Severe reflux, help please!

[Reflux101]

Hi everyone,

I have a 6 day old new baby, he is lovely but I’m concerned by the severity of his reflux symptoms...

Whilst sitting up in his baby chair, or being held upright he is fine. But then when I try to lay him down even for under a minute to change a nappy quickly he becomes so distressed... he starts grimacing, his face and body turn red and he’ll start writhing looking in a lot of pain and is just inconsolable. The same happens when we put him in his cot to sleep. This is after 40 minutes of holding him upright after a feed and burping him. Even whilst he’s still asleep he will start writing around, grimacing and whimpering in his sleep. The pain then wakes him within about 10 minutes and he will then be so unhappy. We take him out the cot at this point as he just gets progressively more unhappy.

So sleep wise this is very bad news for us. My husband and I have been dividing the night between us in 3 hour blocks, while one person sleeps the other holds our son upright. Needless to say we are exhausted. To try and make the cot more comfortable we’ve tilted it.

Has anyone had a baby with reflux that sounds similar to this? If so when did it start to improve. Also, it’d be good to hear from anyone who had a baby with reflux who also did not sleep in the crib due to their symptoms/ very frequent wakings due to reflux, and if so when did it improve?

Thanks everyone

My first had acid reflux. 6 weeks of screaming and frantic feeding and pulling away through feeds and no sleep and constant howling.
Took him to numerous gps who just fobbed me off with no help.
Saw a paediatric GP and she gave us ranitidine which is syrup syringed in 3x daily. Stopped the burning and he started sleeping better, still lots of reflux but not painful acid.
I'd recommend a gp visit, explain symptoms. They may suggest gaviscon or thickener (both useless our case) you can mention ranitidine and see if it's appropriate for your baby, I can't diagnose or say what to do, only what worked for us.

Good luck.
It's soul destroying. Don't be fobbed off though, it can be treated, if they say 'colic' run for the hills, it's a catch all garbage diagnosis.

Your baby is in discomfort for some reason. My second didn't have reflux but had hideous wind, really needed industrial style winding at night and would grunt and howl.
I drank fennel tea and avoided green veg as I was breastfeeding.
Not scientific but warm bath, stomach massage and winding like a crazy person.
They outgrew both of these dramas.
It will improve

Hi,

Thanks for your message. The situation with your first child does sound a bit like what we’re going through at the moment. It is really hard being in the middle of it, but I try to remember that most people talk about the severe end of the symptoms pretty much just in the first few months of a babies life so I’m hoping that should mean we do get through it - with medication too.

We have an appointment with a paediatrician in a week and a half so hopefully that will help. I think they were planning on a thickener, but hopefully if no luck with that we’d move onto ranitidine/ omeprazole quite quickly.

@Reflux101 I remember this time well with my now 2 year old, is was a very difficult time.
Great news that you have an appointment with a paediatrician, as it took months of gp appointments to get anywhere!
My DS was diagnosed with CMPA and reflux finally, and it got better when we were finally on the right medication and diet!
Just remember to keep pushing if you don't think what they offer is correct, and is not making a big improvement to your baby.