Hellos and who's who!?

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Permalink Reply by Jena on March 9, 2008 at 20:38

oh and just to start..
I have a 5yr old boy called Louis and 10months old baby Rory. Louis was an angel textbook child who slept through at 8 weeks and at 5yrs still hasnt had a tantrum(no joke - he's so well behaved!) Rory is a adorable and cute little boy but has suffered from day one making him very unhappy and uncomfortable. This has been the hardest 10months of mine and my families lives. The nights are the worst now - we need sleep!!! Rory is currently on a dairy free diet, with neocate formula and ranitidine.... its not working!!!

Waiting for our happy ending (which involves a calm, content and happy baby)
xxxxxx

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Permalink Reply by Lisa on March 9, 2008 at 21:41

Hi

My son Daniel (nearly 7 months) is suffering from reflux. I only realised this when he was 2 months old. At first I just thought it was bad wind/colic and tried every over the counter gripe water/colic drops. He would be sick a lot, have violent hiccups, scream constantly , pull away when feeding, arch his back and hold his body rigid and refuse to lie flat after feeds. He still sleeps very little. He is exclusively breastfed. We have used Gaviscon (waste of time just made him constipated and did nothing for the sickness), Ranitidine was then prescribed, this also did nothing. After four trips to the GP he was then referred to paediatrics. He saw the paediatrician on 27th Feb and he was prescribed Omeprazole Suspension 10mg and domperidone 1mg (2.5ml) three times a day. He has only been taking the medicines since Monday but so far it seems to have got the sickness under control (he has only been sick twice all week as opposed to several times a day) but he is still just as irritable and sleeping very little. I am hoping that as time progresses and the drugs take effect then he may improve in those areas but only time will tell. He is a very unhappy baby, I can't put him down for more than 10 minutes at a time, he does have moments of contentment but they are few and far between. I have another son Adam (who will be 3 on 9/4/08) and he was the perfect baby in comparison. He was sleeping through the night at 2½ months and he makes me realise how lucky I was with him. He's really had his nose pushed out since Daniel arrived as he takes up all my time and attention and I find myself snapping at him because I'm so frustrated and irritable with it all.

At the moment I'm just living in hope that when he reaches his first birthday he will have grown out of it.

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Permalink Reply by sally on March 10, 2008 at 9:48

Hi Jena
My darling son rohan is 19 wks today. He showed all the signs and symptoms of silent reflux since the minute he was born. luckily (thanks to a pushy mummy!) we got a provisonal diagnosis at 3 wks and confirmed via the childrens' hospital at 5wks. To cut a very long story short regarding his meds and hospital stuff he's tried a cocktail of gaviscon, ranitidine, domperidone and omeprazole, not to mention that i bought every colic remidy going in the beginning!
He's now doing pretty well on just the gaviscon with a breast feed, enfamil AR formula before bedtime and omeprazole 10-15mg. All this is supported by me trying to avoid acidic foods and the good old cot wedge to help him sleep, oh and we're weaning early too.
Like all the other mum's it's been the most difficult thing i've ever had to cope with, but i think we're at the stage that the good days are more frequent and the bad ones are less. It's all been a bit of a shock being a first time mum too. Reflux is a heart breaking condition but it makes me love him more and more each day for being such a brave soldier.
Welcome to this website, it's been the greatest help for me, it's so important to be heard by likeminded parents who aren't going to fob you off with 'colic' and other such things. At my low ponits it's helped me smile.

here's hoping you're having a better day today

sal x

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Permalink Reply by Helena on March 10, 2008 at 11:02

Hi Jena

My name is Helena and I'm a mother of two girls, a 7 year old cheeky monkey and a 30 week old little refluxer called Alexandra.
She suffers from silent reflux and, like most parents in this site we had to battle with health visitors and GP until she was finally seen by a pediatrician and diagnosed with the condition. The fighting with the heath professionals and seeing my daughter in agony took its toll on me and I ended up having panic attacks and finally a nervous breakdown, so I'm currently being treated for PND.
She's had a few hospital admissions at her worst, requiring tube feeding, so it hasn't been easy.
Medicationwise she is on Domperidone, Gaviscon- which we don't always use- and Omeprazole 20 mgr which we feel has made the difference. She's also on Neocate formula at concentrated doses as she does not manage to drink reasonable amounts.
She now has some good days but feeding is still difficcult. She has weight gain problems, she was on the 75th centile when she was born and currently she's struggling to stay on the 9th, so she's a rather small baby.

So it's been an emotional rollescoaster- it still is- but Alexandra's smile makes it all worthwhile.
Being able to talk to other parents in the same situation is invaluable. From the minute I joined Little Refluxers, I was overwhelmed by the warmth and support from other fellow parents. They all have become a wonderful adopted family, they always manage to put a smile on my face, no matter how hard the day's been.

Hoping all our babies will stop suffering very soon.
Helena X

If you're still awake and have managed to read the whole message without falling asleep, congratulations!

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Permalink Reply by Francesca on March 10, 2008 at 13:21

Hi
my name is Francesca and my little boy is called Maximilian and he is now 6 and a half months old. From 2 weeks old Max couldn't be laid flat without him screming in pain. I started to hold him upright all the time as i didn't know what else to do and i didn't want to see him cry. he wouldn't sleep at all in the day and feeding was such hard work as he would latch on, pull away, arch, scream etc etc.
I was told it was colic an dit would pass at 3 months. 3 months came and went and he was WORSE! I was at my wits end. At 4 months, it got really bad and he started to lose lots of weight and not feed. he went 2 whole days without a proper feed. At 5 months i finally managed to get listened to and to see a paed. max was diagnosed with a milk protein intolerance and silent reflux. I have cut out all dairy and soya and tea coffeee and alcohol and i give max various "natural" things to help with the acid. The last month has been manageable. I have left the house, met friends, done things. before, in the dark months, i was at home trying to feed and simply holding Max upright.
i think, touch wood , that he is over the worst of it. Fingers crossed

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Permalink Reply by Michelle on March 10, 2008 at 14:58

Hi

My name is Michelle and my little silent refluxer is Lauren who is 5 and half months. I also have a son who is 2 1/2 who also suffered from silent reflux. I thought I was totally prepared for this the second time round but actually it is just as hard, frustrating, demanding.....

