Silent reflux - can anyone help?

[Ellax]

Hi there, my nearly 8 week old son has suspected silent reflux. He’s EBF and I reluctantly started him on omeprazole this evening as he is just so unsettled and it can’t go on like this. Both osteopath, Pediatrician and HV suspect silent reflux as he has the following symptoms:

Constantly unsettled unless he’s on my boob, always rooting for more boob even when it’s impossible for him to be hungry. He’s extremely unsettled and wakes up crying. There’s only about 30 mins in a 25 hour period that he’s awake and not crying. The crying can be really high pitch and he seems in a lot of discomfort. I wind him regularly, do stomach massage, leg movements. Doesn’t seem to make a difference. He can be sick sometimes but it’s not that frequent. His weight gain has always been good. HV today said that his level of unsettledness is extreme.

Does this definitely sound like silent reflux? He did get quite a blocked nose at night but He doesn’t tick all the boxes for example he doesn’t cry at the boob or reject feeding, rather, when he’s been relentless feeding for ages he’ll start to cry and get frustrated at the boob because he’s no longer getting a strong flow.

He also doesn’t seem to prefer being upright after feeds. I’ve been feeding and holding him upright during and after feeds and it doesn’t make a difference. Maybe he.’lol sleep for 10 mins on my shoulder and then wakes up grunting and head butting me and then it turns to screaming if I don’t put him on my boob. He gets a few stretches of sleep at night but he does not sleep all day he just has these ten minute catnaps.

So could this still be silent reflux?

Thanks in advance for any help Im beyond desperate at this point and feel like I’ve tried everything. And I don’t think it’s an allergy thing as his poos are normal for a bf baby but I’ve cut out dairy as of yesterday anyway.

*does get quite a blocked nose at night

Hi, my DS was similar at that age in that he was rarely awake without crying. I used to walk for hours with him up on my shoulder while singing. It was horrific and you have my sympathy. We did medicate for reflux in the end and it did make at least some difference. Nobody can tell you for definite without intrusive tests if he has silent reflux, but clearly your baby is very unhappy, so definitely try every option available. Dairy will take a couple of weeks to clear from your system so you need to give a bit of time.

My DS did get better at around the 12 week mark. He then got much better at 6 months when he could sit up, and is nowadays a healthy normal toddler. It feels like eternity when you're going through it, but things will get better. In retrospect, I think part of his problem might have been 'lactose overload' which might be worth looking into - I tend towards oversupply and have a strong let down. I'm currently up in the night with my 8 week old who I only ever offer one breast per feeding to and have so far not had the problems I had with my son.

Other things that helped:

• dummy
• keeping upright when carrying, sitting up on my lap, basically avoiding lying flat. Bed on an incline.
• swaddling
• making sure to avoid over tiredness. After an hour awake, or even 45 mins start trying to to everything to get back to sleep. If he is not sleeping in the day then that is also a big thing. Take for a drive or walk in the pram or rock him in a chair. Babies this young can't cope with staying awake for long still.

Hang on in there. If it gets too much then do reach out to doctor for yourself too, I didn't but in retrospect I probably did have pnd.

Following with desperation as my 5 week old is exactly the same!