Reflux

[Tiny Sue]

Hey girls...

Naomi went to a paediatrician yesterday to get her heart checked out because she had been going blue on us from time to time. It turns out, thank God, that all is well.

However, because Naomi threw up so much in the office, she asked if this was usual for her. It is, she throws up quite a bit. The doctor said that with the slight colour changes etc this indicates reflux and that was why Naomi's weight gain had plateaued (sp?)

So now we have to give her Infant Gaviscon with every feed of breast milk, and when I dry up we have to give her special formula that thickens in the stomach and stops a lot of it coming up. Has anyone else an idea when the gaviscon takes effect because she threw up in spite of it at the last feed - quite a lot.

Sue

 

Damien is on Infant Gaviscon and a cocktail of meds for his reflux - poor sod projectile vomits if we don't

The Infant Gaviscon 'apparently' should work straight away, but we didn't find it made any difference for at least a week or so.

If it doesn't make any differnce after a couple of weeks speak to your HV/Paed about Ranitidine and Domperidone....these are the usual meds used to treat reflux that isn't helped by a milk thickener. They sometimes use something called Carobol too, which is another milk thickener which should help it stay down.

I hope the Gaviscon is enough to keep things settled, but if you need a chat anytime about it (I know how horrible and frustrating it is to live with) gimme a shout.

How do you give it to her before breastfeeding can I ask? Do you mix it into a paste and feed him off a spoon. Just interested

 

[Tiny Sue]

Hey Sami...

I'm not EXACTLY breastfeeding Naomi, I'm expressing into a bottle and feeding her that way as she either latches on badly or spends her time fighting with the nipple when I try to nurse her. In the hospital, it was easier for her to take a bottle but I wanted her to get at least a month of breast milk before I went to formula. So here i am, fifth week expressing but I will dry up soon and go to a formula that has a thickener built in.

So basically I just add the gaviscon to her bottles, same as a kid on formula.

The formula the paediatrician recommended for her after I dry up is something called Enfamil. It has a milk thickener built in and it's nutritionally complete even for infants who are premature. They don't recommend soya formulas for children under a year, apparently. Strange, that.

Sue

 

[X-LISA-X]

Hi everyone, my lil boy Jake had really bad reflux too! He is 19wks now but up untill 3wks ago he was so so sick, all day everyday! His pediatrician suggested at 14wks that I reduce his feeds to no more than 4oz at one time, just to feed more often! and introduce solids, I was giving him 7oz as advised by my HV!! he said to try this for 4wks and if this did not help he would prescribe gaviscon and enfamil! It was a tough few wks as he was always starving but im glad to say it worked I know everybodys babies are different but just wanted to share my story with yous!

 

[X-LISA-X]

Hi everyone, my lil boy Jake had really bad reflux too! He is 19wks now but up untill 3wks ago he was so so sick, all day everyday! His pediatrician suggested at 14wks that I reduce his feeds to no more than 4oz at one time, just to feed more often! and introduce solids, I was giving him 7oz as advised by my HV!! he said to try this for 4wks and if this did not help he would prescribe gaviscon and enfamil! It was a tough few wks as he was always starving but im glad to say it worked I know everybodys babies are different but just wanted to share my story with yous!

 

[Tiny Sue]

Thanks Lisa...

Actually reflux normally makes babies cross doesn't it? However, Naomi is a placid enough child and when she brings it up, it just runs out of the side of her mouth. We told the doctor and she didn't seem concerned, just said we were lucky to have such a quiet, even tempered baby.

Sue

 

Damien isn't too bothered by his reflux either, aside from the fact he spends alot of his time moaning and grunting after feeding so he is obviously uncomfortable.

Enfamil is a milk I have heard of being used a lot, esp in preemies. They also reccomend SMA Staydown which has a built in thickener too.

 

[tracyM]

Alex's reflux doesn't bother him at all - unless he's sick in his sleep and gets his clothes all wet, or it goes up his nose.

We had him on Soya from birth, although we've done a milk challenge since and he doesn't seem to have a milk intolerence so we're on C&G now. His sick was really smelly on Soya, sticky and yucky on SMA, but it's just a bit curdled on C&G - far easier to clean up. The only thing which helped Callum was really thick milk (we had a separate milk thickener to add as much as we needed).

Alex's weight gain is doing OK so we're leaving him with the reflux for now. His suck is still pretty pathetic so I don't think he'd cope with thickened milk, and he's such a happy chap I don't want to mess him about with medication. GP is happy as long as he's gaining weight. HV would like us to try feeding 1oz every hour If we wind after one 1oz he brings half up so she can go jump

Our paed was fine with Alex being on Soya from birth, but the GP wouldn't give it on prescription until we could prove he was intolerant, even with a strong family history. Our HV advises people against Soya all the time because it's such hard work to keep them completely dairy free once they're on solids, it annoys her when people get all their formula on prescription but let the baby / toddler have a normal diet.

