Reflux soul destroying

[RedRuby26]

Hello just looking for some advice as so upset with my baby who has reflux and colic.

He is 5 weeks on Thursday and doing well weight gain wise. He packing on the weight tbh as he seems to be soothing his reflux discomfort with feeding. He is taken 4oz every 4 hours at the moment but last week he was taken 3/4oz every 2hrs.

He is bottle fed with Hipp Comfort Milk (originally on cow and gate and then slowly changed to hipp original as C+G made him constipated). I did express for 2 weeks and fed him 1oz of breast milk and 2oz of formula. Had to stop as made me physically ill (to long to go into full story of struggle with bf and expressing) and mentally. He has trialed a lot of bottles as he super fussy about the teet. We have Mam anticolic and Dr Brown. He doesn't like Dr Brown teet at all so we find Mam teet with Dr brown bottle best as he seems to guzzle the milk faster on the mam bottle. We use no2 teet due to comfort milk.

So here are his symptoms
Constantly bringing legs up in pain
Shaking arms and bawling fists up
Grunting in discomfort constantly
Stomach makes gurgling noise when first feeding
Coughing especially during feeding
Very congested and chesty sounding (been checked for cold and has no fever, chest is clear etc. This is all reflux symptoms apparently)
Hiccups after feeding
Taken a long time to soothe and waking up crying and being in total discomfort throughout his sleep.
Straining to try fart
Screaming crying during feeds and after them

What we been doing
Infacol before feed, colief in milk 30 mins before, gripe water after
Comfort milk
Massage constantly all different methods on his tummy especially at nappy changing time. Plenty of time outside nappy which helps him poo.
Bicycle legs and bringing legs back and forward
Change him before feed so he not lying down after feeding with reflux
Keeping him upright for 30 mins after feeding
Lying him on his tummy on my chest to try soothe him
Burped every 1oz and take the feed slow with breaks in-between
If he ever goes in his bed its on a tilt (it's one of those next to me beds so can change one side to be higher)

Medically what we trying
He was on just infant Gaviscon for 1 week which helped not bring up milk (he wasn't bringing up tons to begin with a small amount each feed more than a normal baby but not projectile but obviously it burns as acid reflux) and lessened hiccups slightly. Didnt help much really with his pain and made him constipated so in more discomfort than before. Tried boiled water and dr now given us lactose to help with constipation but am worried give him worse tummy pains.
We been prescribed omperzole and he is on day 2 of that. Can take a week or two to work but Dr wants us to trial for a week with the gaviscon to see how he fairs. I queried would anti reflux milk or carobel be better than gaviscon to help stop the milk coming back up but she said they all can lead to constipation as they thicken the milk.
She doesn't think its cows milk allergy but not ruled out so when I go next week and see how he getting on with omperzole we will look into cows milk allergy If no improvement.

We had a few days of him barely sleeping, constantly wanting to feed to soothe himself and being constantly crying. He sleeping now for 2/3 hrs but takes ages to comfort after feed and wakes up constantly during sleep grunting in discomfort and keeps doing screech and crying for 5 mins and then goes back to sleep. He wont be put down ever just cried. Hates being changed, hates the bath as well so can't even use that to help.

We just out of our minds, getting no sleep and just so soul destroying to see him so upset and in discomfort. I know you all understand as a mother id chop off every limb to make him feel better. I try get some sleep and hand him to my husband in evening when he finished work but its so hard to sleep when your baby crying and won't settle. My body just wants to go to him to soothe him but he won't be soothed most the time. Am just filled with anxiety everyday.

I know it will get better with time but right now its soul destroying

I just want to offer some solidarity! I really hope the omeprazole helps you, I’m sure it will. You’re also right in the peak of colic which supposedly settles down after around 6 weeks and should be gone by 12 weeks ish so with time things should get better anyway. I totally understand, my 6mo sounds quite similar to yours and it’s really heartbreaking x

Hi! My little one is six weeks old on Friday and the symptoms your little one is having was exactly the same as mine.
The pain and discomfort she was having at every feed was horrendous and the symptoms your little one is having was so hard to see.
Im with you in sympathy as it is so hard.
We tried dr browns bottles, infacol, colief and prescribed gaviscon. She ended up developing a small rash on her face and chest also. L We ended up in A&E at one point as she screamed for 5 hours non stop and was told to persevere with the above and would settle as she got older.
We could not let her be in that much discomfort and deal with it being labelled as ‘just colic’ as something must cause it. We visited the gp who was fab. She has been diagnosed with potential cows milk protein allergy and been bred robed Nutramigen 1. The symptoms after 24 hours have pretty much subsided except for hiccups and reflux. She is no longer in pain when feeding, struggling with pooing, congested, coughing/choking on the milk.
Worth checking it out and pushing for someone to consider it as the change in your baby if it is CMPA will be amazing.
Check out the symptoms of CMPA on allergy Uk website.
It is soul destroying and was crippling us, thinking of you and your little one. Fingers crossed you get it sorted.

