Please Help / Advise

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Permalink Reply by liz on March 24, 2008 at 21:23

Hi

If I was you I would take him to your GP. Hopefully they will take your concerns seriously. I don't know much about silent reflux, but it sounds like there is definitely something wrong, and you must be shattered you poor thing.

I suppose it might be some kind of colic, and it may well be worth trying colief, as loads of people swear by this. It's really expensive but I would imagine you'd be prepared to pay anything if it would help! If it works you should be able to get it on prescription, we did.

There's a really good website called reflux.org which is well worth a look at. It goes into great detail about the signs and symptoms of reflux, which we found really useful.

Good luck

liz

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Permalink Reply by Claire Sanderson on March 25, 2008 at 20:51

William had silent reflux which wasn't diagnosed until it developed further, in fact it was finding this site that I eventually put everything into place. He would rarely settle when lain down in his crib or pram. I would have to take him out of the pram to comfort him at times as he would just scream. I raised his mattress in his crib the second week in an attempt to get him to settle, this was a suggestion from my mum, nothing clicked that it was reflux at all.

He would arch his back after feeds. Sometimes the only way I could get him to settle was to pick him up. When you think about, acid coming up would not be nice, so standing or being held upright was more comfortable from him.

The HV told me it was just colic when he was really windy, we tried infacol and gripe water. I guess he had colic and silent reflux which most have been awful for him. He's now on gaviscon which has helped.

I would echo Liz's comments about taking your son to your GP. Hope you manage to get things sorted.

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Permalink Reply by Racheal on March 26, 2008 at 9:11

Thanks for your reply.

It a great help to know there are other people going through this.

I did go to the docs yesterday and yes it is silent reflux... I have a pillow on order to raise him at night. We are giving oliver colief which is a great help or so we think. He is more settled on coilef. We tried grip water and it was like a mini explosion!

I too find oliver unsettled and like you say holding and sitting up is best. I am feeding him SMA gold which I believe is too rich for him. When I search the net for a formula which suits silent reflux they all mention ones which are thicker to reduce the throw ups... although this is not what oliver has.

Any suggestions on the best formula to give for silent reflux? Its hard as I want to settle his stomach as well as reduce the acid coming up.

Yeah HV are sometimes very suggestive towards the basic problems, they most proberly think we are all over reacting to colic. I would agree that it is colic and reflux. And yes me too on this website. It was only using this website over the weekend, I realised all the symptoms add up!

Did you find the attempt to settle him by raising his mattress any help?
Just last night I put oliver on his side and found he was quiet for most of the night. although not all. some days are better than others.
Does William make a terrible pushing noise during the night...?
Do you find that you put him down and then he wakes only 10 mins later?

What age can you give gaviscon?
thanks again.

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Permalink Reply by Helen on March 26, 2008 at 13:12

Hi there

We have been there also. My daughter was diagnosed with silent reflux at six weeks after trying everything for colic. She has always had problems sleeping but night was the worse. We would give her her last feed and she was fast asleep. We would lay her down in her moses basket and after ten minutes she would start wriggling and then would wake crying. In the end we went for two weeks with her sleeping on my chest propped un in bed. It was really tough going.
We took her to her paediatrician for her six week check and he knew what the problem was straight away. Initially we tried gaviscon and it did help for a couple of days but then made her really windy and constipated. We then tried SMA staydown which improved things alot. She started sleeping with the matress raised and also found that swaddling her helped alot.

I hope this helps you as things are increasingly difficult when you don't get much sleep.

Helen

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Permalink Reply by rachael on March 26, 2008 at 16:05

Hi,
We gave our baby gaviscon at about 2 weeks. It will say on the box the correct dosage, but it's something like 1 sachet every 4 hours. We also found that our baby slept much better as soon as we put him in a baby sleeping bag instead of using blankets. From what I can gather and have read, reflux babies are restless sleepers, so blakets usually end up kicked off etc whereas a sleeping bag seems to be much more comfortable. We also used a yellow pages to put under the base of our baby's moses basket to prop him at an angle.
Every little tip helps!

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Permalink Reply by Racheal on March 26, 2008 at 16:44

Thanks again,

I will speak to my docs about getting some gaviscon for him to see if this helps. Although having looked at some reviews it appears to not help much. I Think I am going to try Aptmail Easy digest formula which is a thicker formula (might help the acid) it also helps colic/digestive problems.

Also another which was suggested to me today, is to add thickener to his normal feed. This way I am not messing with his poo (as it can go either way when switched) and hopefully the thickener does what it says and helps the acid to stay down. Thing is we never know... its like taking a gamble and paying the price if it doesn't work. But if we don't try we will never know sort of thing. This is what I am finding out at this stage in any case.

At the moment... (and it is this moment) the pillow seems to be working just fine... he is asleep! Although will see tonight. Will put him on his side again with the incline. And yes might try the sleeping bag. This is what makes these sites... anything suggestions/advice is worth a try.
Thanks again...
xx

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Permalink Reply by sally on March 28, 2008 at 10:54

Hi Racheal
Sorry to hear that your little boy have been through so much already. Rohan was diagnosed with silent reflux at 5 weeks old, although i'd known something wasn't right straight after he was born. He definatley makes, and still sometimes those strange pushing noises when he is laid flat- they're so disturbing are they. we've learnt to accept them as normal noises for him, although we do get alot of strange looks sometimes cos peiople assume he's constipated all the time!
You asked what formaul- well i used to breast feed in the day but at the last night feed i'd give ENFAMIL AR, which is a prethickened fomula you get on prescrition. we found it really good. especially since you dont have to add gaviscon, so less risk of constipation. Your gp can prescibe it for you.
Im glad that you are getting some improvement with the pillow, and i hope this continues.
It would be great if you could control his discomfort with formaul rather than going down the medicine route. I slao found that keeping him upright for 30 mins after a feed was invaluable too.
i really hope things are getting better fro you.

Sal x

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