Silent Reflux?! - Anyone using Ranitidine??

[f.rossa]

Hi, i have just signed up to get talking about my LO's silent reflux... i am literally going out of my mind and need people to talk to that have been through the same thing!

My LO is 5 weeks now and since she was born has always been gagging etc but was told the 1st couple of weeks she hadn't brought up the mucus from birth yet. She had jaundice which had to be treated with UV lights so she was very sleepy until about 2 weeks, had to wake her to feed etc so didn't notice the fussiness. Since she fought off the jaundice and started to be awake more she has been terrible.

She is very very fussy, never seems to be happy when shes awake. I first put it down to normal newborn fussiness but it just kept getting worse. So i thought it was colic - changed her bottles/teats/milk used infacol and gripe water and still got worse. She started to arch her back, scream in pain as shes drinking her milk, her stomach churns, she gets hiccups after every feed, trumps ALL the time, cries out in pain all the time for no aparant reason, has a congested stuffy nose - she is just never happy or settled you'd think after a feed a baby should be its happiest but she is the opposite.

I started searching her symptoms online and found 'Silent Reflux' which i didn't even know existed. So i went to the doctors and they prescribed her with infant gaviscon - this did nothing if anything she got worse and it made her constipated.

I just sit and cry at night because i can't do anything to help her - i feel so useless and seeing her in pain is driving me crazy. I then did some more research and found that reflux can be caused from milk allergies/intollerances. So i went back to the doctors today and she pretty much shrugged off the allergy part said it was reflux and prescribed Ranitidine

I was just wondering if anyone elses baby had silent reflux and if ranitidine worked or not? I can't cope with the waiting a week to see what works or not! In a weeks time i can see me going back with her the same or even worse - then get prescribed something else! I know it is a trial and error situation but when i see her in pain i just cry!

Thanks for anyone who can help! Sorry for the long essay!! xx

 

[x Michelle x]

i was you a few weeks ago and it does get better!!
Our doctor prescribed us ranitidine and Carobel (to thicken the milk) and although they didnt work straight away, i have definitely seen a difference.
My LO no longer spends the day screaming... altho he does have his moments!
He was also very congested, he was 2 weeks early and a csec which i believe means the mucous isnt cleared out as with a vaginal birth.
I assume you are doing all the usual such as keeping her upright after feeds and winding frequently and propping the cot up?
My LO is so much better now, he actually hasnt had ranitidne for a week now, i'm wondering if he has grown out of it if thats even possible? he was only 6,4 at birth and 3 weeks ago was 12,11....
We also use Aptamil comfort which we thicken as when he was sick, it was with such force it was coming straight out his nose and not his mouth with would then leave him struggling to breath and us in a panic!
I honestly sat and cried and cried some days but then it just kind improved and now we are starting to get used to him and his little routines... i have learned he likes his sleep which is brill!

Hang in there, i know that doesnt mean much and i dont have a magic solution but it WILL get better

Give the ranitidine a shot, be warned tho, its absolutely foul and Hayden would scream when i gave him it!

 

[xPH03N1Xx]

We were prescribed it, but it was a nightmare to give to her. She would hold her breath, and choke, and then spit it out. I got some on my hand one day and licked it off, and spat it out myself! I tried mixing it with some milk but she still spat it, and I gave up.

We then used anti reflux formula for a while which seemed to help. She's 9 weeks now, and back on her normal formula and is much better!

 

[crimsonsky]

We have used it for our lo. Unfortunately we had no success with it and our lo was constipated with the infant gaviscon too. We now giving him omeprazole and a few infant gaviscon per day certainly not after every feed. Its still something we are working on and its difficult too as he has colic. I understand its really difficult especially being sleep deprived. It seems to be hit or miss as we try to find a solution. I think its supposed to improve as they get older but that's not much use at the moment. Hope it works for you.

 

[x Michelle x]

Its no wonder they spit it out! and it really is too foul to add to their milk

 

[CharlieKeys]

Henry had silent reflux and we got prescribed ranitidine and to change to comfort milk. The ranitidine started working quite soon - I think 3 days and then it kicked in and he was A LOT happier! Remember as his weight increases so should the dosage as it is weight dependent and for us personally, we got told to wean at 4 months - that made the biggest difference and he doesn't really suffer from it anymore. But, yes ranitidine worked for us until we weaned

 

[bluehorse]

Silent reflux is hard... My LO has it as well as a dairy intolerance. He is on omeprozole which does help when I can get it to stay down! I know it is a while off for you but weaning has helped him too.

