Silent Reflux advice needed desperately!!

[linnyc1981]

I am the first time mother of a beautiful baby boy who is 2 months old. Since about 5 weeks he has cried for several hours after every feed. At first we were told he had colic so we tried everything to relieve wind, then we were told we had silent reflux and put on Zantac and finally after Zantac hasnt completely solved the problem we have been put on Losec and using special reflux formula from pharmacy. Zantac decreased the screaming by lots!!

I still dont think things are right, he doesnt scream after every feed now, but suddenly will wake himself for sleep and begin to scream on and off for hours. He is red faced, and often sweats his entire back as he gets so worked up. His legs push up and down or he does stragith as a bored. His mouth smells like acid. And sometimes i feel like he isnt breathing! It seems we calm him finally and he almost falls asleep then swallows and it all begins again.

I feel like everyhing is in a cycle now and dont know what is making things better and what is not helping.

His poos have now changed colour to yellow mustard and are pellet like now on the new formula but he goes 2 times a day - but it is a small pellet each time! They seems quite solid would this mean he is constipated now too?? He is always red faced and strains alot to poo1

We seem to give him a dose of panadol daily to help him settle and not sure how safe this is???

is there anyone who has advice on what i should do next to help him, or is it normal for babies to cry in pain several times a day even with these interventions??

Also can someone tell me what is safe to use with panadol and reflux?? The panadol defaintely works without fail to stop the crying and let him sleep - but i am worried i use it once every day/ couple of days???

Please help me - i dont know what to tell the paed anymore but i just cant stand him being in so much pain every day!

[Jakabella]

Hugs to you!

When Bella was young she also would scream after feeds so she was put on Losec and it worked well. But Bella also had terrible wind so we used Infacol - bought from the supermarket - before every feed and that helps get the wind up. Bella was fully formula fed so she also got constipated and we would put some liqiud coloxal drops in her bottle as told to us by the chemist - all of these things tend to equal an upset bub but once we started useing all the above she got some much better.

Maybe another trip to your GP and if they dont know whats going on then a referal to a pead?

Also I was giving Bella cooled bouiled water between her bottles and this helps soften her poo so she was not straining so much.

I hope things improve soon for you!

Kate

[linnyc1981]

we have treid coloxyl drops before we changed formulas and they made no difference- i am not sure if he is constipated bacsue he does poos regualry (up to 3 times a day) and farts lots. He just strains and the are pellet like??? Is that constipation?? i am just so so so conused. Iwent to the dr today and they saw him screaming and said he is defaintely in pain - i hate that he is in pain and i cant do anything to help. He said Panadol is defiantely safe- but should get reflux under control asap - i hate waiting for everything to work - we have another week on losec to see if it helps - fingers crossed!! i want a happy baby

[hj1981]

When u lay bub down have u elevated cot/matress?
Miss B had silent reflux - was horrible and heartbreaking to watch - and we would elevate her bed which helped heaps - also when feeding keep bub more upright than normal!
We used Infant Gaviscon and that was FANTASTIC!

[Ellee05]

Hugs to you hon, it's so hard to see them in pain isn't it. DD is also on Losec although we're no longer able to get it made to a liquid. We have been dissolving it in Gripe water though which she seems to take a lot better. DD has also been quite unsettled of late and I've found that Infants Friend will more often than not seem to calm her a lot. I don't have any other advice except have you thought of seeing a Osteopath? I am trying to find one in Perth at the moment as they seem to have a lot of success with reflux in babies and also DD has flat spot in her head that I want sorted out.

[linnyc1981]

we elevated his bassinette, but now that it is summer have moved him into his big cost to help air circulate and keep him cool. We have elevated the cot slightly and we try our best to keep him elevated in a feed, but find because he cries so much falls asleep easily during a feed - i guess the formula can sometimes comfort his sore oesophagus - it is aftyer the feed when he starts digestion that the problems occur. Thankyou so much for your help - i will mention gaviscon at Paed visit - were you on this and zantac/ losec???

[sharon1977]

I had a silent reflux baby who wasn't diagnosed until 3 months! I thought the screaming was normal and something all babies did!?!?!

Extra things we did on top of the medication were:
* phonebooks under the cot legs so bubs sleeps on a slight angle (not under the matress but under the actual legs of the cot)
* we would only feed half a feed (ff) at a time, stop, burp, then start again. This was a pain in the butt coz it would sometimes take 20mins or more to get the burp out but if we didn't do it, the next few hours were hell!
* made sure we kept ds upright for at least 20mins after a feed to let the milk make its way down and settle in his tummy

This meant night feeds took heaps longer than normal, but it also meant we didn't wake up to intense screaming each night.

