Reflux - what’s the underlying issue?

[Frankie789]

Hi all,

I have a 10wo DD, she was diagnosed with silent reflux at 5 weeks and prescribe gaviscon, it hasn’t helped and is actually causing more vomit out of her but the GP told me to give two sachets now shes 10lb and to see what that does - it’s not done anything.

She hardly brings anything up unless it’s a feed with the gaviscon and physically out of her but we can see and hear the acid / milk come up and back down when she swallows. She also ‘locks’ up and has at least one episode a day where she flings her neck back and it looks like it will fall off and go rigid, she makes a choking sound (but doesn’t choke) and vigorously swallows during this and it can last up to 5 mins, it’s scary and we just put her over our knees and rub her back. We saw the MW do this the day she was born bringing up the mucus but its carried on so can’t be the mucus still?

Anyway - she has a mild TT but been told because she’s gaining weight they won’t look into it until she starts to talk and been assessed on the bottle and okayed (albeit this was for a couple of mins and feeds can take up to an hour!)

We’ve tried paced feeding, sitting upright, smaller frequent feeds etc…
Drs have prescribed omeprezole? But I’m slightly reluctant to medicate on this without seeing if any underlying issues. Dr said it’s not CMPA because she doesn’t have a rash?

Completely at a loss, does anyone have any similar experiences they can share please?

Thank you x

The acid obv burns so she could be having a really bad spell to make her go like that.
The medication changed my life, my DS was a different baby within a day.
I would go private for the TT personally.

Gaviscon did work for us and she was on Lanzoperazole from 12 weeks. The paediatrician said it was a very safe medication with no side effects.

If you don't want to medicate, she will eventually grow out of it (something to do with the length of the esophagus). We were advised to wean early and she was off all meds by about 7 months. She was also a lot more content when she could sit up unaided.

Unfortunately, it's just part and parcel of being a baby for some. I do know how awful it is having an unsettled reflux baby (she'll remain an only child!) but it doesn't last that long and you will probably see a big improvement in a couple of months.

@PinkMoon22

The acid obv burns so she could be having a really bad spell to make her go like that. The medication changed my life, my DS was a different baby within a day. I would go private for the TT personally.

Thank you - I’ve had a quick look and does say TT can cause reflux and she does spit whilst feeding and always hiccups after every feed. Did your DS?

@Ihaveoflate

Gaviscon did work for us and she was on Lanzoperazole from 12 weeks. The paediatrician said it was a very safe medication with no side effects.

If you don't want to medicate, she will eventually grow out of it (something to do with the length of the esophagus). We were advised to wean early and she was off all meds by about 7 months. She was also a lot more content when she could sit up unaided.

Unfortunately, it's just part and parcel of being a baby for some. I do know how awful it is having an unsettled reflux baby (she'll remain an only child!) but it doesn't last that long and you will probably see a big improvement in a couple of months.

Thank you,

Who advised to wean early? The HV? Mine just isn’t interested and said reflux is normal…

Yeah, we had hiccups, vomit every feed, scrunched up in pain, tears.
He chocked several times, one time resulting in us calling 999 as he went blue and being took in, sadly it took him going blue for anyone to take me seriously about him having reflux.
It's hard and will be painful and annoying for babies! And of course hard for us as we can't make them better.

Reflux isn't normal, what a comment from your HV.
It's very common yeah but it's not a normal thing to have if that makes sense.

The paediatrician who prescribed Lanzoperazole told us to wean from 17 weeks. I think we started weaning at around 20 weeks.

It was the GP who referred us to the paediatrician at the 6 week check. She had been on Gaviscon from 3 weeks, which really took the edge off, but our GP was brilliant and was very happy to refer anyway.

My children had reflux, and symptoms were much reduced when I gave up dairy (they were breastfed). Can you change the formula you give her?

Other than that, yes, they just grow out of it.

My DD had awful reflux when she was small (almost 18 months old and still on gaviscon) - I too was advised to wean early at 5 months but it didn’t help.

The gaviscon didn’t stop my DD being sick but it did stop the pain so I kept going with it.

Things that helped my DD were:-

1. A faster teat (slow flow is advised but it caused trapped wind which made matter worse)
2. Making the milk very warm, almost hot (bought her wind up better)
3. Keeping upright pretty much all the time except sleeping
4. Winding very well

It didn’t stop the sick but she was more a ‘happy spitter’ which was more traumatic for me than her.

They also don’t have to have a rash for it to be CMPA. What are her nappies like? Have you tried a different formula?