Reflux

Hi there all... I just thought I'd start with us and our situation and share a bit...

Matilda was diagnosed with Silent Reflux at 6 weeks. We had a few goes at medications and have found Mylanta to be the best at the moment. (Gaviscon caused major constipation...). We have trialled the chiropractor, and have found that the reflux pain is reduced! I find the hardest thing to listen to her cry & scream in pain and not be able to do anything about it. I have found that for me, crying with her is the best thing to help relieve all the stress.
We are still up every 2 hours at night though but mainly to wind pain now #-o . Hoping that it settles down!

We found a great Reflux association in Brisbane, and I would highly recommend anyone whose baby is diagnosed with Reflux call them & get a newsletter! The have coffee mornings once a month to meet & Mums can commiserate together ;) ykwim! I found it amazing to read that others have gone through and are going through the same things we are and its so encouraging to know that you aren't alone!

So those who are going through this battle, join us in here! Its great stress relief!

Wow Christy, good on you for finding a support group - it truly is the best thing to do. It can be so isolating when you have an unsettled baby for any reason, be it medical or not - so finding others going through what you are is a great way to relax (dare I use that word!) a little and even learn that much more about what it is you are dealing with. Good on ya! \:D/ Any one else? :)

Just thought I'd see if anyone was out there?? Any reflux mums??

Matilda started on Zantac a few weeks ago and now its just starting to get bad again... just wondering if anyone out there had any other suggestions??

Does a previous reflux mum count??? LOL

Jack had very bad reflux but was a happy chucker! He brought up so much milk but continued to gain weight (he had plenty to begin with) and never cried when he vomited.

Jack was put on Prepulsid to help with the reflux which it did (reduced the amount he brought up) but I have since found out that it is not recommended as it can cause irregular heart rhythms. I am sure that there are other prescription medications out there that help but I don't know of any!

I am glad you have found a support group Christy. I had nothing like that as I was in a small country town ... we just got on with it ... I used to have a big sheet ont he floor when Jack was crawling so I could catch the vomit before it hit the carpet LOL.

Cheers

All I can say is so much for silent reflux... we've had quite a few power chucks this week!! Wow, I didn't know vomit could fly quite so far...

Ok, just a quick question. Hudson has reflux, but it doesn't seem to bother him too much pain-wise. He chucks up quite a lot between every feed and often seems quite happy about it lol! Anyway, at his 8 week check up the Dr mentioned Gaviscon, however didn't really seem all that fussed about his reflux and just said we could try it if we really felt like we needed to do something about it. Anyway, I weighed him a couple of days ago and I don't think he is really putting on as much weight now as he should be. This is making me worry a bit and I am thinking maybe I need to go back to the Dr's with him again. I just wanted to know how much they are meant to be putting on at this age (he is 3 months), and if I should be going to the drs again to get specific instructions rather than just going to the chemist to get gaviscon? Hmmm. Not really quick after all lol.

Hi there!! Matilda was on Gaviscon at first and you can get infant one from the chemist... its really safe, except it causes constipation in some, and it was awful constipation with Matilda. But apparently its a really good medication... Matilda put on around 100gm a week around that age... & she's always been a good weight gain girl, so I hope that helps. I would definately see your Dr again just to give a starting weight on Gaviscon as well. We are on our way to get a 2nd opinion this week as her reflux is getting bad again, so hopefully we might get some more answers....HTH

Hi there,

Shynelle was officially diagnosed with reflux at about 2 weeks but it got really bad and very distressing to her around 6 weeks. She was originally on mylanta before each feed and that didn't work everytime. She also gets constipated and the paed has put her on precription formula (didn't know there was such a thing) to apparently help everything with Zantac but the Zantac did nothing and now Shynelle is on Losec she still vomits and it still distresses her but I don't think it's as bad - it's definately not every feed now so that's progress \:D/ !

Thats great dd!! I just stopped bf because everytime I did MAtilda would power chuck... so onto the karicare HA-AD thickened formula & it works great guns...its what the paed recommended at the hospital... Its always good when the vomits don't lead to screaming... I used to hold my breath everytime Matilda ate...

Hi there!

