At what age was your baby diagnosed with reflux?

Hi,

Ashleigh wasn't even out of hospital, when she was diagnosed with Reflux. We left the hospital with Zantac, and even though we had some time of the zantac, Ashleigh at nearly 12 months is still having problems with the reflux.

She is a nightmare at night. I can count on one hand how many times she has slept right through the night. Sometimes I am up three and four times a night with her. I will be getting back to my paedaetrican in the coming week to see what else I can do for her.

Michele
Mother of Christopher, Luke, Melissa, Jayden and Ashleigh

[nelly]

Jake started with all of the symptons from about 2 weeks - punching and kicking on the boob, not wanting to lie down flat, the only way he'd go to sleep was on our shoulder walking. Was diagnosed with silent reflux by health nurse at 4 weeks and started Losec at about 5-6wks after trying positioning etc first with no result. He is still on Losec and has his gulping choking episodes at least once a day but he doesn't cry for 10-12 hours straight anymore - only 3-4! We find he sleeps for at least 6hrs at night but only bcos he is so exhausted from the day of crying and not napping.

[PlonkeeMumma]

Will was diagnosed at hospital but not with it bad - just a slightly loose esophageal sphincter. After reading everyone's earlier entries i think he must have had it very mildly. Right from the start he was managing to spew through his nose while i was still feeding him so at day 3 he had a barium swallow which didn't show anything so they said we could go home. on the way home in the car he threw up loads of blood so we turned the car round and were re-admitted. He had an endoscopy the next day which showed he'd slightly injured the top bit of the lining of the stomach with throwing up but that it had mostly healed already and had the slack sphincter. For the first 3 months he was so uncomfy after feeding but he didn't scream for long periods. I got very good at dozing with him sleeping upwards on me! We tried zantac but that did nothing so Losec was next and that improved things abit. We met someone who had been through the same thing and all the drugs who recommended plain old fashioned gripe water as well as the losec. The first night we gave him it he slept for 8 hours straight!!!!! The 8 hours wasn't repeated that often but it certainly marked a turning point. We finished the losec at about 5 months and although he still chucks for England he is not uncomfy and will vom mid smile and keep on smiling!Thank god for tiles - our rug is thankfully reversible so once he finishes with it we can turn it over. Not sure about the carpet in the bedrooms!!!

Hi
My baby Eliza was diagnosed with reflux at around 2 months she was very distressed while feeling, and just would not lie on her back and doing that horrible arching all the time, she even managed to roll on to her tummy at 8 weeks old!! she now just sleeps like that all the time. She was put on zantac, then we then gave losec ago but I just wasn't happy with the idea of my tiny baby on such strong medication. After some research and positive information from others, we decided to give an osteopath a try. It is very gentle and she is starting to enjoy it. We have had 5 sessions and the reflux has definitely improved, she hasn't been on any medication for over a month now. She still is a terrible sleeper at night but I am assured that this will settle in time. She is now 5 moths old and although she still can get very distressed we are having more good days than bad. lekala75

[alioops]

Em was about 9 or 10 weeks i think. She is also lactose intolerant and ended up in hospy 4 10 days at 5 weeks with faliure to thrive. the combination of the 2 were responsible and she couldn't BF effectively.

[Je$$_84]

My son was only diagnosed after i stoped Breast feeding... After persivering (spl) with BF or 3 months and in the end not having a great milk supply i was advised to start supplimenting night feads with a bottle feed. As soon as i started bottle feeding the vomiting started (projectile) he would curl up in a ball and scream... i tryed formula after formula and no change...i finally got him booked in for the Barrium meal test at 5-6 months which showed he suffered reflux. They put him on meds before ever meal and it helped the pains heaps... he still threw up but at least he wasnt in agony constantly... I'm hoping that i can BF the next bubs longer as i was told it can occur in sibblings aswell

[Rach80]

my baby girl was diagnosed a few days after birth and still today at 19months has it pretty bad. She has been on zantac and losec but they didn't do much.She was breast feed until 5 months then my milk dried up,then bottle feed.

[~Sally~]

Brendan was diagnosed shortly after birth and it cleared up at around 12 months of age.

[StephV]

What age?...to old if you ask me I think it was about 10 weeks
I knew there was something wrong with her and had been telling my mchn for weeks and she kept pretty much ignoring me. Being a first time Mum I didn't know any better and it wasn't until the mchn heard her screaming while I was feeding her in Mothers Group that she said that it sounded like reflux and to get it checked out.....tell you what I still get annoyed thinking about it.

We've played around with my diet, Zantac, Losec and AR formulae. The Losec combined with the formulae seems to be doing the trick

[Jen_Aidan]

my little man also was diagnosed too old if you ask me . . . 7months - poor little guy had been suffering too long

Am also a first time mum and my GP & CYH nurse kept brushing me off when i queried it with them so didn't know any better but to trust their 'professional' opinion.

Best thing i ever did was see a paed that specialises in Reflux and now my little man is a much happier boy . . wish i had of done it earlier & trusted my instincts !

