Reflux Verses Constipation

[Gurtie28]

Mummy advice please! My 3 month old has been suffering from reflux, and changing to HiPP organic anti reflux milk has helped loads. HOWEVER she is now passing solid stools, and gets rather upset whilst doing so - which I understand for a 3 month old is not good....I'm sure I have read before that milk with thickening agents can cause constipation. So my dilemma is, do I go back to regular milk and suffer the reflux, or continue and suffer the constipation??? Any advice of how I can combat both???

The midwife advised me to give dd some boiled then left to get warm water to help either baby constipation, about 2 oz a day. Didn't help. Mil advised a bit of sugar in the water which I initially scoffed at and tried but it didn't work. I'm the end we changed her meds (which were causing it) to a different one, but we hadn't tried lactulose. You can definitely buy it over the pharmacy counter as an adult (I used it for constipation when pregnant) but not sure if you need a prescription for babies, but I've heard it's good for them.

Lactulose seems a little extreme? Funnily enough the doctor advised boiled/cooled water for her reflux - so perhaps I'll give that a go for her constipation too. I feel completely deflated about the whole thing as ultimately it's my fault. I struggled to breast feed and my baby wasn't putting on weight so had pressure from mw's and hv's - I caved and went to bottle feeding. She has suffered in one way or another ever since and I know none of this would be a problem if she was breast fed

My DS is breastfed and also had reflux, it wasn't noticeable right from the start and he has since mostly grown out of it.
The dr did prescribe something that also causes constipation, but I decided that I didn't want to risk adding another problem and just tried to manage it as much as I could. He would only sleep on top of me and I had him in the sling a lot during the day. (I was a wreck!) If I remember correctly it peaks between 2-4 months, I definitely noticed a massive improvement just before 4m (and then the 4m sleep regression hit...
Sorry, no real advice just wanted to say don't beat yourself up about it, neither is your fault! And it does pass...

Thanks mmmammma I am wondering if maybe she has grown out of the reflux now (she has been on thickened milk for about 6 weeks) and I could go to normal formula without it coming back. She is actually 3 1/2 months, so the reflux may have passed? Sometimes it feels like an impossible choice, and either will mean an unhappy baba at feeding times (and night time). Poor little mite is ruled by her belly

Oh and mmmammma what is this 4m sleep regression you speak of?? (First time Mum, that doesn't sound good at all )

It may have passed... so hard to make decisions and bot over think it!

First time mum as well so thought I'd mention the sleep regression incase you haven't heard of it to give a heads up! Basically some time around 4m their sleep becomes more like adult sleep with sleep cycles etc, some babies then wake after every sleep cycle, needing help to get back to sleep (mine woke every 45mins - 1.5 hours! )
Some babies get over it themselves relatively quickly, but I'm still battling it and he's 7m. Breastfeeding and rocking to sleep is to blame in our case, as well as lots of holding, he became quite dependent on me to sleep. (Things I probably wouldn't have done in if it wasn't for the reflux) All the other babies in my NCT group went back to sleeping well quite quickly, hopefully you'll be one of the lucky ones!

Uh oh!! My little lady sleeps 8pm - 11pm, quick feed then back to sleep until 7:30am!! Im very lucky I know....hope it doesn't change
To update - changed milk for one feed today and instantly she was bringing a lot up and wet burping. So back on the anti-reflux stuff. Perhaps a trip to GP needed for these solid stools

Don't blame yourself for not breastfeeding OP, my DS was refluxy and I breastfed him! Have you tried normal milk + gaviscon? Tbh I got to a point where I would put up with the sick (it had reduced a lot by 8 or 9 months and gone completely before a year) if he wasn't distressed. I found Gaviscon hard to administer when breastfeeding but easy once he switched to bottles around 8 months.

...by which time, obviously, the worst of the reflux was over

Carobel is great for reflux and doesn't seem to cause the same constipation issues as gaviscon etc. Might be worth a try? You can buy it over the counter from chemist for about £5 or ask GP for prescription. Also maybe worth doing some research into CMPA? Both my DCs have had reflux and constipation issues which transpired to be related to CMPA and once they were on prescription formula they improved lots.
My DD is just about to hit 4 months so I'm looking forward (!) to the upcoming sleep regression stage too

Oh and reflux can improve once you start to wean as the more solid foods help to weigh things down in the tummy. Sitting up by themselves also helps - good ol' gravity! So brighter times on the horizon?