Just a quick update on what we are doing for Hudsons reflux. Dr's visit on Friday and he is actually gaining weight fine ATM so no worries there thank goodness. We are still going to trial a couple of things to see if they help as it is very messy as I'm sure you girls know, but if things don't work for us it won't matter too much, I will just have to keep up with the enormous amounts of washing lol. Tried infant gaviscon in his feeds over the last 3 days and it does work well at keeping the feeds down. A bit of chucking straight after the feed, but not much at all for the following 2 - 3 hrs inbetween feeds. Only problem with it is the price. We realised that it will cost us around $70/ fortnight to use and that is not including formula. I am starting to trial thickened formula today as this is a lot cheaper if it works so we will see how we go with that. We have bought S26 AR for reflux formula, purely for the fact that Hudson has been on S26 regular formula up until now and I have heard that you should avoid changing formula brands as it can upset their tummies? I'm not sure if all brands are the same, but the s26 says it must be made up with COLD water. I am taking this to mean fridge temp, does anyone know if that sounds right? Also I am assuming it is still ok to warm it before a feed? Any input would be appreciated.

hmmm....no idea about that MArcia... we changed formula brands with MAtilda but she was only having one to two bottles a day at that time... She's on Karicare thickened HA-AR and we use warm colled boiled water that has been put in the fridge and then heated up in the microwave & then we add the formula to it, once it cools off it gets heaps thicker so I don't know about mixing it up cool, I do know that Matilda likes it best at room temp and not too warm though so we don't really heat it up much in the microwave....

HTH

Thanks christy. I just realised today that wyeth, the company that make S26 have a helpline so I gave them a call and asked what I needed to. The girl I spoke to said the water just needs to be room temp. and that it is best made up right before it is used rather than in advance #-o . Not great for night feeds, but never mind. Last night I gave Hudson normal S26 for his 4am feed and ended up having to change his whole bed because he vomited all over it as soon as I laid him down, so I guess it's better to spend the extra time making up the feed rather than having to change his whole bed at 4am lol. I think I might do what you suggested and just microwave the bottle of water from the fridge before adding the formula as that would take it to room temp pretty much anyway. Thanks again. Oh, another question. Did you have to battle matilda to drink when you changed to reflux formula? Only asking as Hudson screamed his lungs out the whole way through the first feed of thickened formula. He is gradually getting better, but he still doesn't want to drink it. I am guessing maybe he doesn't like the taste or texture or something, but I suppose he will get used to it.

Marcia our DR suggested that Alana go on the thickened formula for reflux also. We were prevoiusly using S26 gold. We hated the S26 reflux formula. Alana stuggled to take her bottles. Which worried us as she was not putting on enough weight as it was.

Just as a suggestion, I read that you can mix the thickened formaula with the regular. You may find that Hudson is having trouble because is is so much thicker. He will have to suck harder. And definitely make the formula up as needed. It actually gets thicker when made up in lots and kept in the fridge!

When we went to our health nurse she suggested that Alana try NAN 1HA. She thought that S26 was upsetting Alana's tummy. Anyway we have found that it worked great. We went from her only putting on 85gms in 2 weeks to putting on 210g in four days. Also she went from screaming and being unsettled, to the opposite.

The problem is everyone seems to have a different opinion. Its all trial and error. Good Luck!

my DS also has reflux and we use Karicare HA-AR. He was getting so much better and gaining heaps of weight so we decided to try him back onto the normal Karicare Gold, BIG mistake! After the first feed he had a massive vomit (even came out his nose the poor little thing :cry: ) and continued to throw up for hours after. So needless to say that he was getting much better because he was on the thickened formula! Silly Mummy #-o

He was on Zantac but we found that to make him worse, Marina did nothing, Infant's Friend helped with his colic which in turn helped with the reflux but completely changed his pooing habits (sorry tmi!). We now have him on Infacol as well and can gladly say that since he started on that 3 weeks ago, he only 'spits up' now rather than vomiting. And definitely no power chucks since then either!

If he is screaming due to the thickened formula, he may not be getting it as fast out of the teat as he used to. You may need to go up a teat hole size. We found this to happen as well, and we prepare ahead for our night time feeds and add an extra 10mls of water to his bottle. This gives it just that bit more fluid to help with the thickness.

