Reflux Help & Support Thread

[lilbumpblue]

jazzy i put pillows under James matress so that it is on am incline...just lately the lil monkey has been spinning himself the wrong way around x

 

[lilbumpblue]

jelly is on a special formula still but this is mainly because its high calorie x x

 

[happyface82]

If you think reflux is not so much of an issue I would change it and see how you get on? I guess there is no harm! Hopefully it will work and you won't have to go back to it!

 

[amand_a]

I have been reading some of the older posts and thought I would join in.

Billy is 10weeks old, he was born jaundiced to slept a lot and ate little. by 2 weeks old he was very unsettled and would scream whenever i put him down. I was told he was just a clingy baby. In the same week he lost 100g so we thought hunger might be the issue. We introduced formula, he was a little more settled but very gassy and was doing huge projectile vomits, we changed formulas gas was better as was chucking, the screaming was not. The new formula was making him constipated and we were told it might be colic. So we switched to novalac colic. Constipation cleared up and for a few days he screamed less. Within a few days he was at it again so we changed to a normal but gentle formula and brought some mam anti colic bottles. This helped a lot. He seemed more settled and we were no longer having trouble burping him. He was still having screaming fits a few times a day, he would work himself up so badly that he would be wet with sweat. I couldnt sleep him on his back at all during the day, had to be upright in his rocker.
I went to the GP who fobbed me off with a referral to a paed. I couldn't really afford an appointment so I decided to try infant gaviscon in the mean time. This worked wonders and we were down to just the one screaming match in the evening. however he is a bit prone to constipation so as soon as his poo started to thicken i made an appt. with a different GP, walked in Told her it was reflux and was given a script for zantac.

We are now day 3 of zantac and things seem worse. I cant lay him flat at all, so i am worried about his development. he is back to lots of screaming and has started to wake 3hrly instead of 4 overnight. I am hoping that he is just slow to react to the meds but i have a bad feeling there not working at all.

I dont want to go to the paed and get fobbed off because he is still gaining well, im just a bit over it really!

 

[babybx2]

I went to a peadiAtrician and he helped my twins so much I could kiss him my girls now smile and seem happy and content. I paid private for two babies bcos I couldn't bare to hear their pain and it was the best £300 we ever spent. They are on ranitidine and domperidone plus infant gaviscon and infacol too. They were on nutramigen 1 but were still being very sick so just changed to neocateand waiting or hoping this works. Thank heaven for the paediatrician.

My girls were gaining weight too but he still helped. I have a great gp too as he puts all meds and milk on NHS prescription x

 

[Fraggles]

We are now on omaperazole previously was trialing raberprazole but thats not licenced for use in little babies yet

 

[happyface82]

Amanda I'm sorry you are going through this. it seems to me that you changed a lot of formulas in very little time. They usually say to try them for at least to weeks to see if there is a difference. Also, I am just thinking do you think he might be allergic to dairy? This might be the case, and would also explain the gas/constipation etc. Maybe worth trying a hypoallergenic formula? Just a thought!

 

[gilz82]

Hi girls :wave:

Things are pretty crappy here again. Tried weaning Noah again as instructed by his gastro specialist. He started reacting to almost all the foods he was eating, back to mucus nappies, only sleeping 30mins, screaming etc.

Gastro consultant decided Noah needs a endoscopy to see what's happening inside as he now suspects Noah has mutliple food intolerances not just CMPI.

Things are just getting worse even though I've stopped weaning, he's so exhausted he's hardly eating and is screaming within 20 minutes of any milk he does take. 5 months old an poor little is no better at all infact it feels like he's getting worse

Endoscopy is scheduled for next Friday, think it'll be a long week!!

 

[lilbumpblue]

huge hugs gils hope you get some answers soon! X

 

[happyface82]

Oh Gilz I'm so sorry! I'm glad that they are being quick about doing something about it!! If you have any question about the endoscopy please let me know! It will be over before you know it.

 

[gilz82]

I need to find out if it's only an upper endoscopy or a full digestive system check. The consultant basically just phoned it needed to be done and it would be a week tomorrow.

I post on another website and a few people have mentioned if the lower intestine, bowel etc isn't checked then sometimes things can look ok where they actually aren't. But I'm not sure if that would then mean a colonoscopy as well. If that was the case I'd rather they did it all at once rather than anaesthetic twice.

I take it your daughter had an endoscopy Happyface, was it helping in determining what was going on?

