Reflux, colic and a hungry baby? Help needed!

[Cinderella]

Hello ladies we're starting to run out of ideas now with max and his fussy eating and other problems and hoping someone might have some helpful advice!
He's 15 days, was 9lb 3oz at birth and at 10 days was 9lb 8oz and hasn't been weighed since. He was diagnosed with bad reflux at 13 days after Back arching, projectile vomiting and choking epsidodes but given no medication. The HV also said he likely has colic as every night he has screaming bouts that go on for hours where we can't console him.
We were demand feeding him Aptamil 1st milk, but told to stop as he was over feeding which was aggravating the reflux. He's now on a strict 3 hour, 3 oz schedule as per paediatricians instructions, but he still seems to want more. He screams for up to an hour before his feed and an hour after for food. We're worried about giving him more incase he starts projectile vomiting and choking again. Especially as I don't think he's even close to being able to go four hours between feeds. He's now on easy digest which he does seem to be doing better on. But we're all miserable at the moment trying to keep him from screaming between feeds. We're not sure how and when to start adding more food.

If anyone has any advice we'd all be grateful!

 

[shelleylu]

Hiya,

So sorry you're going through this, I know how you feel!!

My daughter started showing signs of reflux and colic at around 2weeks old. We literally tried everything we could find with no luck. She cried for hours - day and night sometimes. usually it was worse when we were feeding her (or trying to in most cases)I couldnt believe how bad she was some days and all everyone could offer was ''its just colic'' - charming!

To cut a long story short we changed milk 3 times from SMA gold, to aptimil 1st then easy digest, and now (after NOT taking the doctors advise) shes drinking Lactose free SMA.

The GP seemed to be sure she wasnt intolerant, but seeing as my son is dairy intolerant I'd try it. He said it wouldnt hurt but didnt encourage it?! Anyway, she is now like a different baby. We also started her on Infant Gaviscon for the reflux. If we dont put it in her bottles she is sick. I brought Dr Browns bottles too - they helped a bit Im sure.

As for feeding amounts, I would feed him as and when he wants it. Its easy for doctrs to say specific times, but they dont have to sit and watch their babies go through hell every day.

Listen to your instincts too hun. Usually you know whats right like it did with the lactose thing. You could always add Colief to his bottle (this breaks down the lactose in the milk) but it only does the same as LF milk and it costs a bomb!

Sorry Ive gone on, but I went through hell with Lilah for weeks. Hopefully something might work for you. Best of luck and PM me if you need to xx

 

[juliespencer9]

My baby had reflux, drs prescribed infant gaviscon...its great not usually sick anymore, mix it with feeds if FF...it takes abit of shaking....mix it in the water before adding milk powder.

and as for Colic, mine had the worse colic ive ever known..screaming every evening for approx 3 hours on and off, impossible to stop her!
we tried everything, nothing worked, have you looked into chiropractors for baby colic..trying googling it.

The worse mistake we made was rocking her to sleep when she had colic, colic started at 5 till aprox 8 or 9 pm ish, and we would rock her in the end she would go to sleep for the night ( well untill next feed) ....we now have the problem of her not being able to go to sleep unless rocked, shes 4 months now.

Colic lasted untill she was 6 wks by the way

hope this helps x

 

[snowgirl]

Have a read of this website

https://www.cryingoverspiltmilk.co.nz/

Raising babies head up whilst sleeping or changing nappies can help a lot. One of my boys had reflux and colic, symptoms disappeared after about 3 months. I know it seems like a nightmare at the moment but it does get better

 

[Cinderella]

Thanks so much for your replies! I have very limited phone Internet at the moment so replying isn't easy, but I do appreciate all the advice!

We went and got some infant gaviscon, which really seemed to do the trick, he stopped being sick and would settle minutes after his feeds. We even upped his feeds to 4oz every 3 1/2 hours, which also seems to help settle him, only he was still draining every drop of those feeds so we're now offering 5oz every 4 hours and he does leave about half an oz so I at least think he's satisfied now. We had a really good few days where he slept well and screaming was at a minimum only now he's constipated and we get at least half an hour of screaming every few hours as he strains to poo, we went to the chemist and they said there was nothing we could have as he was so young, unless we went to the doctors and got lactulose.

