Breastfeeding & reflux

[lemorella]

Any mums with experience of breastfeeding a reflux baby?

Dc is putting on weight so I don't think we have the worst case of reflux but is still bringing up something nearly every feed, sometimes right away/ sometimes a few hours later, sometimes lots/ other times just a little. Doesn't seem in pain or that bothered (I think I'm more upset by it!)

I've accepted I've just got a refluxy baby and and going to try and wait it out rather than go down any medicated route as dc seems relatively ok.

I've cut dairy and soya after doing some research - has anyone else done this and noticed a difference/ not noticed any change at all? I'm a week in and will commit to 6 weeks minimum to see if there is any change but honestly I'm miserable without chocolate and biscuits as a ravenous bf mum!

I've also read that there is no need to cut out bread with soy flour (most supermarket bread!) or products with soy lecithin but I can't see the reason why!?

Didn't cut out anything, kept BF, accepted I had a sicky baby (like I was). Muslin handy etc. Realised latch not perfect due to fast letdown etc.
He grew out of it.

@Harrysmummy246 how did you know your latch wasn't right?

Needed a lot of winding and would come off spluttering at let down. Got better as he got bigger and supply calmed down. But i was so wretched with PND that I wasn't going to be cutting anything out, i'd have gone to formula before that.

Similar to @Harrysmummy246 just accepted that she was sicky and got on with it - DD had silent reflux and no one ever suggested i cut anything out, i just kept going til her weight tailed off and then she had gaviscon.

I was lucky @Ohalrightthen, DS gained brilliantly even with the puking and never really cluster fed either- always 10 min, one boob , done

Me! Don’t eat dairy, still have a supremely sicky baby. He’s sick roughly 30 times per day 😬 but somehow still gaining weight fine. He has omeprazole because he was in agony before. It has helped the pain a lot but he is still sick all the time.

I’ve just come to terms with having a sicky baby and get through a lot of muslins and clothing changes. He’s currently 10 weeks so I just hope he will grow out of it sooner rather than later.

Yes, DS was very sicky. He had silent reflux as well so was uncomfortable and wouldn't sleep even when he wasn't puking.

I had a very strong let down which led to gulping, and he had a poor latch due to tongue and lip tie so a lot of air got in. I tried cutting out all dairy but it made no difference, what did help was burping every couple of minutes during a feed and sitting him up for 20 minutes afterwards.

As long as baby is comfortable and gaining weight then I would just keep a muslin handy to catch the sick.

Very sicky baby to start. He's now 8 month and still suffers but now it's silent.
Try feeding in koala pose, it really help us in the first few months!

I had a very sticky Ds2 (was tandem feeding toddler Ds1 so probably had a very fast let down).

Tbh if they aren't that bothered by it then I would just get a load of muslin cloths.

All four of mine were reflux breastfed babies. Everything was permanently wet for the first 6 months for each baby. They grew out of it around the time of introducing solid food, probably because the solids helped the food stay down.

I didn't cut any foods out. Reflux was the only symptom any of them had, whereas intolerances generally bring several symptoms (green or stinky or foamy poo, rashes, miserable baby etc).

One of them had an awful latch due to tongue tie. The tie was only marginal though, so we decided not to decide it. Worked on the latch and got through things. Made no difference to the reflux though; I just have refluxy babies.

Muslins, washing machine constantly on, and time will get you through, asking as GP has ruled out any issues and baby is gaining weight/holding entire etc.

I'm breastfeeding a reflux baby. From my reading if they are a "happy spitter" and gaining weight ok you can take a relatively light touch approach.
My little was mostly a very unhappy silent refluxer a combination of meds and diet have turned her into a happy spitter with barely any silent reflux. I have had to remove dairy, soya, eggs, tomatoes and coconut from my diet to see a full improvement.
With the soya flour/ lectines they are low in the soya ladder so are less likely to cause a reaction. It's easiest to explain with the egg ladder as that is just 3 steps 1. Cooked eggs in cake etc 2 cooked eggs e.g omlette 3. Raw egg in mayo or moose. If you have a mild allergy /secondary allergy (through breast milk) you might be ok if things lower down the ladder

DD is 14w, BF and reflux. She dropped 3 centile lines, despite regaining her initial loss at 10 days postpartum. started on gaviscon but it made her incredibly constipated and frankly it was an utter ball ache trying to get 15ml of liquid into her mid feed 6 times a day. All it did was making her vomiting chunky, she was still screaming in pain. She’s now on omeprazole after my GP taking advice from paeds, she’s getting fortnightly weigh ins at the GP. Pain seems reduced in the morning but pain and sickness seems to increase mid afternoon.

Thanks all for your experiences so far.

Based on what most of you are saying cutting dairy from my diet isn't necessary so I'm going to scrap that unless I see symptoms of allergy.

I think I'll accept a life of muslins and several outfit changes a day for now.

I've just deleted all the oat milk off my food shop for this week

Don't forget an outfit change for yourself @lemorella

DS got me thoroughly more than once

It is very normal for a baby to bring up some milk after a feed and if they are gaining weight well, plenty of wet and dirty nappies and not distressed then it's nothing to worry about and more of a laundry problem than anything else. Plenty of muslins are your friend as even a tiny bit of milk can sort of spread and look like an enormous amount when it comes up again.

More often than not it's just that they've over eaten so some is coming back up again or sometimes it can be due to a fast let down. It is always worth having someone qualified to check the latch as sometimes improving the latch can help too as they take in less air.

@Harrysmummy246 good point I'll put a spare top for me in the change bag!

This is my second dc so I'm a confident breastfeeder but the reflux has really thrown me off

AH no, trousers too ;)

Remember that baby has to learn too so even if you have done it before, they haven't!