What to do next?

My boy has had reflux since 3 weeks old. He's on 10 mg of losec in the morning and 10 mg at night, given with a small amount of pear half an hour before feeds. The last week I've also been giving him gaviscon to help with the spilling, as he does massive spills a lot of the time.

Most of the time, he's a really happy smiley baby but from time to time we get these bad reflux flare ups. Like today, he has been refusing to eat much and is arching stiff as a board, screaming when the bottle comes anywhere near him, won't lie down or sit in his rocker, has to be held.

I have seen the doctor lots of times about it because he seems to have a lot of tummy trouble- constipation, lots of farting, and draws his legs up a lot. His pain always seems to come from his tummy. She never really has any answers.

I saw a paediatrician too but they said he was fine, didn't listen to me much as he was smiley and the picture of health that particular day.

I have wondered if he has a milk intolerance or something like that. He is formula fed, and currently on Novalac constipation formula which had been keeping him really regular and agrees with him well, but since Ive been using the gaviscon he has become constipated again. I haven't put him on a thickened formula as I suspect it will make his constipation worse? And doesn't gaviscon do the same thing, or am I wrong about that?

I guess I just don't know what the next step is. Do I see another paediatrician? I have been reccomended one who knows a lot about reflux.

Was thinking about trying the hypoallergenic formula you can get from Karicare to see if that would make a difference. But I'm scared to change his formula as when I did it in the past it was not pretty. Or should I be trying lactose free or something like that?

Just want to know what I should do next to help my baby, as visits to the GP really do no good at all



Edited by LittleN

He's had Karicare gold, then normal Karicare which really didn't agree with him, I tried him on S26 for a few days but things didn't improve so I took him off it but I might have been a bit hasty. Once he went onto Novalac he was good but the problems have never really gone away.

I have got colloxyl drops for constipation but the doctor said not to use them all the time, and with gaviscon Ill need to use them all the time. It's hard because his spilling is massive without it.

I've got infacol but never really used it so I'll give that a go, thanks

Next step - get your DH to take a collection of videos of him having a bad day. Then take those along to the doctor/paed and show him/her. I had endless problems too, with DD being the picture of health in front of the doctor but a nightmare at home. Our breakthrough was when she spilled massively all over me just as the doctor called us in, so she saw how much came up, and also that I hardly flinched, just mopped it up and continued, which I think showed how often I was dealing with it. Especially as she then asked how long since DD had been fed and I said over an hour.
But you can't rely on the baby to perform on cue, so take the videos, then you've got the evidence to say THIS is what you want help with.

Good luck!

KH25 i feel your pain, Callen was the same for the first 4mths of his life. The only difference being that he would swollow the chuck and never threw up and was always unhappy. We too try all sorts of formula but nothing really helped, I did find that renitdine helped a bit but not 100%. My MIL rang the hospital and spoke to all the dietitians until one of them agreed to meet with us. We found he has trouble with lactose or milk proteins. She tried him on pepti junior which didn't work at all, and then tried him on Neocate and after a week we had a totally different son. He's now been on it for over a month and apart from the teething he's such a happy wee boy. He no longer crys all time, doesn't draw his legs up or arches his back and the reflux went away. He doesn't have problems going toliet anymore and is happy as on solids and formula. You have to keep pushing as hard as it is, and i too found noone listens to you especially if your a first time mom.

We also tried the losec and gaviscon, which did nothing just constipated him. If you need any other info just pm me i'm happy to help or if you just need to vent. Good luck!

I know there is a chemist here in Palmy that sells it full price. Not sure if this is the norm or not, you could try to ring Neocates.

Excellent KH25 as that's who my doctor reccomended so I'll call him tomorrow, thanks for the details.

I will call Neocate Mina, thanks

We went to see Allen Liang today and it was pretty good.

He has put him on some medicine called prepulsid 3 times a day which is apparently quite strong, only paediatricians can prescribe it. Anyone used it?

He also suggested that I start solids and use simple carbohydrates eg kumara, carrot, pumpkin etc so that it will thicken the feed in his stomach.

He is also having a blood test and allergy test tomorrow to see if he has any allergies. He didn't seem to think he did as he doesn't have any rash etc.

He said I could try soy formula, but Im a bit reluctant to use that, would there be any harm in trying lactose free?

I guess that we might be allowed neocate if he comes back with any allergies but maybe not otherwise, which I'm a bit disappointed about but ah well.

Follow up appointment next week to see what the results of the bloods are

Bummer you didn't get the neocate. Surely if he just has a cows milk intolarence or something then he wouldn't get a rash, it would just upset his tummy? Maybe you could ask if you could just give it a go and if it doesn't help then at least you can say you tried. Have you tried a goats milk formula?

I haven't heard of that med, is it instead of losec or on top of? I guess its good you have different things to try and they didn't send you away with sorry we can't help lol!

Good luck with starting solids

99% of babies will do well with neocate if you can get them past the foul taste. They like to trial & rule out other things first.

Erinmc hang in there, it takes a few more days to work, and then the healing will have to begin.

LittleN have you tried goats formula? That is what I was hoping to have Cooper on but unfortunately he reacted to that as well.

Your local GP can request skin prick & RAST tests if you are worried about allergies & want the tests done. Didn't cost me anything for either myself or Cooper.

littlen - My boy is the a bit younger than yours and has wicked reflux and i have him on s26 just the normal stuff and it really seems to work with him maybe give it another shot ?