Living with silent reflux

[freeangel]

My ds is nearly 9 weeks old, i've always suspected he has silent reflux and maybe a touch of colic. At the moment i feel that he is suffering more from reflux than colic. As he has had some nights with out crying all night recently, he does get over tired and cries himself to sleep nearly every night though, even though he may of slept well in the day.
I have been to the doctors twice to ask about this and they have both said he will grow out of it. He normally spends most evenings crying, i have used infacol, boots gripe mixture and have tried dentinox but he hates the taste and would rather not upset him more than i have too. He hardly ever goes to sleep before 1am, i had been worrying that he's not in a routine and thinking about limiting his sleep but gave up on that idea. Today he has cried nearly all day and hardly slept. Making me think that its the reflux making him unsettled as i just get him settled and then you hear the fluid hit the back of his throat making him cry again. He does gag and flail his arms, has hiccups. I do wonder if this reflux is the reason he is hard to settle every night.
Has any body else had to deal with silent relflux and been prescribed medicine? I will go back to the doctors and ask for help
Sorry for the long waffling post.

My son had reflux until 9.5mths but it took ages to get diagnosed so i know how you feel!
What is his 'typical' day/routine like? It could be an issue with sleep?
Have you tried swaddling and/or blocks under the cot to tilt it upwards?
Also, you can buy infant gaviscon over the counter, about £5 a box, you could maybe see if that helps while you are waiting for your dr?

go back to the dr - ask to be referred to a specialist. May need ranitidine and/or domperidone (or possibly omaprezole).
I was lucky in that I had private health insurance so got seen v quickly and that was what was prescribed for both of my dcs. Not sure how quickly you would get this on the NHS but definitely persist - I know what it;s like living with 24 hour screaming - and it must be awful for the baby to have to be suffering like this.

Have you tried wearing him in a sling? Being upright helps, plus being close to mum or dad is soothing for both of you.

Have you tried Colief? It might help, if the reflux is caused or exacerbated by lactose intolerance.

Hiya, starfishkiss he doesn't really have a routine as i have been stressing over this for a while as such. I did try but he decided he was going to not play ball! ;o) He goes to bed at 1am, then will either sleep for 2 hours or up to 6 hours. Then depending how tired he is he will then have a feed and go back to sleep for an hour or two. I try to wake him by 10am, then try to keep him up for 90mins to 2 hours so he can have a lunchtime nap. But he doesn't always stay awake for that long or he may only have a small sleep at lunch. Then he may have a sleep an hour later which could be small or long again. I try to get him up by 5pm so i can get him ready for bed around 6pm either a bath or just getting changed and giving him a feed. He goes to bed so well for this sleep at 7pm but only sleeps for around 40mins, then may have another sleep around 9 after he has cried for an hour. Then may be really unsettled till bed at 1am.

My dh has private health care so i may look into that newyearbaby Thank you, i didn't think of that!

prettycandles i do have a sling, i haven't used it yet. I've been trying to avoid using it which i know sounds odd! I'm trying to manage with out using it yet.
I did buy some clolief but as im not expressing i cant use it. He is upright mostly but you can still hear the fluid hit the back of his throat when being upright which i'm sure is not suppose to be as frequent!

You can give colief straight into the mouth before every feed, or during the feed if the baby is happy to come off.

It's extremely difficult to get into a good routine with a refluxy baby. Some babies can be unsettled, miserable, bad sleepers, poor feeders because of lack of routine, but lack of routine does not cause reflux.

A 9w baby crying every evening is classic for colic, and it's true that he will grow out of it. Doesn't make you feel any better while he is crying, though! Again, slinging him may help. Please don't worry that it will become a habit that you can't change. Any habit or routine can be changed when it's no longer needed.

Colic can be caused by lactose intolerance. I think. I don't know whether this is still current thought.

I'm not saying that all his problems are caused by lactose intolerance, or that colief is the cure-all. But isn't it better to try something mild before going on to prescription medication?

I wouldn't restrict his daytime sleep right now. He needs any sleep he can get. Even if he ends up sleeping more in the day than in the night, if he is more settled and you can cope with the broken nights (nap when he does?) then, again, it's a routine that can be modified when things are better.

One other thing, your own diet. Reflux can be connected to cows-milk protein intolerance, and a very sensitive baby can be affe ted by dairy in their mother's diet. Would you consider going strictly dairy-free for a month to see whether it has any effect on your ds?

Hi,

My twins have silent reflux and are medicated (have been since they were in SCBU). If it is only happening in the evening and night time I would be inclined to think its colic not reflux.