I feel your pain as mum to two babies who've suffered badly with reflux (though mine are properly vommy babies and everything I have is covered with sick!) . It does get better I promise and you are currently in the worst time of it with the colic as well. The omeprazole will start to work in a few days and you will suddenly see the difference in your baby who will no longer be in pain due to the acid being neutralised in their tummy. It's a game changer. If it doesn't work then do go back to the Dr as it could well be Cmpa, have you noticed any rash after feeding?

Honestly those symptoms sound identical to my DS who did have a cows milk protein allergy, it's definitely worth looking into further.

Not much to add to previous comments except to say I'm so sorry you are going through this and to offer my deep sympathy. We struggled with this unnecessarily for many months before being prescribed omeprazole for our son and the change in him was incredible to witness. Sounds like you are doing an amazing job soothing your baby as best you can. Reach out for any support available, the tiredness is crushing.

Thanks so much for the responses. He doesn't have any rashes after feeding but his baby acne (red spots not milia) is getting worse which apparently shouldn't happen as he is now 5 weeks. More are appearing. CMPA hasn't been ruled out the Dr just wanted to try just treating for reflux first as he doesn't have symptoms of CMPA.

However am out of my mind at the moment as he is very congested and chesty. His cry is horse as well. We been to children's A&E and they said he has a virus as his chest had mucus when they listened. Said possibly RSV so now am filled with anxiety.

However my health visitor today said that actual it could be CMPA and thats causing the congestion. He has always been congested which i put down to him being Csection but the Dr said that normally goes within couple weeks and it will be the reflux. He is drinking his full 4oz still and seems ok in himself.

Can I ask what milk you where prescribed.
Am struggling so much with his constipation on Gaviscon. We tried not giving Gaviscon and he does bring up his milk a little and seem bit more fussy during feeding but nothing extreme and his bowels go back to normal so soft poos about 2 or 3x a day. The Gaviscon does help him and I've just been given him it 3x daily but its still making him constipated. Tried lots of massage, bicycle legs and boiled water. He is super uncomfortable with the constipation. Its hard to know what to do. He was constipated on Cow and Gate formula so we switched to Hipp Comfort and he was much better poo wise.

Am wondering whether to just not have him take the Gaviscon as the omperzole should stop the acid burning. He may still bring up his milk but its never been large amounts.

Am worried about him having the omperzole but I don't want him in discomfort either. Its so bloody hard. Its not just a bit of normal reflux as he was constantly screaming at every feed and super unsettled. He has improved since starting omperzole but he is unsettled in the wind and bowel department because of Gaviscon.

Am going to a cranial osteopath as well once he is better for this virus as will try anything. My friend whose baby had reflux said it helped.

Did you babies have to stay on omperzole or where they weaned off?

He is so young it's hard to know whether he get better after he starts weaning and out the colic stage or if he needs to stay on meds.

I am just a complete anxious wreck at the moment

I gave up with gaviscon due to constipation issues, my baby is breastfed, she is sick quite a bit so I feed her often but it's mow painless sick due to the omeprazole. If you are formula feeding I've heard carolbel worked as well as gaviscon for a feed thickener to stop them being sick but causes less problems with constipation?
My son was also on omeprazole for reflux. When we started weaning (at 5 months due to him showing all the signs) his reflux improved a lot. At that point we did not increase the omeprazole dosage in line with his weight, when he was regularly eating 2-3 'meals' a day we gradually reduced the omeprazole dosage in line with Dr advice and he was off it by 9 months. He no longer has any issues with reflux. Hopefully it will be the same for your son. I do hope things improve. Its such a worrying time when they're so little and you're trying to figure out what's wrong with them!

Sounds like silent reflux, my ds son had it really bad. Give omperazole a chance to work also make sure it's the right dose for his weight as this makes a huge difference, my son was on the max dose for his weight. We also used aptimil anti reflux formula, which really helped was like a different baby after a couple of feeds x

Just updating because any support would be great. I went to a Christmas play group today and it was lovely but also sad because so many of the mums and babies could just give a bottle there and then have baby playing of their backs.
Reflux is hard as its a constant routine really. Everything has to be timed around feeding so he is upright for at least 30 mins after it.

So he had a cold which he is over and made me spiral into anxiety. Am getting help with that through anti depressants and feel like I can also handle the reflux a little more now. I was just super anxious every single second and especially at feeds.

