Silent Reflux?

mirrorwall14

Any suffering silent reflux? I've suspected it for a while but it seems to be getting worse. He's nearly 9 weeks. He's constantly swallowing vomit (sometimes manages to come out his nose not his mouth as a consequence) and every feed has now become a battle and it's not wind. He wants the bottle constantly (it's seems to ease it) and screams/arches/kicks when it's taken out. When he burps he makes faces after and often screams just as much afterwards. He wakes up from naps screaming/making faces/wheezing/coughing and is very unsettled/barely napping until he passes out with tiredness. Reclining during his naps doesn't seem to help though the vibrate function can keep him reasonably calm. We know it's not wind as it's nowhere near coming close to the number of episodes he's having though the very odd time he'll burp a bit. His tummys not hard or anything like it is when he has wind. He gets awful hiccups which hurt him. He chews the crap out of his hands when he's having a bad bout. He will literally moan in pain at times

I'm getting really down about it. We do all the advised things online, feed regularly (he's every2.5-3hrs during the day), feed him at an upright angle, don't bounce, sit him up quietly for 30 mins afterwards etc. The only thing keeping me sane at the moment is that he is still sleeping 6/7hrs at night in his reclined cot.

Am I mad? Is this just normal? I feel like maybe I'm imagining it because everyone says well he's not throwing up and he's gaining weight so it's fine. But he swallows the vomit and the bottle seems to be the only comfort he gets so it makes sense to me that he is still gaining weight. Myself and my husband are both medicated for reflux though I don't know if bad tummies are hereditory

I don't know whether to go to the doc with it or not. I don't want to come across like a looney over protective mum or someone who just wants a quick fix and can't deal with their child. It's just hard to watch when he's making faces in pain and hard to listen to the constant screaming. I'm dreading bottles now because of the battle. He's just screamed through another bottle at 1030 and he's finally calmed down.

Edit; the public health nurse did tell us to try the comfort formula which was an unmitigated disaster as he has a very strong suck. He couldn't get anything out of the standard teats and was swamped with the larger ones/variflow. We tried both tomee tippee (three different types) and nuk (two different types) before going back to the regular formula

moving_home

Sounds very similar to my baby girl. We started using infant gaviscon last week. It's available over the counter but says it should only be used by doctors diagnoses under the age of 1...I used it without going to the doctor and it's been a miracle worker. I'm going to the doctor tomorrow anyways so will mention it then. Since using the gaviscon she's guzzling bottles, wind coming up great, taking bottles so much faster and no puking or spewing! It's been a dream whereas I was dreading feeding her up to using this as it was such a battle.

jopax

I would definitely take him to the doctor. Your not over reacting at all, its very hard to watch him in that much discomfort.
Like the previous poster said, galviscon could well do the trick, there is no harm running it by your doctor for your own peace of mind.
I hope you find some relief for him, mind yourself as well it can be a very stressful time but it will pass.
Good luck.

Unreg0909

Sounds like silent reflux to me, my lo suffered terribly. Definitely run it by your gp, as other posters said gaviscon may do the trick, just watch out for constipation!

DavyD_83

Definitely go to the doctor. Our 6 month old was diagnosed with silent reflux about a month ago now. Since on medication for it she's a different baby.
we thought it was just teething for weeks, because there was no puking, w had ruled out reflux. Didn't know there was such a thing as silent reflux til we eventually thought we'd see if doc could help with the 'teething' which seemed to be getting out of hand.

Sounds like you're all suffering at the moment; if it is caused by reflux it can be managed with medication. From what we were told, the earlier you Diagnose and treat it, the better. They usually try to reduce meds etc around 6 months, but because we're only really starting to see the real effects now we've been told to stick with it for another 3 months and we'll assess again then.

SF12

Very familiar. Symptoms sound almost exactly like ours, only we caught it at about 5/6 weeks. Fingers stuffed in mouth constantly, terrible screaming, constant swallowing, gulping the bottle, hated the car seat, hiccups several times a day, almost never vomited or puked even a little bit. Weight gain makes it hard to convince people that something isn't quite right.

We did Infant Gaviscon initally - didn't really work for us but that was partly due to the teat. It won't flow through the Size 1 Tommee Tippee and at that age, she was totally unable to manage the variflow or Size 2. She has a really strong suck too, so she was choking on it. We ended up putting her on a prescription for Zantac, it has made such an unbelievable difference. 9 months now and we're going to start weaning her off it.

Napping situation during the day was the exact same - she would wake up after 5/10 mins shrieking even though you could see she was passing out with tiredness. She slept for hours at night too, the exhaustion just took over her by the time the night came around. I've been told they're either feeders or refusers - ie, they feed loads to relieve the pain, or they absolutely refuse food because they associate with pain. Thankfully, we had a feeder.

You're doing pretty much all we did - we also burped her every 2 ounces or so in a bottle, and avoided the car seat for at least 30 mins after a feed. We had to stop using our pram and got the infant insert for our buggy so we could tip her up every so slightly when we were out.

Go and see the doctor - you're not mad. I think, in hindsight, if you can video the baby and bring it in to show the doctor, it might make you feel that you sound a little less nuts!! I'm a first time mother, and it took a couple of doctor's visits to sound convincing - I felt like an idiot, but I was right.

Woshy

My little boy had it. It was a nightmare with regards to sleep and because they don't actually spit up much it can be easy to convince yourself it's not that bad. I was a zombie for about 4 months but he did grow out of it.

