When did your DC recover from silent reflux?

[Sunnysummer]

... Please help, we need some light at the end of this very sleep deprived and scream filled tunnel!

DS has shown signs that something was up ever since the hospital, where he was the only newborn we saw who was ferociously difficult to get to sleep... From then until now at 9+ weeks he seems to have more and more discomfort, despite medication from the paediatrician (omeprazole) a very supportive HV and even a visit from a 'baby whisperer' settling nurse when we wanted to be sure he actually needed medication or whether we could fix it with better parenting skills (she was very nice, but her main tip was to get him back to the doctor and not to worry about the cost of a sleep school or another visit from her until he was feeling better).

We love him dearly, but with no family or close friends nearby, we are sleeping in shifts and feeling at the end of our rope.

I feel so useless and sad when I can't comfort him after hours of screaming, and then get frustrated and angry, which is worse.

When did your DCs start to get better? Or at least did you start to handle it more easily?

Around 3-3.5 months our DD slept during that day and not only in the moving pram outside. That was a milestone because I could rest when she did.

Around 4 months we stopped going through 12 plus extra thick jumbo bibs per day ( she had moved into reflux proper around 10 weeks)

The pediatrician said that as the digestive system matures she will get better and she did. By 5-6 months it was well and truly gone and around 6 months she slept from 11:30 through 6 finally

Hang in there. This will pass. You did so well to diagnose her. Silent reflux often goes untreated until as with my friends case you get bleeding! You are doing a great job but of course you are exhausted.

I forgot to add
We too had omeprazole but we also used infacol ?? (forget the name) and these tiny little bottles of an enzyme that helps digest lactose you can get at boots

We had a these wedge like pillows that we put in the pram and her Moses basket - not the massive 45 degree ones - just a gentle incline. These helped. And we had to hold her upright for over an hour before she went to sleep in the evening.

But you know all that.

DH's nephew was much worse and had to have surgery at one year old but that is rare. And even he got relief once he could sit upright

Take care. Hang in there. It's just a phase. It will pass. That was my mantra.

Any chance you could splash out on a night nurse from time to time? That was a lifesaver for me

She could sit up at 6 months and the reflux improved massively. We stopped the medication. Without omeprazole there was an improvement in sleeping.

She slept through at nine months when I stopped bf.

We also did the sleeping in shifts thing and our relationship took a massive strain (being a sahm also not naturally me so I was all frustrated).

Omeprazole really exaccerbated sleep probs imo. She was totally wired on it!

Could it be dairy allergy related? Dairy allergy/intolerance is not always the answer but often theres an improvement in reflux once dairy is taken out of the mothers diet if bf or otherwise changing formula.

It's good to hear stories under 6 months!

Also thank you for the food suggestion. Unfortunately we have tried the allergy route - I've taken all dairy, soy, egg, nuts, gluten and fish (plus possibly refluxy foods like citrus, tomato and anything with caffeine) out of my diet for 4 very hungry weeks (and for the first two of these he was on the prescription-only elecare hydrolysed formula while I expressed to keep my supply up). It does seem to work for some peopler, but sadly not for us. It did do wonders for getting rid of the pregnancy weight though

For us omeprazole stopped the pain

It took 2-3 weeks but it worked

Before that DD started screaming at 9 am aged 3 weeks and wouldnt stop until 17:00. No sleeping, nothing. When she couldn't scream anymore she whimpered

Well DS2 is 9 months old now and we stopped using ranatidine at around 6 months. The main difference for us sleep wise was when he started rolling and so we could safely put him down on his tummy to sleep rather than his back.

I found that ranatidine wasn't actually that useful until I started giving it to him at regular 8 hour intervals instead of 3 doses in the day the same way you would with anti-biotics. I worked out what time at night was a regular awake time and worked it out from there. I don't know if similar could work with your medication or if it's worth going to the GP to try something else.

I'm sure you've had all of these tips, but just in case. We had the moses basket and then the cot all tilted so that he was never actually flat when lying down. I also held him upright for at least half an hour after every feed. I also ended up giving him a dummy so that once the feed was over I never had to give him a top up feed whilst in this half hour stretch, as what was actually making me really sleep deprived was feeding for half an hour, holding up right for 25 mins, him waking up needing to be fed again and then being held upright again IYSWIM.

We also gave baby rice in the evening from 17 weeks and I think it really did make a difference.

I know it doesn't feel like it now, but this stage will come to an end.

I would also say that DS1 who didn't have silent reflux, well diagnosed anyway, screamed every evening and it was incredibly hard to get him to sleep even when he was a baby.

I found that I just had to cut out all stimulation on an evening. I used to sit on my bed in the dark, no tv, no radio and feed him to sleep. Because he was so bad at napping (and I didn't realise the importance of naps) he was just really over tired and over stimulated.

You may have already tried something like this but I thought it was worth mentioning. I used to listen to podcasts on my ipod to make it a bit less dull.

We weaned at 22 weeks and that helped too.

Have you had him checked for tongue tie? Very very similar symptoms. My dd had both tongue tie and silent reflux. Ds had just silent reflux. Other option is oversupply and over active letdown. Worth ruling out. With me sorting that I could drop DD's medication.

Dd has a dummy which she finally took at 3-4 months which saved my sanity. She could also nap in hr pushchair sitting upright (not fully upright) from then too. Helpful as it was too hot for the sling by then.