CMPA/Reflux - when will it get better!?

[TeainanIV]

Regular Mumsnet users will probably have seen my posts over the last few weeks regarding my tricky 2nd DD! Since she was about three weeks old her reflux has been awful, and just got worse and worse. She is now 8.5 weeks old and the reflux has reached a peak - and ended up in a trip to hospital over the weekend to rule out any potentially issues with her oesophagus. We are constantly covered in sick, she's not a happy baby and we get zero sleep as she cannot lie flat at all. It's been horrendous and we are at our wits end. BUT, I'm hoping there is light at the end of the tunnel as the doctor seems certain it's a dairy allergy and I've now cut dairy from my diet completely.

I'm not new to CMPA - my eldest daughter also had CMPA and an egg allergy (egg allergy only identified once weaning began at 6 months) and she has now pretty much grown out of both allergies (she's 3.5 years old). However, my DD2 has symptoms far more severe than my eldest ever did so I feel like it's all brand new again. Now that I've cut the dairy out of my system, how long do you think it will be until the reflux stops? Particularly the vomiting (which my eldest never really did, her symptoms were all gastro and silent reflux) - I can't cope much more with the endless changing of clothes and feeling like I constantly stink of baby sick!! It's awful!

I'm also praying that this will help her sleep and we'll finally be able to get her to do some stints in her next to me 🙏🏼 (just in time for the 4 month sleep regression knowing our luck!!)

Honestly cannot believe how challenging DD2 has been so far - everyone told me it's easier with your second!!

I've been trying to master the koala hold today but struggling, will keep persevering though as can see it'll be really helpful in easing the reflux! Just tricky as she still struggles to support her head - and my breasts are quite large so I'm worried I'm smothering her 🙈

My boy was awfully vomity too. Plus double figures of dirty nappies every day. He couldnt be laid down to sleep at all. We went from 15 dirty nappies to 4 in 48 hours cutting dairy then a similar amount of time hugely reduced his vomiting when i also cut out soy. He is 2 now and still a little sensitive to uncooked dairy but it's nothing to write home about. Sleep was terrible for the first year. He was 9 months before he'd sleep next to me rather than on me. @TeainanIV I have a completely unused wedge to prop up the mattress in a next to me cot. I never got anyway close to getting him in it. If you want it, PM me!

Oh god we're the same here on the nappy changes - we go through so many a day!! Maybe I need to consider cutting soya too. I never did with DD1 but I did have to be careful with beef - she'd also react badly to that too. Only in the last year has she been able to stomach beef mince.

I feel like DD2s nappies have gotten worse today, day three of dairy free! I actually googled whether symptoms can worsen before they improve and it brought up an old Mumsnet post that I wrote (under an old username) about DD1 when she was a baby 🤣 I had to laugh as it really feels like I've come full circle now!!

Thank you so much for the offer of the wedge! We've actually got a wedge that attaches to the base of the next to me - although, like you said, we've yet to manage to get her to sleep in it yet!!

Me again... Posting here for some solidarity as I'm really struggling and feeling so low. I'm just over two weeks dairy free and one week soya free. Baby girl is 11 weeks tomorrow and, whilst initially there was some improvement, things are just as bad if not worse with her reflux. We're back to constant night wakings screaming, hiccuping, coughing and spluttering. She is drooling constantly at the moment which isn't helping, and lots of silent reflux as well as bringing up curdled milk. I've had her assessed for tongue tie with the hospitals infant feeding team - they think there's no tongue tie there. I've practiced different feeding positions, had her latch checked, I'm now trialling cutting beef from my diet too (although I hardly ever eat red meat anyway). I'm at my wits end, she is so screamy. I went for a walk earlier, she fell asleep in the pram for 25mins and woke up hysterical and stayed that way for the next 20mins until I could get somewhere to feed her. The only thing that soothes her is my boob in her mouth!! Can babies just be refluxy?! With no reasoning behind it?? I am finding it so tough, not enjoying it at all - and I miss my eldest DD so much, she's such a good big sister but told me last night she misses me and wishes I could stay with her at bath time (I ended up having to feed DD2 as she was losing it on DH) and my heart broke a little 😭. I know it will eventually get better, my eldest was awful with silent reflux. I just really really thought (or hoped) that our second baby would be more settled/not have the same issues...!

Have they offered any treatment for the reflux? My daughters reflux is in addition to her allergies and if anything is harder to manage than her allergies she's 4 and still has both. Her reflux is really stubborn and only responds to the highest doses of omperazole, domperidone and infant gaviscon - she had to have lactulose when a baby due to the gaviscon constipation but she's not needed that since about 8-9 months.

About 10% of cmpa babies react to beef - with my daughter we have even had to eliminate sausages in beef casing and gelatine - often it's not specified so she can only have gelatine if specified "vegan/vegetarian"

My daughter has a lot of allergies that took a long time to identify. It might be time to start some food diaries. I found it easier to spot trends by eating the same ingredients for 3 or 4 days and then switching things up.

The infant feeding team assessed my daughter 3 times for tongue tie and said no but from being about 18 months it has become quite obvious that she doesn't have as much dexterity with moving her tongue up and down as she does in and out. The middle of her tongue doesn't reach the roof of her mouth. It's very mobile in and out which is what they looked at. I think she might have a slight tie that was missed, even if it's not a tie I no longer have faith that her 3 tongue tie assessments adequately assessed her for tongue tie.

She's been on infant gaviscon for a while now but it's making no difference to the reflux and caused constipation. The GP said they wouldn't prescribe omeprazole until the tongue tie had been ruled out - which it now has. I really didn't want to give omeprazole but I think we may have to as I can't cope with the constant screaming and seeing her in so much pain 😫. It just feels so relentless at the moment, I don't think I can cope if she has loads of allergies!!

Definitely go back for omperazole and accept lactulose if the gaviscon if helping but causing constipation. We spent from 6 and 18 weeks on and off gaviscon trying to find the amount of gaviscon that helped but didn't cause constipation. She was on 9 sachets a day at her peak and it did help and the lactulose is quite a gentle stool softener.

My daughter is certainly in the minority of children with the amount of allergies she has. We struggled to get on top of them whilst her reflux wasn't properly treated and we struggled to get to top of her reflux whilst she was still reacting to food so we had to tackle them both together. Ultimately I couldn't manage her diet and my diet whilst breastfeeding and she went onto formula at about 10-11 months

It's hard giving your baby medication but my daughter has no quality of life when her reflux isn't properly treated. When she was 4 months she had development issues and scored really poorly in her 4 month assessment. This turned out to be as a consequence of the under treated reflux and the undiagnosed allergies. She was 17-18 weeks before she smiled and turned to sounds.

My daughter improved when she was able to sit up unassisted, for her this was around 5 months (surrounded by cushions).

Holding on to this at the moment, my eldest was similar. My DD2 has been so much worse than she was as this age though so I'm worrying it'll never get better 🙃. Hoping we're just in the trenches at the moment

I know, I definitely have my own issues around medication just because of how badly my eldest reacted to it. Logically I know DD2 is a different baby and so many not necessarily react the same way. It's reaching a point now where I think we'll have to as I can't stand seeing her in pain and the screaming is really impacting my own mental health too. Between the flare ups she's such a happy little girl and we are getting smiles. It's just rough going, and tummy time is nonexistent as she just brings up curdled milk constantly and gets so irate. I'm sorry that you had such a tough time with your daughter, it sounds as though it was unbelievably hard but what an incredible mother she has - so pleased you've found her triggers now and her quality of life is so much better. Thank you for all your advice xx