experiences of reflux treatment other than gaviscon

[Designerjooles]

Our little one only slept on me but at night was ok propped up in his bassinette.

I have however got a friend who's little one slept in a baby car seat (not toddler one - like a stage 0) as they were so much more upright and the child was comfy in that position. I know spinal development is an issue, but maybe that is something you can address soon when you've found the right medication if you decided to try that option.

[littlemoo]

Belle,

I would definitly recommend an angel sounds breathing monitor, we had one and it gave us great peace of mind. (we had other issues that made us particularly anxious) We also had a side positioner and found it to be great. I

If he is still making choking noises in the night you might want to really push for the omeprazole. That was what gave it away for us as being reflux and when we mentioned that to the pediatrician at Kings she was very keen that we get the reflux treated effectively and promptly.

Good luck with it. You will get him better and you will be amazed at the difference.

[Spooner]

Belle

I agree that it seems to be a process of elimination to work out what actually works for your little one - we found ranitidine and dopermine reduced my baby's reflux a lot. We tried the dairyfree milk before moving onto the medicines - apparently it can be caused by a dairy intolerance. We also tried to start weaning a bit earlier as I was told some solids in the stomach reduce the chances of the milk coming back up.

I don't know about anyone else's experiences but our baby just gradually grew out of it at about 6 or 7 months and it seems like a dim distant memory now. I remember it being a bit stressful at the time but all the doctors I saw said it would calm down as she gets a bit older and sure enough it did. Hopefully that might give you some solace.

[malwood]

I already had older children who were weaned at 4-5 months and appear to be fine, so I just introduced solids at 4.5 months with my daughter, which more or less solved the problem. Before this I also put the baby in the car seat after feeds for at least 20 mins which seemed to help her keep something down. One of my older incredibly sicky children practically had to live in his car seat for the first few months - of course we were unaware of the dangers back then so didn't worry so much.

[Belle]

did anyone's child get put on nutramigen or similar formula? We saw a paediatric gastro doc, who prescribed omeprazole (yay! though no improvement as yet) and nutramigen AA as a trial, to check for cow's milk protein allergy. however I hear it's absolutely foul, so not looking forward to introducing it...still, wd be good to rule an allergy or intolerance in or out.

[Spooner]

Hi Belle

We were put on nutramigen - i didn't think there was a hope in hell of getting my baby to drink it but she did without issue. it is hopefully only unappealing to adults. not sure if you were breastfeeding but i was given the option of giving up dairy myself for several weeks as an alternative to dairy-free formula - suddenly nutramigen seemed more appealing. we also tried dairy free aptamil to see if that helped as i was told different things sometimes help for different children.

as it was too early to start introducing solids immediately we were given some sort of rice stuff which you mixed in the milk and it weighed it all down a bit - this helped somewhat though nothing dramatic.

[alieh]

I have two tins of nutramigen type formula (alimentum, Canadian version) that I am happy to give away if you wanted to try it.

[Designerjooles]

Hey Belle,

So how is the little one and yourselves going?

Any improvement?

[Belle]

thanks for asking designer jooles - no obvious improvement - we are seeing the specialist again next week. beyond tired right now! Hard to say what effect if any the formula/meds are having, though I'm guessing if they were really helping we'd see a marked change. Still a lot of screaming bouts that go on for a v long time, and v unsettled sleep.

interestingly he took the nutramigen no probs, so that's good. Alieh, he's been prescribed a specific one called 'AA' so think it's poss different to the one you have, thankyou though!