Hi folks,

As we seem to have lots of parents on here, any suggestions about a baby with silent reflux? We are in touch with doctors and they have him on gaviscon baby but it’s not enough. So we will be speaking to them again on Tuesday but just wondered if anyone has advice?

My poor partner is finding it very hard to deal with his crying so is actually getting mental support for it and when he cries it’s just constant and sounds like he’s in so much pain.

If it’s really bad call out of hours.

Otherwise there are different routes available for medication, but speaking to the doctors is the route to go. E.g we used Ranitidine before it was all pulled from the shelves (not sure if it’s available again now) followed by Omeprazole (either crushed or liquid, the latter being incredibly expensive so not really prescribed)

I’m not sure if this might be a bit basic given where you’re at but we’ve found keeping our 7-week-old upright after feeding helps a bit. Giving her a dummy (MsGinge is very much against this) also seems to help a bit though I’m guessing our girl doesn’t have it quite so bad as your boy.

I’m also using the phrase “it will pass” quite a lot right now.

Thank you so I didn’t think it was right he was so nasal after feeding since birth but she said it’s normal however it’s never cleared up.

Yes absolutely so we sit him up for feeding, and keep him sat up for say 20 mins as he hopefully falls asleep…

At first we found that baby gaviscon worked but then he was still hungry and we have to give him a bottle without gaviscon and it’s that that brings back the reflux…

As you say I also am saying “it’s temporary and it will pass” quite alot. I just want to get a 10 mile road ride at some point, luckily we have a spin bike in the garage but only had the time to use it once so far!!

Bigginge we’re the same as you though badly don’t want to use a dummy, so sometimes we just let him suck the bottle end when he has reflux and although he looks like he wants to eat he doesn’t and just wants to soothe that we’ve only realised recently

Is your cot at an angle too? Obviously can’t go too far or you find them in a heap at the bottom*, but it can certainly help

*apparently

Our lad had horrendous reflux for the first 12 months. Eventually we realised it was a dairy intolerance. He was breastfed and the wife switched her diet to completely non dairy and things improved almost immediately.

We had the dairy intolerance with my daughter. Had a nightmare with docs etc, and eventually got lactose free formula. She settled down after a while on lactose free and normal formula reintroduced.

Probably very basic, but we had success with propping the mattress up a bit, just took the edge off. Apologies if you’ve tried/already doing it.

Be quite assertive in terms of getting checks.

Both our twins had reflux and we were at our wits’ end until we finally asked the GP to get involved. I forget what they prescribed now (sorry, this is 9 years ago now) but Ranitadine above rings a bell. I seem to remember some over the counter traditional remedy like gripe water or similar was a total godsend as well.

In short, make sure you try everything, including the good stuff off the doctor. Sleeping with cot tilted up etc only gets you so far in my experience.

Stay strong.

My Grand daughter has this. She’s 6 months old. She has always been a difficult feeder and doesn’t settle easily. Her mum was unwell when baby was newborn and long story short she stopped breast feeding. The formula made reflux worse. She moved to a non cows milk formula and that helped and it seems that she is intolerant to cows milk. They use infant Gaviscon and she has been on Omeprazole. They have to be very fussy about burping and keeping her upright after a feed.

She has just started on solids; just puréed veg for now but it seems to be going down quite well and she is keen to eat. We think that may be in part because the non cows milk formula doesn’t taste very nice.

In short they have found the last few months very tiring (they would call that an understatement); babies are hard work anyway but the reflux has made it even harder. Lots of crying, lots of extra stuff to do and the poor baby is having a hard time too; so just can’t be herself and a vicious circle of stress results.

It is getting better though and there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel… so hang in there, ask everyone for help and keep trying little things to see if they help (diet, bottles; if relevant, routines, etc)

Our youngest was breast fed, but was still hungry so was “topped up” with a bottle of formula. She suffered with awful reflux after the bottle, until we changed to a bottle made by Mam specifically designed to reduce reflux.
Best wishes

We had a nightmare time feeding ours for a while, tried gaviscon in the bottle and all the recommended techniques. Feeding times were so stressful, she would cry and cry and we’d be so grateful when it was over and she’d go back to sleep. At one point, we filmed a feeding session and showed that to the GP to prove how bad it was! Nothing really worked until my wife saw something online about variable flow teats (they have a cross in the end of them.) Switching to them was like flicking a switch, everything just fell into place.

