Reflux/colic/something else - when to reassess?

[Bunny2021]

Our 14 wo baby had colic from about 4/5 weeks. We gave him infacol which seemed to help a little. As he’s gotten older we reduced the infacol.

In the last week he’s been screaming at night - usually between 9-10PM. It’s absolutely heartbreaking to hear.

I’ve spoken to our GP who on the phone, diagnosed silent reflux as he really arches his back. However, this is not all the time and not after every feed. We’ve been giving him one sachet of gaviscon per day but this doesn’t seem to help.

We’ve given him calpol to take the edge off the pain but I don’t want to give this to him every night.

Lots of online advice says that if they have high pitched/abnormal cry to seek immediate medical treatment. We spoke to 111 last weekend and they referred us to the out of hours GP. When we eventually spoke to the GP he was calm so out of hours GP just said speak to your normal GP - which we have done.

I’m at a loss as to what to do. His screams are heartbreaking but he does eventually settle. Should I be pushing our GP to investigate further? Should I take him to A&E (which is quite a drive away) when he’s having a screaming fit but knowing he’ll calm down?

I think the advice is in regards to an unusual high pitched cry, it's distressing but it's not unusual if it's the same cry every night.

How's he fed OP? If he's ff have you tried adding Dentinox to the bottle or swapping formulas?

If you're BFing have a read of cluster feeding abs fussy evenings on Kellymom

*and

One sachet a day won't really help. It acts as a milk thickener so you'd need to do it with a few feeds a day for it to help. It will take a few days for it to help to.
If it is reflux, I'm sure I've read somewhere that calpol can make it worse.

Are you doing all the other suggestions for reflux? Keep upright after a feed, do gentle burping, don't do back pats, raise the head of his cot slightly? If ff you could try a thicker milk. If bf you could do half a sachet with each feed?

Mine were like this, it was reflux caused by CMPA.
Is DC breastfed or formula fed? It can be less obvious in breastfed babies but there would still be signs either way.
www.allergyuk.org/about-allergy/allergy-in-childhood/cows-milk-allergy/

If the reflux is caused by an allergy then eliminating the allergen will sort it. If not, you would need proper reflux meds. One sachet of Gaviscon is not going to cut it. Gaviscon does help DC2 when her reflux is flaring up but it didn't help DC1. You might need omeprazole.

Has the GP referred you to paediatrician?

Thanks everyone. He’s breastfed but I also express. No formula.

I was worried about increasing the gaviscon as I heard it can make them constipated and we’ve already had to deal with trapped wind/tummy issues (had tongue tie snip at 7 weeks).

I did cut out milk for a couple of weeks but it didn’t seem to make any difference. I haven’t done it with any official support from the GP though.

We’ve not been referred to a paediatrician - I’m wondering if it’s something that I should push for?

When you're breastfeeding you have to cut out all dairy for 6 weeks to see if symptoms improve; you might see improvements before then but it takes that long for the cow's milk protein to completely leave baby's system.

This website is very helpful:
dilanandme.com/confirm-cmpa/

Gaviscon can cause constipation but not always, it made DC1 constipated but DC2 was fine. If you sometimes express, you can mix it with ebm and give it like that. We give it after the bedtime breastfeed if DC2's reflux is flaring up. (She's generally fine since I cut out her allergens but teething can make it flare up as well.) We don't put as much liquid as indicated, just because it's difficult to get it all down her, and with a bit of trial and error we've found an amount that works.

DC1 had omeprazole for his reflux but once I'd been dairy free for long enough, the reflux stopped and we were able to stop the meds as well.

Up to you about pushing for a referral. We did with DC1 as he was so distressed and none of us were sleeping, it was awful. We didn't find the GP hugely helpful and the paediatrician was better. With DC2 I knew what I was dealing with (had been on the lookout for signs) so I just cut out dairy straight away. I did talk to the GP and they referred me to the allergy clinic.

Overtired? I say this as a parent on a severe reflux baby (threw up every liquid until 13 months) who used to do back arching when she was overtired and wanted to sleep but couldn’t - mainly because she was literally incapable of switching off 😂