Reflux, breastfeeding, sleep!!

[Mrsmitch1980]

Sorry might be a long one....
My Lb was diagnosed with reflux when he was around 3 months old (he's now 9 months) and developed a cough around Christmas last year. He's always been well and put on weigh perfectly, so no one was worried. After 7 months of coughing and pushing we finally got a hospital appointmnet a month ago and were given stronger meds (losec mups) but we don't feel these have made any difference. He has never slept through the night and is usually awake at least twice, if not more and unless I'm prepared to be awake for an hour the only way to get him back to sleep is to breastfeed him. But over the last week I've noticed that he's fine until the point in the day that I feed him, so yesterday my husband had him until around 3, when I came home and feed him he was then sick, it's almost like my milk is making him sick, is this possible? We are seeing a dietitian next and I know they'll make us give up milk but he has milk every morning for breakfast and is fine?
Also, does reflux affect sleep? Am I being unreasonalbe to think he should be able to sleep through by now? At this point I'm prepared to try anything to get him to sleep more comfortably! Any advice is welcome!

Does he have a chesty cough op or is it a dry cough? My DD learnt to cough for attention, nothing wrong with her at all, but she knows that a little cough means I go straight to her. A friend who is a paediatrician told me it is sometimes a developmental thing rather than an actual cough. She sometimes coughs when she swallows too much drool too, but has never had a proper chesty cough.

The reflux may well be some sort of allergy, especially as your dc isn't a newborn and unfortunately that will disturb his sleep, but it isn't unusual for breastfed babies to still be waking in the night for feeds, my dd is 9 months and still wakes once or twice. Check with the dietician about allergies and hopefully they will have a solution for you.

Thank you! I'm hoping the dietician has some answers....good to know the waking is still normal too

Lots of 9mos wake at least twice a night and need feeding back to sleep so that's completely normal. My 13mo wakes once and needs feeding back. My 3yo wakes at least once but can now be cuddled back to sleep.

DS had a cough (mostly at night) for around 1 yr between 4-18ish months. A humidifier helped massively. Nothing wrong with him. I know lots of other people with babies with long term coughs. Very normal in lots of cases.

No experience of reflux but possibly not reflux if stinger meds not working and more likely an intolerance to something? I doubt you will have to drop his milk but maybe adjust your diet to eliminate what is irritating him.

I agree that nightwaking is normal for many babies at this age ( 2 of my 3) .
As far as cough is concerned PP is right that if it were reflux you would expect stronger mess to have an effect.
There are loads of causes of coughs , most of which are not serious .
It is important to rule out anything that could be serious and you medics are hopefully trying this.

Thank you all. Strangely he's not eaten a great deal today but had lots of milk from me and been absolutely fine, which has made me feel better!

My DD had reflux pretty much from birth to about 8 months, she is 11 months old now and also breastfed. We see a dietician regularly as she has other needs and he has always said how brilliant breastfeeding is and always praises me for carrying on so I dont think they would want you to stop, breast milk digests far better than other milks. They might suggest you trying to cut various things out of your diet, like dairy to see if the baby has an intolerance?

As far as meds go, have you tried Domperidone? DD had that alongside Omeprazole and that seemed to help a lot, I also would feed her then keep her semi up right for atleast 20 mins before laying her down and got her a wedge for the bed as if she lay flat she would bring it all up!

Night waking is probably not to do with the reflux unless they are waking in pain? I still feed atleast once in the night.

How is he going with solids? I found the turning point with DD was when she started having a good 3 meals and snacks in the day.