Baby nasally and upset at night..Is is silent reflux?

[Coffee247]

Hi, hoping someone can help or give me advice for my little girl (4 weeks old)

So we switched to formula at 1 week (cow and gate), she had awful trapped wind and was in pain so we got anti colic bottles, and at the same time moved to hipp milk (in hindsight I regret this and wish we'd just tried changing bottles first)

Wind stopped and she was pooping lots more on hipp and very happy. Now 2 weeks later were struggling at night but not with wind and she's pooping fine.

She's so happy and content during day and sleeps on her back fine. But from 11pm to 6am, she has started squirming, grunting, snorting (which I know is normal) but she is also super nasal and sounds very congested and is very upset and sounds like she has liquid/mucous in her mouth and nose. Sounds like a really bad cold . To me it sounds like she's struggling with silent reflux (my eldest had it and only ranitidine helped but her symptoms were a bit more obvious).

HV came out and just gave advice around getting rid of wind but Im in 2 minds if that's her issue. As she's sitting on me now she has squirmed grunted and proceeded to trump. But would that be causing the congested sound and the extra saliva, bubbles round her mouth?

She's been checked over by doctor who found no issues, and was very dismissive and said he didn't think we should do anything (easy for him to say when you're not even getting 20minute sleep overnight and have a visibly upset baby!) Prescribed gaviscon,only on first night but hasn't helped.

Wll give the gaviscon some time but does anyone have similar experience? I don't want to mess about switching milk lots but just not sure what to do now!

Just odd that during the day she's fine but it's like a light switch at night!

Thank you :)xx

Meant to add that only feeling at my wits end because overnight it is just constant, can't even get 10 mins sleep because it just doesn't stop and she gets upset. Husband is back at work next week and I have 2 other kids too.

She is ok if have her on me at night but I could never sleep with her on me,much too scared!

We do all the recommended things like keeping her upright, have raised cot (altho have jus read that's no longer recommended )

This sounds very similar to my 11 week old when she was 4/5 weeks and the doctor agreed silent reflux. We initially switched to anti-reflux formula which made her really constipated but did help massively with the silent reflux, so now we're using the carobel powder to thicken her regular formula instead of the pre-thickened anti-reflux one. It's taken a while to find the right balance of no reflux and no constipation but we got there eventually. Our GP prescribed the carobel, but I believe you can buy it online without a prescription. Hope things get better for you soon!

@ohsohopeful thank you, did your little one seem congested? She really has trouble at night where her airways just sound like she has a terrible cold :( but there is nothing there. so strange. But online it does say that's a symptom of reflux. I'll give the carobel a go. We have a call with a doctor tomorrow for a second opinion and also going to call the HV again in Monday x

This sounds like my daughter it was silent reflux and food allergies primarily cmpa and soya but she reacted to other foods in my diet too

@Superscientist thank you! Did you find anything helped with the reflux?

Happy, content and sleeps during the day suggests against reflux to me. My baby couldn’t be put down at any time or else he would be distressed.

Is your baby over stimulated during the day? Colic is quite common at this age and is thought to be linked to early migraine from over stimulution (which really isn’t much at all for a baby).

Yes she sounded very congested and also like she had a sore throat. She still has a little dry cough and sounds snuffly sometimes when we don't get the balance of carobel right. Agree with pervious poster about being difficult to settle at any time, this was how she was with untreated silent reflux, however now that we've thickened her formula she's much more content but does still struggle in the evenings sometimes. Our HV said that often babies with silent reflux have an even more immature digestive system, and that by evening she's still got a build up of gas from the day (despite us doing all of the suggested burping after each ounce, staying upright etc), so there's still an element of her just needing to grow out of it. You can certainly treat some of the more severe symptoms though. Good luck!

My daughter started with reflux by 10 days in the first weeks it only caused her discomfort at night by 4 months she was screaming 16-20h a day. Since she could sit up her reflux has solely bothered her at night although we can hear her reflux during the day. She's 3.5 and this is still the case.

My daughter has stubborn reflux that requires a lot of medication still aged 3

We got it under control with high dose omperazole, gaviscon, domperidone and removing all of her allergens from mine and her diets

@TheSnowyOwl it has actually started during the day now today too. No she's not overstimulated during day at all she sleeps well and it's the fact she's congested and sounds like she has something around her airways that is waking her up, so it's more of a physical symptom. I'm hoping the call with the doc tonight will shed some light on things x

Had the same experience with my little girl. 3 weeks ago I noticed she had reflux. She was really unsettled, arching back, hiccuping, coughing, sneezing, wheezy, rolling tongue and sticking it out constantly, being sick and crying. I spoke to the GP who gave us Carobel sent us to A&E. They suspected CMPA and prescribed nutramigen 1. Dr wasn’t interested in listening to my concerns with reflux as she had gained weight and told us to stop the Carobel.

She continued to display symptoms that were worsening and ended up in hospital for 2 days as she was constantly vomiting. She inevitably lost weight. Was prescribed Carobel again alongside pure amino milk. This stopped the sickness but she ended up with silent reflux, I noticed an awful acidic smell from her mouth, her crying was becoming inconsolable.

I spoke to my GP again and pleaded for some reflux medicine. She prescribed omeprazole. Currently 2 days in with the new medicine and I have noticed a difference already. Have been given a follow up appointment with a paediatrician and nutritionist. My advice would be stick to your guns, you know your child best and keep fighting until you’re given something that works for your baby!

@DavFow aw im so glad your little one is doing better now, how scary for you all with the hospital visits!

We actually ended up booking a private GP cause the GP I saw was so dismissive. Experience was night and day.

Lovely lady suggested it might be cmpa or reflux and to try special milk first (as it can also cause the reflux).

On day 3 and the difference is unbelievable. She's gone from not going for more than 5mins on her back without getting, sounding nasal and crying to having just slept 9pm til 4am the last 2 nights wiithout a peep (dream feed in between)

She is still a bit grunty and congested sounding between 4am and 6am but it is still early days.

I feel so lucky that we happened to have the private gp option through our health insurance! Can't be certain it is cmpa but the fact there was difference that night seems to point to it. She has none of the other symptoms, poos fine etc which I think means it's harder to spot.

Xx

Aw thank you!

I’m glad you’ve seen a big difference for your little one too. It’s so upsetting as they can’t tell you what’s wrong. Fingers crossed it’s all sorted for you 😊 x