Some reflux questions for the experts...

[Stubbed]

My 5mo dd has been suffering from reflux for a couple of months. Currently sitting in a chair with her asleep on me, as she has been for most of the night. Desperate to get back in my own bed - but anyway.

The questions I have are:

• when did this end for your family - 6 months? 9 months?
• do I need to avoid giving ranitidine and domperidone at the same time - which should I give first and how long between them?
• will weaning help? Any foods to avoid? - currently ebf with me avoiding cows milk but not noticed any improvement

I know that we just have to get through it and there's probably nothing I can do. We're lucky to have an understanding GP and during the day we have little vomit and naps in the cot. I just want to sleep. And have milk in my tea (selfish I know but it's been a long night).

Thanks...

Hello!

I don't have all the answers but maybe I can help.

I have a 3yo DD1 who had vomiting style reflux. Sick would hit the other side of the room. Because she put on weight, and because I didn't know better, we never persisted with the doctor with regards to medicine. As soon as she was on solids, it made a difference. It was no more sloshy milk in her tummy, good solid food which was easier to keep down. She was never in pain from the reflux but being sick would wake her and it was hard work keeping her clean and dry.

We now have a 6 month old DD2 who at 6 weeks was diagnosed with silent reflux. She is on Domperidone and Ranitidine. We give her 1ml alternatively with each feed. The medicines make her feel comfortable and able to enjoy her milk. She us just starting solids now and is slowly getting into them.

Is your DD uncomfortable still? The meds can be altered as she grows so perhaps the doctor can up one/both of the? I know DD2 was happier tthe instant we started her on the meds.

We weaned DD1 early at 19 weeks. She was ready and it definitely helped. This is something to speak to the doc about.

Milk wise, both of mine are/were ff. With DD1, as she was so sicky, we moved onto Comfort milk. It is thicke,
and just helped stay down a little bit more.

Hope some of that is useful.

Oh and I bought a wedge for under her cot to keep her propped up a bit. Anything to help keep the milk down. And kept her upright for 30 mins after a feed.

Thanks. Yes we keep altering the meds... Might try alternating them per feed as you do. Have high hopes for solids but trying not to expect too much...

It is something they grow out of.dd1 had no medicine whatsoever and I really think by 8-10 months she had stopped being sick. Definitely by the time of her first birthday.

Have you seen a paediatrician? Our GPs knowledge of reflux was limited (and I saw about 6 different doctors! ) and I think that's why we didn't get any help with DD1. With DD2 we took her to a children's hospital and got specialist advice.

If she is still in pain with the medicine, it isn't working. That's my opinion though. I know there are other reflux meds so perhaps she needs something else?

Those meds are the same as we take for silent reflux. It sounds like your DD has reflux do my instinct tells me that it should be different meds?

Do you express? I have also heard about a thickener you can add to milk. Basically the thicker the milk or food, the better they are at keeping it down. Would you consider expressing and giving her a bottle?

I'm here if you need to chat. I know how hard a reflux baby is. With DD1 I didn't want to go out as she just cried and vomited everywhere.

It gets easier, I promise.

Domperidone and ranitidine work in different ways, the first drug speeds up absorption of milk so it is digested faster and not left lying around in the stomach to be sicked up!

Ranitidine affects the acid part of reflux, the pain side. So both are with taking for different reasons, although with my baby I only bothered with ranitidine as I was already feeding every 1.5 hours round the clock and couldn't face the idea that feeds would become more frequent.

We had to keep baby upright for ages after feeds too. Ugh they were dark days!

Our reflux seemed to be linked to I diagnosed posterior tongue tie. Once it was cut his reflux improved. Apparently tongue tie can cause reflux but it's hard to tell whether it was the it that helped or the fact he was now 12 weeks old.

Usually improvements start from about 12 weeks. Some people wean early to see if that helps but I wouldn't say it makes any difference to the spillage. The thing I noticed was that we could lie him down without him screaming in pain.

I haven't weaned in a special way and was BF until 5 months when I then added a bottle of formula each day. By 6 months I was fully combined feeding and still am at 8 months. We just used aptamil hungry baby formula, nothing specially thick or anything like that.

I hope it gets resolved quickly for you as reflux is hard for the whole family.

Solids have not helped us in the slightest - in fact things are much worse.

Dairy doesn't seem to affect it but soya does so I'm avoiding that. Luckily it's not in foods that I'd give ds as it seems to be used as an emulsifier in convenience food.

Gosh. I was kind of going for lots of positive stories about babies growing out of it at 6 months. And that weaning helped.

The meds definitely work - the domperidone definitely stops the vomiting and the ranitidine does mean she is more settled at night, just not settled enough to sleep soundly and sometimes writhing about. And often needs to be held upright to sleep (before them, she would scream even when upright).

Like I say, she's not got the worst reflux now she's on meds but I really want a contented happily sleeping baby like I had with my ds :( and I was hoping you would make me feel better about it!

My DS is 2 and still on ranitidine. He's never grown out of it, we just increase it with his weight. He also has a dairy allergy. Solids have never made much difference to be honest but it doesn't upset him anymore.

I can be positive!

Our dd was admitted to hospital at 4 weeks because she refused to nurse at all. She was tube fed for a couple of days with the reason being her reflux was so bad she would rather starve than eat.

She went on domperidone and ranitidine with prescription formula as well as there was a feeling that CMPI might also be an issue.

At about 4 or so months her weight dropped through centiles again and she was referred back to the paed who put her on omeprazole. The change was instantaneous. Prior to omeprazole she would fight and cry her way through any bottle. I used to anxiously count every oz and make myself frantic about intake as she would take so little. Feeding her when out was almost impossible as her reaction to being fed was so unpredictable and frequently reduced me to tears.

Within 24 hours of being on omeprazole she increased her intake by 50% and never fought a bottle again.

Solids were tough actually as she was very cautious about what went in her mouth. However, patience and not getting too concerned about her only solid being rice cakes and toast for many many weeks helped.

At 16 months old she has now been discharged from the paed as she is doing so well.

We have had to lead the way and not wait for docs to suggest things. Our GPs are excellent and completely up for discussion which helped empower me in asking for more help when things were hard.

For us, things got better. Good luck

Oh yes and she had milk thickener as well. We stated with infant gaviscon until the shortage when we were moved onto carobel. Both can be given while BF to my knowledge.

I would agree with PP that pain means that he meds are not working. I suggest a push for something else