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Babies with reflux - please help

8 replies

whensmydayoff · 16/01/2010 16:05

Im absolutely gutted to realise my new DD (nrly 5) has got reflux. My DS had it and it made life hell.

He was 5 months before it was diagnosed and i was given medication (losec - Omeprazole). I just gave him it out of desperation as he wasn't feeding at all at that point.

My DD however feeds CONSTANTLY so it hadn't occured to me that was the problem. She is piling on the weight which was the oposite of my DS.

This week has been hell. She is increasingly windy, being sick now, screaming, and I mean screaming, in real pain. High pitched. Writhing around, rigid, purple and sweating with all the exertion. I can see that she is feeding too much, not giving herself time to digest but just wants the comfort of the breast. The more milk that goes in though, the more pain she is obviously in.

She put on 1lb 8oz last week .

Cannot lie flat so is on our chests all night. Cant sleep for more than an hour before the pain wakes her. Really irratable when trying to feed her, especially on the right.

Its all classic signs.

Poor little thing is so exhausted - and so are we!!

Thing is, the medication is horrible. I think you give it at every feed or maybe at least 4. Its cooled boiled water with a nasty tasting tablet in it. What is the point in breast feeding if im going to give her water and medication with everyfeed, wiping out all the good flora the breastmilk is meant to provide.

Tell me there's something better, more natural. I keep reading about ColicCalm but dont know if its an internet sales gimic.

I know all the other stuff, rising moses basket up at one end. Keeping baby upright for 30 mins after a feed. That is a joke, we are calming her for hours after, theres no chance we are putting her down!
Im even going to eliminate dairy from my diet but apparently it can take 3 weeks to improve things and ive just started today.

HEEEEELP, I can't do another 5 months of this and I dont like seeing her suffer.

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
whensmydayoff · 16/01/2010 16:06

Nrly 5 weeks - not 5 lol

OP posts:
foxinsocks · 16/01/2010 16:14

are you assuming she has it based on how your ds reacted? because this sort of age is when they do start waking up a bit and screeching isn't it!

sympathies as both mine had it and I was devastated when ds had it too (after dd!).

I hope the breastfeeders don't come and bash me because I know everyone says you can't over feed a breast fed baby but I found, with a baby with reflux, you can over feed them, not necessarily in volume but just not leaving enough space if that makes sense. I'm not suggesting you cut how much she feeds but can you try and leave a bit more space between the time she's feeding so that she's not just adding feed on top of feed because I've found this does really hurt them. This is just from my experience with 2 refluxy babies.

Don't put her down till an hour after her last feed (I know this is hard but just keeping them up a bit longer can mean she might lie down in the cot!)

GoldenGreen · 16/01/2010 16:19

DS' reflux wasn't as bad as this, but we did find if we gave him a dummy after his feeds he would suck for 10 or 20 mins and it really seemed to help him - might be worth a try and help with the spacing out of feeds?

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foxinsocks · 16/01/2010 16:23

yes good point golders. Ds (2nd reflux baby) found his thumb very quickly and that certainly helped.

Btw both mine had milk allergies. Dd's was quite serious but ds had his for about the first year I think then outgrew it.

leclerc · 16/01/2010 16:24

dd1 was a refluxy bf - we found (along with all the other stuff) that a dummy helped her - no idea why, but it cut out the over-feeding for comfort issue. we introduced the dummy at about 6 weeks iirc - we weren't in the uk, but i remember the meds being a faff. they did help though.

you do have my sympathy - ds1 was fine, but dd2 had lots of problems inc reflux which really only time worked out. she has cp and at one point we could only feed her at night as she couldn't co-ordinate her muscle tone to feed during the day. she was also unable to bf but at least that made it easier with meds! feeding/ digestion issues are the worst. with dd2 the infant gaviscon seemed to help with the screaming, but she was still clearly uncomfortable...

i think there are now a few better reflux meds you can try, but always a faff with bf...

whensmydayoff · 16/01/2010 16:44

Thanks everyone. Totally agree re spacing the feeds. They do need time to digest or all hell brakes loose. Its harder at night though as she is so desperate to feed.
Have dummy and still trying to persevere but she gets about 5 mins soothing from it then she's off again.

Dreading tonight

OP posts:
Bigmumma09 · 16/01/2010 16:45

Hi, My DS had terrible reflux till he was about 11 months then went on to have stomach migrains and has only just starting to get over it (2 and a half now).

He was BF too, i do think try a dummy inbetween feeds if you havent already and lie her on her stomach (queue the frowns) i know its seems crazy at this age but i had to when DS was about 6weeks old because the last thing a bubs wants is to be laid down on its back when it has severe indigestion, he changed so quickly, i tended to lay him down on his tummy in the day so i could see him then we co slept quite alot and it worked for us we all got sleep!!

Also ask for Ranitidine its for reflux and worked wonders for my DS.

HTH xx

lobsters · 16/01/2010 17:05

I second the ranitidine suggestion, it certainly worked for us. In our case the reflux was causing sleep apnea and Domperidone helped with that. We found sitting her in a bouncy chair also helped when you needed to keep her upright, she seemed to be able to relax in it.

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