My advice would be to keep pestering until you start seeing some sort of result... Milk intolerance can cause silent reflux too so this might be an avenue to explore. I see you say that your LO has a stuffy nose... this was the same for my LO... and it only disappeared after I elimated ALL dairy from my diet (I'm breastfeeding). My LO struggles with weight gain too as he finds it uncomfortable to feed, so he was prescribed the nutramigen formula milk for when he needs a top-up. We are really seeing improvements now though.

I hope you find the answers soon

 

[amymarx]

Yea use 2 x 1ml doses a day coupled with gaviscon before bed and it did work for us. Luckily my LO isnt that bad with medicine and he takes it easily x

 

[f.rossa]

i was you a few weeks ago and it does get better!!
Our doctor prescribed us ranitidine and Carobel (to thicken the milk) and although they didnt work straight away, i have definitely seen a difference.
My LO no longer spends the day screaming... altho he does have his moments!
He was also very congested, he was 2 weeks early and a csec which i believe means the mucous isnt cleared out as with a vaginal birth.
I assume you are doing all the usual such as keeping her upright after feeds and winding frequently and propping the cot up?
My LO is so much better now, he actually hasnt had ranitidne for a week now, i'm wondering if he has grown out of it if thats even possible? he was only 6,4 at birth and 3 weeks ago was 12,11....
We also use Aptamil comfort which we thicken as when he was sick, it was with such force it was coming straight out his nose and not his mouth with would then leave him struggling to breath and us in a panic!
I honestly sat and cried and cried some days but then it just kind improved and now we are starting to get used to him and his little routines... i have learned he likes his sleep which is brill!

Hang in there, i know that doesnt mean much and i dont have a magic solution but it WILL get better

Give the ranitidine a shot, be warned tho, its absolutely foul and Hayden would scream when i gave him it!

Thanks for everyones reply!!

We had a good night!! And quite a good morning! The meds are either working or its a coinsidence... i'm not getting my hopes up just yet but hopefully this will be the start of a happy baby!

Yes i have elevated everything and try to keep her upright as much as i can.. the only time she is laying down is on her changing mat so only for a couple minutes! We swapped her from aptamil first milk to cow and hate comfort and that did help a little i think. When you are trying so many different things its hard to know what actually works!

Glad your little boy has come off it! Maybe he has grown out of it, they must do eventually. She doesn't cry too much when i give it her just pulls a face and looks at me all angry!

 

[elliot]

My LO didn't have silent reflux, but full-on projectile vomiting reflux, but she was on Ranitidine, so I'd thought I'd share anyway in case it's helpful. I so remember how hard the early days were, and we didn't get her on Ranitidine until she was around 2 months. It certainly didn't stop her spewing, but seemed to make it less painful for her so she didn't seem in quite so much pain. I also cut out all dairy products and that seemed to help reduce the puking some, but I'm still not sure how much or how long that helped.

In the end, we tried all the elevating, burping, smaller feedings, feeding expressed milk thickened w/rice cereal in a bottle, etc. Even tried baby probiotics. I hear great things about how that stuff helps some babies, but it didn't do anythign for my girl. She was mostly a very unhappy LO and had a lot of trouble sleeping until it staretd to go away around 6 months. The good news is, she's 10 months now and mostly reflux-free. I can eat dairy now, and she's been off the Ranitidine since about 7 months. She still spits up sometimes 4 - 10 times a day, but she used to spit up taht many times after each feeding, so we've made huge progress. And ever since around 6 months she's been a mostly very happy girl.

I read lots of stories online when she was little about reflux just going away and couldn't quite believe it could be true. But it does seem to be true for my girl, thank goodness. I hope yours grows out of it too. In the meantime, the Ranitidine did make my LO more comfortable and we found she loved taking it as she got older once we started getting it flavored at the pharmacy. I'm all about avoiding chemical sweeteners and all, but she hated taking it and started spitting it out until we got bubblegum flavoring added. Then she loved it and kept it al down, and I felt it was worth it to have her tummy feeling at least a bit better.

Best of luck, and all my sympathy. It is so hard having a reflux baby and not being able to just "fix" them when you can tell they're uncomfortable.