We saw a paediatrician in the hospital and he was prescribed losec which did help. It's not easy to get into them though - we had to dissolve it and spoon it because it has little beads that are the active ingredient. If you crush the tablets they don't work. Gaviscon did nothing for us, partly because he was breastfed and you need to give Gaviscon after a feed which is almost impossible with a sleepy, full breastfed baby. It can be added to bottles easily enough.

Other than that we propped him up when sleeping with a wedge pillow and held him upright for 30 minutes after a feed. Some nights he would only sleep on my chest or in his rocker and I used to worry myself sick about that. I wish I'd accepted it more, we all needed sleep.

I would definitely take your LO to a doctor if I were you - we got referred to the paediatrician because my Gp wanted to make sure it was nothing more serious. It'd be good to get a proper diagnosis and medicine, If necessary.

mirrorwall14

Thanks everyone, I've booked the GP for this afternoon. I'm reading the posts and mine and really it does seem as if something is up. He's a real jekyll and Hyde right now, can be smiling away and then starts swallowing and screaming. It's not nice to watch

SF12

It's horrible to watch. Just to add, Zantac is a liquid so we just give it morning and evening from a syringe. It was a struggle the first while (tastes quite strong) but she takes it ok now. Good luck with the doctor!

Elliottsmum79

Please, dont be afraid to go to the doc or the pediatrician. Your little one is your top priority and moms instincts are so often right. We had a silent reflux baby and she fed really well for 12 weeks and then developed a feeding problem due to the severity of the reflux. Do get it checked out asap, zantac can help and trying it can helpn you quickly establish if reflux is there ( ie you should quickly see some sort of improvement). Of course you may just have a burpy baby but dont hesitate to get it checked out asap.

veggie newbie

How did it go at GP Mirrorwall? Hope you will get some relief soon, can only imagine how hard it is to watch your little one in pain dealing with the reflux.

mirrorwall14

Thanks everyone. We saw the gp today, she didn't think I was crazy First step is gaviscon sachets (since Ive already tried comfort) for a week. Back next Tuesday for a check up and if little/no improvement then we'll try a prescribed med. Feeling much better. Even if the gaviscon doesn't work fully at least we are trying something!

moving_home

mirrorwall14 wrote: »

Thanks everyone. We saw the gp today, she didn't think I was crazy First step is gaviscon sachets (since Ive already tried comfort) for a week. Back next Tuesday for a check up and if little/no improvement then we'll try a prescribed med. Feeling much better. Even if the gaviscon doesn't work fully at least we are trying something!

I noticed an improvement after the first sachet if gaviscon. Hope your little one gets some relief too.

mirrorwall14

moving_home wrote: »

I noticed an improvement after the first sachet if gaviscon. Hope your little one gets some relief too.

Feeds themselves are a little less of a battle alright. He's still getting a lot of pain kicking off within an hour of the feed afterwards but it's been under 24hrs so we'll see. He definitely was more settled last night when sleeping. A lot less coughing/twitching/wheezing so looks like reflux is the culprit

Always number 1

Our little lad suffered terribly with silent reflux. The gaviscon didn't do anything for him so we got colief for him. Just a few drops in each bottle and within a few hours, he was like a new child! We kept using it up until the weaning stage . One of the side effects is (sorry for the TMI) runnier nappies but it's worth it to see a happier baby. FWIW, my friend was prescribed losec for her little one and it worked too.

mirrorwall14

Always number 1 wrote: »

Our little lad suffered terribly with silent reflux. The gaviscon didn't do anything for him so we got colief for him. Just a few drops in each bottle and within a few hours, he was like a new child! We kept using it up until the weaning stage . One of the side effects is (sorry for the TMI) runnier nappies but it's worth it to see a happier baby. FWIW, my friend was prescribed losec for her little one and it worked too.

We've had him on colief from week 3 but it seems everything gradually stopped working until we got to this point. I do remember the drastic change with him when we started this. The change with the gaviscon isn't as drastic but habing said that he's actually napping comfortably here beside me. I'm afraid to move... Lol

mirrorwall14

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone for the advice here and to update the thread. We're still on the gaviscon in all the bottles and things improved massively. I forgot the gaviscon while out visiting one day, I have never felt so guilty-it took three bottles for him to settle back again. I think we are deteriorating again (he just woke up coughing/gagging from his nap) but I'm much more prepared for it this time, and not worried about over reacting.

moving_home

Glad to hear there is a good improvement! Things are great here too. We ran out of gaviscon on Easter Sunday and had to drive 30miles to nearest open chemist as first bottle without it was a disaster! My little one is taking 7oz bottles now and we have to use 2 sachets.

mirrorwall14

moving_home wrote: »

Glad to hear there is a good improvement! Things are great here too. We ran out of gaviscon on Easter Sunday and had to drive 30miles to nearest open chemist as first bottle without it was a disaster! My little one is taking 7oz bottles now and we have to use 2 sachets.

The difference is awful isn't it? He was so uncomfortable!! He's on 7oz too so have to be careful as you go through the boxes so fast

LegacyUser

mirrorwall14 wrote: »

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone for the advice here and to update the thread. We're still on the gaviscon in all the bottles and things improved massively. I forgot the gaviscon while out visiting one day, I have never felt so guilty-it took three bottles for him to settle back again. I think we are deteriorating again (he just woke up coughing/gagging from his nap) but I'm much more prepared for it this time, and not worried about over reacting.

Really glad to hear there is an improvement. It really is awful to think they are suffering and often silent reflux is missed. Well done mom!