Potential Silent Reflux - Insight/Help Appreciated!

[ELW85]

I’m hoping for a little insight or advice for our 5 week old.
He usually cries about 10 mins after every full bottle feed, with hands to mouth, showing hunger cues.
If offered BF after this (combo feeding) he falls asleep after a couple of mins so I don’t think he’s hungry, more just looking for comfort? He usually falls asleep after this.
A couple of times whilst he’s slept on me, I’ve noticed him pulling a face and swallowing about 30 mins after feed. This, along with the above and some grunting noises led me to think reflux.
One GP has prescribed Gaviscon but thinks the noises are normal. I don’t want to medicate him unnecessarily but also don’t want him in pain or hurting his voice.
Last night was something else...
On his 6pm feed, he went screaming red and rigid afterwards and we could only temporarily soothe him. Hands were up to face, screaming the place down until About an hour later we tried another bottle. He had all of that.
The interesting thing was that when he was leaned forward to be winded, he was calm but even slightly sat up/back, he was crying.
After the second bottle though he fell asleep and we put him down in his crib. He was totally fine being on his back.
If it was reflux that caused him to scream I’m not sure he’d be ok on his back? He was awake too and gurgling away.
Fed twice through the night (roughly half bottles) with no issue.

So in summary:

• cries with hunger cues after every feed but often gets settled with a pacifier, rocked to sleep etc as he has a full bottle at feeding times
• usually no issue in being put on back, doesn’t wake up
• noisy breather, grunts etc but these sound different to his ‘voice’

I’m worried today his voice itself sounds a little raspy but he’s been asleep most of the morning, so hard to tell.

TIA for any help at all!

I would make up 180ml bottles and see how much he takes, to rule out hunger. Some babies are on 6oz bottles very quickly.

@GenevaMaybe - thanks, we can give it a go!

Her voice is completely normal now - in fact, she’s got quite the high pitched shriek on her when she enraged! The choking thing was terrifying - what helped us be taken seriously was recording it on a phone, and also seeing a GP who had young children himself.

I agree with the PP who said crying like this in the evenings can be normal and is often down to overstimulation...

How long does he stay away for at a time? A 5 week old who has been awake more than 2 hours is quite likely to cry hysterically like this.

@thunderthighsohwoe - was her ‘voice’ hoarse at the time too or just her grunts, clearing throat etc? And can you remember how long after the meds her voice cleared up please? It’s really worrying me as you can tell!
We’ve just had a choking episode about 10 mins after a Gaviscon feed where he swallowed it again.
He cried after that feed so not sure the Gaviscon is working?
He fell asleep in my arms today and then woke up after 30 mins in his Moses basket. Cried waking up but not red faced or anything but when DH picked him up, he did the choking thing so wondering if the reflux woke him up 😢

@Pinklighthouse - he’d slept well that day and usually most days. I often wonder when we’re meant to get play time as he basically sleeps, eats, cries and sleeps again! I appreciate the witching hour is a thing too but this is daytime too.

Yes, her voice was pretty normal unless she was grunting - though after a while, her cries did become a little hoarse. After she started ranitidine it took about a week I think to be ‘normal’.

Honestly, I’d go to the GP as a couple (some male GPs seem to dismiss new mothers) armed with a list of symptoms and phone recordings, be firm that the Gaviscon isn’t working and insist on trying ranitidine.

In the meantime, I’d absolutely go for being upright as much as possible in the day and propped up as high as possible at night.

You can’t get ranitidine anymore unfortunately, as it been recalled so your only option would be omeprazole. My DD is on it and to be honest it didn’t make any difference to her crying. She’s 6 months old now and she’s gradually becoming more settled and happy as she’s got older. I also cut out dairy and soy which seemed to help. Omeprazole might be worth a try to see if it helps but it can have side effects and it’s tricky to come off it if it’s been taken long term.

@thunderthighsohwoe - that’s what’s bothering me is his grunting/clearing throat but the GP says it’s normal, when I just don’t think it can be.
I’ve got some recordings so I’ll go back and push a bit more. It’s great that her voice cleared up so quickly!
Did she sleep in her crib when it was flat ever? We’ve raised the head of the Snuzpod tonight but he goes for about 3 hours at a time through the night usually.

@picklerick87 - so sorry that the meds didn’t work fir your little one. Did they make you try Gaviscon first too?

Yes we tried Gaviscon but that didn’t do anything..the omeprazole is meant to be very effective for reflux if it’s causing pain so I think it probably wasn’t the reason my DD cried so much when she was tiny - a lot of babies have reflux but it doesn’t bother all of them. It might just be overtiredness/overstimulation/trapped wind that’s making your LO upset, but you could always ask to try the medication if it does seem like the reflux is causing him discomfort. Its so stressful when they’re so unsettled but it’ll get better soon!

You could be describing my baby! The grunting is insane and he would gulp often like he was trying to swallow something down. He's also had really loose nappies and will chew his hands not long after a feed even though he's not hungry. I was worried it was a milk allergy as I have a dairy intolerance and worried I'd passed it to him by not exposing him to dairy at all when pregnant. Both HV and Doctor said they didn't think so and we're more inclined to think it was reflux. He started infant gaviscon 3 days ago (only dosing on alternate feeds) and I'm seeing a difference already - nappies aren't as bad and he hasn't been sick as often and he's slept through the last 2 nights.

@ELW85 She was restless and grunty if the crib was flat, but slept much better with it raised. I’ve only recently taken the wedge out of her cot because even once the reflux was gone she slept better with it!

She used to sleep about 3 hours between feeds at night, then gradually it increased to twice a night and eventually once a night. Once she learnt to walk and dropped to one nap she slept through, so I don’t think that was reflux related.

Hi OP, you’ve literally described my 9 week old.. I know this was years ago but can you remember when the “noises” calmed down? I have shown various paediatricians and GPs videos of his constant noises but they also say it’s regular baby noises.

@GhostCookies - hi! From what I can remember, probably around 16-24 weeks when he was a bit bigger and his airways had more space.
looking back, I wish I’d not worried so much but it’s hard when they’re so tiny and it’s all brand new.
it happened with my second child too so it’s definitely normal!