Any advice from people with babies with reflux? Especially from people who have managed to ease the symptoms!?

Im at the end of my tether!


My 6 week old baby is currently on a hypo-allergenic formula (nutramigen) to see if a milk allergy may be causing his reflux. He has been on it for 6 days and although he seemed a bit more settled for the first couple of days he now seems to be suffering from the reflux more than ever (we stop to wind him half way through his feed and he screams so much from the pain that he then refuses to take the rest - its a real struggle and its breaking my heart to see him in so much pain). We are going to start adding infant gaviscon to his milk from this evening on our doctors advice but last time we tried gaviscon with his milk it gave him terrible painful constipation, so Im dreading making him suffer more. I just wondered what your experiences are of reflux and what you have found to be the best way of easing the pain (e.g. if a specific milk is good, etc - we are in the UK so please only suggest formulas we can get here!). We keep him upright when feeding, burp him regularly, prop his moses basket up at an angle...





He also seems to suffer from terrible belly ache that wakes him from his sleep, I think it may be colic.Any advice from people with babies with reflux? Especially from people who have managed to ease the symptoms!?
My baby is exactly the same. I dont agree with getting a Medela special needs feeder as someone suggested as your baby does not have special needs. I have just started using Breastflow bottles from Mothercare which are fabulous I add a sachet of infant gaviscon to her formula, which is cow and gate comfort 1, and it really seems to help, I dont add the gaviscon to every feed as you are right, they get constipation so I get round it by using 5 oz water made up with 4 scoops of formula for a feed when using the gaviscon and it seems to be working. Good luck, It does get easier, my daughter is 14 weeks now and the vomitting is getting lessAny advice from people with babies with reflux? Especially from people who have managed to ease the symptoms!?
Infamil is the best formula! It sounds like your baby might have colic.
Have you tried gripe water?
We had a terrible first few months with my first baby she was diagnosed with colic which was indicated by her crying for long periods at night usually cant settle to sleep without been rocked, bringing knees up in pain etc but we tried allsorts from Infacol to Colief drops and in the end we tried the Gaviscon Infant we never looked back best thing we did and wish we tried that lot earlier she was actually suffering from acid pain which then came up in a clear like liquid from her mouth short while after feeds or if lay flat, we now have a 3 month old boy who has just started the reflux bringing the clear liquid up and being unsettled normally a very placid calm baby so got the Gaviscon started and much better that is the best advice i can give is the Gaviscon but you will need to change to a bigger teat as it thickens the milk and makes it harder for them to suck (which can cause more wind) also dont lie them flat keep their head elevated in their cot/bed with a cushion or cot wedge or even folded up blanket we had experience of reflux with both babies now so knew the signs this time and caught on to what to do immediately as for constipation is will give it them for few days their tummy will get used to it just give them cool boiled water between feeds and once 4 months add a little pure apple juice to it that helped our daughter. As for milk we did change our daughters milk from SMA to cow and gate omnio comfort as it seemed the SMA was too rich for her tummy the Omnio Comfort was a miracle worked too with that and the Gaviscon we had a much happier baby we not changed our milk with our baby boy as the Gaviscon alone seems to work - good luck
my baby has reflux and is breastfed, so i cant offer formula suggestions, but I can offer what works for us. We burp her every two ounces (she cries the first time, but after that settles down), and she NEVER lays flat. Just having her bed propped isn't enough. She sleeps in her car seat and is always upright. The only time she isn't is when she is breastfeeding and about half runs out when she changes positions. Burp alot and try different positions to get the burp out, and for a few weeks, don't lay him flat. Keep him sitting up and or in a car seat or swing. It makes such a difference with my baby
Reflux is absolutely awful for all concerned - poor you. It can make those first few months of parenthood hell when you should be enjoying this fabulous new baby. Watching them in pain is awful.





My daughter had it until she started eating food at 6 months. By all means give the gaviscon another try but it is known for making babies constipated - almost everyone I know who has tried it with their babies experiences the same problem. There is a natural alternative called carobel - it's made by Cow and Gate and can be ordered in by Boots as it's not usually stocked as a normal product line.





Having said that, feed thickeners are not enough for many babies with reflux. There are other things which can be prescribed - such as ranitidine (an antacid, stops the burning pain in the oesophagus) or domperidone (helps food move through the digestive system faster, so there is less to come back up). Your GP might prescribe these if he/ she is sympathetic and knowledgable, but more often you will need to see a paedeatrician at the hospital: some GPs are reluctant to prescribe them as they are not licensed for use on babies and so they must carry more of the risk themselves.





You mentioned that your baby suffers from belly ache and that this wakes him from his sleep - just to say that sleep disturbances are incredibly common with reflux as the acid travels back up the windpipe more when babies are flat or reclined. This might be due to the reflux rather than colic, which I always think of as a bit of a cop-out that the medical professionals diagnose if they don't know what else is wrong!





So my advice for you would really be, by all means try out all those home remedies like propping the cot/ moses basket, smaller feeds, etc, but if you don't see results soon then investigate medications. They can make the world of difference and save lots of suffering all round. People will tell you reflux is normal, or that it's just colic: don't listen - it's real and it causes real problems.


I hope you find some solutions soon.
I would burp your baby after eating a 1 oz. My baby needs to burp after drinking 1 oz during the feeding. I don't know want kind of formula you have up there since I live in United States. My 7 week old have reflux and her doctor just prescribe her Zantac since she vomited after every feeding and not gaining the weight like she should. I am also breastfeeding and post to be supplementing her with formula which I am using Similac Sensitive.
My baby girl had this too - its awful isn't it. You would do anything to make it better.





I use aptamil and we tried gaviscon too but it made her very very constipated which obviously made the situation worse. It also just seemed to make the sick so lumpy when she did bring her milk up! I wasn't happy with gavison so took her off it.





Have you tried anti-colic bottles such as Dr. Browns or Mam? I know they are more fiddly to put together and clean but are supposed to stop some of the air getting into their tummies. I tried Mam but the teat is a funny shape and my daughter wouldn't take to it.





I hope that you find a solution. Now my daughter is being weaned she is so much better but we found it hard for the first 6 months trying to cope with this.





Good luck x
The best advice I can give you is to get a haberman medela feeder for his feeds http://www.mothercare.com/gp/product/B00鈥?/a> , they are expensive but very much worth it, secondly as mentioned before, don't lay him flat, this makes reflux much worse, there is a special wedge mattress that you can buy for his cot to ensure he stays upright not just raised slightly but upright http://www.olivers-baby-care.co.uk/Rest-鈥?/a> swaddle him, and be sure to wind him regulary every ounce or so. You could try colic drops as well, they may help they may not it really depends.





**EDIT: this is the proper wedge pillow but i'm not sure how you can get it shipped to the uk, maybe from ebay like me http://www.pollywogbaby.com/item--tucker鈥?/a>
My baby girl had reflux, terribley we did all the usual stuff like burping alot, gaviscon etc etc but really the only thing that helped was not only keeping her upright but giving her less milk more frequently. Also i found breast milk she tolerated more than formula but I just didn't have enough for her. The dietitician put her on nutramigan but it made her worse and so eventually we put her on hipp organic, but it took at least 2 weeks until she tolerated any milk any better and boy did we try nearly all of them! My friend also had a baby with reflux and took her to a neck specialist- not sure how you spell it but it's called a craniopolists, your health visitor may have a number for one.


For his belly try rubbing his tummy in a clockwise motion very lightly it helps my lil girl when she has belly ache


Good Luck it will get better as he get bigger