Can’t help with the baby but get out on the bike tomorrow. 30 mins won’t make any difference to your wife or kid and looking after your own headspace is as important as anyone elses. I had a bike I could take newborns out in which helped, but its a bit of a hassle. Look forward to having them in a weeride once they’re big enough

Oh yeah and do the dummy if you aren’t yet. Getting the dummy off our 2nd kid (we didn’t use one the first time round) was easy. Couple of tough nights but nothing like the amount it saved. Ymmv

Ditto the dummy comment above – removing number 2’s dummy was much easier and earlier than sorting no-dummy thumb sucker number 1.

My son had it quite bad, I modified his cot/crib to sleep him at quite an angle. It helped, a lot. More than just propping a mattress up, getting the point just before they end up sliding to the bottom took a bit of experimentation.

Our now 3 1/2 Yr old suffered same. Tilted cot helped loads, we had one of those beside the bed ones that had capacity, but easy done couple blocks of wood. Also little and often feeds seemed better tolerated.
We found GP very dismissive – tried offer thickener which made bottles undrinkable, got hold some gaviscon which helped, now on omeprazole.
If manage get omeprazole prescribed, absorption of dissolved tablets reduced if in milk, though supply issues mean we now getting liquid which seems more effective.
You have my sympathy. If dummy helps use it, bugger anyone else’s negatove opinion, at this age its about surviving and supporting each other. Good luck

Thank you yes we have a next to me and have it elevated, I think what is odd is sometimes he doesn’t get it. So I’ve just done a 2am feed and no reflux during feeding.

It’s more he seems to be bringing up bubbles which you can clearly see he’s in distress about. Yes GP said if Gaviscon doesn’t work then she’d look at something stronger and I’m sure omeprazone was mentioned.

The dummy may come as sounds like It as sounds like it’s helped in quite a few cases

same as above with milk and wheat intolerance which didnt show up until later testing. We used infacol for a long time which helped alot with the crying and discomfort of Jnr

Our daughter had this, also aspiration. Waking multiple times at night, every night for 3 years. Also visibly in discomfort when asleep. It sucked baws big time so you have my utmost sympathy – it can feel like actual torture if you get caught repeatedly at the wrong sleep stage.

Doctors not really able to help or even very curious as to why it might be happening. The impression I got was that as long as there was weight gain, child was energetic (even if directed into screaming) and other development stages were met they weren’t really that interested.

It was absolutely hellish though. There probably is a bit of wisdom in making sure child is doing well generally and just finding the best way to ride it out. Also take care of yourself and your partner – sleep deprivation over several days causes massive cognitive impairment that can’t be recovered without sustained nights of good sleep. So recognise that you’re probably not at your best, be kind to yourselves and try and do whatever you can to make opportunities for you and your partner to rest.

We had this with one of ours, it took months of going back to the GP over and over and refusing to accept that it’s nothing for them to refer him to a paediatric clinic who immediately said it was done sort of intolerance and prescribed him the dairy or lactose free formula which worked like magic. Nutramigen I think it was called

We found that changing from Tommy Tippe botles to Dr Brown bottles seemed to coincide which a much less gassy baby – pretty much stopped the need for baby gaviscon overnight

Good luck!

Also this…

Also take care of yourself and your partner – sleep deprivation over several days causes massive cognitive impairment that can’t be recovered without sustained nights of good sleep. So recognise that you’re probably not at your best, be kind to yourselves and try and do whatever you can to make opportunities for you and your partner to rest.

Assuming youre working, your partner is on maternity and you both share the night feeds…Best advice I had was maybe once a week you sleep in the spare room and let your partner do everything in the night, get yourself a solid 8-10hours and it can give you the strength to get through the week, but poor sleep night after night is a doom spiral! Ands then obv aty weekend you can do the same for your partner and let her reset.

Funk Jr had it very bad for a few years. Kept getting milk in his lungs which wasn’t great. Touch and go a few times until they figured out what was happening. Funkette still has it at aged five, but mild compared to how her brother was. We were lucky to get a lot of support due to severity. Keeping upright, sleeping wedge (with strap if needed) and checking for lactose or milk protein allergy is a good idea. I used a sling to carry him on my chest so I could still get things done whilst he had time to digest.

Dummies were a life saver for us. Helped to calm him and the saliva produced helps too. If you want to talk in more detail drop me a message and I’d be glad to help.

Thanks everyone well took him off the gaviscon. Terrible night last night and he literally did one dump all day yesterday and we think that’s what caused his turbulent night last night.

Seems to have been alot more placid today, previous to today he’s be waking and crying straight away and it was getting too much for OH.

Yes and luckily I work 99% from home, I do not know how Mums on their own do it when the dad has to leave for work. So glad my company understands anyway.

See what tonight brings, bit concerned as he’s slept for around 2 hours after I gave him a teatime feed…. Meant to sleep at night and not day! 😂

So we have him on Omeprazole now, or are trying to! It’s hard work to get him to swallow it 30 mins before he needs feeding because….he’s not hungry!

