Reflux Baby and nothing helping her! Please help me!!!!

[Queenie23]

Hello Ladies,

My husband and I are at rock bottom and would really appreciate some advice/help.

My baby girl is now 15 weeks old. She is feeding 6oz every 3 hours and is generally very good at night. But during the day is a absolute nightmare!

She has suffered from Reflux since she was 6 weeks old. She is a VERY sickie baby. She vomits alllll day long and cries all day long. I have taken her to the doctors 5 times and the hospital twice. But as she is still gaining weight, they say it isn't too bad.

We started her off on stage one Cow & Gate formula. She screamed when feeding and really arched her back. Trying to bend her to wind her was a nightmare as she went stiff and really screamed out in pain.

We then tried using Gaviscon (prescribed by doctor). After 2 weeks of this it made her very constipated. She screamed every time she tried having a poo. It was an even worse scream than the reflux

We then switched her to Cow & Gate Reflux milk (only sold in boots) this helped massively as it stopped her being sick, however again this caused major constipation. She screamed her head off and had so many tears every time she had a poo. It was literally like a rock hard marble in her nappy every 4 days.

We went back to the hospital and she was prescribed renitine(?). This did absolutely NOTHING! Rubbish stuff.

We then switched her milk to SMA Gold. She turned away from the bottle and didn't seem to like the taste and was still very sick and miserable.

We then bought Cow and Gate Comfort. She has been on this milk for a few weeks now. The Comfort milk seemed to completely take the pain away from her reflux. She was still very sick, but it didn't seem to bother her at all. The only thing is she was very unsettled all day. She just constantly cried and looked uncomfortable. Her poo became green and very smelly. She was very windy as well. As she seemed unsettled and still sicky I thought it might be a good idea (now she is nearly 4 months) to try her on a new formula.

Yesterday morning I bought Aptamel Hungry Baby milk. The reason I got this milk is because she is so used to thick milk she needs thick milk to fill her up and stay down.

This morning she was so happy all morning (I thought we had finally found the answer) then this afternoon she was screaming and arching her back in agony) she has been more sick than ever today and screams when feeding. It's just like we have taken 10 steps back.

We are just at rock bottle now. All she does is cry in pain and arch her back. We have tried so many formulas and nothing seems to work. Every single milk we have tried is making her cry in pain. I asked my GP if she could be Lactose Intolerance and he said "No as she is gaining weight" I just keep getting fobbed off. But all my friends and family agree she is clearly in pain.

What on earth can we do to make her happy and keep her milk down. I can't stand seeing her so sad every day and I can't keep hand washing sooooo many drenched clothes.

I just want her to stop being so sick and not be constipated. Can anyone suggest a thick milk that won't make her constipated? Or anything else that I could try??

Please help~XXX

 

[anna1986]

Hi
I would push to try a hypo allergenic milk. My daughter was dairy intollerent but still gained weight. She also screamed all day n sounds exactly like your daughter. I had to take my daughter to thesocs every day for a week for them to prescribe me a prescription milk! Keep perserving hun. I know how hard it can be.
Boots sell this
https://www.boots.com/en/SMA-Lactose-Free-430g-From-birth-onwards_6986
Which could be worth a go if u can get to a boots tomorrow and try it for a few days.

Feel free to private message me for any advice.

Good luck

 

[mummyosborne]

My daughter had really bad reflux, she was in hospital anyway from being prem but her stay was lengthened by 3 weeks because her reflux was so bad it affected her oxygen levels, she was in a prem baby milk so im afraid i cant give advice there, but she had ranitidine and domperedone which helped ALOT as well as the gaviscon, i would also recommended the cartons of milk rather than the powder because its a lot thicker and made such a difference for my LO. Also she gained weight fine but IS lactose intolerant but we only found this out a month or two ago so go back to the GP and push the idea, suggest she tries a lactose free milk and see if it helps? and if you still get no where i would strongly suggest you ask to be referred to a pediatrician, they know a lot more than a GP and ive found that my GP can be hopeless when it comes to my LO but the ped sorts it out almost instantly, so if you can get referred. Sorry for the long post! i hope some of this helps and if you want to know anymore then feel free to PM me hope she gets sorted soon

 

[Queenie23]

Thank you so much for your replies. I'm so grateful! Tomorrow I'm going to try lactose free milk. This has crossed my mind a couple of times due to the constant sick but when my GP said she would loose weight I figured he should know. But to be honest I think he didn't have a clue really! I'm going to give it a go tomorrow! X

 

[socitycourty]

you could try Similac Alimentum or Enfamil Nutramigen

 

[rory83coyotes]

Both of my children that have milk intolerance gained weight so I would try the other formula. it can't make it any worse. It takes about a week to get all of the milk proteins out of the system so give it a few days.

 

[iwanta8a8y]

So sorry to hear your journey so far, seems alot like ours with our little girl! We were prescribed renatadine (or however it is spelt!) but didn't agree wih her, she is finally settling down now and is on neocate formula for a milk allergy and oneprozole suspension for her reflux, it's been a long hard nearly 5 months for us but things are now improving, keep pushing the docs, try and get a referral to see a pediatrician. I hate it when the docs say 'she looks nice and healthy so nothing wrong' just because he is putting on weight, I had that alot....Aaaarrrrhhhhh

I do believe time is a healer too and things have it better with our little girl as she has reached the nearly 5 month mark. Keep in their hun and try and get a referal to see a pediatrician. If you want to chat pm me, I've been through it/am going through it too xx

 

[Crayz]

First of all, to you!