 

[hulahoop09]

I could have wrote what you have!! My lo was a c-sec baby and born at 39+2. She had jaundice so was happy with not being fed and just sleeping, we had to wake her every 3 hours to feed and right from go she was never a happy baby. She did the gupling sound, the screaming, refusing feeds, had and still has very bad wind and eventually she had blood in her stool. The GP kept telling me reflux and gave me gaviscon which didnt work then I went back (knowing deep down she had areaction to the milk) and demanded to try nutramigen. This made a LITTLE different to start but she went down hill again and I was given ranitidine and I asked to be referred to paeds. We ended up going 7 times to the drs and 5 times to the hospital before we refused to leave unless they let us trial her on or tell us where we can buy nutramigen aa. The dietician came and gave us some and within days she was like a different child. She is a very grumpy grizzly baby anyway but is happier on this milk, she now has possible gluten intolerance though and still is very windy so so much but I think this is down to the immaturity of her digestive system.

Good luck hun

xx

 

[f.rossa]

I could have wrote what you have!! My lo was a c-sec baby and born at 39+2. She had jaundice so was happy with not being fed and just sleeping, we had to wake her every 3 hours to feed and right from go she was never a happy baby. She did the gupling sound, the screaming, refusing feeds, had and still has very bad wind and eventually she had blood in her stool. The GP kept telling me reflux and gave me gaviscon which didnt work then I went back (knowing deep down she had areaction to the milk) and demanded to try nutramigen. This made a LITTLE different to start but she went down hill again and I was given ranitidine and I asked to be referred to paeds. We ended up going 7 times to the drs and 5 times to the hospital before we refused to leave unless they let us trial her on or tell us where we can buy nutramigen aa. The dietician came and gave us some and within days she was like a different child. She is a very grumpy grizzly baby anyway but is happier on this milk, she now has possible gluten intolerance though and still is very windy so so much but I think this is down to the immaturity of her digestive system.

Good luck hun

xx

Oh my god they sound exactly the same!

When i went back to the docs for the 2nd time i did say that my partners side of the family have allergies to dairy and said i'd read online that reflux can be a cause from allergies/intolerances but she just shrugged it off and said 'don't believe what you read online' - I don't believe everything i read online but when you're reading stories of real mums and babies with the same symptoms going through the same thing is better than a doctor who doesn't even see what she's like! She also has a rash on her face/neck/shoulders which could come from an allergy, and i know babies get rashes all the time which are normal but i wish she looked into it more - she didn't even look at her rash!!

She does seem a little better today, but we only started the meds yesterday so i'm not getting my hopes up - it could be a coinsidence!

XXX

 

[hulahoop09]

The doctors seriously get on my wick!! I am not a nasty person but found myself getting firm with them!! One doctor at the hospital gave us domperidone 'to get her bowels moving' but all it did was give her colic according to the consultant!! Absolute joke!

You may find things get better then she relapses again as I have found so so many times. ALso we started weaning at 4 months and were eventually able to take her off her ranitidine but after 2 weeks we had to put her back on it! And as it is v.weight sensitive she had to be put on a higher dose!! Poor lo's

xx

 

[f.rossa]

I know what you mean, i'm not nasty and i'm grateful for their help but when they don't listen it does get me mad. No one knows my baby best more than me i know somethings not right!

They haven't been too bad atleast they listened to me 1st time i went in saying i knew she had silent reflux. They have told me to go back in a weeks time and if it hasn't worked i'm definately going to get firm and say i want to try some different milk or be referred. It's horrible for them having to go through weeks of pain.

Is your LO still on the milk and meds now then? xx

 

[MrsM17]

I feel for you, we have had a long 12 week battle to get to where we are now and its still not perfect.

I knew straight away something was wrong with my son, he screamed and cried from the very beggining, never slept criead all night and all day. I just assumed it was that hard as a 1st time mum, only when my mum started to have him to give me a break as I was cracking up did I start to realise that not all babies were like him.

I took numerous doc visits and been told time after time it was colic from them and HV's. I kept on at it though, he was never comfy, catnapped, couldnt sleep after 2am, congested on his chest, gulppy etc.... His skin was also terrible.

Eventually I saw a different doc (took 3) I took him in screaming the waiting room and doc room down, I was crying too saying I couldnt handle it anymore. She phoned the hospital and got us in to see a pead that afternoon.

He was diagnosed silent reflux and given ranitidine, It worked for 3 days (bliss) then stopped, they kept upping his dose to the max for his weight but nothing worked. I was bu this point convinced it was dairy related as my hubby was CMPA as a child.

I kept pushing but doc refused to give him perscription milk and just perscribed more drugs and said 'they sell it in the pharmasy!'