He has improved slightly with omperzole. He is just on comfort milk the dr said to try aptamil which we have but not keen to be honest. He has never been a projectile vomiter but just more spit up and crying during his feeds. He is a bit more settled during feeding but he cries for 30 mins afterwards but I believe its colic as when you walk around with him and sway he goes quiet and goes to sleep after 20 mins.
He still hiccuping a lot especially after every feed.

I have spoken to Dr about cows milk allergy and they don't think it is as he has never had diarrhea or blood in stools, vomiting etc or any rashes. They believe its reflux and colic basically but said if in a couple months time he still same they will investigate it.

My HV has referred us to dietician but whether or not they will see us is the question.

I don't believe anti reflux formula will help as he gets constipated easily (hence why we on comfort milk) and he isn't bringing up much milk in fact it's more silent reflux really. We have bought carobel so we can thicken it a tiny bit if we need to. The gaviscon wasn't helping and made him constipated so dr said just come off it.
Am thinking of switching to Kendamil milk and thickening it up a tiny bit with the carobel as heard a few people say it helped with reflux babies.

He still won't only sleep on his front on our chests so we just have to take it turns. He won't even sleep next to me in bed co sleeping. Booked in with osteopath was meant to be this week but he off sick so going to be mid Jan now unfortunately.

Just hoping that we going through worse of it now as he is in that tough colic stage of 6-8 weeks.

I hope as he doesn't projectile vomit that when he can be weaned he will be much better with the reflux.

But at the moment just learning to cope and deal with it best way i can really.
He is putting weight on great because he likes his grub he has about 4/5oz every 4hrs. We have tried doing little and often but be would have 4oz every 2hrs and then make himself sick with reflux.

I really hope its not a cow milk allergy and that his reflux improves soon so hard to see him in discomfort.

Our baby is 4 weeks and exactly the same except exclusively breastfed, we are due to start omeprazole tomorrow (waiting for it to arrive at chemist) and I am really hoping it will help or not sure what I will do, its so sad to see my poor baby struggling so much.
Also I think she is constipated from the gaviscon, how long after stopping it did yours poo?

Another one saying could be cows milk allergy. We had a transformation within a day or so of switching to Nutramigen.

My daughter is now 15 and is on omeprazole for other things. Seems to be a v safe med, so says our ENT. It will take a few days to build up and work.

I know how you feel!! Dd1 was exactly the same. Difference was I couldn't get anything prescribed as no health care professional believed me how bad it was. One doctor actually said to me "all babies, some babies are sick a lot" and that was it!! I was a lot younger back then and didn't question it as she was my first I thought it was somewhat normal. Only when I had dd2 did I realise how bad it was. Tried the comfort milk and different brands of formula but it made now difference. It completely took over my life!! The washer was constantly on, went though several bibs, sheets, clothes (hers and mine!) everyday. I had to get rid of the pram because she couldn't lie flat after a feed, instead was always in a pushchair. It was relentless, and probably it what you want to hear but it went on for months. Everyone kept saying it would improve when she went onto solids, but it didn't, she would just vomit up her meals. Strange thing was she never lost any weight. When she was 12 months I was on the verge of a breakdown with it all, ended up in tears with a health visitor at her 1 year check. She told me when she learned to walk it would stop. And at 14 months it magically did!! Sorry I have no really advice for you, other than buy large bibs, but just wanted you to know you are not alone, it will get better and one day it will be a distant memory

Things may well have moved on since 3-4 years ago but I found this useful when talking to GP for my child. I think this was called the 'managing CMPA pathway' or similar.
Improvement was very swift with Nutramigen/Alfalmino where gaviscon/omeprazole etc hadn't done much alone.

Am going to go back after Christmas if no improvements as by then he be 10 weeks and near the end of the colic phase so to speak and on omperzole for a good while. I will then ask about trialling the milk and following that guide @mustangsallyis thank you for sharing that very helpful.

@Elmtreemama the constipation ended after a day. Plenty of tummy massages helped and been ok since. I hope the omperzole works for you fingers crossed.

@loulou198 so sorry you had such a horrendous time. I am lucky that he doesn't actually vomit milk just more a tiny bit spit up but he defo has silent reflux and when you lie him down even an hour or so after his feed a tiny bit of milk comes up. Its more the discomfort and hiccups after his feeds that gets me down.

The reason am thinking colic is to blame is he stops crying when you hold him and walk around. Sling been great but at 4am in morning walking around for 30 mins till he falls asleep rocking him is a nightmare especially as I live in a flat so my neighbours must hate us.