Reflux Mums Unite!

[StellaBella24]

Did Infant gaviscon cause solid(ish) poo in any of ur babies?
My little lady is having trouble farting too, its often but painful for her.x

 

[Smanderson]

Hi! So my Dr called my insurance company and they covered the Prevacid. I still had to pay $59, whic is way better than $300. I got it tonight and will start it tomorrow morning. Hopefully it will work for my poor baby.

Wow that was good of your doctors! Glad you managed to get he meds and hope they help LO x x x

Did Infant gaviscon cause solid(ish) poo in any of ur babies?
My little lady is having trouble farting too, its often but painful for her.x

We had this with DJ when he was on gaviscon, it also made the poop like sand consistency. Have you tried giving LO water? Sometimes helps

 

[peacebaby]

How is everyone doing? I hope the Lo's are mostly pain free and mummies are getting some rest.
My dd was prescribed Ranitidine. The effect seemed to wear off after about 2 wks but her dosage has been increased and today is the first time she napped for more than 20 mins!

I'm worried that the effect of reflux, the sleep habits (only in my arms, wakes the moment you put her down) and the fear she has of being flat down without a wedge pillow will last even once the reflux is under control. Those who survived reflux - how did you deal with this or does it resolve itself?

And does it really ever disappear? I see so many newborns in our area and can't believe how quiet they are, happily sleeping flat in their prams. What a different experience ours has been!

 

[hapi2bhealthy]

How is everyone doing? I hope the Lo's are mostly pain free and mummies are getting some rest.
My dd was prescribed Ranitidine. The effect seemed to wear off after about 2 wks but her dosage has been increased and today is the first time she napped for more than 20 mins!

I'm worried that the effect of reflux, the sleep habits (only in my arms, wakes the moment you put her down) and the fear she has of being flat down without a wedge pillow will last even once the reflux is under control. Those who survived reflux - how did you deal with this or does it resolve itself?

And does it really ever disappear? I see so many newborns in our area and can't believe how quiet they are, happily sleeping flat in their prams. What a different experience ours has been!

Hugs!!

So LO is now 8.5 months and we have stopped medicating recently.

Firstly, we still have books under the mattress because when I took them out, she was back to old habits, so that obviously makes a bit of difference. She has started to get the nasty hiccups again, but they don't seem to bother her too much so I'm just seeing how that goes. The odd vomit still occurs but nothing like it used to be.

Her sleeping improved at around 6 months when we got the reflux AND food intolerance under control. We went from sleeping 45 min stretches to 1.5-2hr stretches! In her cot! With much less fuss to go to sleep!

Also, i still feel a bit...weird...when I see others with nice, settled newborns sleeping quietly in their prams while their mum happily chats over coffee with friends It feels a bit like jealousy to me. This was not my experience either and still, 8.5 month into it, I am trying to process the whirlwind of feeding problems, reflux, food tolerance, neck problems that was my own unsettled newborn.

My friend recently had her first baby, and she had such a different experience. When you see that NO, your baby was NOT like most others, and YES, your experience WAS a lot harder and more stressful, you realise that all those times you wanted to throw your baby out with the bath water is OK! It contributed a LOT to my PND- and I am now recovered from that, and dealing with the aftermath of it (ie The Guilt). If you're feeling like that all the time do go and talk to someone; i did not medicate, I just did some CBT and it has really helped me through the process. An unsettled baby is nothing you can understand until you go through it. My friend with the newborn now has a better understanding of how hard it was for me in the beginning: she often says "Wow, you really had a crap time didn't you! I can't believe how hard that must have been!" It's nice to feel validated like that.

Hopefully the bubs are doing as well as mine!! Chin up mums!

As an aside, my Chiro's daughter who is now 3, has been seeing a gastroenterologist because reflux has def caused a lot of long term issues for her: so we may be dealing with it for longer than we hope BUT she's still a happy kiddo

 

[CordeliaJ]

Hi, joining this thread because I have an unhappy reflux baby.
Doc prescribed him infant gaviscon today, I'm really hoping it works. Trouble is he's also a very windy baby with trapped wind all the time, so if constipation starts we may have another major problem on our hands. Anyone bfing tried mixing 2 sachets (recommended by dr) of the gaviscon with only 3oz milk? I don't see how I could mix it with the recommended 8oz, he wouldn't ever drink that much in one feed :S

 

[mush23]

My dd is on ranitidine and domperidone but still seems uncomfortable. Back arching, legs stif and head shacking during most feeds followed by at least 30 minutes of screaming. She hardly sleeps at all during the day but when she does she pulls faces like she has a bad taste in her mouth. She spends most of the day with hiccups and they sound wet if that makes sense. The doctor she's under is lovely and she has a check up at the end of October but the nurses are useless I called to have an earlier appointment cos she's till not 100% and they were so unhelpful. I'm taking her to a and e when oh gets home cos they couldn't give us an appointment

 

[Hangin_On_AGS]

Can I join? Mia has severe GERD, She doesn't go a feeding without throwing up. She is on Rantitidine the max dose they can give her size and tums antacid tablets. I have to be very careful about what I eat to help her. She cosleeps so our mattress is tipped up along with her crib and pack and play mattress. I hate the screaming in pain. I hate that she will shake it hurts so bad. And sometimes no matter how much meds I give her nothing helps enough.

