Reflux Nightmare

[Erinsmummy12]

I've got a 4 week old daughter who was diagnosed with reflux at 2 weeks!! And it's causing me and my partner absolute hell!!

The dr gave her infant gaviscon but it made her really constipated and she was screaming in pain when she was straining so we took her off it becuase we decided to deal with the sick rather than being helpless in the bowel department!!

I BF exclusively for 3 weeks and then this week introduced a bottle of formula before bed so we knew how much she was drinking in the hope she would be full and sleep for a little longer! She brings up milk / sick after every feed and not just a little a lot! We spoke to the HV and she said go and see a GP again, but with all that's going on it's proving hard to get an appointment or get her seen to!!

She's a dream during the day, waking every 3 hours feeding for half and hour and then back to sleep! But come 8pm she's a different baby! She refuses to feed some nights, she screams and screams, she will only settle in our arms or on our chest! As soon as we put her in the bedside cot she grunts and strains and it wakes her up again and we go all over again! On a good night she'll sleep for 2 hours then be awake for 2 hours and then sleep for 2 hours! And on a bad night she won't settle for 5/6 hours!!

We're at breaking point now becuase we are so sleep deprived so any advice at all would be appreciated!! we've tried infacol and she sicked it back up straight away, she refuses a dummy or pacifier! We've read that gripe water is meant to help, has anyone had good experiences with this?

Thanks in advance!! I need some sleep!!

Which formula are you using? Have you tried the anti-reflux & regurgitation formula? Gaviscon made DD constipated too and didn't work that great for us either so at 8 weeks we switched to Cow & Gate anti-reflux & regurgitation formula and it worked like a charm. It didn't get rid of the reflux 100% but the amount she was bringing up was tiny compared to before. She stayed on it until we switched to cow's milk at a year old.

The trouble is at this age it's pretty hard to tell the difference between reflux, tongue tie or an allergy and you really need to rule out tt and allergies before diagnosing reflux.

Here's the information on tongue tie. Have a read and see if any of it sounds familiar.

And hers the information on ]https://kellymom.com/health/baby-health/food-sensitivity/ dairy and other food sensitivities]]. Does any of that sound like what's happening?

Have you tried tanking her up in the day too? Some Mum's find this helps. You could try feeding her every 2 hours in the day.

DD was similar. Dairy and egg allergy. If you are eating something your DD is allergic to then it will filter through into the breast milk. Reflux is both a condition on it’s own, but also can be an allergic reaction.

I’d talk to the GP about allergies, alternative formula’s. Worth giving it a try. DD was ill for years, vomiting 4-5 times a day as her allergies are ‘delayed’ so didn’t show up with conventional testing. Once she was dairy and egg free she recovered.

Oh...and in terms of getting sleep DH and i divided the day/night between us so we each got a slug of sleep rather than both being up constantly.

Is she putting on weight? Both of mine had reflux, badly. They threw up after every feed, would get through multiple outfits a day, I couldn't leave the house without at least three muslins. Even my health visitor was shocked. But both were putting on weight and weren't distressed by the reflux (happy pukers), so the consultant we were referred to (I didn't think we needed a referral but GP Insisted) confirmed that this was simply because their digestive systems were immature and once they were weaned things would start to improve. He said he could suggest gaviscon but it would be tricky while I was breast feeding and - in his words - all it would do is reduce my laundry loads.

If she's ok in the day and is hard in the evening/night that might not be linked to the reflux. Unfortunately that's just pretty common in small babies. My second was awful and we ended up wearing him in a sling all evening and co sleeping at night. He grew out of it at 13 weeks.

Not sure if that's reassuring at all. No doubt others will have more advice if you think the puking is linked to pain.

As others have said, it could very well be a tongue tie and/or an allergy.

My DS was exactly the same and he had a tongue tie and cows milk protein allergy.

I would stop the formula and cut dairy our your diet. Find yourself a lactation consultant and have them check for tongue tie.

