reflux in ds2 desperate please help

[tortoisefairy]

hi, ds2 8 weeks (3 weeks prem) has been chucking up between and after feeds for 2 weeks now. Doctors reckon its reflux. ive started gaviscon in powder form - does it come in liquid? and he is breat and bottle fed. he is in pain alot - but mainly strains to fart/poo? is this normal? also will he ever sleep through the night. he wont move from 3 hourly feeding...but with dummy will go 5 hours from 3/4am - 7/8 am...any advice really appreciated
x

Gaviscon for babies comes in powder form only as far as i know

it didn't help my DS's reflux and actually made him really constipated

you need to look at perhaps getting two different meds - ranitadine and domperidone

you will have to get a referal from your GP to a paed

your baby is also really only 5 weeks old, so he won't be sleeping through the night for some time yet. Also, 3 hourly feeding is fine and usual - my DS fed around every 2 hours at this age

their tummies are tiny so need filling regulalry

My DS1 had awful reflux so I sympathise. He had powder gaviscon - I don't think there was a liquid form. He was also in a lot of pain due to trapped wind. I used to wind him over and over, for instance I would lie him down for a few minutes then pick him up and wind him, lie him down again and then wind him - it was amazing how much air would keep coming out. He also threw all his feeds up so I would have to feed him for about 30 seconds then burp him, feed him burp him etc etc. If I controlled the wind it controlled the reflux and the wind pain.

He gradually got better when I weaned him.

Your DS will sleep through the night but probably not yet. I had three DSs that didn't sleep through for months but then DS4 slept through from 11 weeks .

you see im not sure its reflux...hes not in agony between or during feeds just afterwards, adn only sick a little, it could just be colic???and the wind making him sick? he is only sick a little but at times nothing will calm him and hes much hungier than ds1 ever was...at times hourly feeds..(thing with him being early hes now at the correct weight for his due date age, so really he should be acting like a term baby - do you know if this is the case?) which is where i think maybe he does have reflux and wants to feed to eliviate the pain...i find him so hard to read and i thought with him being ds2 it would be easier! I feel so guilty that i cant make it better...

tortoisefairy, one of my twins had reflux really bad. She was breastfed but I was drowning in vomit and struggling to look after the other children so I switched to formula and went down the gaviscon route. Overall it did help but it was not a miracle cure (no constipation in our house with it though). She's fine now (18mths).

I gave her a dummy at around 8wks as I found out reflux babies suckle to sooth the burning sensation, but then have too much milk and throw up more which sets cycle off again. Dummy lasted for about a month till gaviscon really kicked in. I also tried to keep her as upright as possible and didn't make any sudden movements with her which could churn her up.

DS3 (3mths) started to show symptoms a while back and after consulting another mum on here, I decided to go dairy free to see if it had an effect on my breast milk. There was almost an immediate difference. Now he occasionally possets but does not suffer reflux unless I've had any dairy in my diet. It's quit hard work having to read every label but worth it to be able to continue breast feeding and not have to give him gaviscon.

Good luck. My ds3 is still feeding through out the night, I figure he likes the one to one attention as we don't get much peace during the day, he just more or less helps himself though so I'm not too disturbed by it.

My ds had such bad reflux he stopped breathing 3 times and spent the majority of his first 3 months screaming.

He eventually settled with cutting down the bottle feeds and increasing the breast feeds, gaviscon (it only comes in powder for infants) and ranitidine. He was also prescribed domperidone, but I never used it as he was never a puker, just a screamer during and after feeding.

The gaviscon does make them quite constipated. It is also possible to give it to a breastfed baby by mixing it with water or milk and syringing it in before each feed. As for the night feeds, they will get better- its still early days. Small frequent meals are also much more comfortable for a refluxy baby than great big ones.

It really is hard, but it does get better.

it does sound like wind. feeding little and often with frequent stops for winding (if that doesn't make him cry more) might help. keeping him upright as much as possible and minimising crying might help too (i have a sling for ds4 and he will wind every half hour or so in it, even if he hasn't been fed recently and also he stays happy in it)

even a little bit of reflux could be quite painful if it burns every time. if winding by itself doesn't help i think i would continue with the gaviscon. it's awful when they are in pain isn't it?

also i learnt this week that 'sleeping through' actually means five hours!! so as your ds is technically sleeping through his daytime feeding may need to be very frequent. i am pinned to the sofa with ds4 these days.

thanks for the advice everyone, you have it so much worse than me! ds2 is v gd in comparison - which again makes me think its not reflux, but then i am doing a lot of the things suggested so perhaps this is all helping... keep thinking about moving to bottle as have had mastitis twice and thrush once! but i know breast is best adn want to persevere...thanks for yur empathy and advice, it means alot that people understand...