Reflux Help & Support Thread

[happyface82]

Hey Stardust!

Well done on the blog! I will definitely have a look. What a great idea!

Katerina is not having any fruits at all (but then she is not having much anyway due to allergies/intolerances) but my father in law always tells me not to worry about the fruit, he says she gets all the vitamins from the veggies. I hope he is right because it really bothers me that I can't offer her variety!

I hope the appointment goes well on Tuesday!

And I'm glad you are feeling better and enjoying things more now! I was the same at the start and I do feel a bit bad but we are all just doing the best we can!

 

[Farie]

Stardust, awesome blog!

Just chugging away here, not change but madam seems good. We are now trying a little more puree morning and evening, I'm mixing a little prune juice and rice cereal with pear puree and she seems to like it! She only gets a couple of teaspoons but she catching on well and even opens her mouth and goes cross eyed as the spoon goes towards her

Nights are hard, shes not sleeping well, up 3-4 times

 

[stardust599]

Thanks happyface, the appointment went well - she's 12lb10 at 23weeks so back up to the 4th centile, getting there slowly! Been doing well with the fruits this week too, just trying little bits and she's coping well!

Thanks Farie, still working on it but getting there. We are much the same too, still managing the pain pretty well on 15mg and only have occasional flare ups for one or two bottles. Macy loves her solids too. Still taking anything from 3-5ounce per feed.

If it's any consolation Macy was up starving for 3 feeds a night until recently when the dietitian told me I could introduce meats etc (our dietitian said 20weeks). Now I make sure she has a decent meal about 3 ounces of - 1/3 meat, 1/3 veg and 1/3 carbs at 5pm plus around 1oz yoghurt and fruit. She then has her bedtime bottle at 7, dreamfeed at 11 and sleeps through until 7 or 8am, it's bliss!

Both the dietitian and paediatrician have told me not to worry about the milk now, to try and make 20ounces a day if I can (which she usually does anyway) and this includes mixed into food, yoghurt and cheese (dietitian got me to introduce these early for calories). And to push the solids as much as I can without forcing her. I add half teaspoon of veg oil to her meals for more calories and I always pick high calorie stuff and avoid other things. I give her a multivitamin for my own peace of mind too.

The solids make a huge difference, if she misses a meal she's awful at the next bottle!
xx

 

[aliss]

Well we went 1 full week without a projectile vomit.

Of course, today, I decided to celebrate my baby weight loss by purchasing a new dress and had it on to show OH when he comes home from work, which coincided with the first projectile vomit of the week.

Life of a reflux mom. The dress I bought 2 hours ago is now sitting in the laundry bin and the dog is obsessed with smelling it

 

[Peach Blossom]

Aw, poor you.

We'd had a while without any vom fountains and then today she brought the whole of a bottle up... I think it wierdly coincides with her not having done a poo for a while... she's always worse when she's due a poo... which is every 4 - 5 days...

 

[KellyC75]

Stardust I have just read your Daughters blog Its really helpfull, thankyou

I really like this point:
I still don't like milk too much but I go to see a special doctor who says I only need to take 20ounces a day as long as I eat all my food. That's ok with me cos my food is much yummier than my milk anyway.


As ive been worrying about weaning my Daughter early & the HV keeps telling me not to give her too many meals as milk is her most important meal...So ive stuck to one meal a day, when I know she would happily eat more & love it:

 

[aliss]

Kelly, I think most of us here have weaned earlier due to reflux. In fact I did myself at 4 months, just with a bit of banana a day to help, and then went head-on into baby-led weaning at 6 months. It improved his reflux but I still got to wean "my way" with BLW @ 6 months like planned.

Like all reflux moms will say... DO WHAT WORKS! lol!

 

[stardust599]

Haha. Macy hardly ever projectile vomits (still mainly silent reflux) but when she does it's always when I've just washed my hair or put a nice new clean outfit on. I'm sure she plans it in advance!!

