Colic/Acid Reflux; What worked for you?

[fairygirl]

Sorry this could be long, as the title suggests I'm after advice and opinions.

We had feeding problems with DS and at about 12weeks old I questioned if it was silent reflux and eventually got Gaviscon which seemed to help.

Now on to DD. She was feeding very slowly from the Nuk style teats that came with the C&G starter pack, was even worse with actual Nuk teats, both silicone and latex (wanted to try these as oppose to the TT that I thought caused some of my son's problems), tried TT slow and vari flow and settled on Avent Natural as she will actually get milk from these and can really guzzle when she wants.

But, she started getting tummy ache/colic/trapped wind and a touch of acid reflux. Pulling her legs to tummy, going red in the face, struggling to burp, hiccups, squirming during sleep, grunting and not liking being laid flat. So we tried her on Infacol, just as with my son colic drops have aggravated the reflux. Last night was the worst, so much pain the second I tried to get her to lay flat. At its worst she refuses to be laid flat, has to be fed upright, winded every ounce but hard to get wind up, wet hiccups, squeals, grunts, chokes on feed, desperate guzzles on feed, wheezy, arches back, goes rigid and stretches legs out, pulls legs to chest like wind, occasionally foams at mouth, prefers to be held, sometimes sucking on my finger helps (we haven't gone down the dummy route yet) but last night she even refused that! I'm sure I will think of more. I was trying to cluster feed to encourage sttn as it worked brilliantly with my son, but what if that has made it worse too?

What do I try now? Feeding upright helps, as does not shaking the bottle. Do I spend more on bottles (DH is VERY against this) and try Dr Browns? Try C&G Comfort? Hipp? Colief? A dummy! Or will Gaviscon be the most help? Or a combination of above?

I'm so confused and not the most patient with trial and error (and awfully tbh I haven't got the £ to keep changing things but of course will spend what needs be regardless)

 

[Nessicle]

H2 inhibitor like ranitidine is the only thing that worked. Weaning eventually got rid of it for her. All "colic" remedies aggravate acid reflux as they trigger production of acid. Gripe water helped a little as its an antacid

 

[Feebster1]

Hi honey,

We had very similar problems with grace from 4 days old she was on gaviscon but although it helped she was still terrible with colic and sickness, 2 hours of walking the floors to get her to sleep for 4!

At about 6 weeks we swapped to the c&g comfort milk and that was the biggest change we had, almost like a different baby, far more comfortable.

Eventually at 3 months the acid peaked and you could actually smell it so several visits and doctors in a 10 day period got us the omeprozole and a consultant.

She is now off the omeprozole again but still has the comfort milk with gavsicon, tried to revert back to 1st milk but it only took one bottle for me to know it wasnt a good idea!! So comfort milk will be it till the end!

I also tried the dr browns bottles at hv suggestion which only served to make matters worse so back to tom tipp it was. Bascially she has had tom tipp bottles with the variflow teat since 2 months old and thats what she likes. Even with the thickness of the comfort plus gaviscon it works for her.

I would suggest the comfort milk, sounds to me like the wee one needs something to settle her stomach. Dont think its worth trying another bottle type although you may need to alter the teats for the comfort milk and gaviscon as it will be fairly thick, i would suggest the variflow in whatever bottle type as i think it allows baby more control once they get used to it.

Let me know how you get on honey, its very stressful i know but you will get there!

 

[cocosianelle]

Gripe water was a god send during times like these with our LO as soon as she had it would bring up a burp or some sick that seemed to be stuck and she would fall asleep afterwards.

I have to say I didn't notice a massive difference with C&G comfort but then again our LO has just been diagnosed with a milk allergy so no shop bought formula is good for her anyway.

How are her bowel movements?

 

[fairygirl]

We've gone for the Dr Browns and Comfort milk. Only problem is yet again she is struggling with teats, the feed barely comes out with even the level 3. I've poked a bigger hole in one just so she could get some milk and asked my sister to try and find the Y shape or Boots own vari-flow.