[Angela Skinner]

My baby was diagnosed with silent reflux at 5-6 weeks when she suddenly changed from this great sleeping, feeding baby to day's and nights of spin shivering screams, no sleeping and no sleep for everyone. My first baby never had this and I had'nt heard of silent reflux and no idea what it was, I only knew of reflux which is where they vomit alot, but my baby wasnt vomiting so I had no idea. Once I was explained the difference and how painful it can be, I felt like the worse mother as I had this poor baby in pain and I thought it was because she was being a stinker and wanted to be held all the time. Anyway after a couple of months of getting the correct amount of medication (Losec)that suited her she turned into this happy, bubbly ,better sleeper and feeder of a baby, she is 9 mths now and is still on the medication but we have been slowly been able to reduce the amount of medication. To any family that has to go through this I simpathise completly it is a rough road but at the end of the day its only temopary and they could of been diagnosed with something worse.

[alexandraLouis]

My baby Caroline was diagnosed with Reflux at three weeks. She basically had what looked like a fit and we took her to the hospital. The froth at her mouth turned out to be stomach acid that had come up. She had thrown her head back, back arched and arms rigid. It was just after a feed. She was hard to feed, typically taking only half and either throwing up or it being in her throat - silent reflux.

We started off on Gaviscon, then ranitidine (which helped a bit but not 100% better) and now losec. It's only been too days on Losec and I'm finding it really hard. She seems to have gone backwards with the Losec. I know it takes a while to kick in, but it's so hard watching her suffer. I'm praying that it'll start to work sooner than the five days the doctor said. I'm keeping her upright during and half an hour to 45 mins after feeds and she's sleeping on an angle.

I feel quite exhausted as Caroline in a twin and her sister Olivia is suffering from evening colic. I'm a new mum and six weeks in.

How long will I have to wait before she starts to feel better? Any advice and tips would be great!

Alex

[Angela Skinner]

Hello

We noticed a change around 3-4 weeks but she wasnt correctly diagnosed until around 5-6 weeks. Hang in there it does take a while to get the doseage correct, my baby girl had it really bad so her medication went up and up but over a month until she was on a adult dose of losec. Just remember that as they put weight on the doseage may need to be increased. Best thing to get is a baby pouch ( Baby Born) to get you through she slept in this most of the day as I couldnt put her down as the same she would do the same as your baby. Dont worry about the baby getting used to it once you get the doseage correct and baby more settled then you can start to get into a better routine with sleep. I found the Gaviscon hopeless, she went onto the Karicare HA\A1 which has a thickner in it thats if your baby is been bottle feed. You should also try a baby chiropracter since seeing one her medication has reduced to more than half over a few months. Hope this helps I know its hard and it puts alot of stress on you and your partner , and some people just dont understand what your going through just do whats right for your baby . Good Luck

[alexandraLouis]

Thanks for that! We'll keep going and take your advice on the baby carrier!

[MLM]

My Lil Man was diagnosed at 6 weeks. He was arching his back and screaming during feeds, all the usual stuff. I had put him on HA/AR formula and he improved a little, it certainly stopped his spewing, but he was still uncomfy so we put him on on Losec. Well that combined with the AR formula was a disaster for us, the losec slowed his digestion down and combined with the thickened formula, just made the feed sit in his belly like a brick.
I switched him to goats milk formula and that seemed to make things a bit better (but now his spew is soo cheesy smelling)
The big clincher for us was the osteopath. After the first treatment, the difference was amazing, and it was instant. She also put him on a pro biotic to help with his digestion.
I have forgotten to give him his losec on several occassions now and it makes no difference, he is fine.
Having said all of that, he wasnt as bad as some of you have described your kids.
But apart from 60 bucks, I had nothing to loose with the osteo, and even better, they say you only need around 6 treatments, so its not like you are shelling out for ages.
Good Luck

[puppies]

My son was diagnosed by accident. We had problems feeding him from the start. Being in incredible pain during and after each feed. It was nothing short than a nightmare. People kept saying, babies cry, everyone goes through this, its normal. But in my heart I knew it was not. Anyway we were at the Peadi to check JD's enlarged kidneys and it was feed time. JD did the usual thrashing around and screaming. After a few minutes the Dr said, nope this is not normal he has reflux. We put him on Zantac and AR formula. And although he still had the reflux at least the Zantac reduced the acid in his tummy so it didn't burn him on the way up. With permission from the Peadi we started him on solids at 3.5 months and he has been thriving ever since. Now he is off the Zantac, but the transition to Step 2 formula is proving to be difficult as he is used to the very thick AR formula. Will see how we go.

[skitchy1]

Hi, my now 2yo son was first diagnosed with silent reflux when he was a newborn. We tried 5 different formulas before getting the right one for him. He was also put on Losec, but I was in 2 minds as to whether that helped or if he just grew out of it, as by 4 months it was gone..... or so we thought.
Almost 2 years later and he has now just been diagnosed with severe reflux, which it turns out was never gone in the first place! He's had a persistent cough since birth, and it took 2 years for anyone to believe me that this wasn't normal! So now he's back on the Losec, which is helping his reflux, but giving him terrible wind and constipation. I really don't know which is worse!!