Help first time mum, has my baby got reflux?

[SophNx]

I’m a FTM to a 3 week old baby girl. She is on Cow and Gate formula. I’m really struggling and feeling like I’m failing as her mum at the moment. she just seems so unhappy and I don’t know why. I have read a few things and think this possibly could be reflux but I’m not sure.

She hardly sleeps I’m talking long periods awake like 6 hours and when she tries to nap she wakes herself up like she has discomfort or pain and I can see how tired she is, she really fights it. I have tried swaddling which works to some extent sometimes. She is also so noisy especially at night time. I know newborns are noisy but she makes such strange noises like grunting, moaning, throwing arms around, clenching up and like she’s trying to get something out her throat. She sticks her tongue out and in all the time. Regarding being actually sick she is sometimes however not all the time maybe once a day or once every two days but it is projectile and a lot of sick. She tends to cry on and off and seems uncomfortable most of the day but sometimes she will intensely cry very loudly for around 10 mins like she is in pain.

Does anyone have any experience of anything like this? It’s really upsetting me now and I feel like I should go to the GP as something feels like this is not normal.

Could be, my daughter had silent reflux and was rarely sick, but didn’t sleep and was uncomfortable a lot of the time. She would only sleep when held upright after a feed.

She was given gaviscon and had a six hour nap straight after the first dose!

We have this and took my daughter to the doctor we changed formula for reflux which is thicker, the doctor suggested gaviscon but don't use reflux food and gaviscon as this can cause constipation but both do similar the gaviscon seemed to cure everything and the colic will pass, just do what you can you sound like you are!

My son had silent reflux and I remember how hard it was. The fact that you’re battling to get her to sleep after hours and hours says a lot.

We did three things that helped. Firstly, we got him assessed for a tongue tie, which turned out to be severe and was giving him a bad latch. We had this released, then we swapped his bottles from Tommee Tippee to Dr Browns on the advice of professionals. Tommee Tippee, while great for newborns, cause a lot of reflux. If your budget doesn’t stretch to these, MAM bottles are good too.
Lastly, he was put on a prescription for liquid omeprazole. This is quite difficult as it’s a crazy expensive medicine so GPs are reluctant to prescribe it. Baby Gaviscon works too, but it can cause constipation.

Just to reassure you, even if you do nothing, the reflux will go away over time. I was deep into PND at the time and was desperate for something to improve, which is why we made so many changes. I promise you, you are not failing. You are doing great - it’s just challenging at the moment, but it will get better and easier.

This is great advice. Please everyone be careful of using omeprazole though it is being currently looked into for making babies prone to fractures causing fragility, we know of a mother that baby had this and it was found to be a contributing factor for why she was in court with a baby with fractures. Just do lots of research before putting them on this. Gaviscon infant doesn't have this warning, gaviscon which isnt the infant type also has this issue. I can't recommend mam bottles enough also