Just wondered too so we give him 120ml bottles at a time, he takes the first bottle fine and almost quite placid with it, however when it comes to the second if still hungry it couldn’t be more of a contrast! Starts drinking, neck tears back, splutters and spits bottle out, cries then sucks the bottle back in and gulps on it like his life depends on it… 3 seconds later repeat, crying is piercing… and keeps going until you pull it away. Also sucks on the teat and rolls it around over and over against his tongue for minutes, assume he’s probably doing it to soothe himself…

Are you on the vari-flow teats? Apologies if you’ve already tried this, but it does sound similar to what we experienced and switching to vari-flow made all the difference, and a cheap solution too! Got to be worth a try.

Almost 12 years ago now and one of my twin boys was really suffering. Long story short, we were prescribed Ranitidine and it did the trick. Our lives changed overnight. Same silent reflux.

I can’t help with the reflux problem, my lad is 23 now and I can barely remember what happened yesterday, sorry, but I’m interested to understand the resistance to introducing a dummy?

For newborns, especially those who are breastfeeding, the dummy can confuse their latch which can cause other issues during feeding. So while the dummy may help relieve the symptoms of reflux a bit it can potentially make the causes of it worse (or have a negative impact on other things like the pain that an imperfect latch can cause mum).

Our Son is nearly 4 months now and has had numerous issues with excess wind causing him discomfort. We actually think it got worse after his tongue tie was ‘fixed’ – could be due to taking in more air when feeding. He’s been BF since birth, though we did triple feed for the first 2-3 weeks (BF/bottle top-up/expressing every 2 hrs round the clock, which was hell) – he’s not had an issue with nipple confusion, but for some it can happen. We’ve tried a dummy but he’s not interested and soothes himself in other ways. We did think CMPA (Cows milk protein intolerance) but still unsure on this and won’t know for sure until he starts weaning, but for us the biggest difference seems to be simply his gut maturing and also giving him Infacol which has really helped getting the wind out (along with baby massage). Note we’ve had a LOT of contradictory advice from healthcare professionals during this.

One thing I would say regarding the bottle feeding is are you using the ‘paced’ bottle feeding guidance? Our HV and midwives strongly advised this as a way to reduce air intake when feeding.

You’re right on the playing with the teat, babies will soothe themselves this way and ours regularly plays with the nipple to get himself to sleep or feed when we’re out somewhere busy.

Good luck and hope it sorts itself out. Sleep deprivation is hard…

oh another tip – if he’s screaming, wear earplugs. You can still hear the noise, but it dulls the frequencies and stops some reflex you have as a parent which induces stress and anxiety. Really helped us out

So while the dummy may help relieve the symptoms of reflux a bit

they do a lot for the symptoms. OP, is your wife breast or bottle feeding? Have you had tests for lactose intolerance or milk protein allergy? Funk Jr was on ranitidine and a couple of others. It helped.

She’s expressing around 5 times a day which adds further complications!

We’re using the Mam bottles I think they’re called, yes doing paces feeding. God he’s on week 6 now and don’t we know it, thank god I work from home now as I don’t think she would be able to do it on her own with all the crying etc….

We have read about Ranitidine but I don’t think they prescribe now. The vari-flow tests are definitely something we’ll look into, he’s on newborn ones at the moment with just a small hole at the end.

The biggest thing is him sounding so hoarse at night, he’s usually okay through the day but at night he’s hard work. I brought him downstairs this morning because she’d been up with him an hour at 4:30 because he was croaking, groaning, creaking and sounding muffled.
It’s the worst thing to hear, want that medicine to start working soon for sure.

Health visitor anyway tomorrow so we’ll see what she makes of it all

Can’t say we had these issues with ours, but there were plenty of other things that were hard work. I feel your pain. And as i’m sure you’ve been told my everyone, it does get better…

Thanks for the words, I do hope so as I literally haven’t even had time to get on to static turbo bike apart from once and used to ride ten miles before work on sunny days. That’s long gone at the moment! I do ten mile road TT’s and posted my fastest time on the last one this year and don’t want my speed/strength to drop for when it starts again next year!

Also we’re both craving biking so bad but it’s not fair on her too as she had an episiotomy meaning she likely can’t sit on a saddle for months yet!

The woman in pregnancy really does go through one hell of a journey!!

Sounds like you’re having a rough ride. These issues do subside, but are swiftly replaced by others. Sorry.

Our eldest had bad colic, we tried infacol and gripewater and both were nearly pointless. To me they acted as a distraction as they tasted different and nothing else. A Gp i rode with always prescribed a stone under the mattress as it had the same placebo effect.

