reflux diagnosis? feeling devastated, having a baby was never meant to be this hard.

Baby girl is 3 weeks old and screaming, having sleeping difficulties and leaving mum and dad with the blues.
We have a bad feeling she has silent reflux.
We have put her cot mattress on a slope with foam wedge, I am thinking this is helping.
Used a bit of "infants friend" which has helped a little.
Today has been horrible after two pretty easy days and nights...WHY!!!???
Its leaving me exhausted and crying. I cant stand seeing her in pain and distress, this is not how i envisioned motherhood.

I am thinking after today of finding a good paed who understands silent reflux, but I bet it will be a long wait.
I just gave her 2 mls of mylanta out of desperation.
I sobbed the whole way through it, WHY am I giving my baby this stuff? Shes 3 weeks old for christ sake....

Its so hard.

Has anyone got some good advice and some words of hope for this stressed out mum?
Next thing you know my milk supply will be affected, after all the struggles of BF for past few weeks...erghhhh....how do I COPE!!??

Thanks for reading/listening.:cry:

delara I don't have any experience with reflux but I couldn't read and not post :hug: I'm sure one of the many lovely BB Mums that have gone through it all will be by soon with some words of advice :hug: it's really tough having a new bub even when everything seems to be going well, so I understand how frazzled you must be. You're doing a great job, and I hope things calm down for you and Dad and your baby girl soon.

My DD was diganosed with reflux at about 4 weeks old - so we were put onto Losec and with in a week she was a different bub. I would say get to your GP or Pead and get some help/

I hope you and your DH and your bub are all feeling better asap!

The first weeks can be tough, but it does get easier.

My bub had colic, which can present similarly to reflux. It was tough and lasted til she was about 10 - 12 weeks, but there were things we found that did help a little. I was also able to continue exclusive breastfeeding (this is also true for reflux too see http://www.breastfeeding.asn.au/bfinfo/reflux.html)

DO you have a local maternal child health nurse? They can be good resources, and can let you know of good local Paediatricians if you want to see one.

DO you have a baby carrier? Taking baby for a walk in a carrier can help give you or her Dad some fresh air, and the movement can help get bub to settle and to sleep.

The bath was a lifesaver for us. It really helped to settle my little one, and a few times she was given 4 baths in one day.

Giving bub Infant's Friend before her feed helped here.

Letting bub sleep on my (or DH's) chest during the day meant that she slept for longer and better and we were there to settle her if necessary. This helped cos we weren't then dealing with extra sleep deprivation.

DH was great at jiggling baby and rubbing her back after feeds.

I would give bub a break during the feed and would rub her back for any burps.

It helped me to think that even if i couldn't take away her discomfort or stop her crying, it had to nicer to have Mum or Dad there to help her through it.

Look after yourself and your DH, take a break if you can and let the other parent look after her for a little while.

Just remind you again that this will pass, it will get easier and you will enjoy being a Mum.

take care

:comfort: no advise just lots of hugs n kisses
parenting is never easy especially when u have these hurdles..
i agree take her to the gp n get them to look her over also..
GL hun xoxo

A good gp can help, ds was diagnosed at 4 weeks too. As soon as he was on meds he calmed down, no more screaming and he slept better. Driving in the car helped us along with a vibrating rocker, the movement keeps them calmer.

Hun,

We are going through the same thing at the moment, there have been nights where I have broken down and sobbed because I don't know what to do :(
We went to the GP & he gave us infacol which seems to have eased the pain a bit, she is still getting pain but we've had two good days so far. Last night we had about two 1hr blocks of screaming rather than 7-8hrs of non stop feeding & screaming.
I don't have any advice, I know how tough it is and how emotionally and physically draining it is. The sleep deprivation is torture and so is seeing your baby in pain :(
We are using the sling alot during the day, keeping bub upright for about 1/2hr after feeds seems to help. I have found rubbing her back better than patting as patting seems to give her the hiccups which then causes her to vomit & swallow it, this is when she starts screaming in pain. Cycling her legs gets rid of wind and lots of burping between feeds.
Thinking of you and hoping it gets easier xo

Hugs hun, its tough to see them like this and absolutely not what you were expecting!!