Do Enfamil and Staydown thicken in the stomach, or are they thick in the bottle? Alex can't even suck enough to use a variflow teat, but if they thicken in the stomach, we might give one of them a try.

Tracy xx

 

[Tiny Sue]

Hey Tracy..haven't tried Enfamil yet but it says on the tin that it thickens in the stomach.

Sue

 

HV would like us to try feeding 1oz every hour If we wind after one 1oz he brings half up so she can go jump

We got told to do this too - doesn't matter how much Damien has he is still sick and uncomfortable, so our GP and HV got the same response. We have tried it 3 or 4 times now and it's never made a bit of difference.

The SMA website says....
SMA Staydown is designed to settle in your baby’s stomach, so the feed is less likely to come back up.

So I presume this means it thickens in the stomach. I have not yet tried it though as we are on Gaviscon. Got a paed appointment next Tursday to discuss how his reflux is going and will talk about different milks then.

He used to be on Aptamil but it is a very thin milk so we switched to SMA Gold when he was 5 weeks old and it has a better consistency.

I found Damien to be more sick off breast milk (when I expressed into a bottle), probably because it is alot thinner. I'm not saying you should switch to formula now, but to be honest I think Gaviscon is a big waste of time as far as thickening feeds goes. Yes we have gone up a teat hole size but it doesn't thicken it a hell of alot. Maybe Carobel would work better in the bottle? But I'm not a paed and haven't seen Naomi with her reflux so I can't say for sure really.

Do either Alex or Naomi make a lot of noise during or after feeding? Damien is constantly grunting and grouchy after feeding, usually in his sleep though (he still acts like a newborn). It is horrible to hear and he sounds so uncomfortable. It really gets me down sometimes.

 

[X-LISA-X]

Hey Sami, Jake used to grunt all the time, you really think they are in pain dont you, mainly wen I laid him down after a feed, It used to annoy me as peeps would say oh he's got wind you better get him up again! I thot my baby was the only 1 who suffered from this as didnt know anyone else's did till I joined a forum! All I can say is look at Jake now, no grunting and no sick(except odd time) I used to get so down about it all and Im so much happier now that its stopped! even though it never bothered him it did me, I would hav to avoid playing with him straight after a feed cause even if he laughed he could bring a whole bottle back up! Anyway just wanted to say there is light at the end of the tunnel

 

That's what people (even the bleedin' HV) say to me 'oh must be wind'. I have to hold him upright after his feed for at least half an hour and then when I lay him down he is still unhappy, I have to lay him on his side just so that I can put him down and even then he is unhappy.

I can't wait till he starts weaning and holding his own weight in a walker - it will apparently all stop then!

 

[Tiny Sue]

Yes Naomi grunts and grizzles quite a lot, but I find it's that she needs more winding - and she's really hard to wind, you could be waiting for ten minutes for a burp. When she's content she talks away to herself in her sleep too, making contented little sounds.

Sue

 

Damien still doesn't giggle or gurgle so we can't tell that yet.
He makes the noise even when all his wind is up, they are all different eh

 

[tracyM]

Alex is grunty but we've put it down to wind because we avoid winding him too much so he won't be sick. He's a lot more laid back then the others were and carries on sleeping - i'm on tiptoes though as I always wonder if it's going to wake him up. We've found if he's so bad he won't settle, it's being sick that helps him rather than bringing up wind.

We can't find a baby walker in any shops round here, but as soon as I feel up to driving to the nearest big town, we'll be getting him one. He much prefers being upright, so we're going to put the walker on the highest setting so he's as low as possible in the seat, then pack around him with towels to stop him wobbling - against all the advice I know, but it worked for Daniel.

We'll run out of milk on Monday so I'm going to get hold of some Enfamil (that's if any of the shops round here stock it!!!) and I'll let you know how it goes.

Tracy xx

 

God Damien is suffereing life mad with it today, got mucousy sick too so probably got a cold with it and he will not settle for love nor money.

Good idea about the walker...don't think Damien is anywhere near fitting in one yet (he is only just 9lb) but will definately eant to get one soon to get him upright as it's the only way he is happy too.

xx

 

[tracyM]

Thought I'd revive this thread instead of starting a new one.

Alex had a MASSIVE growth spurt last week (from 8 4 to 9 13 in 10 days - HV double checked the scales) and we've noticed he's sicking up water instead of milk. At first she was still yattering about 1oz every hour, until he chucked up water all over her Now she's going to ring up and try to bring his paed appointment forward from 12 wks.

