Reflux formula

[refluxmumsotired]

Hi all, i have joined specifically to get some help with dealing with my refluxy 6 month old daughter. She has been a refluxy baby since about 3 months. She is now almost unbearable especially at night. She cant sleep for longer then about 20mins at a time. i am getting up to her constantly and am exhausted. She has been on gaviscon now for months (with little if any real improvement) and i have tried Losec but she just simply WILL NOT keep it down and since i cannot mix it with anything (according to the dr??) i cannot get her to take it. Does anyone know if i CAN mix it into her formula, it is a suspension (liquid). She is on Novalac SD because its the only formula that does not give her green runny nappies. However i have not tried the Novalac AR yet. SD (sweet dreams) is designed for hungry babies because it is thicker and takes longer for the baby to digest. I also mix Gaviscon with this and it makes it thicker again to almost like pumpkin soup consistancy which in comparison to a normal formula is quite thick. She takes it no worries but it doesnt seem to help the sleeping. Has helped alot with the vomits but the sleeplessness is now what is causing me to teeter on the edge of absolute despair. In the last 3 days i have had only about 4 hours sleep and of course if i am up then so is poor little Kira and it is becoming a vicious circle of overtiredness + reflux + not eating/drinking much. I can now only get her to take about 100ml at each feed, 1/2 of what she should be taking according to her age group giudlines. I know it is a much thicker formula so i wonder if i should go back to a normal thin formula and deal with the green runny nappies in hopes she will take a full bottle? Also has anyone tried the Novalac AR? it says that it thickens once it hits the stomach not apon mixing like the food thckner or SD and Gaviscon so im wondering if she will take more if it is not thicker when she initially drinks it but then it thickens in her stomach so still helping the vomiting?

The whole family is really at our wits end wth nighttimes. I am starting to wish we never had to sleep. Life would be so much more easy if we never got tired and didnt need to sleep!!

Any help at all would be so greatly appreciated along with any tips/tricks to get reflux babies to sleep better at night (she is not too bad of a day but i have a 3yo as well so i cant play sleep catch up durin the day either) Her cot is raised at one end, i have tried chiro but did absolutely nothing except cost me 300 bucks! Have tried co-sleeping, swing, sling, sleeping her on her stomack both on my chest and in her cot (neither worked) not putting her down right after a feed, pram, car rides at 3am just to get some peace (doesnt work either and now we are so tired it has become too dangerous to be driving anyway) i wish i had a rocking chair that would be a great back saver as i have to rock her to sleep each time she wakes up but am looking for one!!! Amongst a million other things that we have tried nothing, NOTHING seems to give her much comfort of a night and i cant do it for much longer without sleep. I am a grumpy, snappy zombie these days and asolutely EVERTHING in the house is suffering including the housework!! PLEASE will somebody just tell me that she will grow out of it and SOON!!

Oh and just to top things off she is teething!!!! YAY for life!

[lucyn]

Hi,

I have no helpful suggestions for you but reading your post, I just wanted to send you . You are not alone, there are plenty of families going through the same experiences and it takes the patience of a saint to cope! Have you got anyone close by that could mind your 3yr old so you can catch up on some sleep? Have you started solids? My first bub was sent to Tresillian(?) at 5mths for feed refusals and poor sleep. She would only have 30mls if I was lucky in a feed. At the end of the week stay, the pead told me to put her on 3 solid meals a day and try to get at least 500/600mls of fluid into her - comprising of formula and water (count purees as water is in those!). There was no gentle introduction of solids but my bub improved out of sight from what she was like. I am not suggesting this should be your course of action. This was just our experience.
I am off to the Paed on Wednesday for our second bub who I suspect is a silent refluxer (5wks old) so I will ask in that consultation about mixing Losec into formula if you like Our night sleeping situation is not as bad as yours but I fear we are fast approaching it which is why I went to my GP and got the paed referral. Fingers crossed for some solutions.

Take care of yourself and hope you get some more helpful advice from other hubbers.

L

p.s have you checked out the reflux infants supports association website? It's http://www.reflux.org.au/risasite/

[refluxmumsotired]

Thanks so much lucyn. Thanks for the words of encouragement and the hug! Thank you for offering to ask your GP re. losec, i did ask both the gp and the pharmacist but both just said it would be safest not to, when i asked why neither could answer with anything specific just "i wouldnt recomend it" so to me they might as well have said "we really dont know" lol.
I am trying to get her onto solids, she basically clamps her mouth closed and turns away each time i try bringingg anything to her mouth. I hav even tried using a finger instead of a spoon and just putting it in a bowl and letting her just play with it thinking it would eventually get to her mouth for tasting on her own hands....nope. Whe i really try to get anything into her she just gags, coughs and follows with a vomit if there is anything in her stomach to bring up. Its such a nightmare. I have honestly had enough. Im packing me and the two kids up and going to my mothers for a week. she is going to take over Kira for me so i can have a break and give some much needed time to my 3.5yo son. I know its awful but sometimes i just wish i had a mute button for Kira lol the night crying is starting to feel like nails down a black board!!

Anyway, thanks again lucyn for your kind words.

Fingers crossed i can make it to my mothers!!

