Silent reflux

[Willow82]

So after a truly awful day of watching my little lady cry in pain and trying to deal with an unruly 3 year old, I took DD to the doctors who thinks she has silent reflux and has prescribed infant gaviscon. For those whose babies have had silent reflux, did the gaviscon work? How else did you cope with the reflux? When did your LO outgrow it? Any advice would be very welcome!

 

[Teri7489]

For us gaviscon worked but caused constipation so watch out for that.

Things that help(ed) are raising the head of the cot with a couple of books, keeping baby upright after feeds for at least 20 minutes and (I know its not at all recommended) but for my son tummy sleeping. Good luck xxx

 

[Willow82]

For us gaviscon worked but caused constipation so watch out for that.

Things that help(ed) are raising the head of the cot with a couple of books, keeping baby upright after feeds for at least 20 minutes and (I know its not at all recommended) but for my son tummy sleeping. Good luck xxx

Did you use the maximum dose of gaviscon? So far we've been using it 3 times over 24 hours and she initially seemed to improve as she started settling better at night. Since Friday though, she's been horrendous. Last night she didn't sleep in her Moses basket until 3.40am. I'm going to up the gaviscon to 4 timed but I don't know whether to just go straight to the maximum dose.

We're trying all the other things you suggested but the only place she will sleep until 3amish is on us or in the sling

 

[MemmaJ]

Gaviscon didn't work for my little boy. Went to the doctors when he was about 4 weeks old and was given ranitidine, which also didn't work, so we've just started Omeprazole.
However the doctor also suggested it could all be down to Cows Milk Protein Allergy and started him on special milk which has made a huge difference to him in general. Could that be a possibility for your little one...?

 

[Welshgem81]

My dd had silent reflux and she was a prem with iugr so was prescribed gaviscon first. It didn't work for us so Dr increased dose to two sachets per bottle. That didn't work either. It does work for some babies though so give it a week to see first. It is known to cause constipation tho. I found cow and gate carobel as a milk thicker worked well with one sachet of gaviscon but my dd was also on omeprezole for her reflux until she was nearly 2.

 

[Teri7489]

It can take a little while to work but if your LO is really unsettled then try increasing it. We went back and forth to the doctor who just increased it to the point of constipation. My LO is now on the ranitidine and will be going on to omeprazole as the rantiadine is no longer working but can't be increased just yet. It's a frustrating thing to help them with and needs you to be strong when fobbed off by doctors xxx

 

[Willow82]

I tried upping the gaviscon but it's not made any difference and it's making her constipated.

Took her back to the doctors today who have prescribed ranitidine. Really hope it begins to work as its now 4.30am and I've had no sleep since 11.30pm.

The doctor wants to see her again next week and has already mentioned the possibility of a milk allergy and a referral to the hospital so I'm pleased they're taking it seriously.

 

[Teri7489]

Glad the doctor has taken you seriously. I had to keep going back and simply argue with them. Hope your LO gets relief soon and you all get some sleep xxx

 

[PocoHR]

Heya, Benjamin has silent reflux and its been awful. He was given a prescription for ranitidine last week, but I didn't fill it due to DH not wanting him in meds. I'm glad I didn't because he just started to turn a corner and improve in the last few days. A few things we do in case they might help you: He sleeps in my arms. He lays in the crux of my arm with his head slightly raised and he just sleeps that way. I think it helps his tummy, he also sleeps on his side (usually the left side) this way, facing me and he seems to like that. I know when I have heartburn sleeping on my side feels good. Also, we started using a pacifier. When I had heartburn and reflux during pregnancy my body made a lot more saliva because saliva neutralizes stomach acid. The pacifier stimulates his salivary glands and he swallows more spit, it seems to help when I can see he is feeling bad due to the reflux. We also do probiotics, in case it helps, although I have no idea if its made any difference.

I sooo hope this gets better for you soon, I know its pure misery.

 

[Willow82]

Heya, Benjamin has silent reflux and its been awful. He was given a prescription for ranitidine last week, but I didn't fill it due to DH not wanting him in meds. I'm glad I didn't because he just started to turn a corner and improve in the last few days. A few things we do in case they might help you: He sleeps in my arms. He lays in the crux of my arm with his head slightly raised and he just sleeps that way. I think it helps his tummy, he also sleeps on his side (usually the left side) this way, facing me and he seems to like that. I know when I have heartburn sleeping on my side feels good. Also, we started using a pacifier. When I had heartburn and reflux during pregnancy my body made a lot more saliva because saliva neutralizes stomach acid. The pacifier stimulates his salivary glands and he swallows more spit, it seems to help when I can see he is feeling bad due to the reflux. We also do probiotics, in case it helps, although I have no idea if its made any difference.

I sooo hope this gets better for you soon, I know its pure misery.

She has a pacifier which does seem to help her as does being in the sling which has made life a lot easier as I can still do housework etc. It's night time where we have the problems, I'm not comfortable co sleeping so I guess we just have to ride it out.

Been back to the doctors today to see how she's been getting on with the ranitidine and the doctor has lowered the dose as it was on the high side. Great. She has shown some improvement but not much and so we have to go back next week for another review. It's likely that they'll refer her to the hospital if there are still issues.

Glad to hear that your LO is feeling better.

 

[donnarobinson]

My ds2 had silent reflux the gaviscon did help he outgrew jt fairly early but he was also cows milk protein allergy so once we swapped milks it got better x