Reflux HELPPPP

[Paris93]

Hello, my son is nearly 5 months old and has always suffered from reflux. He has tried gaviscon (which made him constipated so we stopped) and he is now on liquid omerprazol. When he started on these medications we noticed a huge improvement. However recently he’s gone back to throwing up every single feed.

I’m at my wits end, I really don’t know what to do. We’re up all night as he’s starving all the time but whenever we feed him he projectile vomits everywhere and then wants to be fed again straight away. It’s just a vicious cycle. I feel like he’s really suffering as he’s hungry all the time. We’re constantly washing sicky clothes/towels and our sofas and mattress are pretty much ruined!

Does anyone have any advice? Our doctors just keep telling us he’ll grow out of it but it’s getting to a point where I feel like I can’t cope. I have an 18 month old daughter too.

Thanks x

Have they increased his dose according to his weight?

Yes he’s on 1ml in the morning and 1ml in the afternoon. He’s a really small baby so should actually only be taking 1ml but they’ve allowed us to up it x

What strength is the omeprazole liquid and how much does he weigh? Is he constipated? How are his bowels generally? Has he been checked for pyloric stenosis? Could he have a milk allergy? We have (well, had as we finally have some improvements) a 7 month old DD the same!

If bottle fed ask for prescription milk from doctor this helped my little one loads

Hi, the strength is 2mg per ml. He’s not been constipated since we took him off gaviscon. I’ve never heard of that but I’ll look into it. He does have a cows milk protein allergy and he’s currently on neocate lcp x

Hi, he has a cows milk protein allergy so he’s on prescription milk for that x

It's unusual to give a spilt dose. Could you try 2ml in the morning. (Paediatric nurse)

He's a bit old for pyloric stenosis but that thought did cross my mind, as you mentioned that the vomiting is projectile. But might be worth getting checked, if he hasn't been already.

We had the same. Took my son to an osteopath, stopped immediately. He found a kink in her bowel

The maximum dose he can have according to the BNFC is 3mg/KG so may be worth re checking his weight as 4mg seems a bit low.

I agree, the omeprazole probably needs upping.

He may not be constipated, but is it possible he's not emptying his bowels fully? After 6 months we have finally found this to be the problem with DD. One sachet of paediatric movicol pet day and she's so much better. To be honest, I would take to A&E or ask your GP for a referral to your nearest child assessment unit as GPs really don't understand beyond "they'll grow out of it". I've nearly had a breakdown over this tbh, but we finally got help with a combination of a private paediatric gastroenterologist and him liaising with our local CAU who finally did an abdo xray and found she was full of poo! Your story sounds very similar to ours.

Pyloric stenosis does typically present soon after birth, but it is possible to be diagnosed up to 6 months old, so it's still worth ruling this out. You should ask for a barium meal too.

Good luck.

Thank you so much for all the replies.

It does worry me as when he was born he was admitted to the NICU as they thought he had a problem with his bowels and he’s always had issues opening them.

I have a doctors appointment this afternoon so I’m going to ask them to refer him to someone to get them checked further.

Ill ask about upping his dose of omerprazole too.

Again, thanks for the advice x