Newbie- 6 week old with reflux

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Permalink Reply by Leeanne on January 27, 2012 at 10:46am

Also forgot to add, breastfeeding clinic said my little one had a posteria tounge tie but to leave it and see how you go!! Should I get this checked, could it be making maters worse? 

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Permalink Reply by Jenny Rawling on January 27, 2012 at 1:18pm

Hi Leeanee - welcome to LR. I'm sure just having somewhere to ask your questions and where everyone understands how difficult reflux can be will make it seem more manageable.

The ranitidine dose you are on is equivalent to 5mg per dose and the dose range is 1-3mg/kg. Assuming he is 5kg ish/11lb then you are on the lowest end of the dose range at the moment so there would be scope to increase.

The dairy/soya free thing is a good thing to be trying at this early stage to see if he is intolerant of either/both. It will take some time to see results from this, a few days to clear your system and your milk, a few days to clear baby's system, and some time for inflammation to settle. We did this further down the line and saw some improvement in the first fortnight and sustained improvement for about 6 weeks.

There's a big growth spurt at around 6 weeks which may account for the recent deterioration and fussiness.

I'd suggest you ride it out for the next few days and see if it settles a bit before changing anything else. If not, the obvious thing would be to ask for a dose increase in the ranitidine. Reflux does tend to be a bit up and down for reasons that are not always apparent, and you need to give the changes you make time to take effect or you won't know what is helping. I do understand that it's very hard when your LO is in pain and you just want everything to be ok quickly.

I'm afraid everyone has to deal with a certain amount of fobbing off from the doctors. Reflux is very common in young babies and a lot of them do grow out of it in the first few months, which makes it hard to get taken seriously. I don't think it's an excuse to leave babies in pain though! I would discount anyone who says he'll grow out of it at xyz stage, it's too disheartening if he doesn't. Look at it that you are going to manage the symptoms as best you can until he gets better.

I'm mum to LR Matthew, now 20m and was horrified when I joined the forum at a similar stage to you to find there were mums of toddlers still having problems. However, it does get better! Matthew has been off meds for 4m now and if he is kept dairy/soya free is managing really well.

I'm sure you'll find all the support you need here. Jen xx

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Permalink Reply by Beth on January 27, 2012 at 4:26pm

Welcome! Jenny has given great advice so not much more to add but wanted to say I know exactly how you feel. 

My little man was diagnosed at 7 weeks and been a bit of a roller coaster since then but now at almost 19 wks we finally seem to be controlling the pain. You're on the right road
hopefully won't be long before things are more comfortable for your LO. 

Reflux is heartbreaking and exhausting but you will get to a place where it's manageable and you see your baby smiling and happy :-)  This is a great site where you'll get lots of support X

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