The Baby Reflux Lady's Survival Guide

[GingerBeverage]

Has anyone used this book/method?

I'm at wits end - 11 week old has dropped from 50 to 25 percentile on weight and it's all to do with reflux.

I'm very strung out from lack of sleep but NHS response seems to be "Gaviscon."

This book seems to explain why LO won't sleep/cried when eating but I only discovered it last night and am wondering if it's really any good.

I’ve not seen the book but I would say put your foot down and demand ranitidine. I had a breastfed preemie and for three reasons I didn’t want gaviscon 1. She wasn’t puking much and gaviscon works by primarily thickening the stomach contents to prevent puking 2. Breastfeeding and therefore gaviscon is a complete faff 3. Constipation. I sat in the doctors and said I wasn’t leaving without a prescription for ranitidine and if the doc wouldn’t prescribe she could bring another doc in. She prescribed and it was life changing for dd

Ranitidine neutralises the acids so it helps prevent the pain from the reflux and also over time allows healing in case you weren’t aware. Good luck x

They don't prescribe ranitidine anymore.

How about omeprozole? I have heard people being given that now that ranitadine is out of the question!

Thanks, I know about the medical
treatments but what I'm curious about is if anyone knows the cause of the reflux, and if this book talks about it.
I would love to fix the underlying cause instead of only treating the symptoms iykwim

CMPA is often a cause- Friends' DTs hugely improved as soon as they went onto neocate. No more meds required

But there is an inherent weakness in the sphincter at the top of the stomach in babies. It strengthens over time

From what I understand often babies have reflux because their digestive systems arent fully mature. That's why things like colic and reflux are so bad in the early months, and tend to get better as time goes by and a babies system matures. So I don't think you can really "fix" anything, just treat symptoms until time helps to strengthen the oesophagus etc. Our baby had AWFUL reflux and was put on ranitidine - but now at 4 months has started to outgrow it and isn't needing the medication as much.

I would be looking into allergies. Are you bf or ff?

Really, I wouldn't waste your time reading a book and instead go and get a prescription for omeprazole. I've had two reflux babies and it's the only thing that's worked with either.

They don’t prescribe ranitidine anymore isn’t true

Basically prescribe gaviscon first and alternatives afterwards. So try the gaviscon for two weeks (or give them good enough reason why you won’t or it won’t work for you) then an alternative

Well if anyone comes along who has read the book please do let me know :)

If all babies have weak digestive systems then why don't all babies have bad reflux is my question. What make the difference?
The allergy issue is interesting because if some babies are allergic it makes sense they would suffer more.

My GP told me they aren't prescribing ranitidine anymore.
Here is an article I found from a quick google about cancer link concerns.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-49977829

Well many of them spit up to some degree and take a while to figure wind out.

The difference is how much and whether they are uncomfortable/ not gaining enough because of it

Yes the cancer link concerns is a recent thing but it's just that, a concern. It also says that it is more of a risk to stop taking ranitidine if prescribed than the risk of getting cancer. And actually, that the recall is precautionary

The paediatrician who treated my first daughter explained that the problem was actually a weak valve that allowed the stomach acid to go upwards. Most babies have a fully developed valve.

Limpshade reflux can be caused by a number of things. A physiological cause it just one of the potential causes.

@Selfsettling3 yes it's the range of causes I am interested in knowing more about, thanks

I googled when I thought DS might have reflux

Eventually concluded that other than that weak sphincter which strengthened, and him taking in air thanks to a shallow latch, that since he was mostly happy enough and gaining/ good nappy output, any of the things I googled were unlikely and I didn't think it was worth taking him to GP. It wasn't every feed and i got quite good at knowing when he was likely to.

Totally different to the hell friend and her DH were in with their premie DTs with reflux/ thrush/ milks/ meds and re-iterate until CMPA was probably the most likely cause

Do you breastfeed or giving formula milk?
Because my DS1 had terrible reflux.. maybe 2 months ago it finally stopped. Once they gonna have a solid food it will get better. We had Ranitidine too, I was a shock when I found out about the recall. He had formula milk and we eventually had to change that as well for comfort milk. We tried everything. Only Ranitidine helped. But there should be one more medicine, don't remember the name but I know there is but babies with heart conditions cannot take it. My DS2 having formula milk too and 3 weeks so far didn't see any reflux issues hopefully it won't change.

Ranitidine worked well for DD2 but now on Omeprazole as we can't get it anymore here. DD has several allergies and her symptoms have improved as I've eliminated several allergens. Good luck OP, it's pretty miserable.

Could be an allergy/intolerance to the milk? We had the same issue. Now baby is on special milk. Which should hopefully resolve the reflux.

For the babies with allergies and reflux - did they show any other symptoms?

With mine, it was pain when she would drink the milk. And the difference in her dirty nappies. We had started her on HiPP organic, and then found out she had reflux. Swapped her to the anti reflux milk which had helped with the reflux, but was still in pain and had diarrhoea. She's now on Nutramigen 1 milk with gaviscon & omeprazole to help with the reflux. The reflux is still there. But her tummy pain has gone.

She didn't have any rashes, but did have the rest of the symptoms for intolerance. Colic like symptoms, gas, bloating, spitting up, nasally, crying.

Allergy symptoms here included- colic++, dry skin, red swollen eyes, cradle cap, green/mucousy dirty nappies, infrequent dirty nappies, fussing during feeds, painful/smelly wind, poor weight gain, congestion.

I know this is an old post, but did you have any luck with this book if you bought it? Baby girl is nearly 12 weeks old and im ready to loose my mind😭