Her bowel movements had just got a bit firmer and she strains even though it doesn't look constipated. They were runny for a while. I noticed what looked like blood yesterday when she did a nappy filler. So another reason I want to try new things.

Forcing up a burp leads to the reflux issue so very frustrating!

 

[Feebster1]

Hey,

Wee note of warning, i tried the boots own y cut teats for grace as boots said they were the same but had ordered the real doc browns ones online anyway. Grace just couldnt get the milk out of the boots own brand and when the real docs ones arrived the difference in the softness of rubber was huge, boots own were very tough in comparison and as she had never been a string sooker she just couldnt cope. In the end the docs own ones didnt work for us either but boots own were really quite different, even the y cut hole isnt as big as on the orginals.
That was with comfort and gaviscon too, makes it sooo thick!

However wee ones poo problems should be ok with that milk and gavsicon as the milk fights constipation but gavsicon causes it so they balance each other out.

Also if it helps we ended up with just 2 amounts of bottles as too much gavsicon just makes it impossible to drink or too little isnt effective enough.
We ended up on 6oz bottles with one side of a dual sachet and when she got bigger it was a 9oz bottle with the full dual sachet. This seems to have always given her a steady balance of the drug and kept on top of things. Doc told us more than once that when over 5oz we should put the full sachet in but when we tried it she refused to drink it, too thick.
HV then told us to measure it with common sense and find what worked for her, which we did and things were much better! Granted sometimes there is a waste of milk but i didnt care as long as she was happier!

Sorry for the long rambling but hoping some of my experiences with this might help you resolve wee ones issues quicker and give you tips to try.

Good luck and if i can help anymore just give me a shout, let me know how you get on.

 

[fairygirl]

We ended up on the Avent ones because everything else was too tough, but she was taking air in at the sides despite how 'natural' they look.

 

[Nessicle]

All babies act as though they're struggling to poo it's because their pelvis floor isn't developed/string enough to push and its something they learn to do over time x

 

[Nessicle]

We ended up on the Avent ones because everything else was too tough, but she was taking air in at the sides despite how 'natural' they look.

We started with Avent natural but he has a tongue tie so was asking in a ton if air. The teats are pretty hard too. Best were dr browns but I find comfort a load f rubbish anyway so never bothered with that this time just stuck with first x

 

[fairygirl]

Quick update: We are getting on well with the Browns Y teats. She is taking feeds quick and easy. The teats are amazingly soft. I also have no idea why people make all this fuss about being difficult to clean? As I only have 2 I wash the used one whilst the kettle boils and put it in Milton after taking the sterilised one out. No problems with leaks as I stir with a spoon (do half boiled water, add powder, stir then top up with cooled boiled water).
I'm unsure on the Comfort formula. It gives her wind! Mostly comes out the other end and smells foul. She takes ages to poo, like she empties completely but she was like that when first born anyway. She is still squirming loads whilst she sleeps. Hiccups and burps sound a lot drier though and bother her less. She only burps half way through her feed though and can't get anymore up. Started gripe water today to try and tackle that and after just a couple of bottles (I use a dummy shaped medicine syringe before feed) she is passing wind in her sleep but more relaxed if that makes sense.
I've put blankets under her mattress too so she is more upright but thankfully it seems it really was the Infacol irritating her mild reflux and we haven't had any melt downs. Or maybe the thicker milk is helping too

Eta: this evening not so good. Woke up squirming then after feed her tummy is bubbling and wet burps. Really uncomfortable then projectile vomit :sigh: Gripe water made my son sick, maybe she isn't ready for it?

 

[fairygirl]

I think I'm going to have to give up on the gripe water. She was so uncomfortable after this mornings feed, thankfully she seems ok now so it passed quickly.

