My son is now 17 weeks old. His reflux began at 2 weeks where he was throwing up a little and then it was projectile and he eventually was in pain and refused feeds.
We were prescribed ranitidine which helped a little but he was still in alot of discomfort then omeprazole which gave awful tummy ache and constipation. Then back on ranitidine, last week he lost a percentile so he has been prescribed lansoprazole. He has awful tummy ache again, constipation l, fussing over feeds and throwing up alot after feeds. Hes been on this for a week now. I don't know what to do. I sometimes feel like he's been on alot of meds for a baby, I've tried giving him nothing in the past but he threw up alot and was in alot of pain and then refused feeds as he was i guess fed up of throwing up. I have began introducing veg and weaning as this is what was advised by the paediatricians and he seems to keep it down. But obv as he's so small its only a few spoons its the milk he needs more.
I could really do with hearing of some experiences and advice. He wakes every hour to two hours now and is very unsettled. He needs alot of comforting and im loosing the plot. Feeling very stressed and low. Helppppppp!
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I’m going to try and keep his short! Firstly I feel your pain and anguish! My 9 month old has GERD, IBS and an under developed digestive system. Any allergies were ruled out by a dietician but dairy aggravates her IBS and citrus/high acid food aggravates her reflux disease. We have been through similar experiences as you describe above including weight loss, milk feee refusals (had to force feed with a syringe at times) and lots of night visits to hospital. All I can say is your doing an excellent job, it is especially hard looking after a reflux baby and so I salute you from afar! Now the good news....we were told at four months to wean, I hadn’t even begun thinking about it but it revolutionised our lives. My daughter went comfortably from the 7th to the now 50th weight percentile, she is in much less pain, no more crippling constipation and all round a much happier baby. Avoid rice drinks, acidy fruit and peppers as these all trigger reflux. She still gets bouts of reflux (her breath stink of acid and it burns her voice box so she goes croaky) and is still on medication but that’s slowly dropping. In the early days it was lots of banana and weetabix with milk (once she could have gluten). I’m assuming baby is sleeping on an angle etc and being fed sat up and kept upright for 30 mins after each feed?
Well that wasn’t short at all was it!! Sorry! I hope that helps. Ask me any questions you need and good luck! You’re doing great! X
Thank you for your reply, and your poor bubba has alot happening. Well done to you too!
What is rice drinks (sorry if i sound silly) ive decided to combination feed for my own sanity. So i can atleast see how much he is having two feeds a day.
I have began weaning but it has only been one week. What kind of foods did you begin with? I tried porridge but that gave him constipation so I have been trying veg which has been great so far.
I am feeding upright, keeping him up for 30mins amd he sleeps slightly reclined.
Honestly sometimes I just want to cry 😢
I'm thinking of going back to ranitidine as he was much happier on that. What worked for your little one?
Thats a heap of questions! I apologise in advance! Thank you once again x
Honestly ask away! I wish I had someone in the same boat to chat to when mine was little!
So, we too went back to ranitidine as we found this was the best. She’s still on this now, It’s a weight sensitive dose so I get her weighed once a month and the doctor taught me how to calculate the dose amount in ml (the Leaflet tells you in mg). We combined this with hipp organic anti reflux formula. The formula helped her reflux as it thickens because of a natural ingredient carob bean and so stays down (a bit like what baby gaviscon does but more natural). You need a number 3 bottle teat for this feed. This thickner however notoriously causes constipation so give a little cooled boiled water (about 3 oz) throughout the day to combat it. Do it away from feed times so it doesn’t disrupt her milk. We still had problems so our baby was also on lactulose too which helped. She pooped on average once every other day. Now she’s weaned, the lactulose is gathering dust in our cupboard!
All formula companies do baby rice (like porridge but gluten free) and hipp do a rice night time milk but these aggravate the reflux and like you say cause constipation. We started our baby on mashed banana and some formula milk for breakfast and some mashed veggies like carrot, sweet potato, parsnip and some Elle’s kitchen starter puret packs for dinner. Keep an eye out for the ingredients as some sweeten with lemon juice which is not good for reflux babies. Elle’s kitchen do a prune pack which is good for the system! I think the yoghurt ones would have been nice but we had to avoid the dairy. At six months we went off puret and started baby led weaning. My HV practice runs a weaning clinic once a month that I went to and that gave me a lot of good advice. Chat to your HV to see if they offer the same.
I hope I’ve answered all your questions. Let me know if there is anything else!