Our daughter had reflux. We found Mam bottles best, but kept with the slowest flow teats, only progressing when she got visibly frustrated with the slow flow. Reasoning being that the faster flow teats just resulted in worse reflux as milk hit her stomach too quick.
At 6wks, she only got one 120ml bottle at a time. You may be over feeding and the excess milk is coming out and causing discomfort by stretching the stomach too much.
MiniBB’s reflux for worse when she went in to her pavlik harness for her hip dysplasia at 7wks. It then persisted after her 14wk treatment (which seems to have been successful).
We used gaviscon in one or two bottles a day, but only when she was really bad with it. We found elevated next to me and sitting with her upright for 30mins after every feed did the trick on most occasions. I think we got some lactalose to give to assist with looser stools but maybe conflating that with something else.
Also, what milk are you using? We transitioned from expressed to aptamil at 6mths which made things worse. Then we tried Kendamil and it was like night and day. She still refluxed a bit, but got on with the Kendamil much better. MrsBB’s mental health improved immeasurably when she didn’t have to wake in the night an express.
MiniBB is 16mth now and is a fantastic eater, she loves a roast dinner with Yorkshire puddings.
Keep your head up, badger the Dr, make time for you, make time for your wife to have time for her and this will all pass and you’ll wonder what the stress was all about.

I skipped over this thread as neither of mine suffered from it and so have nothing I can say to help. However – I couldn’t sleep last night and was just phone scanning and did read, and here I am now….

So like I said, neither of mine had this. However my daughter (first kid) totally failed to feed to start with. My wife was determined to BF, we tried everything including paying for external support and counselling and nothing worked. She got mastitis and ended up out of it on antibiotics and still nothing. It went on for weeks and weeks, before we caved and went to a bottle. We then had a few weeks where she (D) still struggled with bringing up milk straight after feeds because she was so greedy and fast. Why tell you this?

Because we couldn’t see an end in sight. Breast didn’t work, bottle didn’t work, we had a baby that just cried and cried, my wife cried and cried, I couldn’t do anything to help, I had to be back at work by that time but dreaded leaving them alone and dreaded coming back into the house and the crying. It was horrific. I hated my child, for what she was doing and for how she was destroying everything. I’m ashamed now but it’s important to admit, ‘dark’ thoughts were surfacing; I was beginning to imagine smashing her head against a wall, at least then the crying would stop.

You are not uncommon. Put the baby down and walk away for a bit, it won’t come to any great harm. Tag team it, let your wife get out for some respite, she’s gone through the mill and continues to with expressing and stitches and… Wear ear plugs to dull the noise. Get out of the house together even if it screams all round the town centre and people look and tut, **** ’em. Moan to anyone who’ll listen about how your fitness has dropped off a cliff if it makes you feel better. You are no less as parents by doing this, because you don’t meet some idyllic image of what it should be like. Just get through and it will change and you will start to enjoy it. And it will be worth it, in the end.

D is 18 now, at Uni and is a blessing every day. Still keeps me up at night from time to time mainly by coming in from clubs at 3am, and I still want to brain her occasionally but I’m glad I didn’t, on balance.

It’s still hard to write this, to admit I hated my kid for the first few weeks, but I did. And I suspect a few others on here will have had similar, if not as deep emotions, of the ‘what have we done!’ type.

I can fully sympathise with that and on balance it does sound like you had it harder than us, so we had the same from the beginning. He wouldn’t feed either way aside from the colostrum. In the end we’re BF but from bottles and she’s just had to buy an NHS grade pump for £100 as the “designer ones” what are wireless etc were failing in weeks.

Anyway he started feeding and is now 5Kg eating PLENTY! I agree for the first few weeks I was thinking what the hell have we done as I love my sleep, every weekend we’d go to a different MTB location, I’d ride before work taking in beautiful sunrises but we are at 7 weeks now and he’s almost smiling as a reaction, he has one hundred different faces and the shocked one is the funniest, we both love him dearly and don’t regret asking the doc for mental help for her but haven’t needed it too much as it was just a few horrendous nights that made us feel rank.
I keep saying to myself people say it gets easier and also I will get back in my bike and normal will come back, I just wish she could sit on a saddle I really do as she gets such a buzz from riding. Hopefully in a few months she’ll be able to…

Better go, baby’s been asleep 2 hours now and will be up around 1hr time and need to get my 40 winks in!

Good to hear things are getting more positive for you all. Bikes will come back in your life sooner than you realise… and then with luck you’ll have all the joy of teaching him to ride and watching him get better and better to the point you struggle to keep up! Nothing beats it.

At one point we had to take the indoor trike away from my eldest because it was stopping him from learning to walk.