2 week old reflux

[Blueberry1990]

I have a 2 week old baby who was born 6 weeks premature and I think she is suffering from reflux.

She keeps spitting up her milk, sticking out her toungue and arching her back and head.
After feeding she is always kept sitting upright and winded. Are there any tips on how to help her?

Its very common to have reflux in the early weeks. Under 4 months 40% will have had some symptoms of reflux sometimes it needs treatment sometimes it doesn't

Step 1 is behavioural - reflux bottles and pace feeding if bottle feeding, get tongue tie assessments. If breastfeeding gets a feeding assessment as if the latch is poor they might be taking in too much air which can trigger reflux or if you have a fast letdowns they can take in too much milk too quickly and it gives them reflux.
Hold upright or don't move an inch for 30-60 minutes after a feed. With my daughter we couldn't move her to upright as soon as she was moved from feeding position she started refluxing. We kept her in the feeding position and that helped

Step 2... Thicken the milk. If formula feeding there are reflux or comfort formulas available which are thicker or you could add a thickener such as gaviscon (on prescription) or carobel. These can also be given to breastfeed babies. My daughter was on gaviscon, she did need a stool softener as it caused a bit of constipation

Step 3. PPIs such as omperazole or lansoprazole. These reduce the acidity of the stomach contents so when they reflux it causes less pain.

Step 4. Other meds or consider cmpa or further investigation through paeds.

Reflux comes in two varieties. Reflux that results in sick and silent reflux that doesn't as the refluxed milk is swallowed.
My daughter had mild-moderate actual reflux but severe silent reflux. Her GP initially was only treating the actual reflux which meant that she was still in a great deal of distress from the silent reflux. She has food allergies and reflux. Her reflux has proved particularly tricky to treat but she has settled on a combination of omperazole, gaviscon and domperidone.