Thank you @tappitytaptap - hard not to beat myself up over it, I was SO determined to breast feed no matter what when I was pregnant, it just wasn't to be unfortunately she struggles to sleep with her reflux, as soon as she is laid down the milk starts repeating on her, also makes her fussy on her bottle. I'm thinking the constipation is the lesser of two evils for now. I have done a baby massage course and have been helping her 'go' when I can see her struggling. May go to GP but just feel like we could get into a vicious cycle of medicines and supplements each with their own side effects....

Thank you @HLBug I'm thinking the general consensus is perseverance and management rather than treatment??

Personally I went with treatment as my DC were obviously in distress and that's what medication is for. Maybe speak to your HV and get some advice from them?

DD had pretty bad reflux and was prescribed with prevacid that helped a bit but made her super constipated and she was struggling hard passing stool. A friend told me about babies magic tea for both problems reflux and constipation. I started giving it to my LO after the approval of our pediatrician and finally our nightmare got to an end.

@HLBug by that I mean that you cannot 'treat and cure' but just manage and improve (with medication or supplements). Seems from what everyone is saying the only 'cure' is babies growing up!

Thank you @ripa81 magic tea sounds interesting! Just looking into the carobel now, plenty for me to consider (all things I hadn't heard of until now!)

OP, don't beat yourself up. Breastfeeding doesn't help to prevent reflux - reflux is caused by the baby's muscles not being strong enough to keep the milk down. The health benefits of bf have been massively oversold and a lot of what they say about it is either unproven or untrue. The 'breast is best' motto should be replaced with 'statistically, on a population level, bf is marginally better (in the developed world)'. Less catchy tho

DS started growing out of his reflux at about six months and it's a distant memory now. I know that's not much help when you're in the thick of it but it does pass fast, I promise.

Totally agree with everything Fartniss said. BF is made out to be some magical thing, its gone too far. She would have had reflux however you fed her. Also agree with the phase thing...they all grow out of it, its just a pain whilst they are in this phase!

Hi

I had the exact same issue with my baby. She is now 1 and sometimes they don't grow out of it and it only resolves when they start weaning.

We took the wait and see approach and it did more harm then good. Having such solid hard large poops damaged the inside of her rectum and her anus. She was put on lactulose, just 5 mls per day and it really helped.

Before the lactulose I had to help her go as well and it was so awful to see her in pain. She actually started holding the poops in as she knew it wold cause her agony to pass them. Please take her to the gp and get lactulose before any more damage is done.

Thank you all for your advice. Today's update - she has 'gone' 4 times - each one softer then the last. The final one for today (although there is still time yet) was a good poonami that traveled out the leg and up the waistband. Never been so relieved to see such a mess!! Will keep a close eye tomorrow and see what happens - if she is back to hard stools I will take her to the GP on Monday, better safe then sorry! Crazy how different one day can be to the next...

I read that actually Comfort milk is better than anti reflux milk as it doesnt make them constipated but is still thick enough for gravity to do its job. Sounds like she is doing better maybe her tummy just needed to adjust x

My little one didn't get on with any of the anti reflux milks we tried, or gaviscon, gp gave us ranatadine in the end, and we used a comfort milk for the constipation. The hv told me that most babies struggle with the anti reflux milks!

@happymumof4crazykids @Parttimeworkingmummy2017 we tried the cow and gate comfort and anti reflux but both seemed to make things worse - however the HiPP organic stuff is amazing, I highly recommend it!
She did seem to get better but was still getting upset at feeding time so took a trip to GP yesterday. He agreed to keep on the anti reflux milk but did have a feel of her tummy and said she felt constipated despite her having soft (er) stools the last few days. So we are on Lactolouse- fingers crossed! Have a 4 week course and he GP thinks by that time she may have grown out of reflux and we can go back to regular formula to keep constipation at bay - here's hoping!!!

Hi, I know this is 2 years ago, and hopefully you're having a much easier time... with a toddler now. We're on the Hipp Organic Anti reflux and wondering the same re constipation. Did it work out ok in the end?