My DD was the same, cows milk protein allergy. I stopped eating dairy which helped, you can also get dairy free formula - talk to your gp! We also raised the next to me crib a bit by putting a blanket under the mattress. She improved when she was about 16 weeks when she could sit a bit more. And as pp said the sling was a life saver!
Hang on in there!

Thanks everyone! She's tounge tied, they said that when she was born, so maybe that could be causing all her problems!! I will try and get a GP appointment or get the HV advice!

Has anyone had any experience with getting tounge tie clipped in their little ones?

We're on apatamil 1 milk, I've read there are anti reflux milk formula so might give that a try.

I cut dairy our my diet a few weeks ago as everyone ways saying that could be a issue!

Reflux was a symptom of DS's CMPI. It took 4 months of differing fornulas and meds until it was properly diagnosed. When He was finally prescribed Nutramigen symptoms stopped in 3 days!

Sorry we tried Nutramigen but it was Neocate that made the real difference

It'll be the tongue tie I would imagine. She sounds exactly like my DS who had it too.

I'd have another look at the link I posted, they do virtual appointments and should be able to tell you how to get a division

I've actually made an account just to reply to you, as your situation sounds identical to our daughters, however she was 8 weeks when diagnosed.

Try raising the head of the Moses basket (as long as she is in a sleeping bag and can't slip under sheets).
Others have mentioned Reflux milk, but as we were on Aldi Mamia milk and didn't want to change we used a product Cow & Gate make called Carobel (you can buy on Amazon). It's a natural thickener and essentially what they put in the reflux milk. You can add it to any brand of formula and it means you can make the formula as usual then just add it in after.

If you daughter has pain with her reflux this won't work, as it only acts to thicken the formula and keep it down. But worth a try. Do your own research and maybe speak to a HV. We decided to try it after a friend had success.

Thanks!!

All day today she's been good, feeding well, sleeping for 3 hours and no sick! But she was sleeping on my chest and in my partners arms! We put her down for a nap in her sleepyhead to eat dinner and ever since she's been very unsettled - only slept for 30 mins, refusing to feed on boob or bottle, crying non stop and being sick loads! It's only since we laid her on her back to sleep!

Any advice on this?

Classic reflux issue. If baby’s are held up right or even not on their back they are not as sick.

I would encourage you to drop the formula and trial removing dairy and soya from your diet for 6 weeks to see if there is any difference.

Colief was my Godsend, my baby was sick day and night and couldn't lay without refluxing but Colief made a huge difference to him. He went from 5-6 outfit changes a day to 0-1. He is now 5 months old and off Colief but does still need Gaviscon some days.

It's absolutely horrendous, so sending positive vibes your way. My eldest was tortured with it (as were we!) until it was sorted which was a combination of apatamil anti reflux formula and medication. With my next child we saw the emerging symptoms and got it under control straight away.

I would definitely look into anti-reflux formula and getting an assessment for medication

My 4 month old was the same, refusing boobs, screaming etc you could hear the reflux. His was silent so he still put in weight and rarely threw up. Gripe water did help settle him 80% of the time but we've just started weaning him and he's like a different baby. Try gripe water for now. Good luck.

Thanks for all the tips and advice! Good to know I'm not alone in this! When your a first time parent it's hard to know what to do!

I gave her some gripe water with her formula before bed and she slept for 4 hours which is a miracle for her! Defo less grunting and straining as well! Although she's been up for 2 hours now!

On another note , I read on another thread on here that Diet Coke in your diet might have some kind of affect on a baby sleeping! I love a Diet Coke and have at least 1 can a day! Does anyone have any experience on whether this could be affecting her sleep? I'm going to cut it out tomorrow and see if it makes any difference!

Glad to hear it set her for a bit! I haven't heard anything about diet coke tbh but I imagine it's the substitute for sugar that they use, it's not good for you I doubt if you only drink small amounts it would affect her though, only excessive amounts of caffeine and sugar.

Settled her I meant*

I cut out caffeine in a desperate bid to help my DS! Sleep and it did seem to work, well a little anyway.

Still think it's the tongue tie though 🙂