Go see your GP tomorrow, explain its for your 3 week old and they should fit you in. Any half decent GP will be able to help you out here, just explain whats been happening and that you suspect its silent reflux. I thought i would have a fight on my hands to get DS diagnosed, but my GP jumped on it before the words came out of my mouth!

My DS was diagnosed with silent reflux at around 4 months, controlling my diet had a huge impact on how well he coped (and still does!), he was particularly sensitive to caffeine, soft drink, chocolate, dairy, tomato based sauces, any kind of vaguely spicy food and nuts. Try and be as bland as you can for a few days and see if there is any difference. Also, do you have a carrier where bub can be upright against your chest? This is a wonderful calming and soothing position for them and you will get some rest with it.

Sending you some more big hugs, it does and will get better!!

If its reflux the best thing is to get it diagnosed and medicated ASAP, no stuffing around, silent reflux slowly damages. There is no need to see a paed, a general gp can prescribe zantax or losec. Infants friend won't help with reflux though.

DD2 started about 3 weeks, within 2 days she was vomiting up her own stomach acids, I rang my gp, she faxed a prescription to my local chemist that day and we started zantac (I've had previous experience with GORD with my niece so my gp trusted my judgement). Within a few days she was so much happier, it took another couple weeks to calm down much more. At 5 months we trialled a decrease in med's and found she was much better, by 6 months she was off the meds.

If your bub does have reflux its not the end of the world, its quite treatable, and while you may find they are still a little irritable and sensitive because it may not hurt as such but still be umcomfortable, they can still be very happy little darls. There are heaps of little things you can do to help, like raise the cot, have bub sleep upright as much as possible (a rocker or swing is great for this), carry bub with you in a sling. Change bubs nappy before a feed and turn them sideways to do so not lift their legs to their chest. Dummies help produce extra saliva to reduce stomach acids, as well as being soothing. Try to space feeds out to a minimum, say 3 hours, what can happen as is the stomach empties it starts to hurt, and to help this they want to feed as the milk is soothing temporarily, unfortunately it become a vicious cycle as each time the stomach fills and empty's it can cause discomfort.

If you are worried about your supply then do some extra pumping to increase it but generally reflux won't affect your supply as whatever is being taken will be replaced. Reflux will make bub fuss at the breast, unfortunately there is not much you can do about this except persevere (it will get better with time), but giving a small amount of mylanta before a feed can help. Formula can also make the reflux worse, as well as hindering supply, so try to avoid it.

Best wishes, I hope it gets sorted soon.

Wow...I feel as though I could cry after reading all your kind posts.

Thankyou everyone,

I will send her off to GP next week, I dont want this to get worse or damage her.
What a great forum this is, just this bit of support will help me get through the day.
Babyluv - :hug:
xxx

Hey Delara,

My DD had reflux which was diagnosed at 7 weeks but she had it from around 5 weeks. We were given losec by the paed and I also took her to a chiro which helped immensely. She no longer has it and we weaned her off the medication at around 5 months. She was a different baby after taking the losec and while it's not ideal to give babies medications, it helped her sleep and I got my happy baby back.

:hug: :hug: There are lots of ladies here who know what you're going through :hug:

made appointment with GP - fingers crossed he can help me get some losec.

It really tears me up inside to think about giving her meds at this early stage - Im so afraid of damaging her!
U know, before I got pregnant I was never really maternal, wasnt so into babies and children - its incredible how you change.
At least know, from reading some feedback, its not forever, just until they develop a bit further, and then she can be weaned off.
Thankyou!

You'll get there hun, it's hard seeing your little person in pain hey? :hug:

We found the tablet form of losec to work better than the made up suspension - we just dissolved the tablet in a tiny bit of water on a teaspoon and gave it to her that way. Was much easier than trying to get her to take the nasty suspension which tastes utterly disgusting.

:hug:

Hi Delar, hugs to you and your little one. When it's tough it's tough but there will be an end to it. I hope you all find relief soon.

I too have had no expereince with reflux or colic but there were times in the early weeks where i had my books out and was googling the subjects wondering if my children may have. We somehow got through those times with the boys and all was ok.