Also, we heat the bottles in the microwave with the formula in it. CHN told us this was ok to do it that way. Makes no difference with the thickness if its prepared right before the feed or hours before the feed and put in the fridge.

Hope this makes sense, i'm tired and just waiting for DS to wake up to have his feed.

Good Luck to you!

Matilda took to the thickened stuff really well, and if you try to feed her normal formula she screams the entire time...LOL...but we definately did have to stop making up bottles beforehand. Last weekend we tried her on some S26 Gold & she refused to drink after 40mls.

The difference between the normalo thickened formulas and the HA ones is that the protein source is either easier to digest or partially digested for them :-k I forget which one, but I found with Matilda the HA is heaps better, I didn't know there was a NAN one too? Thats always good to know!

Christy the Nan HA is just new. You can get it at the supermarket, but I have found that it is cheaper to get it in a chemist. Unfortunately it is more expensive, but its works well, for Alana anyway!

Thanks so much girls. I really appreciate the input. We are going to keep going with the S26 AR until the can is finished and see what we think then. ATM he is still vomiting a bit and I feel it really only is marginally better than normal, so after this we might try the Karicare or NAN. He is getting better with drinking it and not putting up such a fight today. We bought some of the avent variable flow teats as we weren't sure what we would need and I actually wonder if maybe he just wasn't used to getting so much so quickly and that is what was bothering him, as even when we had it on slow flow it seemed to be coming out a lot quicker than his normal no. 2 teats with regular formula. I tried the no. 2 teats once with the AR and he couldn't get a drop out of it lol! Anyway, I guess like Iris said, it really will be trial and error. Thanks again girls.

No worries...

Then when I thought everything was going so well with Matilda's vomitting... it hits with a vengence. She was overtired yesterday and screamed then the vomitting hit... I had her in her sling facing me to just settle her as she hadn't slept and she projectiled all over my chest, down the sling & it started dripping on the floor & I ran outside & had a pool around my feet by the end... #-o ... just had to share our lovely experience, I didn't have a change of clothes because she's been so good, so we had to go home...LOL

Well, we finished the S26 AR, and decided it wasn't making much of a difference, and was also making him constipated, so went back to regular S26. That fixed the constipation, but the huge vomits came back with a vengance, so now we are trialling Karicare AR. It seems to be working brilliantly with only a little bit of vomiting still, but today again after 3 days of this formula he is constipated again!! Poor little man *TMI* had the hardest, driest little nugget in his nappy this morning! Just wondering if others have had this problem with thickened formulas, and if so, was it ongoing or did it fix itself? I will try getting some water into him today and maybe some water with brown sugar if that doesn't work. Any other suggestions? I don't really want to give him juice yet if I can help it.

How are you gonig Marcia??? Matilda did have a few nuggets but it settled after a week....(sorry so late in responding, I must have missed this! #-o )

Well...since Matilda's been crawling her reflux has gotten bad again ](*,) . She was so much better for like a month and we were going to actually start weaning her off the Zantac and then *crash* she starts crawling & its all worse than ever... the screaming/pain and vomits... poor poor sausage! Just when we were going to go off the thickened formula too!

One thing... I noticed with the Karicare HA-AR she was soooo much better as its partially digested and easier on their bellies... we couldn't find any last time and bought the AR formula & she's not as good either... with constipation #-o ... I can't WAIT for this to settle!!!

AAARGH!! Is all I have to say about reflux Christy lol! No, not really, I've got lots to say! We are now back to regular Karicare formula because the constipation went on for about 3 weeks with water, with brown sugar, and with prune juice not working to help his bowels along. Of course he is back to vomiting very badly again and starting to cry a lot from the pain now (he used to be a happy chucker), but is no longer constipated. We are starting to get him to drink more water from a sippy cup now, as he would not drink it from a bottle, so I am wondering if we should try thickened formula again as it did help a lot with the pain and vomiting. I didn't realise that the HA-AR was easier to digest. Maybe it wouldn't constipate him so badly? Anyway, we are going to try taking him to a chiropractor and see if that helps at all as DH and I are at our wits end and willing to try anything, as he is 5 months old now and if anything it is getting worse rather than better. It is so hard to watch him cry in pain with it now. I feel a bit angry and ripped off at our doctor actually, because we have seen him twice about Hudsons reflux and both times he has pretty much just shrugged it off and said he will grow out of it soon. It's not that I want to medicate my little boy if I can help it, but I don't think he really realises how bad Hudsons reflux really is. Every time we go to the Drs Hudson doesn't vomit at all until we leave and then it all starts again lol! I also worry about all that acid in his throat, as he often sounds like he has a dry/sore throat when he 'talks', and he coughs a lot (and I know he isn't sick). Sorry, just a bit of a whinge there, I just wish drs wouldn't look at me like I am a paranoid mother and fob me off, because this really is a real problem for Hudson. Maybe if the chiropractor doesn't work it is time to find a second opinion.....