In relation to the poos - ds ended up constipated a few times, I was adv by my gp that it was ok to give him prune juice. We would mix up 1 part prune juice to 5 parts water. I can't remember what age we did that for but I remember he was quite young and on the smallest bottles. Other than that, if your bub is ff, keep up the boiled water, especially with the weather getting warmer.

Hang in there, it sucks, I feel your pain, but it WILL get better. For many, many nights ds would wake at 2am, screaming the house down and the only way to settle him was to hold him bolt upright. 2am was the start of a lot of my days in those first few months.

[linnyc1981]

we are on the waiting list for oesteopath )best in Canberra apparently) but he cant see us until march next year - even with paed referral - i am on the list if anything comes up we will drop everything and go. I am about to go to phramacy so will ask about gavascon and infant friend. Did anyone use Novalac Reflux Formula with success??? What formula are you guys using???

[linnyc1981]

there is nothing we can do to comfrot our bub - even holding him upright, it is a matter of letting him cry it out and giving panadol and a warm bath (yes even at 2am in the morning). We find sleep helps lots - help everyone!!! It is so hard - even my mother is law tells me this is what babies do - i can only explain to friends that their babies stopped crying when they picked them up - mine doesnt and he is obviously in pain!!! around the clock. I worry there is something else is wrong with him as Zantac/Losec doesnt always help - is this normal. The amount of times we have been to the dr and paed something should work??? i think i have just had enough tonight and need something to help!!! Did you all feel like you go round in circles, and are constantly trying new formulas, natural thearapies, pharmacy medicines, paed medicines - and still there isnt anything that helps

[Softy]

HUGE reflux or seeing your bub in pain/distressed is absolutely horrible DD had reflux pretty bad but although it was messy and hard to watch would throw up really well like in the 80's horrow flicks covering everything! We tried the zantac and infant gaviscon but she wouldn't take anything and I couldn't even really 'force' it in her. Try the cooled boiled water as Jackabella suggested as it will definately help if he's constipated. If your doc knows you're giving panadol regularly and hasn't said anything it should be fine...we've given DD nurofen for about a week and a half when she had a virus and the doc said it was fine, but I know you prob don't wanna give it to him for too long so maybe see how the new med goes and seek another opinion??? I used to also put a towel on the change table up the head end rolled up like a pillow so even when I was changing her she was elevated and instead of lifting her legs to change the nappy would roll her & pull it out and then roll her to slide another one under, so was trying to sort of keep her elevated and not 'bunch' up her little tummy by lifting her legs.

Other than that just big hugs it is horrible and all I can say is they DO grow out of it....I kept waiting, 'they' said 6 weeks, she still had it, 'they' said 8 weeks she still had it, then 'they' said 6 months and she still had it It does get better and when you know what you're exactly dealing with and know what works you'll feel better too and it'll be a bit easier to work with good luck

[Lulu]

Please forgive the bullet points, I'm just buggered today.

* there has already been good advice here - re elevating cot etc
*don't wait for the osteopath, there are others out there that specialise in babies, chiropractors etc. It's too long to wait and it could really help.
*Infants Friend has good reports
* Careful of the losec etc, it can bugger up the bowels a bit (as much as it seems to help at the time it can take a while to recover)
* Brauers Calm etc is worth a try too
* It does seem like baby is straining a bit doesn't it?

Last but not least - some babies are just colicky or unsettled. No matter what you do. Sometimes you have to wait for them to grow out of it because it's just the way they are. It's a sucky one, but it's been my experience.

GL with it all xoxoxo

[linnyc1981]

there are so many things to do and it is all trial and error isnt it. i think that is what is making it worse as i feel like i am going round in circles! thanks again for all your advice!

[Lulu]

S'ok. I hope you found it helpful. At the very least, just know whilst you are pacing the hallway with a screaming bub at 4am, that you are not the only one.

xoxoxoxo

It's a hard time, but it WILL get better

[Taurean]

Big hugs hon! It's hard work and so distressing. Our 9 week old DD has just been put on Zoton as of yesterday and I'm hoping it will be our saviour. The chemist made up the liquid form for us - only 3 pharmacists in Perth do it! We have DD her first dose last night and I'm not sure if it's a coincidence but she slept for just over 9 hours!!! Pity my boobs were so engorged or I would have got a damn good sleep too! LOL

I hope you LO gets some relief soon. And you too for that matter!