 

[Feebster1]

At least things seem to be improving a little. Any progress is better than none and maybe as the days go on it will get better again.

grace was terrible with gripe water as well, infacol didnt do much either so we eventually found that she was actually much better with only winding her at the end of a feed. she started complaining and fussing if i took bottle away while still eating!!

hopefully your lo will be over the worst of it now

 

[Nessicle]

Personally I'd stop the comfort it can cause bad bellyache in some babies. Go back to first milk, and I'd see the doctor for a h2 inhibitor it will be the acid making her squirm in pain honey people assume its wind but farting doesn't cause all that pain every day xx

 

[RebaRezzelba]

My son had reflux - projectile vomited after nearly every feed. After trying a few different formulas and bottles I ended up getting formula on prescription from the Dr called enfamil AR - it was a god send. I started using the Dr browns bottles too which all helped. He was a different baby after that!!

My new baby is just on Aptimal formula with the same Dr browns bottles and he hardly had wind or even burps - I think those bottles are great.

 

[fairygirl]

It's still very hit and miss here. The squirming in her sleep is still happening and normally resolved itself with her passing wind. She doesn't seem bothered so I was hoping it was normal digestion. She has however hot tummy ache tonight
We are now back to the size 3 teats which are working now they've softened after being washed a few times. The Y teats split from being used so much (2 teats with 8 feeds a day and they didn't even last a week! - should I complain?)

We've just had another acid attack, from laying her in her bed and her needing to be winded some more She is now asleep on me after screaming and ravaging on my little finger! Scared to do the transfer to bed.

I honestly don't think it's severe enough for meds. It isn't after every feed, and thankfully not happening often during the night. I will ask when I get her weighed this week though.

Did you all use dummies/soothers/pacifiers? I dislike them and have so far avoided my children having them, but now I'm here using my finger to ease her pain. Is her need to suck something that comes hand in hand with her having reflux while she is so little?

Eta: is poking her tongue in and out a sign acid is bothering her?

 

[Cariad_x]

My son was ill with the gripe water - he'd scream and scream then vomit whenever we gave him it. Infacol also made him sick.

The only thing that helped his colic was colief which he started at 3 weeks. He's now nearly 11 weeks and we've just weaned him off of it with good results - he winds no bother now and his colic is resolved. He's still on Infant Gaviscon for his reflux which he likely will be till he weans however we're not having any issues. If anything because he's keeping fluid down now his bowels are moving more regularly! We also had him on Aptimal comfort for colic and constipation till 8 weeks and now normal Aptimal.

I hope you find something that helps. I think it's just trial and error!

 

[Feebster1]

It's still very hit and miss here. The squirming in her sleep is still happening and normally resolved itself with her passing wind. She doesn't seem bothered so I was hoping it was normal digestion. She has however hot tummy ache tonight
We are now back to the size 3 teats which are working now they've softened after being washed a few times. The Y teats split from being used so much (2 teats with 8 feeds a day and they didn't even last a week! - should I complain?)

We've just had another acid attack, from laying her in her bed and her needing to be winded some more She is now asleep on me after screaming and ravaging on my little finger! Scared to do the transfer to bed.

I honestly don't think it's severe enough for meds. It isn't after every feed, and thankfully not happening often during the night. I will ask when I get her weighed this week though.

Did you all use dummies/soothers/pacifiers? I dislike them and have so far avoided my children having them, but now I'm here using my finger to ease her pain. Is her need to suck something that comes hand in hand with her having reflux while she is so little?

Eta: is poking her tongue in and out a sign acid is bothering her?

I would be inclined to ask about meds certainly, once i smelt the acid from grace i was straight to the docs as she was so obviously distressed by it.

I have always used a dummy with both my girls, personal choice i know but i find them helpful and certainly it has helped grace when she has been upset in the past. I think because the sucking action creates saliva which helps settle the tummy??!!! I might be off base there but i certainly found it helped her.
Not sure about the tongue thing, grace didnt do that but it maybe for some babies, another question to ask at weigh in maybe!

Really hope wee one keeps improving but if sooking your finger helps comfort her i reckon its worth a go with the dummy and the dummy fairy can always come for them once your all done with them!

 

[fairygirl]

I have no idea what's going on! She still sounds like reflux is coming up but not bothering her. Instead the past 2 nights she has had tummy ache and bedtime has been a complete failure. She isn't constipated but she clearly isn't comfortable either and clearly needs to pass a bm.