Hi girls my friend in Belgium's baby who is a month old has just been diagnosed with silent reflux, and it is very weird because when she described him it sounded just like Matilda, and I actually asked her if anyone had looked at him for reflux! So they have told to give him mylanta type thing (in Belgium) and he seems happier already.

I wanted to know if you guys could recommend anything else to help? Or some websites that have info?

I found a reflux society in Brissy... I looked up reflux and babies and Australia on google...maybe that might help?

BTW...Matilda has silent reflux :D Well diagnosed Dr katanya!

Thanks Christy, I just did a search and got heaps of sites to send her, like ABA and RISA..I wish I WASN'T right about the diagnose :( I remember what you went through with Matilda, and I wouldnt wish that on anyone!

My little Kaitlyn has been vomiting since birth. At 7wks the midwife said she thinks she's a reflux baby. The Dr didn't say much at all. Thinking I should go back to him...but DH seems to think all babys vomit and it's nothing. But Kaitlyn vomits after every feed. To start with she was having mainly breast milk and Karicare AR thickened to top up, then she started demanding more than my breasts could produce so she went onto karicare AR for all feeds. I noticed with the breast milk she vomited every feed and it was a lot of vomit, now with the karicare it's not so much and its not every feed that she vomits. I don't know what to do as DH seems to think she's fine (she never really complains about vomiting) and says she's probably just over full. BUt I have cut her back from 200+ per feed to 130-160 per feed and she still vomits the same. She even vomited on me as I walked into the midwifes office to get her weighed on tuesday. I don't know what to do. She's gaining weight, she's not distressed by it, it just distresses me and means I have to do a full load of KAITLYN's washing every two days (we use special soap with her wash). Any ideas anyone? Please, I'd like to know what you think as I don't want to fight with DH if I can help it, but I don't want my daughter to vomit so much either...........

katkins she sounds like what they call a "happy chucker" and usually it does make more work for you unfortunately but at least they don't have the screaming. I found sometimes with Matilda if I change her formula to the AR only she does regurgitate more and vomit more, maybe trying the HA-AR? It is easier to digest making it faster, which means to Matilda that she doesn't vomit on it. Good luck!

Christy, I guess I should just take a chill pill and relax a bit. I know I should, but what makes me mad is that she seems to only throw up during the day when I feed her, when her dad feeds her for the bedtime feed, she doesn't really throw up at all and hence he doesn't believe me. Maybe I'm just blowing it out of proportions. She's happy and healthy and developing well....... I should just count my blessings...

Katkins, Felix was a happy chucker he was never medicated because he gained well and it never bothered him. We used to have to wash a full load every day, because it was all over the bed sheets too, and my clothes and every wondersuit he owned! Felix is BF and never had formula so i can't compare them for you, but I can tell you postitioning is everything. Look up the Reflux asscociation because they have suggestions on positions, but I found if I fed him with my arm under his head when laying down or had him sitting up when he was feeding in my arms sitting up was MUCH better for the vomiting. Also be really careful with her after a feed. I put his bassinette on an angle too

I actually though all babies vomited like mine, but it seemed always to be worse in the mornings. I know that it can make you feel helpless and overwelmed and I was SO happy when it stopped at around 4 months (he still has a bit ever now and then) and even though you have a happy baby it can make you feel yuk..never underate the feelings you have and don't think you are overreacting, because every mother has challenges and this is yours..I am happy to tell you that it won't last forever!!

Our couch, carpets and bed will never be the same, it's really not so "happy for the mum is it?

katkins like katanya said I found positioning to help heaps, and Matilda's reflux would be alot easier to handle during the "sleep" feeds when she wasn't so active & alert, so maybe that is it too?