It took for him to be admitted with severe D&V green mucas poops before we finally saw an allergy specialist. (turns out he had a virus but at least we got to see him)

He perscribed up Aptamil pepti for mangement of CMPA and he was instantly a different child - its amazing!! I am so anrgy at getting fobbed off with meds all this time.

His skin however is getting worse so I am not sure if he needs the next stage milk to sort him out but we have a catch up on wed so we will see.
Moral of the story is, keep pushing no matter what they tell you or say, as if you suspect it then you are most likely right xx

 

[f.rossa]

I feel for you, we have had a long 12 week battle to get to where we are now and its still not perfect.

I knew straight away something was wrong with my son, he screamed and cried from the very beggining, never slept criead all night and all day. I just assumed it was that hard as a 1st time mum, only when my mum started to have him to give me a break as I was cracking up did I start to realise that not all babies were like him.

I took numerous doc visits and been told time after time it was colic from them and HV's. I kept on at it though, he was never comfy, catnapped, couldnt sleep after 2am, congested on his chest, gulppy etc.... His skin was also terrible.

Eventually I saw a different doc (took 3) I took him in screaming the waiting room and doc room down, I was crying too saying I couldnt handle it anymore. She phoned the hospital and got us in to see a pead that afternoon.

He was diagnosed silent reflux and given ranitidine, It worked for 3 days (bliss) then stopped, they kept upping his dose to the max for his weight but nothing worked. I was bu this point convinced it was dairy related as my hubby was CMPA as a child.

I kept pushing but doc refused to give him perscription milk and just perscribed more drugs and said 'they sell it in the pharmasy!'

It took for him to be admitted with severe D&V green mucas poops before we finally saw an allergy specialist. (turns out he had a virus but at least we got to see him)

He perscribed up Aptamil pepti for mangement of CMPA and he was instantly a different child - its amazing!! I am so anrgy at getting fobbed off with meds all this time.

His skin however is getting worse so I am not sure if he needs the next stage milk to sort him out but we have a catch up on wed so we will see.
Moral of the story is, keep pushing no matter what they tell you or say, as if you suspect it then you are most likely right xx

So sorry to hear you have had a hard time too hun, atleast you've got to the point where you know what it is now and can help him.

I just get so upset when she cries in pain and there is nothing i can do to help! We have been using ranitidine since thursday and it made a different instantly, she was like a different baby, but yesterday/today she has started to cry while drinking her milk again... i don't know if i'm just paranoid of it coming back or if it actually is

I am seeing the HV tomorrow and have my 6 week check on thursday so if its got worse by then i'll need to start getting firmer with them and ask to be seen by someone. At the end of the day they could of just gave you 1 tub of milk to try and if it made a difference you'd know it was that if it not just stop using it! I know its not right to keep swapping and changing milks but if its for their own good i don't see the problem in trying for a week!

Good luck and hope his skin clears up too xx

 

[JadeyB]

Oh my god, parts of this I could have written.

We are currently in hospital due to reflux. It started a couple of weeks ago when she wasn't settling between any of her feeds. She would feed well and then not settle at all!!

I thought she may have reflux. Premature babies are more likely to get reflux and she was 10 weeks early. Asked at one of her appointments and was given gaviscon. This seemed to help after a couple of days but was very short lived and after 3 days of not pooing and constant straining I started to worry. When she did go it was the consistency of glue. After a few more days of not pooing, the projectile vomiting started.

She would cough (sounds like she smokes 40 a day type cough), urge, go blue and then after a lot of effort vomit a potato consistency vomit. This happened every time fed her :. Brought her to hospital 3 days ago and have been here since.

The gaviscon has been stopped and started ranitatine. I too wanted to know if it would help and came across your post. . She still coughs and urges after each feed but the vomitng has reduced and it isn't quite as dramatic. She's lost a little weight and when your 7lb 3 that's not a good thing.

How is your little lady now? It is awful watching them in so much discomfort.

I want to know what I should buy for home. I'm thinking sleep positioners or a wedge might help?! I've raised the head of her crib, but she wriggles and ends up sideways at the bottom of the crib with her feed out the bars!! Xx

 

[f.rossa]

Oh my god, parts of this I could have written.

We are currently in hospital due to reflux. It started a couple of weeks ago when she wasn't settling between any of her feeds. She would feed well and then not settle at all!!

I thought she may have reflux. Premature babies are more likely to get reflux and she was 10 weeks early. Asked at one of her appointments and was given gaviscon. This seemed to help after a couple of days but was very short lived and after 3 days of not pooing and constant straining I started to worry. When she did go it was the consistency of glue. After a few more days of not pooing, the projectile vomiting started.

