Breastfeeding my 11 week old with silent reflux is driving me crazy. He will latch on and suck initially but once I have winded him he will refuse to re-latch but is obviously still hungry. Usually I give up as he is screaming and clawing at my chest.Occasionally I can get more milk into him by swaddling him, taking him to a quiet, dark room and rocking him and will always try this before putting him down for a sleep which often works. I feel like I spend his entire awake time just trying to get a decent feed into him - then he'll only sleep for 45 mins and the cycle starts again! My husband is off work at the moment so can distract my toddler while I (try to) feed but I am dreading how I'm going to cope when he goes back to work.

Has anyone got any advice on how I can get babyG to feed better? He is currently on ranitidine 1ml 8 hourly and omeprazole granules 10mg once daily.

Big hugs!

I remember those days so well!

I used to have to swaddle and feed in a quiet room to get my dd3 to have a decent feed - or even to feed at all.
She would only feed straight after waking and right before sleep. (I can't remember when it swapped from one to the other)

You are right in the middle of the worst time for reflux. It peaks at 4 months and gets better after 6 months.

Just concentrate on surviving one day at a time and do what you have to do to get through.

Have you thought about things you might be eating affecting him?
I always had to be very careful about what I ate. Dairy and eggs set her reflux off and anything spicey or oniony.
I am still feeding her and am dairy, egg and gluten free.
Maybe keep a food diary and see if anything stands out.

Dairy is certainly a big trigger for reflux babies.

How long has baby been on medication? It takes about 3 weeks to work properly and then you will have better luck. If baby has been on it a while I would find out if the dosage needs tampering with or if there is anything else triggering it like Suomi says above.
Also I know it probably goes against all your parenting ideals but we often do things to survive reflux that are not ideal and that is to put your toddler in front of a short DVD or You tube video while you breast feed your baby in a quiet room.
Other things that helped me were, a good ring sling. Wear your baby in an upright position and when feeding you can lay them down while still moving around and having a hand spare for your toddler. Also then you can prop them upright and wind them and keep their feed down all while having a hand spare and able to move and deal with your toddler. It was a godsend. Get one that is fully adjustable and has a good instructional DVD or go to You tube and type in "Zolowear" for great instructions . Their slings are fantastic but pricey.
Also I would feed in the bath at night, just the two of you mind which doesn't help with the toddler but after your husband comes home from work it might help get a really decent feed into baby.
A baby swing works wonders for when you need to get dinner ready and baby won't sleep. I would put it on fast in dim room and he would nod off to sleep. Sometimes it was the only decent sleep of the day. If you stopped it, even if he was a sleep, he would wake up. I borrowed one off the toy library repeatadly but also Plunket rents them and they are about $170 to buy new on special.

Another thought was, are you changing breasts at the second offering? If you start with the breast you used first then the let down is less and the milk is hind milk and has less sugars in it and more fat and protein. Food milk is what I think of it. It could be easier for your baby to take.
Hope this helps.
Keep us posted.

Thanks for your speedy responses and suggestions.

He has been on the ranitidine for about a month but only this dose of omeprazole for a week so really hoping that there is still some improvement to come.

I haven't started to eliminate anything from my diet yet, keeping a food diary is a really good idea.

We have a front pack that I used quite a bit until recently but he is now 7kg so pretty heavy to be carrying around all day.

I have hired a baby swing from BabyontheMove and thought it was going to be our saviour for awake time but he doesn't seem to like it, grrr! Almost put him in it at 4.30 this morning to try and get him to sleep when he was refusing to feed but wouldn't go back to sleep 'cos he was hungry. Is that really bad?

I can't get an apt with the Paediatrician til Feb which is frustrating. My GP doesn't think there is much else Paed will be able to offer but I just want peace of mind of the diagnosis and that I'm doing all I can. The more I read of this forum I am convinced he has silent reflux though.

Seriously try a ring sling. I can still carry my 2 year old ans he is 16 kg in hip position Do what ever you need to to get through.

Our first recommendation even before medication in most instances is to try a dairy free diet for two weeks before deciding it isn't helping. About 40% of babies with reflux have a cow's milk allergy.

What would happen if you didn't offer the second part of the feed? Would that change anything at all? Are there other symptoms of reflux remaining?

Has the Omeprazole helped anymore yet?

I haven't tried a dairy free diet yet as I didn't want to do too many things at once as I wouldn't be able to isolate what helps.