Its so hard, don't think that you are stressing too much about it! I would often cry after settling Matilda after an hour to only have to get her up & change the sheets #-o And the amount of washing! Its not hard to do but how do you get outside to hang it out?? (our line is downstairs & baby who moves on grass....yuck) so it just makes things heaps more difficult! But the vomiting does settle after a while...like katanya said, when Matilda was 4 months that seemed to settle heaps. She still has yuck days, but at least its not everyday.

thanks everyone for your support. Last night, 2 hrs after putting her down for bed, we heard her cough, DH went in to see to her and told me she'd vomited a little and he'd moved the nappy under her head so she wasn't laying in it. Fifteen mins later, she screamed and cried, so I ran into her. As I touched her she stopped crying, but she started vomiting SOO bad. She vomited over and over and over for about a minute or two. The only thing I could do in the end was lift her up out of the mess, hold her on her side and let het finish getting it up. She was still sound asleep until I started undressing her and cleaning her up. It was horrible to feel so helpless. She went back to sleep and slept thru almost to her normal time (which is from about 10:30/11pm until 6/7am). She also had another little chuck this morning. I feel terrible for saying this, but at least now my husband saw a vomiting episode. Not that he even checked the nappy before he threw it into the wash basket.....I don't even know how he picked it up! Let alone "didn't see".
Even now he's not convinced......but at least he knows it does happen at times.

mmm oh how hard!! katkins whens your next appt with the MCHN or Dr? I would definatley mention this as there are some things you can try to help keep stuff down! Especially mylanta seems to work really well with happy chuckers...I would talk with them about it and monitor her weight gain as well. Another thing I was told was if you lay them on their left side? It helps digest contents of their belly quicker... that way they vomit less... Good luck!

Christy, I lay her on her left side 90% of the time. Simply because she sleeps better that side and is more confortable...... I haven't been to a DR since he said to try giving her thickened formula at nights (about 4 days before I changed her to fully formula fed at 6 weeks). I see a midwife weekly......I will bring it up with her next tuesday, but I'd like my DH to come with me to dr's because he says I leave things out when I tell him stuff about Kaitlyn.... My DH goes to USA on monday, so maybe I can convince him to come to see the dr with me before that. I just don't know what to do.....

Katkins I agree with Christy, I would talk to the Dr about that, the vomiting for 1-2 mins sounds like quite a lot, Felix had episodes where he'd vomit about 6 times in a row and dry reach but not for 1-2 mins.
Why don't you write down what is happening before you go in to see him, I cannot rely on my baby brain, and I always forget to mention the important stuff (it's survival instinct so we live day to day). When it happens have a piece of paper that you document how often she vomits and how much.
Hve you got a MCHC nearby because they also will help you, if you need some advice straight away then ring the 1800 number in the back of your baby health record book, or look up a child health number in the phone book.
I hope today is better for you

oh yeah katanya having a diary really helped me determine the "bad times" of day and help me prepare and see what we did... its a great idea and gives you something you can give to the midwife or Dr.

you guys have been great. Will start keeping a diary and go see a dr. Thanks.

*bump* just thought I'd put this one up

Just wondered if Zantac / Mylanta has to be prescribed by the Dr? We're doing Gripe Water before each bottle at the moment & it's not doing anything at all.

both were perscribed for us, although you can pick up Mylanta over the counter... O:)

Ok today we have just tried Matilda on her first bottle of non thickened stuff!! Because its normally for bubs under 6 months, but she didn't tolerate anything else at that time, now today we are finally having a go, I've got a few sachets of the normal over 6mth stuff & since she's almost 10 months we thought we'd try a few bottles in a row & see what happens before we go out & buy a whole tin again... Have everything crossed for us that it all stays where it is supposed too!!!

Good luck Christy & Matilda :luck:

Sarah we tried the gripe water and it did nothing also. We also tried Mylanta, but we didn't have any success there either. Alana was on Zantac, but it was to help her medication to function better.

I know I have commented on these before, but I swear by them. The only thing that helped were Dr Browns Bottles. We haven't had a projectile vomit since using them, from about 5 weeks (I think that when we started using them). They are expensive and hard to get, but so worth it.