Thanks Kelly, I haven't finished it yet, I've been lazy but I'm getting there!! The HV still insists Macy should be on at least 27ounces a day but the paediatric dietitian assured me that 20ounces provides all the calcium and other nutrients they need and at the moment the solids are just to add extra calories for weight gain. It says this in the weaning leaflet she gave me too.

She also says that it's a myth that babies can't absorb the nutrients from solids until they are older and that their bodies are perfectly capable of breaking down solids and absorbing the nutrients from around 4 months (I'm sure I read this online too, will try and find a link). She did say that milk is higher in calories but I can't force feed her and if milk is going to cause her so much pain then solids are best for Macy.

Reduced the omeprazole from 1 and half tabs (15mg) to 1 and a third (13.3mg?) and we did okay for 2 days but day 3 and she's fussing and off her milk Doesn't help that she's getting her jabs in an hour!!!

xx

 

[stardust599]

I meant to say that the dietitian recommended switching Macy to follow-on formula at 6months as she doesn't take the recommended amount but she's on a balanced diet of solids. Apparently follow-on has higher levels of iron, vitamins and minerals and an improved protein balance so they get everything they need but from less milk. Need to add this to the blog!

OKay, i've just read that the extra iron in follow-on milk makes constipation worse, now I'm confused as Macy has terrible constipation anyway!!! xx

 

[Farie]

Well, we have been off the Erythromycin for 2 days and the vomitings getting worse today she bought up 1/2 a feed over 90 mins after drinking it. And shes only taken about 16oz today She hates chucking up.

I'll give it a few days and then if its still bad call the paed and see what he says. Also thinking of trying her on probiotics, partly for the reflux, the delayed upper gastric emptying and cos she was on the anti-b's

On a plus note shes LOVING her pear and prune mixed with a little rice cereal morning and evening. She gets it with her Losec and really enjoys it she even opens her mouth and looks like a little baby bird when she sees the spoon coming as she opens and closes her mouth!

Stressful days coming up ... we are packing up the house and moving into a motel for a couple of months while the builders work on the house to give us a working fire/flue, new brick, kitchen, windows, repair the bathroom and a variety of other bits and pieces the earthquake left us with!

 

[happyface82]

Oh I'm sorry she is not well again.. It will get better eventually!!! I promise!!

The next couple of months sound challenging but soon you will be back at home enjoying the fact that all is done!!
The sooner it starts they sooner you'll get back in!

 

[stardust599]

Well, we have been off the Erythromycin for 2 days and the vomitings getting worse today she bought up 1/2 a feed over 90 mins after drinking it. And shes only taken about 16oz today She hates chucking up.

I'll give it a few days and then if its still bad call the paed and see what he says. Also thinking of trying her on probiotics, partly for the reflux, the delayed upper gastric emptying and cos she was on the anti-b's

On a plus note shes LOVING her pear and prune mixed with a little rice cereal morning and evening. She gets it with her Losec and really enjoys it she even opens her mouth and looks like a little baby bird when she sees the spoon coming as she opens and closes her mouth!

Stressful days coming up ... we are packing up the house and moving into a motel for a couple of months while the builders work on the house to give us a working fire/flue, new brick, kitchen, windows, repair the bathroom and a variety of other bits and pieces the earthquake left us with!

I'm sorry she's not feeling too well again

Have you thought about trying a different milk other than Neocate? Neocate caused terrible vomiting in Macy (but her reflux has always been silent) which has completely gone since switching to SMA . I know you can't do this cos of Nim's allergies but I'm sure there could be a different hypoallergenic milk to suit her?

Sounds like a bit of a rough time coming up, hope it goes as well as it can and is as least stessful as possible! Little Nim won't care too much, as long as she's got Mummy and Daddy and her milk and her toys.

Glad she's enjoying the start of solids, it sounds like she's going to be like Macy and do really well on them - they've been our life saviour! Papaya is a good one as it's thought to control the levels of acid in the stomach and aid digestion. It's really easy too, just buy it ripe, cut it in half, scoop out the seeds and then scoop out the flesh I just quickly mash it with a fork for Macy now but when I started I would blend it with a bit of Neocate, it's quite strong flavoured so hides the vile taste of Neocate too.

