Advice on a poor feeding silent refluxer

[HLx]

Enzo is almost 10 weeks old and is a nightmare to feed, it's not his fault, blame the awful silent reflux!

I make him 6oz bottles, but he dont drink this much. Sometimes he does sometimes it's just 4oz.

He sleeps 10 hours at night, so its hard to get sufficient milk into him just from that alone, he has 4 bottles a day its impossible to add in a fifth bottle during the day, he just wont drink it. If he had 4 really good bottles a day, he would get enough, but as his ounces range so much, sometimes he gets just 16oz a day, sometimes he gets 20oz it just depends.

He sleeps so good at night though, I'm also wondering if I should do a dream feed before I go to bed, not to make him sleep longer, he sleeps amazing during the night, but just a bottle to get a bit more milk into his very little daily intake anyway.

I'm really at my wits end with the feeding and the reflux, I've tried it all, all the medications, all the feeding positions, trust me, everything I've ever known about reflux, I've tried, now his weight gain is slowing down.

Hes happy waiting 4 hours for feeds, should I just feed him little and often, or shall I wait until hes starving so he drinks more but also risk upsetting the reflux. I just dont know. I need your advice, your routines your help, ANYTHING so I can get this little man to drink sufficient milk during the day

 

[noon_child]

Is there any possibility that baby has a Tongue Tie? I've ready many first hand accounts of undiagnosed Tongue Tie causing reflux symptoms to be worse and uncontrollable with meds, or to be entirely caused by Tongue Tie. This is just anecdotal but as you have already tried positioning and medication I thought it might be worth mentioning incase it makes sense to you.

 

[OnErth&InHvn]

What does your dr say? Will they refer you to a GI dr?

When you say his weight is slowing, what do you mean? Not as much? Not as much as he used to? Falling off his curve?

 

[HLx]

Hi both, I haven't had his checked for tongue tie but I have looked myself and his tongue seems to be okay, you can actually hear the reflux in his throat, so I'm pretty sure its that, also allergies have been ruled out too because the symptoms doesnt quite fit!

The doctor has given us omeprazole to try and I collect that later, so hoping that helps, omeprazole works for me so hopefully works for him!

Hes not being referred I think they are trying all different medications first, and my health visitor did say that weaning at 17 weeks will be the next step if omeprazole doesnt work, but obviously that's 7 weeks away.

He fell slightly off his curve, he was following the 75th curve, but has dropped just under, not MASSIVE amounts, not enough to worry at this stage. I've recently discovered I need to feed him 3 hourly on the dot, he drinks more this way, if I wait for him to show more signs of hunger, the reflux gets quite painful the hungrier he gets (makes sense really, if im starving I get terrible heartburn then cant eat as much) so I find if he feeds every 3 hours, he drinks more than he would every 4 hours. Hes now taking between 4-6oz every 3 hours, which means a 5th bottle has been added to day bumping his daily intake back up to around 25oz! I'm so happy with this, and I'm hoping to see a better gain next week, hopefully even be back on his curve. In the past 4 days of doing this, he looks like hes put on weight just by sight and feel, his face has filled out again, so I think by doing this way we are on to something good, and hopefully with the omeprazole means he will start drinking a bit more and able to go 4 hourly feeds, but still taking the same out of milk a day if you know what I mean

 

[swedengirl]

Omeprazole worked wonders for my DD so hoping it will work for you too!

Have you also tried thickening his formula? My DDs dietitian got us to add cornflour to her milk and that also helped loads. Also avoiding milk based formula- even if not an allergy it can cause reflux. We were put on althera by prescription as it’s extremely expensive otherwise!

Hang in there! I feel your pain. Was an extremely tough time for me at this age and her not eating!

 

[HLx]

Omeprazole worked wonders for my DD so hoping it will work for you too!

Have you also tried thickening his formula? My DDs dietitian got us to add cornflour to her milk and that also helped loads. Also avoiding milk based formula- even if not an allergy it can cause reflux. We were put on althera by prescription as it’s extremely expensive otherwise!

Hang in there! I feel your pain. Was an extremely tough time for me at this age and her not eating!

Hi hun yes he has Carobel thickner to his feeds which works amazing also! I dont want to go switching milks again as he finally seems settled feeding every 3 hours instead of 4, so I dont want to go upsetting him again switching milks (if there isnt a reason to do so) each day is getting better just from doing the 3 hourly feeds, today so far he had 7oz at 8am, and 5.5oz at 11pm, which for him, is bloody fantastic, and that's without the omeprazole, I'm hoping when he starts that he could maybe stretch the 4 hours, take the same amount of milk and not be in pain, of not, without the omeprazole at the moment I feel like we've turned a corner, hes drinking so much milk at the moment, hes like a different baby! Only from feeding him an hour less than I normally would have, it makes no sense, but it's working!

 

[swedengirl]

Great hes feeding better! Fx it stays that way!

 

[Bevziibubble]

I'm glad he is feeding better now

 

[noon_child]

More frequent feeding makes total sense to me - I am a fellow GERD sufferer and while too much food makes me splutter, cough and feel like I have a golf ball in my throat, too little food is really painful. A hungry brain tell the stomach to make more acid ready for food - if the food doesn't come the acid really hurts!!

 

[HLx]

More frequent feeding makes total sense to me - I am a fellow GERD sufferer and while too much food makes me splutter, cough and feel like I have a golf ball in my throat, too little food is really painful. A hungry brain tell the stomach to make more acid ready for food - if the food doesn't come the acid really hurts!!

3 hourly feeds have been the winning ticket for me! Enzi drinks 5 or 6oz easily after 3 hours, but wait the 4 hours and he barely touches 3oz! So it makes complete sense!

Also I've had 2 very bad days with the fussiness and crying during feeds, during this time he was taking omeprazole, I've taken him off the omeprazole and hes back to normal 3 hourly feedings of no fussing and drinking a lot!

Any one have an idea why he was worse on the omeprazole? At this rate I'm thinking we can manage just on frequent feedings rather than medication, and as I use a thickner in his milk, it stops the acid travelling back up