Reflux what's normal?

[LittlePink]

Ds is 8 months and he's had reflux since the very early days. He's never been in pain with it. He would just projectile vomit up most of the feed but was putting lots of weight on and thriving. He was on ranitidine for a time but it wasn't really needed and wasn't helping so he was weaned off it. I changed his milk to cow and gate anti reflux formula which has helped a bit. Its not as bad as it was when he was on the first milk but he's still sick after feeds just not projectile in large quantities.

Since he's been weaning it seems even worse as its food sick now and we both constantly stink of sick and it really gets me down. At the moment it feels like it's ruining my baby experience with him as I'm always having to change him, mop up sick off clothes, carpets, furniture. He's got all these lovely clothes that have to be covered up with a big muslin wrapped round his neck. Some days are better than others but we're having a bad week this week and it just feels relentless.

It's not projectile as it used to be when I was bfing. It's just an almost constant steady flow of undigested food coming up throughout the day in blobs or small vomits but lots of small vomits/ possetts all day.

Dh says it's normal and he's just doing what babies do but its not him that has to clear it up several times a day.

Dd had a bit of reflux but it went by 6 mths and I dont remember any food sick but with ds it just doesn't seem to be getting any better. But he's not bothered by it which is the most important thing, it's just a problem for me.

Is dh right? Is this normal? Or does he need to see a paediatrician/ gp again? Has anyone else had this issue and it stopped in its own? Just feeling down about it this week

I could have written this 10 months ago. I had EXACTLY the same with DS. Constant stream of sick that I was expecting would stop when he was on solids. The reality was that it was just upgraded to horrible orange/pink/green puke (depending on what he had eaten).

Then one day I realised I couldn't remember the last time he was sick. He was 9 months old and (I think) it coincided with his core muscles getting stronger, it was around the time he started to pull himself up a lot more.

It is hell. But there is an end in sight, hopefully you'll only have another month or so at most.

Happy to answer any questions...

Sadly I'm not sure there is a 'normal' with reflux. DD had it until 10 months but then started walking and it's been much better. She occasionally still chucks up after drinking lots of water (she's 1 now). You could see the GP to put your mind at rest but it's probably a case of waiting it out. I'm so sorry for you though, I don't think even reflux baby dads understand what it's like cleaning up projectile vom so many times per day. I never seemed to be able to accurately explain to DH why it was so soul destroying. Good luck and hope it improves!

ApplesTheHare is right. No one truly knows what it's like to deal with a baby with reflux until you've actually experienced it. I had to fight so hard for the various GPs I saw to listen to me and prescribe infant gaviscon and ranitidine for my son. He was constantly sick, dropping centiles, and yet no one else was really concerned as he was a huge weight at birth. But the biggest problem was him screaming all day and the effect that was having on means my sanity! Ranitidine stopped the screaming overnight once we got the dosage right. The vomiting continued for months and months and I know how relentless it feels. Eventually at 7-8 months we started to have the odd 'good' day. By 9 months, he now mainly has 'good' days and I feel we are finally turning a corner. There is light at the end of that very long, dark, relentless tunnel! I think professionals generally forget the huge amount of stress it puts on the parent(s). I kept being told he was a 'happy puker' once he was on ranitidine, but I wasn't a happy mummy, far from it. If you feel something isn't right, trust your instinct. But you are not alone. It's hard!

Stress your post made me laugh, I found it even more depressing when people said 'at least she doesn't mind being sick'. I wanted to rub the 35 sick-stained bibs I'd used that morning into their annoying faces and wondered why they couldn't just sympathise. Is reflux-induced rage a thing?? Seriously though I hope it gets better for you and your DS asap

We're on holiday at the moment and dh is starting to get stressed with it. I was in the play area with dd and I suddenly heard dh shouting to me from the gate in a very irate tone can you come here now, I'm covered in sick, he's covered in it and I need some help. shrugs sorry welcome to my world! I have this several times a day every day on my own with this and a very demanding toddler and it's not great!

It's a hard one because ds just isn't phased by it and is a happy puker. It's just really hard for the carer as the cleaning up is relentless. Even in soft play earlier on, putting him on tummy time to practice his crawling I was following him round with wipes mopping up a trail of destruction from the vomit. sigh wish it would just stop!

Hang in there...my daughter had painful reflux from birth which was improved but not cured by ranitidine, cisapride and by holding her upright to breast feed and propping the head end of her cot up on bricks so she never lay flat. We spent the first year of her life in a sleepless fug of puke BUT she got better around her first birthday. She's now a beautiful healthy teen. So try to keep smiling, this horrible phase will pass soon

I know exactly how you feel, my daughter (now aged 2 1/2) was exactly the same. It is soul destroying and I'm sure part of my PND was through the constant worry of her being sick. We even used to change her nappy before she had her bottles because if we changed her after feeding you needed two people to do it, one to change the nappy and the other to sit at her head with mounds of kitchen roll to catch the milk that she continually spewed out. I couldn't go out with her to meet friends and have her sat on my knee as I was always worried about being caught short with a mountain of sick. It definitely got me down and depressed and felt there was no end in sight. She had her final (bar obviously sick bugs) sickness bout on her 1st birthday, I remember it vividly as she ruined a toy she'd just unwrapped. Most days I got through it but on other days I think I cried as much as she did. And no it didn't bother her, and no she didn't lose weight but to the people who constantly said that to me - 'so what?' The only thing that kept me slightly sane was having mountains of bibs, vests, pj's, bodysuits etc so that on her 4th change of clothes at lease I had them in stock and didn't need to put a wash on. All I can say is, it does eventually end but I also feel the first 12 months were marred by it.