Lauren was diagnosed at 3 weeks and given rantitidine, gaviscon and domperdone. The ranitidine didn't work and she is currently on 20mg omeprezole, domperidone and gaviscon plus asingle dose of rantidine at night to try to help her sleeping which is slightly better, but she is still up 4 times a night feeding. She is also on neocate formula as milk protein intolerence also suspected.

Lauren has been settled during the day from 3 months but the nights are still horrendous and if I am honest I am very close to meltdown from the complete lack of sleep. I am now often laying awake at night waiting for the next wakeup. The nights for us are just hell.

Well, thats the lowdown and it is certainly a low period in my life with noone else understanding apart from the great people on this site!

xx

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Permalink Reply by Nikkiy on March 12, 2008 at 16:06

Hi Jena!
I have one girl, 10yrs, and one little boy who is 8mths. Jolly is now off all medication - we feel that the doctors werent helping us and it didnt feel right to keep putting different medications into our son's body. He is doing much better - hopefully because of his reduced milk intake. He doesnt vomit loads now and only has a few mouthfuls. He does still suffer from a bad tummy but we ease it by rocking him gently. As for the doctors - they have been no help and we feel like hypocondriacs!

Take care - Nikkiy

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Permalink Reply by steph on March 12, 2008 at 18:21

Hi Jena

My little refluxer James is almost 6 months and was born 11 weeks early. He stayed 8 weeks in special care and was diagnosed therefore early and came home with ranitidine and Gaviscon mid november. At Christmas my neighbour a GP prescirbed Gaviscon because he was groaning a lot and not sleeping much. Desperation was there for sleep has he was sick a lot. Gaviscon helped a lot and we started seeing him sleeping better. He still has Gaviscon and has finished with his jabs which have all been set backs and is starting to improve after dosage increase of his meds.
We are hoping that it will stay like this and improve but he cannot stay laying flat very long or only after at least hours after the last feed. Next big step: weaning.

Steph

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Permalink Reply by kat on March 16, 2008 at 11:59

hi,
i have just joined so i thought i would introduce myself. my name is katrina and i have a wee girl called ella who is 5 months old. things started going awry for us when ella was about 6 weeks old when she got a cold and became really grumpy. i thought it was because she couldnt breathe but when the cold finally went away 4 weeks later she was still having screaming fits. things have gone down hill since then. she feeds all the time, between 10-14 times in 24 hours, at night she only sleeps in 2 hour stretches, she struggles to nap during the day and she has these screaming fits which are horrendous and the only thing that calms her down is breast feeding. it means that i cant leave her with anyone and i am literally attached to her 24/7.
we started on gaviscon just after christmas and we are now up to 10mg omeprazole twice a day and 3mls of domperidone 4 times a day after seeing a paediatrician on wed. initially the omeprazole seemed to be working during the day and she seemed calmer but nights became worse. the last couple of days she has gone back to how she was before we started the omeprazole.
i have started on a dairy free diet and she is only offered hypoallergenic formula (neutramigen) which she hates and mostly refuses. i am hoping this will help but it is still early days yet.
i am really stuggling now. the lack of sleep is bad enough but having a baby that needs constant holding and feeding is tough. in the last week we have even tried giving her medised just so she sleeps a little longer (i was against it but i am now pretty desperate and my other half, mother in law and health visitor talked me into it) but after wrestling with my conscience and finally giving it to her it didnt work and she was awake 1.75 hours later. well, at least she is consistent :-)
that is our story and i have to say how nice it is to see that other people are going through the same things (i dont want other babies to be going through this obviously but i am sure you all know what i mean!!). sometimes you feel so alone in a world where everyone elses babies are sleeping through the night and feeding every 4 hours.

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Permalink Reply by Claire Sanderson on March 16, 2008 at 12:45

Hello, I'm Claire and I have William who is 6 1/2 months. He obviously suffered with silent reflux for months before the vomitting started. I diagnosed it myself in the end. He's currently on gaviscon 2 sachets 3 times a day. We were given Raniditine after two visits to A&E but this had little effect and actually he was more sick than before. We have an appointment with the paed for the 2nd April so will wait and see what she says.

When he cries, it takes him seconds to be at full tilt and he'll make himself sick if he's not comforted. We had to resort to the use of "thummies" to help settle him. I hate them and it was difficult to start using one, but it helps him and us in the long run. Some mornings after his feed, you can heard him straining and struggling, so it helps soothe him.

Fortunately at the moment he is loving his food, he's always been a greedy pig. He is still being breastfed at the moment alongside. He had a bad night (and so did we!) last night and a grumpy morning. Hoping for a better afternoon.

I just ignore those people who have "angel" babies. It gets you down otherwise. I just think how lucky I am I have such a beautiful boy and end up crying when he beams at me.

It is hard work, you're not alone in this. Things got so bad for me at the beginning of the year the hv was concerned about PND, I managed to sort a few other stressful situations out and came out quickly. Don't despair, keep smiling. X

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