Acid Reflux

[Sophie7822]

Hi all

I have a 9 week old baby who is suffering with acid reflux, I took him to the dr's and was prescribed infant gaviscon, I stopped giving it to him because it was making him constipated and I also wasnt sure if he definitely had reflux as a lot of his symptoms could be colic. Today I noticed that he had very sour breath when he was sick after feeding, he's also been very grumpy crying a lot and not settling. I took him back to the doctors today and was told that gaviscon is the only treatment available and I need to persevere, I mentioned that I thought ranitadine was a treatment but was told this would only be prescribed in severe cases and only by a consultant paediatrition. I feel that the visit to the doctors was a waste of time and i was just fobbed off. My baby has the following symptoms:

Doesnt sleep during the day, fights sleep and despite being knackered only sleeps for short periods.

Arches back

Cries for long periods and cant be comforted

Sick after most feeds, often its curdled

Looks like he is in pain when crying

Has frequent hiccups

Has had large weight gains and has wanted to feed frequently

Is often fussy when feeding, coming off the breast and crying

is generally unsettled and doesnt seem happy.

I'm obviously very concerned especially as this is my first baby, I wondered if anyone else has experienced this? Should I go back to the dr's and insist on him being prescribed something else?

I have tried all the other things for reflux like sitting him upright after feeds etc but this doesnt seem to make much difference.

I really need some support, im exhausted with the constant crying and feeling unable to comfort my baby...... HELP!!

Thanks

Sympathies and . My dts are now 6 months and they had all of these symptoms in the early days it was horrendous and I know you must be at the end of your tether. However....I too thought the Gaviscon was unhelpful and asked for Ranitidine was told would not be referred to hospital unless poor weight gain so decided to stick with it. It took a while but after putting it in every feed there was a gradual improvement we also put gripe water in every feed and after a few weeks they were much more settled. I found it hard to cope with the crying and was shattered and tbh really really down in the dumps (think totally and utterly like you couldnt believe). I would have a few breaks with help from my dm and mil (is that an option for you?). I would say I wish we had gone out more too as they would sleep better in the pram. Also I would try to keep telling myself 'this will pass'. You know what? It did and I honestly cant remember how worrying and awful it was. This will happen for you too but you already know that and it doesnt really help! So I would say just perservere with Gaviscona and Gripe water it does work but takes a while (see how he goes). Also every Friday night I would still do the walk up and down my living room with colicky babies but always made sure I had a glass of wine!

Also meant to say the gaviscon gave my dt2 terrible constipation but it was a small price to pay. My hv advised diluted oj which was fab but may be worth speaking to your hv regarding that?

You poor thing - and your DS, reflux is horrible. His symptoms sound a lot like my DS had and I remember 9-10 weeks or so being a real low point.

I would definitely go back to your GP. DS never had a problem with weight gain but was getting increasingly distressed when feeding and was sick a lot. We started on gaviscon which has helped somewhat but not stopped the sickness so I went back to the GP and said we needed more help as he was struggling. I do think some GPs either aren't familiar enough with it, or just don't take it too seriously as it's a self limiting condition - it'll get better all by itself in time. You might just have to be really insistent.

Ranitidine is an antacid which wont stop the sickness, but it should make it less uncomfortable and painful. They can also prescribe domperidone, which moves things through the stomach quicker so it has less time to be brought backup again. My GP wouldn't prescribe these but wanted DS to see a paediatrician, which I think is quite common, but the waiting list was 3 months so we managed to get a private appointment and were seen within a week. Obviously there's a cost to it, and not cheap at £200 or so, but the private doc wrote a letter to our GP with what to prescribe and it meant we got DS on medication more quickly. It has definitely helped - he is still sick most days but is not in any discomfort and he is such a calm contented baby now.

Other things that have helped, over time, have been keeping him upright, sleeping at an angle, pacing feeds (smaller and more frequent), and when DS started sitting up and now he's on solids there has been a difference. Your son will get better in time but I knew I couldn't have spent any more time than necessary seeing DS in pain. Although I hate him being on medication when he's so young, it has been totally worthwhile. But you may need to be really insistent.