With my little girl i wondered the same again but the difference this time is i have a carrier and i have found when she is unsettled this helps so much. Providing she's not hungry i can put her in this and she'll be asleep in minutes. It helps so much when bub is overtired and the changing of positions or patting can be stimulation enough to make it difficult for them to sleep.

I hope th GP appt comes around for you really soon and you get some answers but in the mean time if you get an opportunity you may find a carrier can really help sooth.

Good luck oxox

Hi Myboys...still havent got a new user name huh?!! :)
I cant wait until monday now to hopefully start the medication.
You are so lucky with your baby girl! arghhhh! that would be GREAT to just be able to put in a carrier and wullah!
OH WELL, we bothhave been blessed.
I have also been told that the losec tablets dissolved in water work much much better than the liquid losec - there u go.
having a better day than yesterday.

Still, walking around on eggshells and have hardly left nursery. Looks like it will be that way for following 10 days. sigh.

Nope Delara i'm working on it :lol:

Delara we are both so so lucky and blessed and it sounds like you are doing absoluately all you can to make your little girl comfortable. Bring on next Monday!!

I know my close gf's DS had silent reflux and he used to squirm and bring a lot of his feeds back up, he ended up on the meds for it.

DD is really quite good but when she gets unsettled/overtired it can be quite difficult and she has more of these times than i remember with my boys. She can really SCREAM, and the carrier has been a bit of a lifesaver in helping this at times.

Hope you get a good night tonight and things start to settle soon. Good luck again xox

My Ds2 was diagnosed with Silent Reflux at 7 weeks. He was not so much in pain but would stop breathing.. Anyways after a barium test that is what they said he had..

We were given a thickener to put in his feeds. I was BF but through a bottle. You can use the thickener if fully BF from boobies though

I think Karicare was the name.. I woudl go to your local pharmacy and ask about it

:hug:

Off to see dr today, hoping to start her on some zantac and losec. fingers crossed.
It seems her symtoms have good days and bad days. yesterday was pretty good, with a nasty ending.
It will be nice to be able not to have to constantly worry about wether the day will be good or bad...but I suppose then I'll just find something ELSE to worry about!

GL today! I find the days we stay at home are worse, as he isn't moving about so much. I recommend a Chiro too, it has made a huge difference for us. It fixed his constipation, he pooed right after his first adjustment and he seems calmer. Sitting waiting to see ours now!

Good luck today Delara, let us know how you go ox

DD1 had silent reflux also! and at 4wks we started her on gaviscon before we went on anything stronger and that worked a treat!!!
i really feel for you! i know how hellish it can be! hope all goes well at the docs!

goodluck for today babe :crossfingers:

i can also highly recommend her seeing an osteo. it's amazing how they can help...

delara, hope the GP was helpful. DS was diagnosed with reflux at 4 weeks, on Zantac from 4 weeks (which we found did nothing) and then Losec (which was brilliant!!). Like the others have said, keeping upright, using the sling etc were very helpful.

Something I found also worked well was holding DS in my arms with his head on my shoulder and bouncing gently on a fitball. Apparently the up and down movements mimic the motion they feel in utero and we found he would pretty much calm down instantly when we did that. He also loved the shower, and a couple of times even fell asleep in there so worth a try!

It's definitely a tough gig having a baby with reflux but you WILL get through it and have your happy baby back. I can also HIGHLY recommend an osteo, they're so gentle and I found it made a huge different to DS in both his sleeping habits and the amount he vomited.

Good luck xx

ETA - meant to say that I know how hard it is to give a tiny baby medicine, I felt so terribly guilty that he was on meds at such a young age, but when you see the difference it makes, well it's certainly worth it to see them free of pain. So don't beat yourself up if you do need to start meds, it's the best thing for reflux.

How did it go Delara??

