Any Reflux experts on here?

[devon_91x]

My LO is constantly crying in pain and we have always assumed its colic, but nothing seems to be helping her. We took her to a pediatrican last week who said its colic AND reflux. She gave us some infant gaviscon sachets for her milk but that seems to have been making her more sick, bringing up like a whole oz of her milk after feeds, so i stopped giving them too her but she is still being quite sick.

She arches her back all the time and hates being in the cradle posistion. When she arches her back she also kicks her legs out and just screams in pain. Shes also starting to scream half way through feeds. She isnt really violently sick but i seem to always need to keep a bib on her as she vomits bits up throughout the day, even hours after a feed. In the past few days she has gone from drinking 4oz every 4hrs, to 7oz every 4hrs so i think she is going through a bit of a growth spurt at the moment, but still the same symptoms going on. She is currently on C&G Comfort milk but i was thinking of trying SMA Staydown. Has anyone had experience with this? I have read that it is difficult to make up, you have to give cool milk? At the moment i pre milk bottles, put them in the fridge and just microwave when needed but im guessing i cant do this with SMA staydown? Or is there any other anti reflux milk worth trying? Will it make my LO constipated? ANY advice on reflux and milk is muchly appreciated, thank you!

 

[Ktothema]

We tried SMA staydown before we got ds onto gaviscon, so totally the other way! It really helped him but only for a week sadly. We're still in the first week of gaviscon so am reserving judgement on that so far.

With the constipation issue I think it'll depend totally on your child. Neither the formula nor the gaviscon appears to be constipating ds though his poops were definitely more formed. I'd say to keep an eye out for it.

SMA staydown is a complete faff to make. If you live in a hard water area it doesn't seem to mix well, and the starch bits can clog teats easily. I was happy to use it whilst it helped ds but I'm far happier to see the back of it to be honest. Its not a formula you can pre make. It needs to be mixed with fridge cold water and rolled (shaking can clump it). I found it best to make it an hour ahead, roll it then use a milk frother to mix it further, stir with a fork to return it to liquid and let it sit to come up to room temperature. Any heating then the clogging got worse.

I'm not sure if c&g comfort is a thicker milk but if so you should be fine with the same teats, if not you may need to go up a teat size. Cow and gate do their own anti reflux formula (in boots) as do aptamil, and they both seem similar to each other. As far as I can tell they thicken in the bottle and mix better than staydown. But I have no Kerala knowledge of them.

 

[devon_91x]

Thank you I've been put off SMA Staydown now! Are all anti reflux milks like this?

 

[Ktothema]

The aptamil and cow and gate ones have carob gum as a thickener which is what carobel is, and that's sometimes prescribed for reflux babies. Sma has a corn startch, like enfamil ar (another thing sometimes prescribed). The others are mixed with fridge cold water again and have to be left for 7 minutes to thicken (not great for a night feed or if baby is very hungry obviously). I dont think you can pre make any of them. But from the googling I did neither appear to have the teat clogging issue, and cow and gate seems to get rave reviews.

I wouldn't say don't try staydown, it may be the miracle sure for you! We only tried staydown ourselves as its in supermarkets wheas the other two are only really in boots. However, if we weren't in a rush desperate to try anything that night I think I'd have gone for the cow and gate version.

Have you been able to go back to a GP about the reflux? My GP was very up front about gaviscon not being the cure for everything baby but it's a good start, so to go back if it doesn't improve or help as there're other things to try.

 

[holidaysan]

We used SMA staydown and it was brilliant. Helped LO's reflux loads. We just mixed it with room temperature water and stirred with a weaning spoon. I then warmed it up a little in the microwave and it was fine. It was never lumpy. We managed to get it on prescription aswel x

 

[holidaysan]

Oh and a lot of babies get constipated on it. It doesnt last forever though. I gave LO a spoonful of pure orange and it sorted him out.

 

[holidaysan]

Just wanna add some more lol. I actually found it better than normal milk. You don't need to premake. You can just have bottles of room temp water and just add powder when needed. So much easier when out aswel.

 

[devon_91x]

Thanks guys. I popped to boots yesterday and bought the cow and gate anti reflux. Its deffo helped with the sick but she is still in pain and arching her back FX i see better results soon. The only thing is the milk is really frothy when i make it up, is that normal?

 

[Ktothema]

You can stir the milk with a fork or spoon slowly and that should return it back to milk from froth. Hope it works out for you and lo.

 

[Lil_Apple]

The Cow and Gate comfort milk (not sure if this is the same the 'stay down') has really helped my son to settle after a feed and he sometimes brings some up but its not everytime like it was on the standard sma. Best of luck x