Reflux help

[lemorella]

My 5 day old has quite obvious reflux.

As soon as she's put down flat she is sick or I can at least spot milky sick in her mouth. She cries out in discomfort.

So far we are stuck in a cycle of feeding and crying until she falls asleep on me and I might be able to place her down to co sleep for one or two hours.

The doctor was reluctant to prescribe Gaviscon as she is so young and it may cause constipation and advised I propped the cot up (didn't work). He said if she starts losing weight he'll prescribe it.

What are parents of reflex babies meant to do, this isn't sustainable - no one is sleeping!

Do you burp her properly?
During day time, after the feed, keep her straight into your arms, with her head resting at the top of your shoulder, and very gently tap her back until she releases several burps. You can also run your fingers along her spine, up and down.
Try to keep her upright for 15 to 20 min after feeding.
Is she rushing when she feeds? A mix of crying and swallowing which would allow a lot of air to go in her stomach. If so, don't wait for her to be desperate but offer the breast when she is calm.

Hi,

I'm 5 months into this and I'm afraid that our HCPs have simply medicated and said that my DD will, at some point, grow out of her reflux.

Is your daughter formula fed? If so, get her onto Kabrita, it's a goats milk formula with a slightly different whey:casein ratio.

I also found that the Dr Brown bottles with the green colic vent with Mam teats were the best for dealing with reflux.

Feed her in an upright position and maintain this after feeding - I have to do this for more than 30 mins tbh

Tilt the crib at one end

You can buy aids like a wedgehog - I never wanted my DD to sleep on this as she always slides down it, but it's useful for when she's playing on the floor (I know you may not be at this stage yet)

You can use Carobel instead of Gaviscon - some people report less issues with constipation

Join a reflux FB group - there are a lot of people who go through this too.

During the first 4 months of my DD life, she wouldn't sleep in her cot!! She would only sleep lying face down on our chests. I really didn't want to co-sleep but it was simply the only way to get any sleep - survival!

Are you sure that she doesn't have a cow's milk allergy - often the symptoms can be similar.

My daughter's reflux is largely controlled through Omeprazole and Gaviscon; however, I have to change her sheets after every sleep in her crib and she is still very sicky.

Hope something here works for you! My DD doesn't drink anywhere near what she should for her weight. Keep an eye on her weight and see your GP if you have concerns x

Thank you for both of your replies.

My dc is exclusively breastfed and this is my second dc so-bottles and switching formula aren't appropriate for me. I actually didn't realise breastfed babies could suffer so badly with it.

I have to feed her upright as I can hear she's actually in pain when swallowing if I try lying down and I spend time burping her after every feed - almost always successfully get something up but often a sick still follows when I then lay her down again.

Our wedge homemade wedge didn't help in the slightest but I will certainly look into one for playing and will join the fb group.

I suspected the answer would be medication and a bit of a battle ahead. I just feel like all my safe sleep options have been taken away

Have a look at this New Zealand website. I spent a lot of time there 16 years ago with DS
www.cryingoverspiltmilk.co.nz

It is so, so hard OP. My baby has very bad reflux (9 weeks old and EBF). He is now on omeprazole which has helped a lot with the discomfort (he is still sick all the time though). We tried gaviscon first and it did absolutely nothing and is bloody hard to administer to a breastfed baby. I would really push your GP for omeprazole - even if your baby is still gaining weight they shouldn’t have to be in pain.

In terms of management I feed my son upright and keep him upright for as long as possible after a feed. At 5 weeks that was an hour, now half an hour will do. I didn’t use a wedge in the cot because it’s against SIDS guidelines, but I did prop the end up slightly. I don’t think it makes much difference though - for it to help the reflux the tilt would need to be extreme.

They will grow out of it eventually but it’s very hard in the meantime!

I really feel for you, we were the same with my DD but she had cmpa too. The doctors were initially reluctant to prescribe gaviscon for the same reason but she ended up on it anyway. By three months it was hideous.

The info you’ve been given here is the best but like you say, you might need the medicine until she grows out of it. At the end of the day you have to be able to manage it... that’s just as important so there’s no harm in asking to try gaviscon and seeing if it makes a difference

My daughter had aweful reflux. Screaming in pain for every waking hour, bf up to 17hours a day (I kept a diary) and projectile acid vomiting. She endes up under the gastro peadiatricians as she lost alot of weight. The GP did prescribe Gaviscon before we were under the hospital but it didn't work and just bunged her up. We also tried infacop and colief.

There are plenty of practical things you can do. It won't sort it but hopefully at least try to manage it.

The hospital advised using a dummy as the saliva from sucking can help neutralise acid that's coming up. I know you said propping the cot up hasn't helped but stick with it. I wore DD alot in the sling to keep her upright. When feeding wed stop and wind ALOT. Not just after a feed then keeping her upright for a good half hour afterwards. It was relentless.

She eventually ended up in ranitadene and domperidone. Again didn't cure it but it settled it down. Then as she got bigger that helped too and by age 2 she'd grown out of it.

Infacop?! Jeez. Infacol

Oh and as I was bf I was told.to cut dairy from.my diet as it could also be a CMP intolerance.

And milk is hidden in so much stuff. Like crisps, I mean what kind of cruel joke is that?!

Could be dairy allergy (that’s of your eat/drink dairy yourself) . I suffered massively in the first 6 months with little one always crying and in pain with reflux. Only to work out myself, once he started solids it was dairy. So I cut it out of my diet. (As the protein gets into your breast milk) and the reflux stopped.

As soon as we got back from the hospital I swapped milk for oat milk and will replace other dairy products on my shop this week, I am willing to try anything!

My midwife is happy dc has only lost 2% of her body weight at second weigh in today so at least I know she's getting nutrition amongst all the vomit episodes. She wasn't very happy with the docs suggestion to prop up the cot.

I've found that keeping her upright after feeds for as long as I can is helping ever so slightly.

How long does it take for a baby oesophagus to mature? It feels me with dread to read some people have toddlers with these issues

If it is down to dairy, it takes 3 weeks for it to leave your system, providing you’re not eating/ drinking anything with dairy in it in that time, You may see a result in a few days but it will be a few weeks, so hang in there. Unfortunately so much food contains milk so make sure you’re reading the ingredients on all your food. On the flip side you are now in a day and age where vegan products are widely more available so for things like chocolate/ biscuits, you don’t have to go without 😁

If you are cutting out dairy don't replace it with soya products. The proteins are similar and it's fairly common to have reactions to both. You don't necessarily have to cut both out together just don't replace dairy with soya just in case its both.

I have a 5 month old and we have been on the reflux merry-go-round since 3 weeks. She comfort eats so hasn't had weight gain issues. We are on lots of medication with some improvements. Since December I have been soya and dairy free. I kept a food diary and saw a link between soya and her symptoms. The gp said to take out dairy as well if I think it's soya. We had a brief period of improvement but then had a set back so I'm looking at other food allergies