I feel your pain. my lil darling had issues too, she was 6 months old before she stopped the crying (we were against gonig with the drugs though). It got better 1. after we saw a Chiro at 3 weeks - her neck AND tailbone were out! poor lil mite! and then 2. when I cut out dairy. We have sinced discovered by going to the Allergy Elimination Clinic here in Melbourne that she was intolerant of dairy, wheat, eggs and artificial colourings. She has since been treated and can eat anything now, but even up till 18 months old (when we took her to the clinic) she'd be up till at least 9pm with sore tummy! and up multiple times through the night! now she sleeps from 8pm till at least 7:30am!
Because you mentioned bub has good days and bad days, it suggests to me there may be something in your diet that her tummy isn't liking? the first things to try cutting out are usually dairy and wheat, but it can take a few days for it to get out of both of your systems.

the main thing is to remember you are NOT alone, and this won't last forever. Something I learnt was no matter how hard it was, sometimes I just had to lay her down somewhere she was safe and let her cry for 5 minutes and let myself tune out. *hugs* good luck with it! I can give you the details for the Allergy Clinic if you are interested, they may be able to recommend someone up your way!

2 of my bub's have had reflux. DD2 was my first screamer. Life was impossible for the first 10 weeks.
DD3 started at about 2 weeks. At 5 weeks she started sleeping through the night, but was impossible through the day. She only slept through coz she was so exhausted from being awake all day.
Once I realised what it was though, I could deal with it & make sure she was comfortable. I have taken her little co sleeping bed out of her cot, so she's flat, but will put it back in tonight because she hasn't slept properly since it came out.
Everything has to be elevated. She almost always pukes on the change table, coz she's down flat. The sling was my saviour.
We haven't needed any meds & she's improved alot quicker than DD2 did :)

my Ds had colic and we tried everything he was bottle feed....the gripe water, all of it...and what worked for me was an anti colic formula.....mind you he was a big feeder lol

Del it doesnt get better when they are older cause you worry about different things lol

Hi Delara,

It's me Myboys, finally changed my user name :D

How are the reflux symptoms going for you? I just reread my post to you and oh my how things have changed. Harper too has silent reflux and it got quite bad around the 5 week mark. The wrap stopped working, nothing was working and we were having evenings of screaming and bub writhing in pain/uncomfortableness. She'd fall asleep, swallow and then wake up screaming again. She never vomited and could go barely 2 hours between feeds. I spoke to my health nurse and was told it's 'normal' so i kept putting up with it but after a full week of not settling until 10pm (when she was finally exhausted) i'd had enough, it was so difficult to see my baby so uncomfortable and not be able to do anything about it. So we went to the dr's, i explained the symptoms and he said 'it "sounds" like slilent reflux, we can give her some zantac and see how it goes, it can't halm her' reasuring diagnosis hey???? But i was pretty sure that's what we were dealing with so we begun giving her that, the improvement was slow but it has made an improvement. We've had about 2 whole weeks of no real reflux symptoms at all, wind on the other hand can cause just as much discomfort but that's a whole other thread.

I just wanted to see how you were going and that i really do feel for you, i was confused enough 3rd time around if what bub was doing was 'normal' so i have no idea how you as a first time mum felt trying to figure out how to help your little one. I hope for you things have settled and you have a happy bub. Now we just have to be game enough to wean them soon and hope that they may have grown out of it.

Hope all is good :D

Hey "EJ"!!!
Alexandras doing much better though she is on a higher than normal dose (daily) of the Losec - 15mg - all at once. If she misses it - woooahhh we know about it!!!
On the losec she's a normal baby - and sleeping and feeding much better. Occaisionally waking up due to reflux - so things are not perfect but very much managable.

Zantac (I was told) works for a limited time before the babies develop a tolerance for it. so... if you find her symptoms getting worse, try the losec?

As for me - hey,, im doing heaps better now she can be settled and I dont feel like a loser! Im hoping to wean her off the losec ASAP. Tried this week, not happening! She was awful for 2 days! Within hours after increasing the dose back to 15mg - peace and a smiling baby again.
I think I'll try weaning again at 3 months - as (from what Ive been told) babies tend to grow out of the reflux around 3 or 6 or 9 or then 12 months generally.

Reflux IS awful - im sure going to tell ALL my pregnant girlfriends what to look out for because its so exhausting and depressing if you are living in the dark like we were, huh!!

