Another reflux post!

[Smellybears]

So, ive been to the doctors with little one twice now about reflux. First time he gave me gaviscon and the second time he told me to stick with it and use colief at the same time.

Little one is coming up to seven weeks old and still suffering with symptoms. He’s booked in for his six week check on Tuesday and obviously I’m going to speak to the doctor then but I don’t know what to do if they say to carry on with the gaviscon again, even though it’s not doing anything! To start with it reduced the amount he was throwing up but now it’s making no difference at all.

I took a list in last time of his symptoms and I’ve now got a video of my little one to show as well. He is really bad during the early hours of the morning, grunting, sounding like a dinosaur with the noises he makes, generally looking uncomfortable, flailing arms around, agitated, throwing up with every feed sometimes continuing a couple hours after he’s fed. He feeds approx every three to four hours. It’s taking an hour for him to have his bottle (we are doing the paced feeding as recommended by HV) then I’m having to keep him upright for at least half an hour. I try putting him down, sometimes I have to get him back up and hold him upright longer. He has a reflux wedge in his Moses basket. When he does eventually get to sleep, i probably only get half an hour (if I’m lucky) because I have to keep an eye on him and I myself can’t settle with worry and also thinking ‘I’m gonna be up soon to feed him again’. During the afternoon, he sometimes can’t get to sleep between feeds which is causing him to be overtired.

I’ve posted because I guess I’m just after a bit of support and advice really on what to expect from the doctors appointment. I really don’t want to be fobbed off with gaviscon again and the doctor last time said ‘well babies are sick’ and generally wasn’t very understanding, very dismissive. I feel tired, I know every parent will feel tired but I feel so sorry for little one as I’m a first time mum and just want to help him not be in pain. He’s such a little cutie and I really feel for him especially as he’s had tough little life already (special care when born).

Sorry for such a long post!

Be forceful. Ask for ranitidine. If you really really need to pretend the gavisocn gives your ds bad constipation (it can do).

The last couple of nights I’ve only managed a couple hours sleep coz I have to keep the baby upright. I’ve found that he gets some sleep sitting up and I don’t want him getting over tired. As soon as he goes down he’s grunting and uncomfortable again then usually throws up.
Ranitidine, I’ve seen in other posts about that so fingers crossed they’ll prescribe it but more so that it actually works. I think the doctor didn’t want to give me anything more than gaviscon last time because he’s still putting weight on. I’ve also seen about allergies to milk too.

Definitely try Rantitadine. The dosage of this will need to be recalculated as your baby gets bigger.

Allergy milk will only work if your baby has an allergy.

They will only give treatment for one thing at a time in my experience. So reflux or allergy.

What are his poo like? His he gain weight? Why was he in special care?-5-

His poops are fine, most nappies have a yellow poop, wee with every nappy too.

He was small when born (I was induced due to no weight gain in three weeks) and his heart rate dropped whilst still inside me so they had to intervene and get him out. When they did blood tests they came back with a problem so he was then in special care and on antibiotics. They never did find out what was wrong with him

He has been gaining weight well which is good and he feeds well, it’s just that he pukes a lot of it back up. Like I said, the gaviscon initially helped but it’s doing bugger all now! I’m still using colief but to be honest I don’t know if it’s really doing anything? I know it’s more for colic but he was given it to try help.

Forgot to say, I changed him from cow and gate milk onto hipp organic. He’s been on that for a good few weeks now and that seemed to ease symptoms compared to when he was on cow and gate. I asked the doctor and my midwife about reflux milks and they both said not to bother as he’s on gaviscon anyway.

I agree they only treat one thing at a time. So go and get the ranitidine and then if still having issues go back and ask about milk free formulas eg nutramigen. My daughter has silent reflux and cow's milk allergy and she's approaching 2 years old and still suffering with both. I think (I may be wrong) it's usually silent reflux as apposed to normal reflux that often happens to babies with milk allergy.

Definitely try Rantitadine first to see if that helps. If gaviacon is not making your baby constipated then you can use both of necessary.

My DD reflux was controlled with rantadine which we stopped at 6 months. It was not until she was 11 months that we discovered she is dairy intolerant.

seven201 allergies can cause reflux but if your daughter only has a dairy allergy and is not dairy free then reflux will be only from not full developed closing at the top of the stomach. It maybe that she is also allergic to osomething else.

This is thread is a flash back for me.

I just now feel that the gaviscon is a waste of time and it’s not doing anything for him. Thank you so much everyone for your advice
How can you tell the difference between reflux and silent reflux?

Silent reflux is where they swallow it down again, so no actual throwing up, just gulping it down. It's very acid so hurts. It doesn't sound like what your dc has. It also doesn't mean your dc doesn't have a dairy allergy. I would focus on getting the right meds for the reflux for now and give it a couple of weeks to see how dc is. You don't want to go dairy free if there's no need.

Ok thankyou! I have noticed that he will swallow his sick back down given the opportunity, also he has a trick of being sick and keeping his dummy in his mouth and swallowing the sick. HV said that a dummy will help as the saliva will soothe his throat but I wasn’t expecting the little monkey to keep it in when he’s sick! obviously I keep an eye on him to make sure he’s ok

Thank you everyone! I saw a different doctor today. He was reluctant to give me anything at first as he’s only 7 weeks old but once I showed him the video he prescribed ranitidine and recommended anti reflux milk. I asked the doctor at my last appointment about anti reflux milk and he said not to bother!

Insist on referral to a gastroenterologist. He could have a hiatus hernia, (not serious) and sometimes large dosages of PPI's in a short course can correct this but a GP won't give you that prescription.

Just to say my dd had awful reflux and silent reflux and they put her ongaviscon which made it awful then another doctor told me that gaviscon can give reflux babies painful trapped wind! But the ranitidine really really helped. Doctors changed her dose every 1-2 weeks as she was putting on weight really well. Not sure why they would have said bit to bother with anti reflux milk hope things get better for you soon.

Thank you! He’s been on anti reflux milk starting yesterday. He’s a lot less sicky now and seems happier when feeding during the night though he was still a little restless when I put him down, grunting, arching back etc. I’ll give him another day just on the milk then add the ranitidine if there’s no improvement.
Thank you again to you all!