My 18 month old grandson has had reflux (diagnosed) since birth, and has been taking medicine on a regular basis. My daughter is due to have her second child in a couple of months and is afraid that the reflux issue will re-occur.
What I am wondering about is the seemingly high rate of reflux now being diagnosed. 30+ years ago we had the odd "spitty baby" but nothing like what is being seen nowadays.
The one thing that has changed to a major degree has been the advised sleeping positions for baby. We were advised to "Put baby down on the right side in the morning, left side at night and on the tummy during the day"
Now the advise seems to be flat on the back at all times. Understandable in the wake of SIDS research.
But I wonder if the pressure of a tummy full of milk combined with the pressure of swaddling, sleeping position and gravity on a still developing upper stomach valve is causing the partially digested milk and stomach acid to ascend to gullet and cause the reflux problem.
My husband has a reflux condition and he finds that being flat on his back is the worst way to cope with the reguritation of stomach content and acid content.
What I am hearing is a high anecdotal reportage of reflux, I wonder if there are any studies being done on what seems to be an alarming increase?
What remedies are being used apart from losec etc? Slippery Elm, Marshmallow, raising the end of the cot or bassinette by several inches, changing sleeping positions?
Would be interested to hear of any ideas/studies people know about, in order to help my daughter incase she gets another baby with reflux

Hi we tummy slept miss, with a monitor to be on the safe side ahe slept better this way( when she did sleep lol). The other way was in a front pack this was the only way wth 2 other i got anything done. As for remedies, i think you have listed most some more experinced ladies maybe able to tell you more, we found none of above worked for my miss and had to just suck it up and ride the storm.The chances of another reflux are high i think, and its also a family thing to my father and sister have bad reflux and my worst 2 were premmie babys which didnt help. Also food introlances have a huge role in some refluxers. I alo think reflux was around but maybe dismissed as oh just a colicky baby , i also think but this is just me our food has changed a lot processed etc who knows thats just my theory lol.Good luck for your daughter.

Hi Kiwiwitch

Both of my kids have had reflux (my 15 month old still struggles with it). Neither were happy on their backs. I had DS on his side from a few weeks old and DD on her tummy. It didn't sort out the reflux, but it definately helped.

In our case the reflux is aggrivated by food allergies and intolerances - has your Grandson been tested?

Rates of allergies are also on the rise - so probably logical that cases of reflux have increased (although food is not the only factor here).

We have had DD on slippery elm and zinc for about 6months - I'm not sure if it has made a difference and she has been on probiotics mostly since birth. Our case may be a bit different though as it is not just straight reflux...

Hi

I have a 2yr old with reflux and a 4.5mnth old with reflux. My father had it as a baby and still does, my sister had it as a baby and still does. We have tried basically everything listed above and none of it helped accept for the losec.

30 yrs ago reflux was diagnosed as colic.

Grandson seems not to be allergic to anything at the present time. Daughter has had some allergy testing done but all came back fine.
Sorry to read that all your families have been disrupted with this rotten condition.
Grandson and parents had a rwally miserable 6 months before things were dealt with via the doc.
So we are all hoping for a better outcome this time round.

Best of luck this time round!

Severe reflux can be genetic - that's the best guess for my three all being affected, although there doesn't seem to be a family history much beyond my three.

For about 1/3rd food allergies seem to play into it as well - or can simply be a side feature!
Out of my three only one has food allergies and even when we eliminated those foods the reflux continued unabated. So fixing allergies can sometimes cure it, but some times it's just an added 'bonus'.

Being premature can add to the risks - all my three were early birds - but prematurity really adds to the risks of tummy sleeping so not recommended.

I think increased diagnosis is due to a few factors - 1 - what used to be 'colic' and 'unsettled baby' is actually now diagnosed as reflux

2 - I think that while there was nothing they could really do for the baby people didn't try to diagnose it, you still see this problem in other medical conditions today

3 - Prematurity really does add to it and the numbers of early babies are rising by the year - in part because they can be saved and helped more easily, but also because mothers are getting older and so smaller babies and complications are becoming more common.

4 - I'm sure that babies would have been held, moved around, carried more than they are now - being held or kept upright can make the baby a lot more comfortable.

As for alternative treatments, there's a fair bit over on Crying Over Spilt Milk. A lot of people see improvement with slippery elm, probiotics, osteopathy etc. Personally our journey didn't take us that root as my kids were very severely affected and dealing with Failure To Thrive and potentially life threatening complications such as apnoea. So we were thrown full throttle into the medical model and that fitted our risks better. In the end all my boys had to have surgery to correct the reflux - aged 4, 6 and 11.

Simple things to help - I think raising the cot head is almost immediately suggested to parents these days. Raising the head of the change table can also help.

Other things I've found helped were - small feeds often - less to bring up and more frequent feeding makes the reflux less acidic for a while.

Change the baby's nappy before a feed not after - bending legs up when tummy is full is not a good idea.

Hold or keep the baby upright for about 30 mins after a feed to help clear the tummy of much of the feed.

Changing sleep position needs to be discussed with a doctor to balance risks and benefits - possibly the use of a breathing monitor to manage those risks would be worth considering.

A front pack which doesn't put pressure on the baby's tummy can help, I found a bouncinette invaluable as it kept them on a good angle - they even slept in it when things were bad at times.

No tight trousers or waistbands on clothes - check the strength of the elastic first.

When things were bad my husband and I took shifts propped up on the couch holding the baby so the other could get some sleep - and escape from the screaming.

A screaming baby never sounds quite so bad outside as they do inside! Especially now the weather's improving rug the baby up and just push them around the garden if that's all you can manage, put them under a tree to watch the light in the leaves, whatever it takes to try and escape the crying - you usually can't hear them in the shower! So long as the baby's safe - you do need a break.

I'm sure I'll think of other simple, practical things to make surviving a refluxer possible - I've made it through 3 severe ones so it IS doable!

But fingers crossed your daughter doesn't go down that road again.

Eleanor has given great advice. Simple things like not putting baby in tight waisted pants is really overlooked (in fact a lot of baby clothing is totally inappropriate for good sleeping etc). Babies used to always be in gowns and, as you say, sleeping positions varied constantly. Also, people lived closer to family so an unsettled baby could be handed around a bit rather than mum and dad being left alone going mental.

A good comfortable baby carrier (eg Ergo) can really help especially when you have another child to care for. Really saves your back.

Lazy boy - we've borrowed one, it has been fab. It is really ugly but I love it, it is my sanity chair

tummy sleeping really helped DD2, but she only liked sleeping upright on me during the day until about 4 months of age, then she was ok in a hammock for day sleeps.I've only just today moved her out of the hammock for day sleeps - she is now on her tummy for day sleeps too (was almost always in her tummy at night) as just would not settle on her back (even hates being on her back during mat time). Both my girls ahve had it, sounds like my mum was a screaming baby and she has reflux as an adult. Strangely me nor my other sibblings were unsettled babies. There is infant reflux on DHs side of the family too but not immediate, showing up in a couple of his cousins kids. It does seem to be more prevalent,I suspect some mild cases are unnecessarily being medicated. We use losec but it aint a magic bullet, you still kind of have to ride out the storm. My eldest hasn't been on losec since 14 months, but I suspect she still has issues with it at times.

I hope she doesn't ahve to deal with it again. It is easier second time around but not really in a way too as you have another child needing your attention too and they all present with it differently.