Possible Silten Reflux - feel very down

Hi All,

Our beautiful son was born at 28weeks + 4days gestation and has been doing so well that we almost forgot he was born premature.

His stay so far had been uneventful until perhaps a week ago, he had been refusing the bottle (EBM) after only taking 30-40ml, but no one thought much about it as everyone kept saying he is was a very premature baby so perhaps he gets tired, he will improve they kept telling us.

Once he would refuse the bottle they would pour the milk down the NGT without any issues.

But now, they think it might be silent reflux as he cries and screams the second milk is poured down the NGT, he still refuses the bottle after 20-40ml.

Tonight, my wife and mum were in tears, he was inconsolable, he was screaming while they poured milk down the NGT.

They have started 6ml of ranitidine about couple of days ago, but has had no effect so far ( I think ).

I guess I am just after some comments from parents with similar experience and comments on how long it took for meds to work, as the symptoms (from my research) do point to silent reflux.

Once the feed is over, he is the normal little baby that you just want to keep looking at and just makes us smile all day long.

I am sorry if similar question has been asked before but would be great to hear your experiences.

Please pray for us that he gets better soon and gets to cme home soon. He is now 40weeks gestation (is it called correctd age?).

Thanks
HN (Dad)

Hope you are home with your little one soon.

Silent reflux is very hard to deal with, i found it takes a few days for the medication to work and reduce the acidity that is contributing to the reflux.

Is he having breastmilk or formula? I found with bm I had to be very careful with what I ate and with the formula different ones made Ds better or worse.

They do out grow it, Ds is 4 months and has improved dramatically. Our pediatrician thinks all three of my kids had it just the first two were undiagnosed as it usually affects all the children if one has it.

Dd1 was a premmie and always a vomiter and she had to be held upright after a feed for about half an hour, she improved once she weaned from breastfeeds at 8 months and went onto lactose free milk. She never seemed to be in pain unlike dd2 and Ds.

Thanks black_rose.

Yes he is having expressed breast milk (EBM), and wife has started to take notice of what she is eating (hopefully this will help)

We just couldnt see the little guy in the pain he was tonight :-(

We will see how he goes with ranitidine.

Thanks again.

:hug: I hope it's all working for you now, I also hope you guys are home!

Both my boys had reflux, but it was far from silent... DS1 was about 14 months before he grew out of it, DS2 was about 4-5 months.

And yes, corrected age is from when he would have been born. So if due date was yesterday he'd be one day corrected age (also known as adjusted age).

:hug:

I found that it took a couple of weeks for the meds to take effect with my DD. I avoided caffeine and dairy and that seemed to make a difference also.

I hope that your little one gets better soon!

My little girl has been on ranitidine for quite a number of weeks now. She was born at 34 weeks and required major abdominal surgery with has resulted in her having quite bad reflux. She's now at 40 weeks corrected age.

She used to vomit alot before being put on ranitidine. It took a few days to work, but now she rarely vomits. She still gets reflux, she screws her little face up and swallows a few times.

Things will get better. And thats a fairly decent dose of radinidine that you're bubby is on.

--Charlotte.

Hi,

I'm sorry to hear your little one is in pain when he eats, my dd has silent reflux and is also on the same meds as your son. It took about a week for the meds to really help. She is only on 1ml twice daily but used to scream inconsolably for up to 8hrs non stop. I found chocolate was terrible, if I have chocolate she screams non stop. Also dairy has been another no no for me. Hang in there, it will get better :)
My daughter is also on top ups twice a day of formula because she wasn't gaining weight very well. I find the formula sits in her belly much better than the ebm. My daughter started off with silent reflux but now vomits quite a bit but the ranitidine is great, she doesn't get any discomfort now unless I eat something bad or she vomits up her medicine. 6ml seems like a fair amount so like I said hang in there you should see a diff in a few days. Good luck :)