He has now been on 10mg omeprazole daily as well as ranitidine and is a lot happier and feeding better too but still really struggling with the sleeping - particularly during the night when he usually has one stretch of about 5 hours and then wakes every 1-2 hours thereafter. I am trying to resettle him rather than feed if it has been less than 3 hours since the last feed.

I am planning on contacting Plunket Family Centre tomorrow as finding the nights are really taking their toll.

That sleep pattern seems quite normal for a refluxer and unfortunately a lot better than most.I have a 2 year old who if I am lucky, very lucky will do what you are describing but usually down at 7 awake screaming at 11 and up every1/2 hr -1 there after. It is better than it was. Used to be every 15-30 mins after a 3 hour stretch. Hence I end up sleeping with him.
Always keep trying but also think of other ways that you can either get some rest. Get a freind to watch the kids for 1 hr in the afternoon. Go to bed earlier. It is hard I know. I just ended up learning to live with less sleep and falling asleep quicker! When I get more sleep I end up tired as my body is confused!

Thanks AmyNona, I know it could be a lot worse! My body is definitely adjusting to less sleep but trying to have a catchup daytime nap when I can.

Seeing Paed on Wed for first time so will be good to get his input and make sure the meds/doses are optimised.

Hi
How is it going? How did the appointment with the paediatrician go?

Hi Roz

I found the appointment quite reassuring but all in all our situation hasn't really changed much. He kept the omeprazole dose at 10mg (caps) stopped the ranitidine and prescribed domperidone. We found the domperidone actually made him more unsettled although slept better so have stoppped that for now. Dr warned it can make some babies worse and I felt that I would rather have poor sleeping than a baby who screached constantly when they were awake, although I may trial it again so see whether it really was the domperidone having that effect or just conincidence.

Paed said baby has a narrow palate which is why he won't suck a dummy.

Our day times are going ok with quite a lot of happy baby and sleep but night times are still a challenge. He wakes consistently and 4am ish and just won't go back to sleep. I'm pretty sure this is related to his bowels as is farting away and is much happier once he manages to do a poo. I have just started him on some probiotics in the hope that this will help his digestive system.

I am also trying to wean him on to formula as my health is not that good at the moment and I feel that breastfeeding him is putting too much stress on my body. Not going too well though as he refuses the bottle. Might have to opt for the withholding breastfeeding option....any advice on this?

Also starting him on solids (just turned 4 months) in the hope that might help things (had kumara so far). So lots of changes at once which I have tried to avoid til now but oh well!

The probiotics are a good idea. There are also some other natural remedies you could try - but one at a time.

I'm no expert on weaning to a bottle. Give Nutricia a call - 0800 688 742.

Hi just wanted to recommend probiotics. Our 7 month old was exactly like your son in that she was much more settled after having a bowel motion, even though she was going every 2-3 days which isn't considered abnormal. After about a week of being on the probiotics she started going pretty much every day and was way happier.

Only other thing I have to add is be careful with the solids. We were going great for around 3 months after I cut out all dairy and coffee and since she started solids at 5.5 months I feel like we are back to square one - very hard to settle to sleep and spills again. We are off to see a paed specialising in allergies soon.

Hope the paediatrician has been able to help strangr. Sometimes it is just a matter of too much volume.

this sounds exactly like my youngest, so much so that i could have written this myself

How are you getting on?

We have had lots of changes since I checked in last.
Ended up paying for a Karitane nurse to come and help get G on the bottle and give me some advice on the terrible sleeping. She was brilliant and things are SO much better now. Essentially, she recommended stopping feeding him at night as he was over feeding. So after a bit of tough love he is now sleeping from 6 til 5am, with dreamfeed (most nights), yay!

He is 6 months old now. Eating 3 large solid meals a day and still having 10mg omeprazole. He is still a pretty grizzly baby and I assume that is the reflux. I haven't identified any foods that are making him worse.I managed to teach him to self settle and he now sleeps pretty well during the day.

All in all, it was the best money we have ever spent getting that Karitane nurse to give an outside perspective. My advice to any others with similar babies is: don't just think it could be worse, take each day as it comes and hope the months go by quickly. Don't let reflux "cloud" things. You CAN teach them to self settle and regain some sort of control. Like any baby they can form bad sleeping habits and these can be improved.

Personally, getting him on the bottle has been a huge relief as my health hasn't been good and I just couldn't sustain the breastfeeding any longer. We have him on the Heinz Nuture Gold Plus formula which has pre and pro biotics in it. His bowels are really good now so assume these are helping keep him regular.