Please help!!!!!!!!!!

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Permalink Reply by Laura Perks on February 11, 2012 at 10:36

We had the same after 2 weeks, but my baby was breastfed. We went down silent reflux route, tried all meds to no avail. Saw a great consultant about her and he said back arching, snuffles, screaming doesn't = reflux, but does = an intolerance. The most usual one is cows milk protein intolerance. You probably need to switch formulas to one containing no dairy (nutramigen AA or neocate) but your gp will need to prescribe these, and they dont like to as they're pricey.

I think something like 50% of reflux cases are due to an underlying intolerance. Usually cows milk and / or soya.

My first child was a straightforward silent refluxer, and I have to say, she never screamed, arched, or snuffled (she did faint though, and her ph test proved silent reflux). All she needed was ranitidine for a while, then outgrew it.

So I would agree with consultant that where you have all the other symptoms as you've described, it's usually an intolerance that's causing the reflux.  

The usual reflux meds though are gaviscon, ranitidine, domperidone, then PPIs such as omeprazole. in case you want to explore that route before the changing formula route. 

xx

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Permalink Reply by Vickimoo on February 11, 2012 at 12:25

Thank you so much got your reply. What is a PPI? my daughter had a stool sample, would this have picked up an intolerance? Xx

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Permalink Reply by Beth on February 11, 2012 at 12:39

Hi vickimoo, my story very similar to yours. GP dismissing me - went to A and E 3 times. He is now 21 wks and on a PPI (Omeprazole) and as he has cows milk protein intolerance he is on an amino acid formula nutramigen AA. He has silent reflux so never, ever sick. He was snuffly, chesty, arched his back, drank so quickly and aggressively. 

To be honest, the best thing I did was go to a and e as they prescribed the meds and gave me an appt. with paed - that could have taken months going through the GP as they just kept saying it was colic and babies cry. 

This site has a wealth of info and the ladies are fab at answering questions - it saved my sanity - so ask away!  I know it feels hard right now but on the right milk and meds your LO can be much more settled X 

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Permalink Reply by Beth on February 11, 2012 at 12:41

PPI is proton pump inhibitor (Omeprazole, Lansoprazole etc) 

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Permalink Reply by Laura Perks on February 11, 2012 at 13:53

Dr Shah (a bit of a God on this site, top gastro guy at Gt Ormond St) basically said to us that reflux never presents as back arching & screaming. That is a sign of intolerance, and the intolerance causes the reflux - then you see all the refluxy symptoms. 

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Permalink Reply by Vickimoo on February 11, 2012 at 14:01

thank you so much for your replies, my GP did do a stool sample but nothing showed up? or at least thats what they have said... does intolerance show up on stool samples??

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Permalink Reply by Beverley on February 11, 2012 at 19:45

That's interesting Laura. People always site the arching as a sign of reflux. I wonder what a non-intolerant refluxer looks like? Have to say, even now, D only does the back arching when he is reacting to something in a refluxy way. As a result of intolerance though. Hmm. Just thinking it would be good to be able to help people on here to tell the difference. I'm always clueless about how reflux presents unless it's the allergic kind.

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Permalink Reply by Jenny Rawling on February 11, 2012 at 14:25

HI Vicki. Can I direct you to this thread http://www.littlerefluxers.co.uk/forum/topics/help-3 and in particular to Sarah's reply as this is the clearest explanation I've seen recently. I'd also suggest you get hold of a copy of the book Colic Solved (don't be put off by the title) by Bryan Vartebedian.

If your daughter is in pain then she probably needs some acid suppression - the screaming is because acid is refluxed up into the oesophagus and causes discomfort (like heartburn in an adult). The infant gaviscon works by forming a gel with the milk to thicken the stomach contents and reduce the amount refluxed, if that is not controlling the pain then ranitidine would be the next step.

Intolerance is a factor for 50% of babies where reflux persists beyond 3 months old, with milk protein intolerance being by far the most common. Reflux is very common in very young babies, which makes it hard to get taken seriously, and a large subset of babies that suffer from reflux will outgrow it in the first few months. The stool test is normally to look for lactose intolerance (different from milk protein intolerance) or blood or mucus in the poo which could point towards an intolerance. There is no simple test to diagnose intolerances, the only way to identify them is to withdraw the suspect food, which would mean a trial on a hypoallergenic formula.

Certainly I'd bear in mind that there may be a problem with cow's milk protein, and I'd be particularly suspicious of this if there is any family history of problems with cow's milk or other food intolerances, or if in addition to reflux symptoms your daughter has tummy pain, wind, constipation or diarrhoea, or mucus or blood in poo.

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