Hope it gets better soon, just hang in there and remember it won't be forever, Nim will never remember it and at some point it will just be a distant memory to your and your DH too.



We're doing really well, still on 13.3mg of omeprazole and doing fine, must have just been a little blip the other day while she adjusted. Going down to 12.5mg next week.

Just switched from SMA Cartons to powder, she has always done really badly on powders causing awful reflux but the shop had no cartons left when I went to buy it the other day so we've been on it 2days now and she seems fine. It's a pain to make after using ready-made but at least it's cheaper! It's more watery than the cartons so I'm hoping it helps the constipation. Also stopped giving porridge as it seems to constipate too :-S I just don't understand why her poo is so bad, it's awful, she goes purple and screams and then I have to help her with weird yoga moves and a cold wipe round her little bum. And then it comes out really hard and unhealthy looking. She's not getting anything via solids that would constipate her either. I would change her to comfort milk but I'm terrified too as she's doing so well on SMA!!

Hope everyone else is well xx

 

[Farie]

Paed has said she can go back on the Erythromycin
I'm so relieved, she had an awful day, fountains of vomit up to 2.5 hours after eating, screaming for cuddles if I put her down and jst so unsettled

Right, gotta dash as still trying to pack everything to move into the motel this evening packing+screaming baby= not getting much done!

 

[Toots]

Just wanted to post quickly as a message of hope to those out there with silent reflux babies.
Our DD is 4 months old now and her silent reflux stopped at about 3 months. I think she either grew out of it or the bowen therapy we took her to changed it to just throwing up. She still is quite sicky, and still on infant gaviscon, but no longer screams in agony after feeds like she did and the throwing up doesnt bother her much (and it's not entire feeds, just bits). We no longer give her ranitidine (which helped but was not a cure).
It did change overnight more or less from silent and lots of pain to just throwing up but no pain, after the Bowen treatment (just one session, cost us £5). Don't know if that was responsible but maybe worth a shot.
Best wishes,
Toots

 

[stardust599]

Just wanted to post quickly as a message of hope to those out there with silent reflux babies.
Our DD is 4 months old now and her silent reflux stopped at about 3 months. I think she either grew out of it or the bowen therapy we took her to changed it to just throwing up. She still is quite sicky, and still on infant gaviscon, but no longer screams in agony after feeds like she did and the throwing up doesnt bother her much (and it's not entire feeds, just bits). We no longer give her ranitidine (which helped but was not a cure).
It did change overnight more or less from silent and lots of pain to just throwing up but no pain, after the Bowen treatment (just one session, cost us £5). Don't know if that was responsible but maybe worth a shot.
Best wishes,
Toots

Can you tell me more about Bowen treatment?? I'll try anything!!! I think I've tried every homeopathic and herbal remedy out there. I was going to take Macy to a cranial osteopath too but there's only 1 locally and I missed the appointment and you have to pay a cancellation charge so I've never been back to re-book it lol.

---

Reflux is back

Thought we were coming passed it but she's drinking less milk, back arching, screaming at the bottle and she's going purple and looking uncomfortably and wriggly. And waking up unsettled and hungry overnight too. Don't know whether or not to increase the omeprazole back to 15mg (still on 13.3).

Ahhh it never ends xx

 

[someoldgirl]

Hi ladies - can I join please?
Having a horrible time at the moment. My LO was diagnosed with reflux last week. He's on Gaviscon, Ranitidine and Domperidone but they don't seem to be havong any effect. Infact he seems to be throwing up more then he was before! (I think it maybe as he's guzzling so much milk to ease the burn)
Reading your desciptions of how your babies are at feeds and when screaming is like its been written about him. He also isn't sleeping and is waking at least every hour, day and night.
We are at the docs again tomorrow to see if we can get omeprazole.
He also has a colic (i think) and very bad trapped wind also. He is never just awake or asleep and content - always squirming trying to do poops.
The community nurse is also coming tomorrow and hopefully as suggest some other things to try.
He is getting over tired (not the only one) and then screams for hours and hours. It started happening at night as well.
Hope we get him feeling a bit better until he outgrows it. He's only nearly 4 weeks old but it feels like we've had him and been fighting this for months!!

