Ok ladies, I am in desperate need of your help.
My 9 week old daughter has painful reflux. She screams for 18 hours a day. From the moment she wakes, she is screaming.
We were given some omeprazole to give her once a day but it is having no affect.
We have taken her to the doctors, been referred to the hospital because she was refusing to feed. The hospital was happy as long as she continued to put on weight. That was 4 weeks ago.
I went to see a paediatrician today (after waiting weeks to get in) only to be told there is nothing that can be done and she MAY grow out of it. MAY GROW OUT OF IT!
I cried all the way home.
I am so frustrated and fed up. My poor baby girl is in so much pain (panadol does nothing) I just don’t know what to do.
She screams when I feed her. She screams when I hold her. She screams in the car. She screams in the pram. She screams in the bath. She screams when I hold her upright. She screams when I lay her down. There is literally nothing I can do to ease her pain and I’m at my wits end.
I get no sleep. I snap at my husband and my son. My nipples are red raw from her ripping at them while she tries to feed.
During her birth there were complications and I almost died. I lost a lot of blood and still haven’t fully recovered. I can’t even begin to rest when she won’t sleep or eat properly.
I need to know firstly that I am not alone (I feel terribly alone at the moment) and secondly if there is anything anyone has done that has worked to relieve reflux in their infant child.
I need to know that there is something I can do!
Please help a tired, stressed out mumma who just wants to see her baby comfortable for once.
8 Replies
Try putting a towel folded up under her upper body while she is down, propping them up helps with the reflux, also a little weak camomile tea is good too
Try feeding her while she is sitting more up rather then laying down
And I know she is breastfed but maybe formula might be better as there’s ones for reflux which are thicker and help stop it coming back up
Baby gavoscon is great too. Try and see another doctor as there are medicines for terrible reflux
We popped a brick under each leg of the crib at the head end so it sloped a bit. Doctor said to try this. Our bub got pain and spewy after feeding, we ended up switching to lactose free formula and noticed an immediate positive change. Stopped screaming in pain after feeds. Now she is older she ok with dairy.
Stop the breastfeeding and get the formula for reflux or the goat milk formula. That is bullshit that they cant do anything. Maybe also request that she get some scans to check for blockages....is she constipated? Keep tasking her back to the hospital and a diff paed!
This happened to a friend of mine, her little girl screamed night and day, acted as if she'd drunk acid every time she fed. My friend was beside herself because nothing she did worked. They finally tried formula, a low-allergen one, and it was like a switch flipped. My friend then realised her daughter may have been reacting to something in her breastmilk. They aren't sure what it was but switching to formula did the trick. Maybe try a bottle and see how she goes?
This might not be it and I'm not trying to scare you but my daughter was like this.. She was diagnosed with silent reflux at about 3 week old.. She vomited heaps and always cried.. Screamed actually all the time at 7 weeks old she literally vomited every bottle and only put on 90grams in 2 weeks.. She ended up having pyloric stenosis and had surgery at 7 weeks to fix it.. It can take up to 2 months to see any symptoms.. But on the other had I was like this as a baby I screamed for 18 hrs a day.. My parents ended up putting me straight on cows milk at a really young age and I stopped crying.. Unfortunately some baby's don't agree with breast milk so I would try her on a formula maybe lactose free as the first part of breastmilk is full of lactose (or so I'm told)
Good luck Mumma a baby that doesn't settle is incredibly hard xx
You’re definitely not alone. Both my kids were like that as babies and them and I still struggle with it. We all take Nexium and Zantac everyday before bed. We also have our beds on an incline and eat sitting up in a recliner and do deep breathing afterwards. When my kids were babies, I ended up with the prescription formula and introducing solids earlier. Mine also had pretty bad constipation so always in bowel pain too. It improved when I got them off dairy and had enemas or softeners to keep them regular.
I have been on this exact position, even down to the almost dying part!
My son had a form of gaviscon in every bottle (prescription), I kept him up right 90% of the time, the head of his bed was raised, he sat in a bouncey with towels rolled up around him to support him as he wasn’t strong enough to do it himself, day naps were in his pram in a half seated position. This is not easy, it went away at 3.5 months when he started on baby food. Good luck
My last 2 babies had reflux..zantac ( i think that's what it was called) was the bomb!!.i wasn't going to let them be in pain as i suffer from reflux and know how painful it is..elevation in the crib and after feeds..thickening food if possible..hard if breast feeding tho..they do grow out of it but i needed sleep and i wasnt going to let them suffer...good luck!!