[lucyn]

Wow that is tough, Kira def sounds like she's very determined and has a strong will Great qualities for later on in life. Life would be so much easier if our kids came with how to guides wouldn't it. Good to hear you're getting so much needed help. If your daughter is like mine, she'll be as good as gold for someone else. My husband hears what a crappy day we've had then comes home and Milla (5 wks) has a complete feed for him and no tears/arching/screaming. So annoying!
If I find out any further info on why not to mix Losec with formula I'll let you know.

Good luck with the trip and say yes to every offer of assistance

p.s I'll happily admit I do press mute on our baby monitor for a few minutes of peace before heading into battle - again

[SalsaMama]

You poor thing... you definitely sound like you're doing it tough!

When our DS changed from the tablet to the suspension form of Losec he wouldn't keep it down either. He also started refusing all feeds, and started with feeding aversion type behaviours. What little sleep he was getting also went out the window and the longest he would remain without crying was about 10 mins. I think he was knackered because he wasn't feeding, and wouldn't sleep because he was hungry... viscious circle!

We've since changed back to the tablet form and things have improved significantly, though things are still challenging. It may be a long shot, but tablet over the suspension made a big difference for us.

And don't worry about moving in with your mum - I did the same thing a month ago when I was struggling to cope, and some days I wish I could move back in again. There's nothing like mum to fix everything!

Hang in there. You sound like you're doing a fantastic job and that you're really giving all of your self for poor little Kira.

[faith72]

hi there - sorry to hear you're having such a rough time. It sounds familiar and brings back horrible memories! Sounds like your daughter needs her medication reviewed and could do with an increase. We found with DS that he would refuse feeds when his reflux was not controlled. I can also say that we found the compound losec rubbish and his reflux went downhill quickly when we changed to compound from tablet form. So we quickly changed back to tablet and things improved significantly. So in the first instance I would recommend trying tablets at the same dose, and if that doesn't work maybe ask your doctor if you can increase it. Using the tablets is easy, just put it in a syringe and pull up some water and let it dissolve for 5 mins or so, then squirt into her mouth. You can pull up more water for any left over granules. Losec should be given before a feed but if you are having trouble with her taking it, perhaps you could give it on a spoon mixed with apple sauce or something? I have heard of this being done and think it's fine to give it with something a bit acidy like apple.

Good luck

[leebies]

I'm so sorry to hear you are having such a hard time. Firstly, I promise it does get better. Although when it will get better depends on your daughter. My son is now 10 months old and things are getting much better. We have been through interrupted sleep, breast/bottlefeed refusal, solid refusal, meds refusal etc etc....

Here are a few great resources for you - 1. Reflux Infant Support Association (they have a forum, lots of info on their website and a monthly newsletter) 2. Crying Over Spilt Milk NZ - Great info especially about medicatrion

It really seems like you need to review your daughter's meds. Although our GP was good, we pushed for a paediatrician's referral and that made all the difference in sorting out my son's reflux (and sleep thank god). We have tried many different forms of omeprazole (losec) and for us the capsules with granules inside them are the best. You just open the capsule and there are all these little granules inside. You divide it up in to the correct dose and give with a bit of something acidic eg pear puree. For us not only the form of the omeprazole but the dose has been important. We had to keep increasing the dose until he was on 10mg twice daily.

In answer to your question about formula, we use the Novalac AR. My son is breastfed mostly and we had to thicken his breastfeeds with karicare thickener squirted down his throat pre-breastfeed (a total pain but worth it). However, he did have a small bottle of Novalac AR before bed to help keep down his feed for his night sleep. If he gets formula now, that's what he has.

Now about sleep. I feel your pain. My son woke every half hour or so at times when his reflux was bad. Especially when he was teething, hot, sick and so on. Bleugh! So my tips are: Make sure she doesn't sleep until at least half an hour after feeds, try a dummy if she'll take one (maybe too late if she isn't already but sucking is very soothing for reflux babies). I did a lot of reading of journal articles and my partner and I decided that we would sleep my son on his tummy and bought an angelcare monitor for peace of mind. A few of my friends with reflux bubs slept their babies on their sides. Both tummy and left side sleeping have been shown to significantly reduce reflux. It's a hard call though due to SIDS recommendations, although at 6 months maybe your daughter is rolling on her side or tummy anyway?. Maybe talk to your GP or someone you trust about this. Also we had a lot of help and support from the karitane careline - 1300 227 464 They gave us some good strategies to help with his sleep. And told us it's really hard to develop sleep routines with reflux bubs which made me feel better.

That's all I can think of for now. It's so hard dealing with reflux. And what is harder is that every baby is different and the solution seems to be trial and error. Trust your instincts and be assertive with health care providers until you find someone who can help.

Good luck and hope things start improving for you soon

[mummajugs]

gosh i could have written this thread almost 3yrs ago... Must be the name. My dd is kyra.

Ky was on novalac ar with half a scoop of karicare thickener added too until 5 months old. Then went on a lactose free formula with the thickener. It help alot. She grrew out of the lactose intolerance at about 12monhs old thankfully.

Huge hugs. Is her cot raised at one end? We used to put infacol in her bottles too to help with wind and seemed to help her burp. She was a serious projectile vommiter. Wasnt nice. We used to put losec in her bottle we would make up 2 bottles when she would have to have it. So 30mls of formula in the first bottle with losec then another 90mls in the next bottle with no losec. That way, she was garunteed to take the medicine. It was a pain, but we just had no other choice. She was on it til she was 11months old.

Sorry if this is all over the place, on my phone. Damn little buttons. Hehe feel free to PM me with any questionsif you like. =)