She would cough (sounds like she smokes 40 a day type cough), urge, go blue and then after a lot of effort vomit a potato consistency vomit. This happened every time fed her :. Brought her to hospital 3 days ago and have been here since.

The gaviscon has been stopped and started ranitatine. I too wanted to know if it would help and came across your post. . She still coughs and urges after each feed but the vomitng has reduced and it isn't quite as dramatic. She's lost a little weight and when your 7lb 3 that's not a good thing.

How is your little lady now? It is awful watching them in so much discomfort.

I want to know what I should buy for home. I'm thinking sleep positioners or a wedge might help?! I've raised the head of her crib, but she wriggles and ends up sideways at the bottom of the crib with her feed out the bars!! Xx

Sorry to hear your in hospital with your LO. It's not nice seeing them in pain etc, i was in hospital with mine when she was a week old because she had jaundice and it was just horrible, just wanted to be at home!

Mine too coughs like she smokes 40 a day! And always strains and urges to poo. She is never sick though.. think she has been sick 3 times in 6 weeks! So she is gaining ALOT of weight lol!

Today the HV came to us and i mentioned i had been at the doctors for silent reflux and told her what they had put me on - she asked me all her symptoms etc and said to stop the ranitidine and has got the doctor to prescribe Nutramigen LIPIL formula. She thinks there is more to it like i did, think she has a milk allergy/intollerance. So i'm trying this milk for a week to see if it helps. She also gave me some cream and ointment for her skin which is eczema. When i asked the doctor they just said oh its normal baby rash but didn't even look at her skin! So i'm a bit annoyed by that!

We have raised everything apart from her changing mat. I haven't brought a wedge or anything. But hopefully the reflux will go if the problem is her milk because the reflux can be a symptom of an allergy! I try to keep her raised as much as possible, in the day she has a swing that sits her upright and her carseat too. I know what you mean about the wriggling! She ends up further and further down her cot now we've raised it!

Hope you're out of hospital soon!

 

[f.rossa]

I could have wrote what you have!! My lo was a c-sec baby and born at 39+2. She had jaundice so was happy with not being fed and just sleeping, we had to wake her every 3 hours to feed and right from go she was never a happy baby. She did the gupling sound, the screaming, refusing feeds, had and still has very bad wind and eventually she had blood in her stool. The GP kept telling me reflux and gave me gaviscon which didnt work then I went back (knowing deep down she had areaction to the milk) and demanded to try nutramigen. This made a LITTLE different to start but she went down hill again and I was given ranitidine and I asked to be referred to paeds. We ended up going 7 times to the drs and 5 times to the hospital before we refused to leave unless they let us trial her on or tell us where we can buy nutramigen aa. The dietician came and gave us some and within days she was like a different child. She is a very grumpy grizzly baby anyway but is happier on this milk, she now has possible gluten intolerance though and still is very windy so so much but I think this is down to the immaturity of her digestive system.

Good luck hun

xx

Today the HV immediately said i should stop using ranitidine and prescribed me with Nutramigen! I am so happy that i'm getting to try it. Just to rule it out if it doesn't work! I'm glad she listened to what i had to say - wish i'd gone to her first before the doctors now!

Hope you're getting on ok hun!

 

[f.rossa]

Silent reflux is hard... My LO has it as well as a dairy intolerance. He is on omeprozole which does help when I can get it to stay down! I know it is a while off for you but weaning has helped him too.

My advice would be to keep pestering until you start seeing some sort of result... Milk intolerance can cause silent reflux too so this might be an avenue to explore. I see you say that your LO has a stuffy nose... this was the same for my LO... and it only disappeared after I elimated ALL dairy from my diet (I'm breastfeeding). My LO struggles with weight gain too as he finds it uncomfortable to feed, so he was prescribed the nutramigen formula milk for when he needs a top-up. We are really seeing improvements now though.

I hope you find the answers soon

Hi hun.. just thought i'd let you know that my LO has now been diagnosed with a milk intolerance, she wouldn't drink the nutramigen so shes on aptamil pepti and is a different baby! I can't believe it! Now hopefully the reflux will go if it is the allergy that was causing it! The rash that she had on her face which the doctors fobbed off as 'normal' baby rash disappeared as soon as we changed the milk! The doctors didn't want to say it was an allergy it was my HV that pushed it - thank god she did!

Hope your LO is still doing ok!