Becca x
• in reply to
Forgot to mention, you can’t use anti reflux milk and baby gaviscon at the same time! The doctor told me baby gaviscon is more for babies with mild reflux and it was useless for us x
Hi Becca thank you for your reply, i have used cow and gate reflux formula whuch constipated him alot but its been a month so I may try again
I'm using madhes carrots and veg too and some jars. I've bpught some of the ellas fruit sachets which I'll introduce next week. Trying everything really slowly as I'm so afraid to trigger the reflux.
Apologies for jumping on this old post but am having similar issues with my 6 month old daughter. Potted history: breastfed; initially on ranitidine; then omeprazole shortly (2 wks) but bad wind; now back to ranitidine; mostly fine during the day (trying to wean slowly but she's not taking much in yet/purees nor finger foods); evening feed is a nightmare... takes roughly an hr and she is v unsettled, hitting yummy, arching back, unlatching and sucking or biting my arm, grabbing her hair etc. So, I too have been off dairy, and soya but slipped up on that recently... but wondered about the hipp milk you mentioned as u said you too were doing dairy free, is that milk hypoallergenic? Sorry for the waffling! Second, did you ever notice tiny amounts of blood in your baby's nappy? It's only happened 3 times, but have heard it could be cows milk protein intolerance linked.
No worries at all! I’m away today and and tomorrow with very Little network but I didn’t want you to think I was ignoring you! I’ll reply tomorrow evening as soon as I’m back! X
No worries about the post! Poor bub I know how stressful reflux can be. I found that ranitidine worked best for my son he is now 5 and half months old. He has suddenly taken to food really well. I give porridge for breakfast. A veg or puree of food for lunch and a fruit blend for tea. I avoid any sort of rice as I found that it triggered him having a tummy ache and being gassy. I spoke to the pead about this too who suggested I avoid rice too.
Hipp anti reflux is hypoallergenic and has been a life saver. He is super settled on this. It stays down, he now has softer stool and passes wind well.
I would honestly recommend this. I also only breastfeed at night. As hes sleepy my milk stayed down better. As he is thriving on hipp I plan on completely weaning him onto this by 6 months.
I really hope your daughter settles and feels better soon. I would suggest sticking with ranitidine, honestly some days it may feel worse but it definitely helps. The pead also mentioned that ot is the lightest form of medication which has helped many babies.
You are welcome to message us on thos Post I know how stressful it can get.
Thanks so much for the reply and all the info, it's both kind of you and v useful. Yes, am trying to stick it out with ranitidine but she definitely still has ups and downs at the mo. For the first time in a long time the last evening feed was a much more relaxed affair, thank goodness. Usually it's like she's trying to climb me, so that's promising.
I'm hoping her poos will get less mucousy (and frequent too) now that I am tentatively starting to wean her on solids/purees but it's slow going. She did spend a large amount of today straining and grunting to try and do a poo though, but with no success, usually she has about 2 or 3 a day.
I was going to check with you, I looked up the Hipp anti reflux milk and it still has milk/lactose in, am I looking up the right one? Or is it just that it's super broken down, like some other hypoallergenic milks? It also has soya in I think. I'm seeing an allergy specialist in about a month so hopefully that will be useful too.
So true re rice! I think baby rice upset my little one's system too.
Hello! So, Hipp formula....Yes it contains Cows milk protein and lactose. My daughter is dairy intolerant and we did try comfort and dairy free milks but because of her bad reflux she was was just bringing them up and loosing weight. So we stuck it out with Hipp. Hipp has carob bean in it which is a natrual thickener. The result of this is that it causes constipation. We regularly see a paediatric dietician and I contacted Hipp themselves about the constipation and it’s pretty much a shrug your shoulders “that’s just how it is” response. The doctor prescribed us lactulose in the end which did help.
Early weaning also causes constipation whilst they get used to processing the solids. I was told to give water with every meal (max 2oz a meal) to help with this. Baby ride and baby porridge was a big no no for us. It really aggravated her reflux for some reason.
My daughter is 11 months old and even though we still have acid attacks, it’s a million times better than those early days. It does get easier!
I hope everything goes well with the allergy specialist. Let me know if you have any more questions.x
Ah poor bub, honestly it gets better. We still have off days but it's finding what works best.
Like Bexicles2016 said it does contain milk etc but very broken down.
We used lactulose 5ml once a day for a week and then as soon as my son had been on hipp anti reflux for two days we no longer needed to give lactulose. I sometimes give gripe water if he's a little gassy which helps.
I'd definitely avoid rice, my little one is ok with organic creamy porridge. Just check labels as i know the strawberry blend has rice although it says porridge.