EJ and Delora

i feel for both of you, my bub is just over 8 weeks old and i swear he has reflux, he screams non stop basically and has done since he was 3 weeks old, he wants to feed so much just about all day everyday and its getting quite hard

I dont understand this pain im going through im getting very very distressed, dad is getting destressed and his big brother is getting cranky with me constantly feeding and not having the time for him :(
I have been to my dr 2 times for some help for reflux and all i keep getting told is he is hungry :| i dont think hes hungry, so last night i spend 2hrs at the hospital seeing a different dr for the reflux and once again i come home with NO HELP
ARGH im going to loose it, its getting to me all the constant screaming, i even started crying at the hospital and they still wouldnt give me anything all they told me was to go home and give him some panadol and i said yeah sure but he cant live off that, the dr replies ive seen babies have it for over 3 weeks YEP SURE i aint dosing my 8 week old up on pain relief for no reason when i KNOW what he needs


Goodluck, im glad things have settled down for u, its quite hard and i could only just imagine how u felt being a first time mum, this is my second bub and OMG its still VERY stressful!

Mizqtie ~ you can buy infant gaviscon over the counter at the chemist if you want to try that, I used a Neurofen syringe to give it to DD2, mix it with about 10ml of boiled water and syringe after the first side, then sit up to burp. That may assist in less coming back up, during the interim. Losec neutralizes the acid in the stomach. DD2 is up to 20mg a day (2 x 10mg a day) in conjunction with the Gav, but it is a prescription, is there another Dr' you can go to?

We have attempted weaning DD2 at 4 months and it failed dismally - we only got as far as a half dose of the Losec and she was a screaming inconsolible non sleeping baby, so will try again at 6 months of age, but I wouldn't be surprised if she is going to be on it for much longer than that due to the severity.

Myztie - apparently it IS hard to find a DR who will help you through the reflux with the right treatment. Try goingt o Parenting Services | Baby Care Products for good advice and contact Sally there - She was the one who helped diagnose and get me on the right path.

I cant imagine surviving it with another child - ahhhhh!!! you poor thing!!

Beema - I thought my baby girls dosage was high at 15mg per day - now i wont worry as much knowing you got away with 20mg! I cant wait to wean her off the losec too...

Hey Delara only just getting back to you sorry. It does sound like your little one has a more severe case of reflux than Harper has experienced. She has .8mg 3 x a day. The last couple of days i have seen a few signs of her reflux again (indication that we're not ready to wean?), i kind of thought it was a diet issue (from me, had some homemade pizza) but i suppose time will tell if the zantac is or isn't working.

I have been told that Zantac's prescribed dosage goes by weight and as bub puts on weight the dosage also needs to be increased, otherwise yes it won't continue to work so well.

It's horrible to hear you say you felt like a looser but i understand where you're coming from. It's so hard when it's clear your little one needs help but you don't know what to do. I'm just glad that you were able to find a dr that would help and that you are getting results.

Mizqtie how is your little one going? I am so sorry you were feeling so helpless and receiving no help. I really hope you've found someone who was willing to help you and bub by now. My little one fed constantly also, up until she was on zantac she would feed every two hours and only sleep for about and hour at a time. Once she was on the zantac things did get gradually better and she began to feed less and sleep longer. I hope things are improving for you.

Big hugs. Crying on top of sleep deprivation is not easy to cope with but it will get better. I don't have many words of advice, but i wanted to ask whether you have heard of Cranial Osteopathy? My friend saw one for her daughters Colic and it made a big improvement. I've read lots of good reviews on the net about this therapy.

Good luck.

Hi Riss10 i had given the osteopath a go in the early weeks, it was around the same time we started on the zantac so hopefully with both i was helping my bub to feel more comfortable. If it wasn't for BB i wouldn't have 'thought outside square' in regards to helping with anything other than medication. It's a great thing when we can all share our thoughts and expereinces.

Around the time of my last post (just before my little one was 3 months) the reflux came back so her dose was increased. We are still on that same dose now 1 month later but last night she was showing a few signs of it returning again :o I don't think we've seen the last of the reflux just yet.

Thanks for the info :)

Delara i hope you guys are well xo