Does anyone know if he's too young got prune juice or karo syrup as after googling they seem to be quite effective. And if he can have prune juice is it just the regular stuff from a supermarket? We've tried him on water and he does drink it but it doesn't seem to be helping much. We feel like we're so close to getting him content it's just this last thing!

 

[snowgirl]

I've read so many times that Infant Gaviscon causes constipation! (Elliot also had it whilst bneing on it) I don't know why the chemists/doctors don't automatically warn parents about this Yes you can give prune juice, a teaspoon in half an ounce of cooled boiled water. You can also give freshly squeezed orange juice instead of prune juice (same amount). Howver Lactulose is completely safe and won't cause any long term problems, but if you prefer to use prune juice, then give it a try. If it doesn't work, you can always go back to the lactulose.

Hope things get better soon

p.s I forgot to say you give the prune/orange juice once daily only.

 

[dizzy duck]

Im glad the infant gaviscon is working. Ollie has really bad reflux and had colic. We gave him Infacol before every feed for his colic and it really helped then along came reflux. He is on infant gaviscon but it didn't help on its own so is now on two other medications as well. Luckily he has never been constipated with it but we were told to give him water during the day too and this seemed to prevent it. Orange juice or prune juice added to the water should do the tgrick. It is tough but does get easier. take care xx

 

[Danielle]

hey hun i no how u feel i had this problem, i got gaviscon given to me when i took her to the hospital with the arching of the back, choking, projectile vomiting,screaming for hours. but then after a while started up again then i found it out to be colic, i tried everything all the colic drops u can find but nothing worked, i just had to ride through it

 

[Cinderella]

Well according to our GP gaviscon doesn't cause constipation so she wouldn't give us any lactulose. He hasn't been too bad the past few days because I've been adding an extra oz of water to his feeds. We've just had to up him to 5oz feeds every 4 hours as he just wasn't feeling satisfied but I'm a bit wary of giving him 6oz bottles as he just seems a bit too young to be having these huge feeds. We have just had a nice few days though, the reflux seems much milder and he hasn't been too constipated, it's amazing how much more enjoyable he is when he's not uncomfortable! I don't want to jinx myself but it seems like we've turned a little corner! Thanks for the support and advice, it definitely helps!

 

[dizzy duck]

Thats great news, Im glad things are better. Its really odd your GP telling you that as all the GPs we have seen and the specialist at the hospital told us to watch out for it as it does cause it but Im so pleased thigns are better and hope it continues. Take care XX

 

[sleepless Di]

hi, sorry to hear you are stressed with reflux too. We are at our witts end. Our son is 5 weeks old. Everyone (including our hv) told us the sleepless nights constant crying was normal or perhaps a bit of colic. We tried everything imaginable - Dr Browns bottles, infacol, colief, easy digest formula, elevating his moses basket - nothing was working. Last week we took him to the gp & were referred straight away to the hospital where they said straight away he was showing all the signs of a reflux baby. They gave us medication - gaviscon & 2 others. That was 5 days ago - its not any better. Does anyone know how long b4 these medicines kick in? Any other advice on reflux would be appreciated - have been reading horror stories about it lasting till theyre walking about. We really cant go on that long without any sleep! thanks

 

[Cinderella]

Oh Di I really feel for you! I know how hard it is. We ran out of Gaviscon on Saturday and couldn't get any more until Monday morning (my own fault for not noticing it was running low) and the change was almost immediate, he was projectile vomiting again and crying constantly and just wouldn't settle. We now have a repeat prescription though and things are back to normal! But just seeing how bad the reflux was again gave me that kick up the butt to be more vigilant!

What milk is he on and how much is he having? It's definitely worth going back to the gp and going over things again. It probably took about half a day on the Gaviscon to notice a change, so it did work quite quickly. Our paediatrician is a bit of a dragon and dismisses everything we say as normal behaviour, especially as he was putting on good weight, but we persevered and now have a routine that works, but for us that is the Gaviscon in Easy Digest Aptimil and Colief. (The colief is a new thing but so far so good, his night time crying fits have gone from 4 hours to 1). Is your son putting on weight? If not maybe a change of milk, or checking if he has a genuine milk intolerance could be your next step. But definitely head back to your GP if things are still that bad and the reflux meds aren't working, don't let them fob you off! The only thing our HV had said when he was 2 weeks was to put him on baby rice, at 2 weeks old! So they definitely don't always know what's best!