention, the more I can hear a clicking noise.

I will definitely take a look at that website.

Anyone have any hints/tips on overcoming oversupply or imbalance issues?

my little boy used to grunt and pull his knees up (nearly all of the night) pretty sure it was just trapped wind. put him on gripe water for a couple of weeks then stopped he is 10 weeks now and doesnt do it any more. I was really worried at the time.

Have you thought about something in your diet?! anything that could create acid reflux or wind symptoms....beans, onions, tomatoes, spicy curries.

my dtg's were ff and had big problems. tried bf but nevermanaged it because of inverted nipples :-(

so anyways, the ling nd short of it was/is that they are cows milk protein intolerant and dairy interant. they have wysoy as their main milk drink but now at 14 months have most dairy in their diet.

hope you get lo sorted soon hun. xxx