She suggested the water sick was because he's adjusting to his reflux, kind of like his tummy saying 'I'm going to make the most of this milk while it's here, before it disappears on me'. After an hour his sick is really gloopy, then it goes to just water and he's hungry again. Have Damien or Naomi done this?

We got him a baby walker at the weekend and he loves it - I'll get a pic when Stu gets some camera batteries so you can see how we pad it out with blankies. It has the added bonus that his sick goes in the tray rather than in his clothes - less laundry

None of the shops round here sell Enfamil without ordering it in, and HV says there's not much point now as he's digesting too quick.

Here's to baby sick

Tracy xx

 

After an hour his sick is really gloopy, then it goes to just water and he's hungry again. Have Damien or Naomi done this?

Damien's is just the same. Wierd isn't it. Congrats on the growth spurt! Damien just gained 13oz in a week! 10lb heffer now!

We finally saw a paed on Thursday (coz I pushed for it). My mum decided to come with me to back me up and not let me be fobbed off.

The paed was fab though, offered us a PH study which is being arranged. He can come home with the monitor and everything too and I will record it. His meds have been increased again and he said about changing them if there is no difference in a couple of months. He is now on the maximum dose of both Ranitidine and Domperidone for his weight. The paed has sent a letter to the GP's telling them when to increase and by how much because the GP's don't have a clue. He told me to go ask see the GP for a change in dosage for every KG he gains or half kilo if it's making no difference.

He thinks because Damien appears to have bad case of Reflux, that it will probably last until he is a proper toddler/about 1yr-18months old. He said it should improve when he goes onto solids but due to his prematurity I should take this into consideration before weaning him. The minimum age you should start weaning or giving any form of solids is 4 months (preferably 6) so with Damien's age correction he will be about 5 1/2 months old.

I have heard of babies with reflux being weaned earlier though to settle it?

His reflux has caused him to have more apnoea attacks too now stopped breathing again the other day. I'm going mad with worry and can't leave him for even 5 minutes now without panicking. If only more could be done....reflux is awful. I'm sick of it (no pun intended)

 

[tracyM]

We've had his 8 week check with the paed instead of GP and have come home with half the pharmacy

Pregestimil with milk thickener to try for a few bottles - if he can manage to suck it, we start on the ranitidine tomorrow. If he can't suck it, he's on gaviscon and pregestimil without the thickener until next friday when he'll be going in to get an NGT. We've also got a letter for GP to prescribe cisapride if his weight gain slows down. Fingers crossed his sucking improves - I can't see Alex keeping the NGT in for more than five minutes.

He's had a chest infection and laryngitis for a few days, which they think has been caused by the acid floating around his throat and breathing the sick, and is showing signs of asthma so we've also got antibiotics for the infection and becotide with a bubble and mask.

And calpol for his injection fever.

In the 'olden days', they used to wean earlier anyway. Mum told me last week that I was on rice at two weeks old We had Daniel on solids at 12 weeks and that was only 13 years ago - it's scary how much medical advice changes!!! Because Alex is now on pregestimil, we'll have to wait until at least 6 months. If there wasn't the family history of food intolerences, we'd be weaning him early though. Callum still has reflux, but he's learnt to cope with it so it rarely bothers him. He knows what foods make him worse - the only time he has a real problem is easter and christmas.

Have they offered you a monitor for his apnoea? Callum had a few episodes while he was in SCBU and we took one home with us. Must admit though, it made me worry even more - I spent all my time checking it was switched on and working properly, and by the time the alarm went off, he'd already brought himself out of it - his was related to his brain problem rather than the reflux though

We go back next week, so hopefully he'll be on the mend and we can start taking him off some of the stuff. They've offered us a barium meal rather than the PH test, but if things are going well by next week he won't have it. Good idea about taking your mum!! I've turned into a stroppy cow with doctors as I've got older, so it's mum that takes me along with her now

Tracy xx

 

[Layla]

I havent read all this thread (im lazy) so im sorry if this has been said already but..

yesterday i was watching Discovery health and the baby whisper, tracy
was on.

she was dealing with a baby who had bad reflux and it was amazing what she did.

she told the mum to wind him real high over her shoulder, so the babies arms were up over them, and said to rub, not pat, by doing this she said it made a clear pathway from the tummy up and out, the baby burped no probs and didnt bring up any milk.

then she said to never lay him flat, so she put what looked like a triangle wedge pillow thing under his mattress and changeing mat and used a bath seat in the bath to keep him up at an angle.

the baby went from screaming and being sick all the time to a baby who was quiet, smiling and burping well but still keeping everything down.

not sure if this will help atall but when i watched it i thought of some of the babies here so i thought id tell you about it.

xxx