If it is reflux, propping the end of his cot / moses basket mattress up on a ringbinder or books, feeding as upright as possible (not sure how you do that breastfeeding, mine are ff!) And keeping upright for as long as possible after a feed should help ease the pain. My girls could not have coped without their bouncy chairs.

We have also used infacol and that has sorted out their wind issues too!

Hi,

My twins have silent reflux and are medicated (have been since they were in SCBU). If it is only happening in the evening and night time I would be inclined to think its colic not reflux.

If it is reflux, propping the end of his cot / moses basket mattress up on a ringbinder or books, feeding as upright as possible (not sure how you do that breastfeeding, mine are ff!) And keeping upright for as long as possible after a feed should help ease the pain. My girls could not have coped without their bouncy chairs.

We have also used infacol and that has sorted out their wind issues too!

Yes my DS had silent reflux. A few tips:

Don't keep him awake for too long - reflux babies get more overstimulated because it's harder for them to switch off and sleep. You need to get them to sleep - I'd put him down for a morning nap about an hour after waking. 2 hours is too long at this age. Try white noise or a sling if it is a struggle. Forget the bathtime routine, again a quick wash and change is enough until he's a bit older.

Reflux is worse at night because there are fewer distractions for the pain. I used to have to use white noise and hold upright for 30 mins.

Consider a dummy to use after feeds as the sucking will help with the pain and keep things down.

Get to the docs and demand meds. It took me four trips after DS nearly choked on acid (went red, couldn't breathe) and we ended up on ranitidine. It neutralises the acid and made a huge difference.

Lactose intolerance is rare (not the same as cows milk protein intolerance which is more common) so colief may not help. Infacol etc were useless for us.

Another thing is to wind baby by rubbing not patting. A lot of DS's pain was caused by him struggling with a burb (he used to wake up crying then we'd pick him up, he'd burp and be ok).

Good luck - it's horrible but once you get on top of it, it's ok.

Yes, dummy definitely good for both colic and reflux. I had forgotten about that.

Dummy when sleeping is the one habit I would try to avoid getting into, but immediately after feeds and at any time while awake are fine.

Both my sons had reflux, ds2 was a lot worse though.

I second the dummy, I hated it but it massively helped. We also propped the cot on the proper cot props and I hate to tell you this but ds2 slept upright on me for nearly a year in the day (I'm a SAHM) and we let him almost fall asleep on us at night before gently putting him in his cot.

Ds2 had reflux and was sick a lot, he was put on a formula called Enfamil AR which was like a miracle. it was on prescription so we never paid.

He is 5 and still refluxes, only at night though and within 1 hour of going to sleep. Luckily it is about once a month.

We used DH's private medical insurance after gaviscon didn't work. Saw paediatrician within 1 week and he prescribed the Enfamil as he was anti-medication unless the Enfamil didn't work.

Reflux babies tend to do it all the time not just at night but the hiccups, and jerking do sound like reflux. Head back to your GP and get a referral. Good luck.

Ds has a dummy, im not fussed if he has one to be honest. If it helps then i will worry about getting rid of it when hes older. He does normally spit it out when hes fully asleep.
The doctor gave me gaviscon, which im happy to try to start with. He did say it will either work or it wont which is fine as i will then go back to him till we get it right.

He doesnt really stay awake in the day, i do try! He just blinks his eyes some times and thats it, hes asleep, why cant be he be like this at night? Hmm saying that i bath him (that only happens once a week, shame on me. i do aim to do it more often)

The past few days i have noticed that when hes put down from falling asleep on me he wakes up when i put him down, i guess hes either getting wise or he doesnt like laying down to sleep!? But he likes his changing mat in the bathroom and crans his head so he can stare at the light, even does it to the curtains. He sleeps better on my chest, hes finally given up and gone to sleep now! Hurrah Id just like to go to bed now.

Its nice to hear peoples views and experiences, not nice to go through it but nice to know your not alone as its hard and wears you down.

It could be that he wakes because he is going from a warm chest to a cold bed. Try putting a warm (ie not toasty hot) hot water bottle in his bed when you pick him up, to keep his bed warm.

It does grind you down. But it gets better. This will not last forever, things will improve.

FWIW, my dc3, whose reflux was worse than dc2's (dc1 did not have reflux), was and still is the cheeriest, smiliest, happiest baby of the three. He was the nightmare sleeper - ie he didn't! - but in the last 3y, since he was about 18m/2y, he is the only one who never fights going to bed, who never has bad dreams, who never sleepwalks.