REFLUX - Formula or Breastmilk?

[Chicco25]

Does one work better than the other?

The reason I ask is that my nearly 6 week old dd was diagnosed with reflux at her 6 week check up and was prescribed 10mg Losec with mylanta when needed. She really isin't a chucky baby and suffers from silent reflux. I'm concerned that with me breastfeeding is really not helping the problem as breastmilk is alot thinner and easily regurgitated than a reflux formula, that it might actually be exacerbating the problem. My paediatrician (sp?) also advised that foremilk is full of sugar and will sit in the stomach and ferment, so has told me to express off my foremilk before a feed. Now I don't have a problem doing this during the day but at all hrs of the early morn this is the furtherest thing from my mind as I' am so bloody sleep deprived.

So, do you think that a reflux formula would help the problem or does it really not matter?

Any advice ladies would be very much appreciated, as the unsettled sleeps and the 1 and half - 2hrly feeds are really getting to me.

Thanks in advance
Anita

[Faithie]

My 2ed son had silent reflux.. turned out he is allergic to milk and i was drinking alot of milk... so i had to change my diet as i really wanted to continue breast feeding.

We put a wedge in his cot and basically always made sure that he was not flat on his back. If I remember correctly you can express BM and put a thickner in it but i'm not 100% sure.

If you do want to try formula you could use a mix of breast and bottle to allow you to continue breast feeding.

Another thing that can cause reflux is over feeding which can be eaisly done when demand breast feeing. I had to feed atleast 3 hours apart preferably 4 hourly and it is really important to burp bubba properly and than offer the breast again to give dd a chance to finish properly.

I really hope it gets better reflux is nasty and does make parenting hard but they do outgrow it.:hugs:

[Nowhere]

If bub isnt intolerant or alergic to anything in the breast milk then breast milk can be a beter option as it can be easier to digest than formular, so i would never sugest to give up breast feeding if its working KWIM is bub gaining enough weight or is the pukeing stopping that

I know some mums with reflux babies the breast feed and actauly use thinkener aswell they use guacol mix it up with water and syringe in a few mls before in the middle and after a breast feed as it with thicken the milk once it mixes in the tummy



With my refluxer we give her neocate formular wich is predigested and is dairy and soy protein free as she is intoerant to everything and has other GI issues that contribute too her reflux she is also a tube feeder, so situation is a bit differnt

[Chicco25]

Thanks for the reply ladies.

Bubs mattress is already raised and I follow everything that is recommened for reflux bubs - ie; propped up for 30 min after feed, burped properly etc. Over feeding I don't think is an issue at the moment as she's not completely emptying the breast at her feeds. I've had to express today as my right breast was hard and tender because she did not feed properly during the night.

Weight gain is ok, I think. She weighed 2.745kilos at birth, had a loss at day 3 but at time of discharge - day 7 she had re gained her weight. At her Appt on friday she weighed 3.5 kilos at 5 and half weeks. Paed didn't seemed concerned - so I assume all is ok.

I know bm is the best thing to give her but the idea of having to express, add a thickner and bottlefeed kind of defeats the purpose of breastfeeding for me. I think it's either one or the other iykwim.

Anita

[Nowhere]

with the thickener you dont actualy have to express and bottle feed you can actualy mix u a batch of the water and thickener and each feed thay give about 10 mls of thickener and water and then breast feed as usual

[ikis84]

I breastfed my reflux bub - I would make a gel up with karicare thickener (with water or ebm) and feed her that (about 30mls) before, during or after a feed (it took a bit of trial and error to see what helped the most). I didn't bother doing this every feed though, just the ones that upset her the most. That worked really well. If bub doesn't have a milk allergy then breastfeeding is actually better for alot of reflux babies, as it is more easily digested. It does depend on your situation though. Bub is all better now, and it's so easy just whipping a boob out :D

In regards to the foremilk thing - I was finding that because of the discomfort associated with the reflux, she would want to comfort feed regularly. This was a problem when I was swapping breasts at each feed, as she was getting alot of foremilk. In the end, I used the one breast for a few feeds, only alternating them every 3 hours. So, if the feeds were close together (under 3 hours) I would offer the one breast for her to comfort feed off.
Does that make sense? Gosh, I don't think it did, lol!

[Chicco25]

Thanks for that ikis84, will definately go out and get some Karicrae thickner tomorrow and give it a go. Bubs as far as I know has no milk allergy. But if she did how would you know? Not that I drink milk anyway - paed told me to avoid it.

Question - did you find with the added thickner that bubs slept better at nightime? My bubs seems to be up every 1 and half - 2 hrs and I'm finding this to be quite exhausting. I try and stretch her out an extra hr with a dummy but find myself in there every 10-20 mins popping it back into her mouth when it falls out when she falls asleep.

As for the foremilk think - it was totally understandable :thumbsup: .

Mikenzeesmum - sorry read wrong :o . By memory are you up my neck of the woods or even in the same suburb? If you are did you want to catch up?

Thanks
Anita

[ikis84]

She did start sleeping better once the reflux was under control - that was a combination of thickener, zantac and keeping her upright, not overfeeding etc.

Growth spurts, teething etc all sparked it up though, so all I can suggest is hang in there! It does get easier! :hugs:

[Ashismum]

My DD also suffering from silent reflux, but Pead seems to think it is secondary to the milk protein intolerance. It is hard to know if you are doing the right thing, it is only trial and error, but that takes time and it has taken me two mths to get anyone (GP's and Paediatricians) to listen to me!! Finally I saw one yesterday that said yes her eczema, her reflux, her gas/wind, constipation seem to be all part of the intolerance.

** Mikenzesmum - you mentioned your baby on Neocate. How is that going? The pepti jnr is what dr prescribed for my DD, but I don't know if it is going to work. Did your baby settle immediately on the Neocate, and what signs were there that the Pepti did not work?

any advice would be welcome!!! (Only joined up here yesterday and already found so much more advice than the doctors advise)

[Nowhere]

the signs for s the peptiwasnt working was she was stil projectile vomiting and had more blood in vomits, when we started her on neocate it tool a while to settle done cause the damage was done, she is also in losec zantac gasrogel and domperadone to help with it all, she is a pretty complex kid kwim

good luck