I absolutely sympathise with your situation. My LO is 7.5 months and has had reflux from the very beginning. He was never bothered by it so I didn't seek medication for it or try comfort milk. But it was every day and all the time. The HV asked how many times he is sick a day and I just looked at her - i would lose count by mid morning.

But in the last couple of weeks it has really slowed, almost stopped. This seems to have coincided with him learning to sit unaided but that could just be a coincidence and the valve which takes some time to close up in some babies (meaning they get prolonged reflux) has finally closed. It has been such a dramatic change that now if he has a tiny sick (maybe a teaspoon's worth) I think 'ooh he's been sick!' Whereas before that would have been nothing. Hang on in there!

We had a similar experience to stresshead with DS who's now 2.3. Took forever to get GP's to take me seriously and even family didn't get the full extent of just how much reflux gets you down.

Took until he was 4mo to get ranitidine from the GP which helped hugely as it turned DS into a happy puker rather than him screaming continually. Didn't help me though and the endless 'well at least it doesn't bother him'-type comments just made me want to tear my hair out! I felt (and still feel) like it tarnished most of the early days with DS.

It started improving when he was around 7mo, when he started pulling himself up on things more I think and like stresshead, one day I realised I couldn't remember the last time he was sick. He was 9mo at this point.

So it does get better. I hope things improve for you soon. Big hugs.

My first post here. Just had to say I completely empathise. My daughter is one now and only occasionally brings up a bit of milk if she's overfed first thing in the morning. We went through about 9 months of reflux, it was so draining cus I was always on edge when we were out and about or cleaning her/her surroundings up. She stank and wrecked our carpets. Thankfully it never upset her. I read that probiotics can help and tried Biogaia, it definitely improved things but if I stopped giving them the reflux returned as before. When I started weaning her I gave her sauerkraut so stopped the probiotics and it gradually stopped.

My now 5yr old daughter had horrendous reflux. We were pushed through the cycle of all the usual drugs until on the advice of a GP friend, I begged my doctor for a prescription for Omeprazole- we never looked back! It was a wonder drug!

Reflux babies should definitely get an NHS allowance for the millions of extra bibs, muslins, wipes and clothes they require and to replace your carpets once they've finished puking all over them! My carpet is ruined

I'm so glad this post was started and mumsnet put it on Facebook as it's the most reassuring thing I've read since giving birth 7 months ago, nobody understands how difficult reflux is to deal with. My dd is 7 months now, on omeprozole for reflux, as some of you describe solids make it worse because it's proper food sick which smells much worse and stains her clothes orange /purple /green etc even with those massive tommee tippee bibs (of which I have about 50, regular size bibs are a waste of time).

No one talks about the other ways it affects your baby - no one wants to pick her up as they don't want to get puked over, my in laws won't pick up their granddaughter because they don't want to get messed up, my dh can't go near her when he's in his work clothes. It's so rejecting. It's so embarrassing when she pukes over people's stuff, when she pukes in the pool in her swimming class and the instructor stops the class to get a big net out to scoop it out.

It's meant I can't breastfeed her in public because she cries for about 5-10 mins before calling down and feeding, so it affects how much I can go out, where and for how long. She won't spend any time on her tummy as it is obviously painful for her so she's nowhere near crawling whereas her peers are,so it's affecting her development. GP was useless until I actually cried during the appointment then he agreed to refer me to a paediatrician who again has done nothing useful. From a couple of your threads it sounds like it improves when they can pull themselves up so I live in hope.

I'd be interested in what your births were like, ladies, as I saw an osteopath about her reflux and he said there was no doubt it was caused by my birth - dd was back to back but they tried to do a vaginal delivery anyway, was in labour for 28 hours (induced for 10 of those) before being given an emergency c section - osteopath said I was left far too long in labour and reflux was caused by her head bashing against my cervix with all those contractions, which causes compression in her neck and spine, says he sees it time and time again. Feel annoyed about it as because I was in labour on a Sunday, only one obstetrician who was busy so I think I was just fobbed off with syntocinon and an epidural when they should've done a c section much earlier.

Aw clueless it sounds like you've had such a tough time

Please don't beat yourself up about it in terms of the delivery you had. According to the specialist we saw in the paediatric unit its very unlikely to have been caused by that. He said it's because some babies have slightly less developed valves in their digestive system than others. If it makes you feel any better DD's birth was quick and easy and she suffered terribly with reflux. Even now at age 1 she'll have the odd day of it. I'm also not so sure about the reflux/tummy time/crawling link so please don't beat yourself up about that either. Like you we couldn't do tummy time and DD crawled at 8.5 months and started walking at 10 so not doing tummy time didn't seem to do any harm. If you're bf she'll have a stronger neck and back from using her muscles to latch on as well.

Reflux is horrendous but I promise it gets better. How's your DD in terms of sitting independently?

stresshead I agree about an NHS allowance, I must have spent over £100 on bibs and muslins, and changed and washed thousands of (DD's and my own!) outfits due to reflux!