Should I insist on medication for reflux?

[buddum]

My 8 week old has, I think, reflux. Very unhappy crying, squirming, back arching, puking whilst feeding and afterwards. Burping seems to make it worse. Clearly he is in real pain.

My GP said she would not want to prescribe medication unless he was puking so much he was losing weight. That he would grow out of it.

I know he will grow out of it, but should I insist on medication to relieve the pain in the meantime? Are the drugs horrible - are the side effects worthwhile? Anyone know when it will get better?

All I can say is that for my firstborn, I went with the "if she's not losing weight..." and she did eventually grow out of it, but puked massively.

2nd born (now 15 weeks) - insisted on help. Ranitidine works wonders, carobel sometimes works better than others. Different baby now on meds.

That is (in my opinion) a ridiculous suggestion. Reflux is very painful for babies no matter whether they are losing weight or not. My ds had silent reflux and never had a problem gaining weight but was still on three meds (gaviscon, ranitidine and domperidone). Didn't notice any horrible side effects. He grew out of it around 4-6 months (massively improved by 4 months). In the meantime, do you know about the "home remedies" you can try to make him more comfy? Keep him upright for half an hour after each feed, in fact as upright as possible is good at all times (we used a sling a lot), prop his cot up on books at the head end so he's sleeping on a slant, try to feed little and often. There is a very good website somewhere with lots of info and tips but I can't remember where it is - hopefully someone else will be along who does.

Your poor little ds - hope the doc gives in and he is feeling better soon.

My GP said the same. I wanted meds for dd, but GP insisted I could 'nurse her through it' and gave me lots of positive affirmation for attempting to do so

Two weeks later, she was admitted to hospital with suspected bronchiolitis (which she'd already had at 4 weeks). It turned out to be a cold this time, but a passing paed noticed her and put her on reflux meds - it changed a lot of things, including how congested her breathing became when she had a cold. Fair enough, my dd has a floppy larynx - so her airway is narrow anyway - but reflux was making the breathing much worse.

I still feel that the GPs made me feel neurotic for wanting meds. If you think tis the right way to go, and GP wdoesn't agree, I would ask for a referral.

No side effects, by the way, at least not here - unless you count better breathing and less pain/vomiting!

Oh, and dd wasn't losing weight either, at that stage (8 weeks).

Has he been tested for reflux? You could get a ph probe done to establish the degree of it. We did this for ds and the results wiped out any doubts we could have had about medicating (he was having weight issues too though)

Weight is not the only danger from reflux. Some babies aspire it and get apnoeas, in bad cases even pneumonia.

oh x post with elibean.

Agree with ib - reflux can make them prone to repeated lung infections if they aspirate. It's a shame he won't prescribe - at least for a trial period to see if things improve. Is there another GP you could see?

Yep, ds got aspiration pneumonia from his reflux. Fortunately he still in SCBU (was prem). He was very poorly, had 7 days iv antibiotics and ended up on lo-flow O2 for weeks. Personally I would be trying to get meds. Apart from thinking it's a bit cruel to keep a baby in pain froma reluctance to prescribe.

my gp pescribed infant gaviscon (not sure you actually need a prescription I'm sure I bought some over the counter when I ran out) clearly stating it won't do any harm and if it works that's the best to diagnose acidic reflux. After 3 days it worked and we got our sanity back.

My DS was given infant Gaviscon we used this for a few months and it was great, he was a happier baby and I was happier because he was sleeping better and not throwing up as much it did bung him up so we used it in everyother bottle but it was still a god send.

thanks for all this advice. decided - at 4am whilst trying to pacify screaming boy - that I would seek medication for myself or my toddler if we were in such pain and that it was MAD to not do the same for a newborn baby!

so went to GP who was brill, prescribed gaviscon and already, 24 hours later, can see a big improvement.

thank you for encouraging me to do it!

That's great news buddum. Just to warn you, as they grow the gaviscon can start to have less of an effect. DS had silent reflux that responded well to gaviscon at first but then it seemed to stop working - the gastroenterologist put him on ranitidine, which pretty much fixed him overnight.

my ds was the same, although he had silent reflux for 5 month before he starting acctually being sick. they put him on gaviscon which worked for a few weeks then stopped working.

there is an infant formula powder called enfamil, which thickens with their stomach acid so it is harder to regurgitate.

ds was better almost instantly. hes 1 now and still sicky sometimes (although being put on cows milk now) but it's nowhere near to the extremes it was.

and iv been able to feed him outside the house which previously i avoided as it looked/sounded like i was force feeding him, which in a way i was i suppose!

good luck, it can be a long hard journey!

my son is 3 1/2 and has reflux, he first had it when he was born and was put in gavisocon but it never helped he was still projectile vomiting most of his feeds but coz he was gaining weight they were not concerned.

the sick stopped but alot of other symptons continued and at 14 months was diagnosed with silent reflux, he was put on domperidone, ranatdine and gavisocon, then had them changed around one time was on 4 meds, hes now on 3, domperdone, lansprazole and erthromycin and still isnt sorted hes under a gastro doc at GOSH.

Hopefully the gaviscon will help i know alot of gps dont take reflux serious if ur lo gets bad again i would ask to be referred to a paed at the hospital.