Question about babies with reflux vs those without

[CremeDeSudo]

Evening all, this might be a silly question but do newborns/small babies who DON'T have reflux ever cry out in their sleep having been settled for a hour or so, squirm, pull up their legs, grimace ..? Is this possibly just standard newborn behaviour?

DS had reflux as a baby which was picked up when he was around 6/7wks, DD is now 3wks old and I'm on reflux alert and wondering if I'm being paranoid or not.

Up until the last few days she's been really settled sleeping however now she's now fussing, grunting and squirming a lot (mainly in the evening and at night) and I've seen the odd bout of the above. She's only been sick a handful of times beyond possetting. We've switched bottles today (to MAM) as I don't think she was getting on with TT ones. I think they've improved the wind but she's just cried out as above and prompted me to post.

I'm wondering if/when I should flag it as reflux and go to the Dr or if this is just what a 'normal' baby does?

Sounds more colicky to me. Try infacol.

3-12 weeks was like that for us. No reflux though.

I think most newborns are like that for a period of time at some point. I also don’t really believe that the infacol/gripe water etc stuff works that well. I think it’s just time for their little bodies to adjust to a completely new diet and rapidly expanding tummies and appetites. Obviously sometimes there are issues but I feel we are too quick to diagnose and medicate in some cases (big pharma/formula companies have a lots of ethical questions to answer when it comes to medicating our babies IMO). Sorry that got a bit ranty - obviously in some scenarios it’s needed and works.

Is this possibly just standard newborn behaviour?

Yes, it is. Also a sign baby needs a quick burp. Nothing medical, just a bit of air wanting to come out.

A dummy helps to settle baby, no need to medicate unnecessarily.

Ok thanks all I won't panic just yet then. We've been using Infacol but it doesn't make much difference. Also using a dummy. I do wind, but I could be up all night when a grunting/squirming bout starts!

I agree re medicating babies and I don't want her on meds etc. DS needed them. He was miserable and clearly in pain after every feed, his sleep was affected and used to get woken up from lovely sleeps in pain. (This was what set alarm bells ringing with DD tonight).

Our Dr at the time wouldn't prescribe anything stronger than baby gaviscon and as a result the first 4.5 months of his life with so much harder than they needed to be. A new Dr prescribed ranitidine and he was a new baby within a couple of days.

So I'm hoping she's just displaying the things usual newborns do, I just have nothing to compare to and have been scarred after DS!!

And last night she threw up a large amount of her feed, then this morning 2hrs after only having half her feed she spat up acidic curdled milk and screamed out proper breaking her heart. Making an appt with the Dr. Bloody reflux.

It is possible it's the heat making her throw up. All of my children have been sick when they overheat as babies. Indeed even when much older, the first symptom of said children being too hot is vomit. Delightful.

I spoke to my HV and she's said I should take her to the GP. So going to go tomorrow.