Silent reflux - please read at my wits end

[jade1991]

My baby is now nearly 3 weeks old. Since she's been born she's always had a problem sucking or taking bottles. She's just been diagnosed with silent reflux but I just have no confidence the gaviscon they've given her is going to work and the thought of another terrible night is making me so anxious. Please share your experiences and what helped your baby. Here are her symptoms:
Constipation since she was born
Fighting bottles getting frustrated and taking 1-2 hours to feed
Not sleeping peacefully grunting grimacing gulping hiccuping during sleep
Will not lie flat has to sleep in car seat or on me
Over tired irritable constantly windy and gurgling noises coming from tummy when feeding/sleeping

Any advice experience or just support would be amazing. At night she sleeps about 30-45 mins at a time and just feeds constantly for comfort but doesn't really drink anything 😭

 

[xdxxtx]

All five of my babies have had reflux... 2 silent, 3 regular acid reflux. Honestly, the best thing I do for my babies to keep their milk down is keep them on a slow flow nipple, go ahead and let them eat tiny bits at a time, and keep them upright on my belly against my bare skin (even if I'm bottle feeding, the skin to skin helps keep them calmer). I've used rice for my first baby, but I hate the idea of putting that in their immature tummies and constipating them even more, so I took him off of it and just put him on solid foods as soon as he was ready. The Zantac made my first two babies sooo constipated, so I was adding things to help them poo, and I just felt like I was adding more and more to treat this, and it wasn't a huge difference. With my third baby, I learned about Natrum Phos. (also known as Nat Phos and Natrum Phosphoricum 6X). I buy Hyland's brand here in the US, and it's homeopathy, so it's really just a tiny tab that melts in baby's mouth. If baby spits it out, just pop it back in. It isn't gross or anything, and I personally use it when I get reflux, too. I'd give 1 tablet 3 times a day to all of my babies, and after 2 weeks, the reflux would pretty much be gone. Thank goodness for this. It doesn't stop the spitting up, but it takes away the acid just like Zantac and Gaviscon are meant to do, only without the side effects. You can research it, and go ahead and ask the pediatrician about it - they'll probably say it doesn't work, but hundreds of other people have used it for their babies with success - the part you wanna hear is that it's not going to HARM the baby. Once you know it's not harmful, it's worth a try, even if it might not work. But it has worked for all three of my babies for whom I've used it.

 

[_Meep_]

Get her checked for tongue tie. Even if you've already been told she doesn't have one, you need to speak to someone who is familiar with all types of tongue tie, including the difficult to spot posterior kind. It's very possible this could be causing these issues for her.

 

[Bevziibubble]

Yes I would for sure get her checked for a tongue tie. It is so often missed by midwives and doctors but can cause issues with gas and reflux. I hope things improve soon

 

[MrsButterfly]

First off, big hugs. Both of mine have been reflux babies. Up until about week 8 this time round things were very difficult. He couldn’t get comfy, was windy, unsettled etc. Not much ultimately helped other than time and his little digestive system maturing. We tried gaviscon but then at about 4 months moved to anti reflux milk which worked much better.

Take any offers of help you can, as the early weeks are exhausting. Hang on in there.

Oh and my second had a tongue tie - it was clipped but didn’t positively change his symptoms. But worth asking about in case it does for your little one.

 

[MEPride]

I agree with the pp. check for a tongue tie.

Also, if your baby formula or breastmilk fed? If breastmilk then consider taking a probiotic for yourself. It gets through the breastmilk to help her digestive system. You can also ask your pediatrician about giving your lo a probiotic. If your baby is formula fed, maybe consider the possibility of an allergy to something in the formula

 

[Teri7489]

Both my babies had reflux so huge sympathy for you. Gaviscon did nothing and in fact put my son in hospital with a blocked bowel at 6 weeks old so I'm not a fan. Ranitidine however changed everything for us. Of course you have to increase the dose as they grow so you do have times where they revert back to the noises, irritability and vomiting but it's short lived until the medicine is increased. As others have mentioned, slow flow teats, keeping them uprights after feeds, warms baths and skin to skin contact helps. Even during the night when you are shattered try skin to skin to help settle your lo and you might find its enough to realise endorphins (which are natural pain killer's) and helps to settle them back to sleep. It often worked for my son. I really would recommend asking the doctor for the Ranitidine to try it x

 

[jade1991]

Thanks everyone. She was given gaviscon on Monday which has made everything 10x worse she's constipated cat napping not deep sleeping and is just so irritable. She's been checked for tt and hasn't got it but thanks for the suggestions. I'm formula feeding, I've still got mastitis too which I had at day 5 PP so that's making me feel even worse. Last night she comfort fed every hour again but only about an oz then fell back to sleep for another 45 mins. I'm literally at my wits end and my poor DD who's 5 is being looked after by my mum at the moment because I'm just so exhausted 😭

 

[Bevziibubble]

I'm so sorry that the Gaviscon made things worse. It made mine constipated when they were babies. I hope things start to get easier soon

 

[_Meep_]

Gaviscon is notorious for giving them terrible constipation, it's awful. Both mine were tongue tied babies and both were cleared by the NHS as apparently being tie-free, but of course they weren't and it took nearly five months of hell and nursing strikes to finally find out what was going on with my first daughter. With my second, we were expecting it so we went to an expert early on and got hers done at 5 weeks. Both had the rarer posterior type that midwifes and NHS practitioners have no idea about.

I hope things get easier for you. If it's just reflux alone, she will grow out of it eventually, but I know that doesn't make it any easier when you're living with it and watching your baby in pain. A good probiotic (we use Bio-Kult Infantis for our baby) can help replace bacteria in the gut that may be missing or too few.

 

[noon_child]

I agree it really really sounds like it could be a tongue tie. What's her weight gain like? Does milk dribble out the sides of her mouth while she feeds? Has a health practitioner actually watch her try to take a bottle feed and how long it takes to get her to drink? many people swear by a dummy rather than a bottle/breast when a reflux baby needs comfort BUT if she is really struggling to eat enough this could make her constipation worse and affect her weight.

 

[_Meep_]

Can you post a picture of her mouth, namely her palate and a picture of her top lip lifted up?