Don’t know what to do for the best

[Smellybears]

Hello!
I’ve been on here a lot lately regarding my sons reflux and I really do appreciate all of the help and support you’ve offered.
He’s been on reflux milk since Tuesday and I’ve changed him back to his previous milk this evening as he’s had awful poops (screaming until it comes out and it’s very mushy and watery) . The reflux milk has been working brilliantly though, it’s just that his poo has been really bad. He also struggles to get it out of the tests, I’ve tried level three and Y ones, he’s on dr browns bottles.
Anyway, I gave him a bottle of his ordinary hipp milk tonight at 18.30 with ranitidine which he sicked majority of it up. He’d been screaming the house down, think he was unhappy with poo and also getting annoyed that he couldn’t get the reflux milk out of the bottle so that’s why I gave him ordinary. Next bottle at 23.30 and then bottle at 03.30 with ranitidine. He’s on ranitidine three times daily but I have a horrible feeling I’ve given it to him in his 23.30 bottle too.
The thing is, I don’t know what to do. On the reflux milk he’s got the poops but on ordinary milk he throws up the majority of the bottle so he’s not going to be getting proper dose of the medication. Doctor told me to put gaviscon in the bottles to keep the milk down but it’s not working. He’s also gone back to being in discomfort when put down to sleep, even though I keep him upright for at least half an hour.
I’m tired (hence the mistake, I think, with the ranitidine) and I don’t know what to do. Which milk do I carry on with? I’m so upset now and am finding this difficult to handle. Like I said, I’m tired so that’s probably why I’m emotional and I really feel for him as there’s issues with both milks.
Thank you all

Go back to your hv and go. Sou d's like the first milk works (despite the poo) so stick with that one. The second one makes him sick so avoid that. Do you have anyone to help with the feeds day or night to give you a break? I've been in this nightmare and it will get better. Just badger the medical professionals and take help. You'll feel so much better to cope x

How old is the baby and how much milk is he/she drinking? He might need more or he might be uncomfortable.....if he is uncomfortable have you tried massaging. It worked a little on my soon to soothe him.....

It’s so hard, isn’t it. I believe you can get a thickener to put in normal milk- carobel- maybe look into whether this can be used with hipp.

Otherwise I would be trying the other anti reflux milks to see if they suit his tummy better. If the thicker milk helped to reflux that much I would continue down that route personally.

we were in same situation some months back.
It was torture and I am really feeling for you and your baby x

Went to gp and she diagnosed for cows milk intolerance and She gave us Pepti milk and it was a game changer. It doesn't contain any cows milk protein.. LO is now on pepti 2 and happy.
It's worth going back but as pp said you have to demand it! It's crazy..
good luck x

Which reflux milk are you using? I thicken neocate with one scoop of carobel which works very well. I would only recommend mam bottles for reflux... they are much less fiddly too, and it's easy for my daughter to get the milk out with a size 2 teat.

Also make sure you leave at least 15 mins between giving the ranitidine and feeding.

Definitely try giving ranitidine before a feed (pp says 15 mins, I was told 30 which is tricky).

I forgot how bad he was before we had him on the reflux milk. He’s been awful, poor little thing has hardly slept and neither have I!
To the poster that asked if I have help, I have a husband but I’m doing everything myself at the minute.......I won’t go down that route as I’d rather not discuss.
He will be eight weeks old on Tuesday and has around 4ozs every 3-4 hours. He won’t take anymore, I’ve tried him. When he’s trying to poop I massage his tummy and that helps. We are at the doctors anyway on Tuesday for his six week check so I’ll talk to them then about milk intolerance.
Thank you all so much and I’m sorry to moan on, I’m sure you’re all sick of reading about reflux!

When my son was on anti reflux formula we were advised by our practice nurse to give some brown sugar and water to help avoid constipation. It certainly helped. We didn't give it every day, just when we felt things were getting difficult for him. Also, you should stick with a formula for two weeks to see if it really works or not, rather than regularly changing. This is the advise given by our public health nurse (equivalent of HV in UK)

I know about sticking to a formula but I changed back because he’s had really bad diarrhoea since Tuesday and he was upset with it yesterday and struggling to get milk out of the teat. I panicked, first time mum and it really upset me seeing him struggling

Sorry to hear you've had such a bad night. As others have said it takes two weeks for things to settle down when you change their formula, but I did notice a change almost immediately in terms of her eating more and going longer between feeds, and having less severe reflux symptoms. If he is having diarrhoea or constipation then I would speak to your doctor or hv about giving a few drops of cooled, boiled water. I was recommended this at this stage with my daughter, but don't give it without advice from a medical professional first. Also try to sit your baby up for half an hour after feeding.

He’s now drinking less on this reflux milk, I think it’s because he tires himself out. I’m using the dr browns bottles with a Y teat. I’ve noticed they clog when I stop part way through to wind him. I’ve bodged a hole in a level one teat but three different teats I’ve messed up by making the hole too big! Level 3 teats are clogging up.

If you can afford to buy new bottles, then I really do recommend MAM bottles. They won't clog like dr browns.

DD had reflux. I know your pain, she is my first and it was horrible to see her cry and be upset. She was breast fed though so I didn’t have an issue with the milk. But we moved onto mixed feeding at 4 months. MAM bottles were the best we found. Also if he has put weight on then his ranitidine dose needs to be worked out and upped. Generally they should do this every 2-3 weeks until he is older and his weight gains slows. We used to do it over a phone call with the paediatrician after a HV weigh in. I found that I could tell when the ranitidine needed upping as she would start suffering again.

I would also put a folded towel under her mattress to tip her up a bit and keep her stomach contents down. Also she would nap on her front which was the only way she was comfy sometimes.

Big hugs, it’s bloody hard work. But he absolutely will grow out of it.

I’ve not continued with the ranitidine as he was so sick with his milk that he won’t be getting the correct dose anyway. The gaviscon has done bugger all and he’s been on that for weeks.
What teats did you use for the mam bottles? I’ve got about three free mam bottles. I’ll order some teats and see how I get on with them.
He has a reflux wedge which is no problem when he’s on the reflux milk. If he didn’t have the poops then i’d be happy with the reflux milk as apart from that it’s great.

Bollocks I’ve given the bottles to my sister!

Hang on, could I use a mam teat on a dr Browns bottle? It’s just the teats that I’m having problems with, I’m happy with the bottles apart from that

I used a size 2 teat on the mam bottles, with Hipp stage 1 and gaviscon - usually 2 sachets each feed when my daughter had 6oz bottles. Bit heavy on dosage but she was never constipated and the reflux stopped completely. Reflux is worse for us than them I think, so much worrying and cleaning up. It’s stopped completely since my Daughter went onto cows milk.

Can’t see why you can’t mix and match teats and bottles? Asda often have packets of teats on offer too.

I had a screaming baby with bad reflux and I feel for you OP, it’s like being stuck in a nightmare night and day. What worked for us in the end was comfort milk and ranitidine, the cow protein in comfort milk is broken down more than in normal and together with ranitidine we ended up with a totally different baby. Good luck and I know it feels like forever but this will pass.

I still have some colief. Will that help the diarrhea if it is an allergy?