 

[happyface82]

I agree that its best to have both done. Plus the symptoms you are describing could be cause by upper and lower, its impossible for the doctor to know exactly. Katerina had both done yes but it didn't help much I'm afraid. What helped was a super strict diet, medications, and letting her heal for a while. It took ages though as we didn't realise at the start that she is reacting to everything. So we were basically cutting one thing after the other hoping it will help and after many months it worked! We now know she is allergic/intolerant to dairy, soya, egg, fish, wheat, tomatoes, lemon, the list is endless. We are actually seeing her consultant soon for a check up and I'm hoping he will cut down the antihistamines she has been on.

Let me also add that the endoscopy will probably show more if he is not an any medication regarding his allergies. Katerina was already taking antihistamines for a while so we knew we might not see much. For us it was a case of just waiting it out a bit longer and let her heal.

Sorry this is so long, hope it helps a bit!

 

[gilz82]

He's not on any meds other than the omeprazole for reflux and standard neonatal cocktail of iron, folic acid and abided drops.

I think when I get the paperwork in tomorrow I will phone and ask what exactly they are going to do and if it's not both checks I'll try to get them to do both. Poor little man has mucus coming out of both ends so I'd hate the upper stuff to be ok but then the lower parts be inflammed but not seen.

I think I'm more frustrated/angry it's taken so long to get to this stage although I suppose we couldn't know or deal with the reactions he's having now until food was introduced. Just hoping after next Friday we can start working towards getting a proper handle on things. One thing is for sure babies are certainly clever as Noah was already starting to associate the weaning spoon with pain after only 3 attempts totalling about 15 days, I really don't want him to end up with full blown oral aversion.

 

[happyface82]

Of course not!! Katerina didn't have any pain when eating so we had no issues there but she associated her bottles with pain and she went for about 10 days with no milk at all at 9 months, I was not happy

I'm wondering if there is a link of premature babies and intolerances. I know reflux is more common for them. Katerina was not that early but still!

 

[lilbumpblue]

hun i know what you mean about the food aversion James freaks out if you try to put a spoon in his mouth. Have you heard of a fructose allergy? Fructose is found in sooo many things x x

 

[amand_a]

Gilz I hope they get your little man sorted out soon!

Its horrible that there seems to be so many suffering babies.

Happyface, there was only one formula that he was on just under 2 weeks and the one he is on now has not quite been 2 weeks yet but the others were 2 weeks or longer.
I did consider allergy's but since changing bottles the wind is a lot better. I notice that when i use an avent bottle again he fusses and pops like crazy, so sticking to mam is definitely helping.

We had 3 chocking episodes last night and he seems really stuffy again. saline spray doesn't help either. hes really raspy and mucosy too but it must be in his nose and throat because every time i take him to the doctors his chest is clear.

I am wondering whether a thickener might be usefull for some of his feeds? We had good results with gaviscon, i just dont want to make the chocking worse, its really frightening!

 

[aliss]

The food aversion is why we did BLW - it took him until around 10 months to really eat the food, and it was at his own pace. I really recommend it.

That being said, I let him have a cereal bar 1 hour before bed tonight which resulted in another reflux episode, 15 months in, you'd think I'd know better by now?

 

[aliss]

Gilz I hope they get your little man sorted out soon!

Its horrible that there seems to be so many suffering babies.

Happyface, there was only one formula that he was on just under 2 weeks and the one he is on now has not quite been 2 weeks yet but the others were 2 weeks or longer.
I did consider allergy's but since changing bottles the wind is a lot better. I notice that when i use an avent bottle again he fusses and pops like crazy, so sticking to mam is definitely helping.

We had 3 chocking episodes last night and he seems really stuffy again. saline spray doesn't help either. hes really raspy and mucosy too but it must be in his nose and throat because every time i take him to the doctors his chest is clear.

I am wondering whether a thickener might be usefull for some of his feeds? We had good results with gaviscon, i just dont want to make the chocking worse, its really frightening!

It might make the choking worse if you give it in a bottle. When you say "thickener", are you referring to adding rice cereal in a bottle? If that's the route you go, I would really recommend having a bit of it on your finger and letting him suck your finger, rather than a bottle, to avoid a sudden gag.

 

[amand_a]

No not cereal as I know thats not advised and he is only 10 weeks anyway its infant food thickener, works the same way as AR formulas only you regulate the thickness. I am going to give him one bottle during the day so i can monitor him and see how we go.

 

[gilz82]

hun i know what you mean about the food aversion James freaks out if you try to put a spoon in his mouth. Have you heard of a fructose allergy? Fructose is found in sooo many things x x

I haven't heard of fructose allergy, I'm off to google.

I really didn't want to be weaning right now, we first tried at 17 weeks and the twice after up til now. But it was really really forced on us by the gastro specialist. He said that only one in three babies improve with weaning so he wanted to know how Noah would react. I wish he hadn't forced the issue now.

Happyface I often wonder how much worse Noah's prematurity has made the situation. Doesn't help with the guilt that I already feel for him being born early