how do you know when your child has reflux?

[Jaysfirst]

dd has started to violently squirm and arch her back after and sometimes during a feed. She howls in what i can only imagine to be a real bad intense pain and shes started to bring back some of her milk.... not vomit though. i know it doesnt sound much but its awful when it happens. any thoughts??

Jaysfirst, i dont know if you have read my post on dec thread but Alex-Leigh has reflux! We have put her on a milk called OMNIO comfort and she also has gaviscon infant in her feeds. She only started on the Gaviscon yesterday but she has been a completelky different girl today!
She was having all the symptoms the same as you DD. She was being sick after each feed, sometimes lots and sometimes little, she was screaming in agony for hours and at first we thought it was colic! Her weight gain has been brilliant but its the screaming in pain which is hard to deal with.
Speak to your health visitor. Mine has been amazing helping me to sort it all out. You can get the gaviscon infant over the counter but GP can give it on prescription too. It works wonders HONEST.
If you need to chat just text or email. Hope you get it sorted babe.

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thanx Bonkerz. I have decided to take a video recording next time she hass a dicky fit, that way i will show the doctor what i have to go through....bless her little cottons. touch wood no episodes this evening, she is still asleep since 7... time will tell i guess!

there is a formula milk you can buy from boots especially for babies who suffer from reflux,my little girl had reflux due to being tubal fed cus she was prem so it left her with this weakness,and my gp tried infant gaviscon to thicken her milk and it never worked,i stumbbled across this milk by accident.
its made by s.m.a and its called STAYDOWN it is a very thick formula and needs to be mixed properly via the instructions,and it stopped my little girl suffering reflux.

Jaysfirst I know reflux can be hard to diagnose with lots of different symtoms (listed in that post above). If its your first baby you have no idea what is normal and Reflux seems to have no logic. Somedays they puke loads other days they dont. Somedays the writhing is really bad, others not. we were lucky DS was diagnosed at 3 days old in AandE after an apnea (he stopped breathing - not so lucky) but your description of the night feed nightmare really reminded me of our 6 months of hell. Is your DD lying flat on her back to sleep? that might explain the discomfort and difficulty keeping things down at night particulary after a big feed. If she sleeps better in a car seat or on your shoulder (i.e. upright) this would indicate reflux to me plus all the choking gurgling noises are a classic sign. We put DS on his side and raised the head of the moses basket but things didnt improve till we bought him a special hamock - sounds mad but it worked. good luck and once you start to understand it and treat it it really does get easier. DS grew out of it by 6 months. sorry for such a long post could go on at length about managing reflux.

My ds probably had silent reflux - dr said it was probably colic but I don't think colic lasts for over a year. He is better now but still gets bubbly tummy ++ and sometimes wakes up screaming as if he's being murdered. A colleague mentioned the possibility of abdominal migraines. Anyone heard of this condition? Also his stools still often seem acidic to the point where they make his bum sore and he gets frequent colds (literally one after the other). His sleeping has always been terrible and when breastfed used to feed every hour but was always arching and wriggling. I am going to make an appt to discuss all this with the dr but just wondered if anyone had any ideas. He is 19 mths now. Hope things getter better for you and dd Jaysfirst. It's very upsetting isn't it

my dd is 21 months and hasn't grown out of gastric reflux (not sure if she ever will ) she's on domperidone (makes her digest things quicker) and ranitidine (an antacid). i should also mention she is peg fed, it was a combination of reflux, getting tired due to very complex cardiac problems and she used to aspitate thin liquids that made them decide she'd be better off with the peg. you can get thickener to stop the milk being allowed to come up and down the food pipe as easily. you will probably have to be referred to a speech and language therapist first who will suggest these kind of things. your local cdc should have equipment such as wedges to put under the matress of the cotbed to help manage the night times better. they might do tests like a video fluroscophy (which is a video xray) to see what is happening when your ds has thin liquids and thickened liquids to see whether this could help with the reflux, if this is what it turns out to be. my dd easily gets nappy rash, she's on lots of different medicines including lactulose and glycerrine supposeteries to help keep things moving and i thought it was the medicines that caused the nappy rash but you never know. she also gets ill easily and usually finds it hard to shift (often ends up back in hospital) but i think that's more to do with her cardiac problems and her chromosone deletion (has digeorge syndrome). sorry this has been really long, but you do need to get your son checked out to see what the problem is with him, if it is reflux there are lots of different ways of dealing with it depending on how severe it is.

I was told that it is hereditary, for example my dh was a very 'sicky' baby according to MIL, told this to the doctor and he said that partly explained ds condition. I don't know if having heartburn during pregnancy is linked though, I had much worse heartburn with dd and no reflux problems with her.

wow...... so many posts. I dont know where to begin in replying, only to say i was with the helath visitor today and she thinks also tha it might be colic and not reflux..... also she seems to think that because my milk comes out SOOOO fast, DD is having to cope with taking it down very quickly, hence her gulping t down, in turn she takes down air and after she finishes feeding becasue theres so much air she could be sick when some of it comes up. Shs also put on another 9 ozs this week so there isnt a prob with he weight.i had a really good feed tonight and a really bad one. The good one lasted just over 10 mins with no 'fraughtness' and the bad one was only a few minutes and a lot of squirming wriggling and 'fraughtness, resulting in her gulping horendesly and ending in her throwing up... i gave up trying to feed her and she has now been aslepp since 7 with her last feed being 5..... sigh... i was so distressed, i cant help her with me being so tired and upset by it all. Anyway, DH cooked dinner and gave me lots of support, hes just on his way up to do the expressed milk feed, and by the way, she doesnt gulp her bottle , which tends to re inforce the upset surrounding my faast mik flow. My mum sugggested i express some milk before i feed her in the hope it doesnt come out with such force.... ??? i wish i had the baby whisperer here, she'd know what to do!!!!

sorry to hear about your dd kreamkrackers. Jaysfirst does dd vomit bottle feed too? If not, maybe you should consider expressing all the feeds.

just to let everyone know if anybody needs tips on how to help a child with reflux it's on now on babywhisperer, discovery health.

hi my dd is 5 weeks and has started bringing back more of his milk at most of his feeds. twice (once yest, once 2day) the vomit has had a small amount of green stuff in it (bile?). has any1 else noticed this in the vomit??

oops meant ds!!

this is exactly how my DD started and it got worse with her screaming when the bile came up, apparently you can tell its reflux when they can still be sick up to an hour after a feed and its watery and mucusy. DD is now on ENFAMIL milk which seems to be helping alot. Talk to doctor about trying gaviscon infant, if this helps then its more than likely reflux!

thanks bonkerz. am gonna go to the docs today. ds brought up about half a bottle at one of his feeds last night ! seems to be worse at some feeds and not so bad at others. think the doc might just say its colic but he often brings up the milk after he's burped lots not with the burps. also milk is curdled. anyway will let you know how i get on.

does anyone know of a uk stockist for a wedge mattress that elevates 30 degrees? I can only find ones that elevate to fifteen degrees in th uk. Thanks if you can help!