I know EXACTLY what you are going through!!

My daughter has these same issues. Here are some things that might help:

1. There is a strong correlation between milk protein allergy and reflux. I would try switching to Similac Alimentum or Enfamil Nutramigen. The milk proteins are broken down so they are easier for baby to digest. If THAT doesn't help, there is also Enfacare or Neosure. The proteins are broken down even more than the Similac or Enfamil. They are both really expensive, so I'd try to get a prescription. They all smell like crap, so you may want to mix it with the old formula for a few days first (like you would switch a dog's food) until they get used to the taste.

2. Try holding baby upright for about 30 minutes after feeds. Laying a baby with reflux on their back can cause the acid to come back up their esophagus and be painful. I have a Nap Nanny. It's awesome. She sleeps in it too and it's done wonders for her.

3. Ranitidine (or Zantac) takes a while to work, sometimes 6 weeks maybe before you notice a difference. It has to be given on an empty stomach and as your baby gains weight, the dosage needs to be adjusted, otherwise it won't work. If the Ranitidine doesn't help, you might ask your doctor for a PPI (Proton Pump Inhibitor) like Prilosec or Prevacid. They are a different type of medication that actually stops acid from forming, rather than just block it.

4. Sleeping on their right side can also be helpful for stopping them from emptying their stomach, and to ease their reflux. My daughter sleeps well like this during the day.

5. You could try thickening her formula with a bit of rice cereal to help it stay down, but talk to your doctor first. Check labels to make sure there is no soy in it. When they have a milk protein allergy, they usually have an allergy to soy as well.

I really hope it gets better for you. I know how hard it is!! You can PM me if you need anything else!

 

[anna1986]

Thank you so much for your replies. I'm so grateful! Tomorrow I'm going to try lactose free milk. This has crossed my mind a couple of times due to the constant sick but when my GP said she would loose weight I figured he should know. But to be honest I think he didn't have a clue really! I'm going to give it a go tomorrow! X

good luck with the lactose free milk. just a heads up on that their is a difference between a baby being lactose intollerant and cows milk protien intollerent. my little girl was cmpi which meant she couldnt tollerate the protien in milk.
lactose intollerance in the lactose sugars in the milk so the milk will still have the cows milk protien in it.
my point is if the milk helps then great go to the docs and explain that u put her on it and it helps then ask for a referal to a ped for prescription formula.
if the milk dont help then there is the chance that she has a cmpi (which is more common) for this she would need prescription formula i think the most common ones here in the uk is neocate and nutramigen. i would def push the doctor for a prescription for one of these to try if they are unwilling demand to be referred to a pediatrician.

hope that helps.
good luck
x

 

[rory83coyotes]

First of all, to you!

I know EXACTLY what you are going through!!

My daughter has these same issues. Here are some things that might help:

1. There is a strong correlation between milk protein allergy and reflux. I would try switching to Similac Alimentum or Enfamil Nutramigen. The milk proteins are broken down so they are easier for baby to digest. If THAT doesn't help, there is also Enfacare or Neosure. The proteins are broken down even more than the Similac or Enfamil. They are both really expensive, so I'd try to get a prescription. They all smell like crap, so you may want to mix it with the old formula for a few days first (like you would switch a dog's food) until they get used to the taste.

!

I didn't think that there was anything special about the enfacare or neosure except for the fact that they have extra calories, vitamins, and minerals. they are still milk based so it won't help a milk allergy. Might want to have a look at the similac and enfamil website to be sure. at least that is what they told me when they Rx Neosure for my preemie daughter. For my son that was allergic to the milk they said to do soy. I would have another visit with your dr and see what they recommend.

 

[Crayz]

The Nutramigen and the Alimentum are also milk based as well, it's just the proteins are broken down. In the Neocate and Elecare, the milk proteins are broken down even more than the Alimentum or Nutramigen.

I said Neosure and Enfacare, lol, I meant Neocate and Elecare.

My brain is fried.

 

[rory83coyotes]

The Nutramigen and the Alimentum are also milk based as well, it's just the proteins are broken down. In the Neocate and Elecare, the milk proteins are broken down even more than the Alimentum or Nutramigen.

I said Neosure and Enfacare, lol, I meant Neocate and Elecare.

My brain is fried.

well I just thought I had really missed something. makes more sense now

 

[Crayz]

Lol Rory!

You didn't miss anything, you caught it, I'm just missing my brain these days

And seriously? Enfacare/Elecare and Neosure/Neocate?

Can these people please come up with names less similar?

 

[wifey29]

My little one has severe silent reflux and spent the first 11 weeks of his life in pain. I pushed to be referred to a paediatrician at the hospital who put him on Nutramigen Lipil 1 and he is a new baby! He is still fussy about eating but slowly getting better, but the reflux and pain have gone as has the constipation that he had on the staydown milk. He's also on ranititdine and domeridone, but we are going to try and wean him off them soon to see if the milk alone does the job. The paed has said that he either has a cows milk protein intolerance or allergy, he's leaning towards allergy as the rash that he has had since birth vanished within 24 hours of starting the hypoallergenic milk.

I'm not sure if you are aware, but lactose and cows milk protein are different things. If she has CMPI lactose free milk won't help.

Good luck. Reflux is awful and so hard to deal with, but you will get there. It will pass in time x