Haven't read all the thread (as there is LOTS) but will try and hope your babies are getting better and if anyone has any light at the end of the tunnel stories, please share x

 

[Nessicle]

Hi girls some of you might remember me I posted a while back about Ava's symptoms.

Well we ended up getting infant gaviscon but it made her horrendously constipated so we had to get lactulose and feed her that for 3 days to get her moving so I never gave her it again. Because she had colic too though I didnt think she had reflux any more and she seemed to be ok but fussed through every feed, crying, arching her back after 2-3 oz, pushing the teat out of her mouth after a couple of ounce, but hungry again in another hour or two. Feeding her has been horrendous not the lovely experience I thought it would be! We've tried every milk available as I thought it was linked to her belly troubles I never really thought to explore the other options for reflux as I assumed it was gone - very naive of me!

Anyway I saw the HV on Monday and explained that at 16 weeks old she was still only taking 3-4oz a feed and fussing through it. She was pretty adamant it was silent reflux and to get an appt with the doc for Gow & Gate Carobel feed thickener. OMG she's like a different baby after just a few feeds!

She's taking 5oz and isnt fussing and so much more content! She actually took 7oz tonight for the first time ever!!! I'm astounded! I've read that Carobel is natural and better for sensitive tummies as it doesnt cause constipation.

Anyone else got any experience with carobel?

I added too much to her first bottle and worked out that for 5oz I only needed to add half a scoop for it to be effective given that it continues to thicken. The first bottle I added 1.5 scoops and she couldnt get it through the teat lol!

She was so looking forward to her feed that she actually tried to put the teat in her mouth herself but she wasnt strong enough to lift the bottle he he

xx

 

[KellyC75]

Hi Ness

Really pleased for you & Ava

 

[Nessicle]

Hi Kelly!! Hope Meadow is doing well!

Thanks honey! Seems the carobel isnt having the effect on the acid so gonna have to stick with Gaviscon - Doc suggested giving half a sachet in each bottle so to reduce constipation issues. Will it have the same effect as a full sachet though??

 

[babyno9]

Hi everyone.

I've not posted on thid thread before so i hope its ok to gatecrash.

Anyway, i have experience reflux before with one of my daughter's (who is now 5) she had silent reflux, which we found out when she stopped breathing at 6 days old. I had just fed her and when i looked down she was blue. I rang 999 and they had to talk me through how to resuscitate her. At the hopsital they kept her in for 2 days and did loads of tests, while on the children's ward she stopped breathing again and was grey in colour. I really thought i had lost her, there was a room full of nurses trying to revive her. When they told me she had reflux i didn't believe them, how could heartburn make a baby stop breathing?! They gave us meds for her and sent us home and the next day she stopped breathing again. Another hospital stay to give the meds time to work and we were sent home with an apnea monitor and she was fine after that.

I now have my 9th baby, he was diagnosed with reflux as a newborn because of the symptoms he had.. arching his back, fussy with his bottles, crying in pain and sicking up his milk abit. He was on gaviscon but as it didn't heelp much i stopped it.
About a month ago he started to cough and wheeze, i have taken him to the doctors 4 times and each time his chest is clear, he has had antibiotics which didn't help and now has a blue inhaler for the wheeze. Yesterday we took him to A&E because we were worried about this cough and wheeze which doesn't seem to be getting better and the paediatrician mentioned it could be reflux.

I just wanted to know if any of your babies have had a horrible cough and wheeze with reflux and if so did the medications stop the cough and wheeze and what meds were they? I have started my baby back on gaviscon to see if it helps.