How do we cope with this?

Comment by Hayley Lewis on September 28, 2010 at 10:39am

Hello Gillian

What you are going through now is what I experienced with my little one. Im sorry your feeling the way you are **big hugs** . I found out my LO had reflux at around 8 wks I too found it hard to breast feed with his constant fussing and rejection of the breast. He was originally put on gaviscon but the amount I had to give him mixed with water was silly, it helped for a while but then stopped working. They then gave me Zantac which I understand is the same as ranitidine. I found that at first it didnt seem to do much but I think it took a while to get into his system. I started combination feeding and put him on Aptimal at first, he just kept throwing this one back at me so put him on SMA staydown which works for my little one, he sometimes has a couple of days where he deposits more than others but generally is much better. Im not sure how old your little one is but at 15 wks my LO started to refuse breast and sometimes bottle so went to see the health visitor and she said he seems to be weaning himself and didnt think it had anything to do with his reflux! She told me to try and hang off till 17 weeks. As my milk supply decreased I introduced more bottle feeds, unfortunately I have found that this made his sleeping pattern in the night worse, waking between 4-6 times a night
with a bit of wind, he's not in pain but it does wake him. I then decided to intoduce a bit of baby porridge in the morning and have since added some pear to it, he took to it really well and is excited at breakfast time. He is now 18 wks and althogh he wakes at night he is happy, smiley and content during the day. His little smiles, even after his worst nights make the days a delight and the nights become more managable.
I know your doctor is not being that helpful but if you dont think the meds are working go back to see what else they can give her to try, I think there are a different couple of meds that they can give for reflux. Also if your little one is refusing feeds and is self weaning go with it but just do it slowly. I weaned my other son at 3 months and he is a healthy slender 15 year old , so I dont think early weaning is really a problem in fact my health visitor said the same to me and told me she does not like the 6 month rule. I hope things will get better for you soon like they did with me, keep your chin up hun we are here to listen and support you xx

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