Parents of reflux babies... any advice?

[haleysunshine32]

Hi everyone, I have a 2 week old baby boy and his reflux has steadily gotten worse to the point we had zero sleep last night, between every feed (he's currently breastfed) he just choked, coughed, vomited etc. I know I'm supposed to keep him upright for at least 30 mins after every feed but I'm finding myself almost falling asleep holding him which I know is dangerous!

Any advice/tips for coping? E.g. Any good suggestions on potential medication to make him more comfortable?

Thanks

So sorry you and your wee one is going through this, reflux is just awful. It does usually resolve on its own once they get bigger but most don’t fully resolve until weaning but some things can help :) all is not lost, my son was in so much pain eventually the only thing that worked was Omperazole!
I am a HV and the Non medical management advice that we give as first line would be:

• keep upright for 30 mins after feed
• feed in an upright position, so if breastfeeding rugby ball hold is good
• trying to get a good burp after every feed, stopping mid feed to burp etc (infacol if your struggling with this)
• raising head of the next to me crib so their head is slightly elevated
• smaller feeds rather than large ones. This can be difficult as they often like to feed for comfort and because it helps with the pain but can make reflux worse if too long taking in large volumes of milk.
• dummy can be very helpful also.
• look up the tiger in the tree hold, it’s amazing for settling them

Medication wise:

• infant gaviscon
• usually omeprazole if no improvement.

Get in contact with your HV or GP for a review they should be able to help too :)

Thank you TiredMummy101! All this advice is really helpful. X

I can really empathise as my son had reflux as a newborn and it was hard! He had more silent reflux so we had a lot of the choking episodes which were very scary. He had a tongue tie and poor latch which added to the reflux - has your boy been checked for one?

Holding him upright for 30 minutes and burping him for pretty much that whole time was the main thing that helped along with a dummy! We used infacol for quite a while that helped to an extent. I know how hard it is though in the night to feed and then hold upright for 30 minutes whilst trying not to fall asleep. I watched tv shows on my iPad to help me stay awake as much as I could. In the end I started setting alarms on my phone when I began feeding so even if I did fall asleep I would be woken up not long after by the alarm!

Things that didn't help us were Gaviscon - it upset his stomach so much and caused bowel problems and it was just awful side effects for us with absolutely no improvement on the reflux. I also found that stopping feeding halfway through to burp didn't help - when they unlatch they take in more air which makes reflux worse and my son would cry as he wasn't finished so again taking in more air. I also never elevated the cot which my HV advised as it doesn't follow safe sleep guidance so I was worried too and I didn't actually need to in the end.

It does get better! As they get older it improves and it will disappear completely as well eventually!

God I remember those days OP, it's brutal, hang in there. For tonight, sleep in shifts so you each take a period of holding the baby and then you can get some sleep. Won't be much if you're breastfeeding but you do need sleep.

Try infacol but it can make reflux worse so watch out for that.

The only thing that worked for my DD was a medication that is no longer available but there are other options. Speak to your GP tomorrow. Stress the impact on the baby, reflux can just mean lots of spitting up which isn't a problem in itself. You need to make it clear the way the baby is affected - mine was obviously in pain.

I worked as a receptionist for a cranial osteopath for a couple of years and she had great success with reflux babies - so much so that the local public health nurses used to send desperate Mums to her. The average was about 3 sessions.