Is it really reflux or something else?

Hi girls,
Hope I've put this in the right place!

Just wanted your opinons. At about 3-4 weeks old after feeds DS started crying in pain, arching his back and feeding erratically (wanting to suck all the time because it seemed to ease the pain i think) and the only way to settle him was to have him upright on his tummy on our shoulders rubbing his back. He stopped sleeping during the day, I remember there was a block of 5 days where he would only sleep 1/2 hour to an hour a day. Being my first baby, i thought it was "normal". Anyway it was really bad one day and I'd had enough so we booked an emergency appointment with a doctor we don't normally see, who diagnosed him with silent reflux. I was happy with this because I thought that's what it was too. We started him on half a tablet of losec a day and it seemed to clear up and he was happy and sleeping again.

DS turned 8 weeks on wednesday just gone and yesterday it started again. About half an hour after his morning feed he started crying. At first I thought it was because he was overtired as I'd had him on his playgym on the floor and he seems to get a bit overwhelmed so I rocked him and sang to him to try to get him to sleep. After about half an hour he was worse, and he'd only settle when I put him upright on my shoulder, or sat him on my knee and rubbed his back, and even then you could tell he was still in pain, so I gave him panadol. He slept a bit yesterday but only when I'd hold him, as soon as I'd put him down he'd be awake again crying in pain. He settled eventually and was fine after his next feed, but the one after that it happened all again. And this morning, it's happened again, yet his night feeds there aren't any problems.

Could his medicine have just stopped working? It's supposed to get rid of it, not just act as an antacid. I'll be making a doctors appointment if he's still not happy tomorrow but I probably won't be able to get in until about wednesday. :( any advice or ideas on what else it could be or what I could do to help would be lovely, I just don't know what to do!

Thanks!

Hi there littlebear,

What you are describing could be a few different things. Lots of babies have a growth spurt at 8 weeks, and become unsettled at that time, so it could be that. It could be reflux - Losec can sometimes not be effective, or he could have had a particularly bad reflux that caused him pain despite the Losec. Losec doesn't cure reflux; it inhibits acid production in the stomach, so the reflux still occurs, but because the stomach acid is not as acidic, it is less painful and damaging.

I think a check-up with the doctor is a great idea.

thankyou for your reply schmickers, silly me for thinking losec would just "cure" him :redface:

I've come to the conclusion that it's growing pains as well as a few days of bad reflux all together, but the reflux seems to be getting better again. This is really the first time he's acted up around a wonder week/growth spurt so I guess I just didn't know what to look for! Thanks again :)