 

[decemberose]

Can I join? Mia has severe GERD, She doesn't go a feeding without throwing up. She is on Rantitidine the max dose they can give her size and tums antacid tablets. I have to be very careful about what I eat to help her. She cosleeps so our mattress is tipped up along with her crib and pack and play mattress. I hate the screaming in pain. I hate that she will shake it hurts so bad. And sometimes no matter how much meds I give her nothing helps enough.

Hi! My baby throws up every feed also, but the Dr said the medicine will not change that. She is on Prevacid and it has helped alot. She still throws up all day long but she is gaining weight. She has been throwing up since she was born, it sucks and I hope it gets better soon, but at least with the medicine it doesn't seem to bother her much.

 

[mush23]

I've just signed my LO up for swimming classes does anyone have any experience with reflux babies and swimming? Does it make it worse? I'd just like to be prepaired when we go incase she screams the house down haha

 

[CherylC3]

Aw my boy had reflux it was a nightmare.. I used gaviscon and colief the colief helped with the constipation tht was caused by the gaviscon. At 3 and a half mths I gav him baby rice once a day and his reflux seemed to get better the more food he was getting. He was a big baby too. Xx

 

[nzjade]

Mia is still doing great on 5mg of Losec. She still spills all the time but it doesn't bother her at all now. Gone are the days of hours and hours of screaming thank goodness. Hang in there reflux Mums xx

 

[CordeliaJ]

Some of you might rememeber I said previously Ollie was on baby gavison. He still wasn't massively settled and was still throwing up every non-gaviscon feed, so the doc put him on ranitidine and domperidone. He was on them this week, worst week of my life. He has cried in pain almost the entire week, I stopped giving him the meds on thursday, but his discomfort and almost constant crying was still going on. What was even worse is that he stopped feeding properly, it was really scary, he refused a bottle altogether, and would only go on the breast briefly, crying, bobbing on and off, and never eating for longer than 5 mins.

We went back to the doc, and she had no answers for us. She just said to put him back on the gaviscon. Well we did yesterday and he is much more comfortable. However, in his week of bad feeding he seems to have 1. forgotten how to latch and is chewing my nips off! and 2. decided he will not take a bottle. It's like being back at square one, I have to teach him everything all over again.

The one last thing is that all the other babies his age seem to be eating 5/6oz per feed. He only has 2 maybe 3 on a good day. The doc says she's amazed he's still putting on weight. I guess because he feeds all the time and all through the night. Some of my mum friends are chatting about their LOs sleeping through the night, I can't imagine what that must be like....what I wouldn't give for a good nights sleep.

 

[CordeliaJ]

Hi all, it's been 2 months since I posted on here, and things have only gotten worse.

Turned out LO had a milk & soy protein intolerance, so I cut them out of my diet and was solely breastfeeding. For about 3 days this seemed to solve everything, the vomiting stopped and he seemed more comfortable, but now silent reflux has reared its ugly head. Before we had regular reflux with mass amounts of acidy vomit.

We went to a private paediatrician who prescribed Omeprazole, but we would have had to pay for it, and for 14 days worth it cost £110 which we cannot afford. I spoke to the GP and she refuses to prescribe it to LO, saying that it's known for affecting bone growth and damaging in the long term. She told me to try ranitidine one more time, which we did and it was a massive disaster like last time. Her only suggestion is that we see a dietitian (despite her reluctance to prescribe omeprazole, she actually is the best GP we've seen so far). LO is now barely feeding at all, he's over 3 months old and having maybe 15oz in 24 hours, and even then every feed we have to try and force it down him which only makes his food aversion worse. We're only using neocate now as he refuses to breastfeed. His clothes are getting loose, and no one will help us! A&E always say 'he looks healthy' and tells me to go back to my GP! Going to try and book a dietitian apt for tomorrow, but wondered if anyone here had any advice. I cannot believe I'd probably have to wait until he looked malnourished before they take me seriously. I don't know what to do anymore, he barely sleeps, and cries in pain almost all the time now. I can't leave the house because he's even worse in public! I spend most of my days crying now, as does he. It's absolute hell.

I also tried thickening feeds with carobel instead of gaviscon, but the carobel also made him constipated, and guess what, when he's constipated he won't eat. Vicious circle. We did try lactulose for the constipation, but it gives him tummy upset and makes him sick. Can't win. Would be so grateful for any tips. x

 

[oedipamass]

His clothes are getting loose, and no one will help us! A&E always say 'he looks healthy' and tells me to go back to my GP!

Aren"t they weighing him?

 

[CordeliaJ]

His clothes are getting loose, and no one will help us! A&E always say 'he looks healthy' and tells me to go back to my GP!

Aren"t they weighing him?

He gained 5lbs in 2 weeks, but I knew that weight was just length. Plus they said that wasn't much to gain at his age, but the fact he isn't losing weight on the chart means they just don't take us seriously.