Silent Reflux..any help...open forum if needed

[ourbabydreams]

Hi everyone. My little Emily's reflux is not as mild as I thought she has Silent Reflux. She is now on Zantac and I just ordered her the ambybaby hammack for her to sleep in at night. I am concerened tho that all I am doing is not enough. She wakes up almost everytime sounding like she has a frog in her throat and can barely cry, you can see it bothers her when she sleeps. First let me say that she is not a real fussy baby even when she is not feeling well. When she got her shots she never hardly cried at all. It was done and she was ready to go. Slept for 6 hours that night with no fever thank god.

I feel so bad for her it kills me. I try frequent burping which does not always happen. Sometimes she will not burp at all which makes the reflux worse. I know this is commom with the silent reflux but I guess I just need more advice. Any other things I can try. I have a call in to the peds right now because we were up so long last night trying to burp. It took almost 2 1/2 hours before she got it out and it was not a huge one. It just does not seem like the Zantac by itself is working at all.

Thanks for any suggestions I might ask my ped when he calls would be great. I won't try anything without him knowing it first. I want this all documented in her medical chart. That way we can remember what did and did not work with her.

Christine &
Emily who tries to be a happy little angel but this reflux sucks. Oh and she laughed outloud for the first real laugh this weekend. It was the most beautifulest thing you ever heard let me tell you. SOOO Sweet.

[Christie2004]

What kinds of things have you tried?

[ourbabydreams]

I keep her up atleast 30 minutes but usually longer after she eats. I make sure she is awake fully to eat. She sleeps in a reclined position. I did order the amby baby hammock that will be here at the end of the week. I try to burp her fully but it does not alway come out. I use mylicon in her bottles. I switched to a bottle that gets less air. I put her in her bouncy even after I burp her to make sure she does not have any more bubbles. It seems like I am doing everything I can but it does not seem like it is enough because it is still bad.

I try different positions when burping as well. Her facing me and my hands on her back and on the shoulder and over my knees. Nothing seems to help her burp sometimes. Even warm baths. But those do make her feel better. She loves her baths.

[ourbabydreams]

keeping her up meaning in an upright position.

[Still_AndiJ]

With Jonathan, it seemed as if nothing worked for his reflux. He would spit up after every feeding and nothing seemed to work. In time, he outgrew it. With Tristan, we go through a variety of burping techniques as he is a fussy little guy. The two most effective things I have found is putting him belly down on my boppy pillow, the pressure form his own body weight seems to bring up the burps really quickly and as soon as they come up, I bring him back upright so he doesn't spit up. The other us just sitting him up on my lap. Without fail that also seems to work, again I think it is the pressure from his body weight that helps.

I do hope in time you will find something that works for both of you. The zantac basically slows the production of the stomach acid, thus making it burn less when they reflux. Reglan type meds are the ones that actually speed up the digestion process by helping their stomachs empty quicker. How is her weight gaim? Is she being affected by her reflux in that respect? I know that Jonathan even though he was a constant "spitter" he gained weight better than most so they weren't too concerned.

ANdrea

[ourbabydreams]

Thanks andrea, Emily does not have the reflux where she spits it all up but silent reflux where she is gaining weight and doing fine other ways. She is healthy in all other aspects so far. I have not tried the boppy yet I will today. I have heard about the reglan and will talk to ped about it if he ever calls me back. I am so tierd of Military doctors at this point. I put in a call this weekend and this morning for ped to call back and he has not yet. I tried to get her into seeing another doctor and because she is assigned to pediatrics she can not see anyone in any other clinic.

I think you are military as well so you know what I mean. I am about ready to just take her to valley childrens myself and have her evaluated by a specialist there.

Thanks again
Christine

[ildike]

I just found your post after beeing away for so long.  My 9 month old son Jimmy had very ugly silent reflux, I actually had to record the sounds he made in his "sleep" to have the docs listen to it.  We had a horrible time back then.  So I feel for you, and I understand what you and your baby are going through.
Nothing, nothing worked for us.  The only position that seemed to calm him was when he was very close to me in the sling.  The closeness and I think the motion calmed him.  So try that!  Since we did not get too much sleep at night I had him in the sling all day, and he rested as much as he wanted.  It was amazing that he didn't make those noises in the sling.  I don't want to discourage you, but other doctors out here can't do too much about it either, but believe me it will go away!!! I remember beeing upset with all 6(!!) doctors we went to, because for them it was like no big deal, just a baby who's having reflux.  So I completely undersand you! Maybe you could try sleeping with her, with her head elevated.  I tried the carseat but I was told that the position works against them because it puts pressure on the tummy.  I hope this helped.  And remember it's not gonna last for ever!!!  
Good luck!

[Still_AndiJ]

I got "lucky", my dh was granted a hardship discharge 6 months after we were married due to a string of events, so I got to avoid dealing with military doctors while pg(I had my own insurance when dh and I first got married anyway)

In time things will get better!

ildike- good hearing from you! I cannot believe your little one is 9 months already! Time really does fly : )

Andrea

[Angel4JohnnyB]

Hey,
DH is military and I have had no trouble at all with my pedi......
I haven't tried any of the others at the clinic though. I just stick with the one that has been with us since the first second.....hell, he was on one side of my pushing me forward when I was pushing Talon out......what a pedi..LOL

I have alot of trouble with TriCare though......we are supposed to call in to get our appointments and they can NEVER get me in.......so I just call directly to my pedi or GYN to get in.....hey, it works.LOL

I'm sorry you are having a hard time with your pedi....maybe try switching to one of the others and see if there is a difference in care.
Good Luck,
Vikki