Try a fruit puree pouch, my son loves them! Although once again check the back as some contain a splash of lemon. Im using the cow&gate which are fine.
Sorry it's taken me a while to reply and to come back with more questions but I'm slightly losing my sanity! 😕
We had a day recently where I thought we'd turned a corner. She was much more chilled generally. And 2 nights of relaxed pm last feed. Then everything back to how it was before. Don't know what changed. Thought my dietary exclusion stuff had finally paid off. Or ranitidine had kicked back in, or even a delayed response to omeprazole. ??? She's not really too bad, it's just it's hard as i have an older daughter too who I can't give as much attention as I'd like to/she needs. In part this is because I have to carry her to get her to start her nap (but can usually transfer to cot after). The whinginess from my youngest also makes me snappy with her sometimes, poor thing 😞.
So I wondered roughly how long it took for your little one to be comfortable with solids? She is barely having any, and seems to prefer chewing the spoon. I give her finger foods too but she spits most back out. We've been going for 2 weeks I think. And she always gets cross/cry-y after between 5-10 mind of being in her high chair. Was this the same for yours? I remember it being similar with my eldest. I think this was the reason why we ended up on omeprazole with her.
In terms of milk, was your baby already comfortable with taking a bottle pre Hipp? And if you were breastfeeding previously, did you mix the BM in with it for a bit or switch straight over. My baby has never really had any milk from a bottle yet, she didn't reject it entirely, she just didn't take any in.
Think we'll probably need to see a consultant soon but your help in the meantime has been really appreciated as I don't know how long we'll have to wait.
Hi honestly I'm happy to help! I know how stressful it is. And I too remember having some good days and then thinking I'm back to square one. Just remember that you are doing a great job
My son started enjoying food at 5months but prior to this I used to put it on the tip of my finger and he'd suck on. I don't know if this is recommended but he would too enjoy chewing on the spoon. I gave creamy porridge, fruit pouch or light vegs like carrots, sweey potato. I know its not a great combo but the paediatrician advised to give anything he likes amd his tummy is comfortable with as he was loosing weight.
I also never fed in a high chair he hates it too. Instead i fed in the bouncer with lots of toys around!
And nope he hated taking a bottle, it took alot of walks in the pushchair with him being hungry and distracted before he took a bottle. But persevere it does get better. I only stopped combination feeding not long ago. And he is thriving on hipp anti reflux. Give it sometime it will settle.
Omeprazole gave my son awful tummy ache so i stopped and stuck with ranitidine. He was very unsettled on it.
Oh and just a reminder if you do decide to give hipp anti reflux formula it is thick so i use a number 3 fast flow teet and he is fine with this
As daft as it sounds try baby gaviscon only thing that worked with my sons reflux it goes in the milk if yoy get sachets. I had reflux chronic as a baby too used to hit other side of room.
Also as much as im about yo get judged my son would not sleep on his back hr settled on his front and before anyone starts my aunt is a health visitor and told me iy was fine babies have a natural reflux to move their heads if face down my son was holding his own head at birth and at a few days old could turn his head fine when laid on his front
did you use liquid or powder sachets with him? personally my lo never noticed it but not every child is the same, erm have you tried him on anti reflux milk its a little thicker than normal milk so might help stay in his stomach better
I tried the powder scahets...I've tried reflux cow and gate formula but he couldn't digest it. Was terrible constipated. He now has cow and gate comfort which he is fine with. He's combination fed. I could maybe try it again.
My baby had this ranitidine didn't help, my little one is 9 months still has reflux but I keep it at bay with aptamil reflux formulae but we couldn't do baby jars when weaning we had to do baby led weaning
Bless 9months...you are doing well. Im using some jars, just simple vegetables which he seems to enjoy. Hoping and praying all our babies are healthy soon x
Hi my son is 11 months, he has been on ranitidine and lanzoperolze together since he was 3 months. They don't work independently for him they only work together. This has Helped but not cured him. It's still a struggle sadly even though he's started solids. He hasnt embraced solids I think bacaise of the ascociated pain. We're still under the peds at hospital as too much of a fight with GP. On baby centre UK there's a thread with lots of helpful tips if you go there there's plenty of advice were all in the same boat 😍
Misswinky34 thank you for your reply. We spoke to the paediatricians today and he is back on ranitidine. Hopefully he'll settle and feed a bit better. I think he just doesn't agree with lansoprazole. We've got a follow up at the end of Dec so hopefully see what advice we can get. Your poor bub 11months. It's dawning on me that thos may be a longggg journey. I've had a look at baby centre. Thanks for that x
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