Silent Reflux?

JustCricket

Has anyone dealt with silent reflux in their nb (current or prior kid)?We had our weight check today and the doc said that she may have silent reflux and for me to watch for some particular signs during and after feeds. Well, after a few feeds today, I'm seeing those signs. So it looks like she has it. Sure explains a lot! Going to call tomorrow and get the rx she suggested, but just curious if anyone has experience with it. What did your doc prescribe, if anything? Did the medicine help?  Did your LO handle feeds better (ie want to eat more, spit up less)? Was there anything in particular you did that helped relieve the symptoms? How long was it until your LO outgrew it?

JustCricket

she said look for fussing during/towards the end/after feeds, clicking or hunger like cues with her mouth post feed even if she ate plenty and is not wanting to eat more, back arching, not wanting to eat much at some feeds, weird breathing/coughing. the main thing we see is the timing of fussiness and her doing hunger like cues post feed. She called it silent because of the lack of spit up. eta- she told us to watch her feeds closely for a day or two and call her for a zantac rx if we saw that stuff specifically

edit again- Because I don't want anyone to think I'm just confusing normal nb behavior for non normal behavior. Don't use this as medical advice, this is just what my ped told us because I told her about how miserable she seemed after (and during some) eating and because she's not eating as much as she wanted (still gaining weight though!)

MMason12

I'm glad you posted this! That is exactly what our LO does. After feedings she will arch her back at points, gets these weird looks on her face, and is fussy. She will also "mouth" a little but refuses to eat more or I know she enough to begin with and still isn't hungry. She's only spit up once so I figured she was having gas issues. I never thought of reflux.

Bella2425

This is definitely what lo is doing over here too. I don't know if I should wait till our 2 week apmt or take him in now. We were just there yesterday and they suggested gas drops. Not helping.

emmylu30

We had the same scenario with DS1 but his reflux was caused by an undiagnosed egg allergy we didn't find it about until he was about 9 months old. He started on zantac around 2 months old and was a completely different baby and was able to gain weight. We were able to wean him off his meds around 9 months when found out about egg allergy and switched from frozen breast milk (with egg in it) to formula.

JustCricket

tigger99 said:

Is the back arching along with the crying and fussing or just in general?
Em arches when i go to burp her and other random times but never seems distressed when i do.
She does get a little fussy after feeds and sometimes with the mouth thing. Our main issue is gas pains, she screams so bad sometimes with them

I guess so but it's not a big deal if she's not distressed? Doc was concerned because occasionally that fussiness leads to her not wanting to finish a feed. and she's pretty miserable after a good chunk of feedings.

JustCricket

mamakate12345 said:

I would never tell you to not listen to your doc, but what you are describing as symptoms sound like normal newborn behavior.  All 5 of my babies did what you are describing and they also spit up too.  Unless she is miserable or not gaining weight, I wouldn't medicate, but I am anti-meds in general unless absolutely necessary.  But do what feels right for you and what your ped suggests.

well it's the miserableness that was what had us bringing it up to the doc in the first place. I'm not talking minor fussiness here. And it has been affecting some of the feeds. I agree that it's fairly normal behavior when it's not extreme. 

jg1011

Went through it with DS1 and going through it now with this LO. With my first DS we had more spitting up, even after formula changes,  making it clear this was def an issue. He also had the arching and the crying after eating. He went on Zantac and BioGia probiotic drops in addition to Alimentum formula. Different kid within days.

 

This LO presented slightly differently. We did have a lot of grunting and straining. Plus cough/gagging after eating. We changed formula 3 times, landing on Alimentum again. However although grunting and pooping improved the gagging and coughing has remained. Plus we get pain cries after feeding. We also get the food/hunger cues with his mouth and arching of back. But almost NO spitting up. It's rare for him to spit.

Pedi has us trying low dose Mylanta first. If that doesn't work we will go to Zantac with this one too.

RedBaramid

After reading this thread I'm now a little confused as to what I think is happening with my LO.  In the beginning I thought we had gas pains... especially since she was comfort nursing and a warm bath seemed to calm her right now.. but now I'm wondering if we are talking about reflux since yesterday she threw up 3 times on top of wanting the comfort nursing... but once again a warm bath soothed her really well and I have a hard time believing that a warm bath would fix a reflux problem, especially since she eats well, and I haven't seen any of the other cues you all have mentioned for reflux besides the hunger cues when probably not hungry. I'm also hesitant to call the pedi when we'll see her in a week and a half anyway and despite her constantly wanting to be held I'm still finding ways to soothe her enough to get her to go down...

JustCricket

RedBaramid said:

After reading this thread I'm now a little confused as to what I think is happening with my LO.  In the beginning I thought we had gas pains... especially since she was comfort nursing and a warm bath seemed to calm her right now.. but now I'm wondering if we are talking about reflux since yesterday she threw up 3 times on top of wanting the comfort nursing... but once again a warm bath soothed her really well and I have a hard time believing that a warm bath would fix a reflux problem, especially since she eats well, and I haven't seen any of the other cues you all have mentioned for reflux besides the hunger cues when probably not hungry. I'm also hesitant to call the pedi when we'll see her in a week and a half anyway and despite her constantly wanting to be held I'm still finding ways to soothe her enough to get her to go down...

it doesn't hurt to bring it up with the ped. sounds like gas for you. Maybe with the comfort nursing she ended up eating too much and that's what made her spit up?

jg1011

@JMacBMac‌ Not sure if they are the same. The BioGia drops are expensive so if they are the same and the Gerber ones are cheaper I'd love to find that out. The BioGia drops are getting hard to find too....

jg1011

@JMacBmac Just did a search and found this on Amazon....looks like they are the same! And....equally as expensive! Just a side note....they are supposed to be shipped chilled. If you live in warm weather might want to order through pharmacy. Although.....do you think CVS is shipigto ear stores in chilled packaging? Same thing probably happening there.... Anyway...just figured Id share!

Update: According to BioGaia on their Facebook Page, the Gerber Soothe Colic Drops ingredients are the exact same ingredients/formulation as the former BioGaia Protectis Probiotic drops made by Everidis: "BioGaia Probiotics: I want to confirm that Gerber Soothe Colic drops are exactly the same product as BioGaia ProTectis drops earlier sold by Everidis, just a new packaging. Everidis will continue selling the BioGaia ProTectis chewable tablets under the BioGaia brand. Warm regards Lotta, Customer Support, BioGaia, Sweden - August 2 at 1:19pm"

"Q: Should lactobacillus reuteri drops for infantile colic be distributed with ice bags, or it's stable otherwise too? · August 4 at 10:42pm A: BioGaia Probiotics: If you live in the US we launched the shelf-stable BioGaia ProTectis drops in June 2011. Good survival of the probiotic bacteria, Lactobacillus reuteri Protectis in oil at ambient temperature has been shown in thorough stability studies performed in Sweden. *The temperature should however not exceed 77°F and therefore shipping on ice is probably needed in most states, at least during the summer.* I hope this answers your question, Best regards Lotta, Customer support, BioGaia Sweden"

7/2013 - According to the manufacturer, Biogaia Protectis Baby Drops BioGaia Probiotic Drops, Child Health Probiotic Supplement - 5 Ml made by Everidis, have been discontinued as of June 2013 and are now available as Gerber Soothe Colic Drops, with the same ingredients. (Don't order from the Amazon BioGaia listing for twice as much! Amazon is sending the Gerber drops and double-charging. You will get these $23 Gerber drops.) These probiotic drops (see "BioGaia Probiotics" on the Gerber box) patented to BioGaia, contain a cultured strain of the L. reuteri bacteria found in breastmilk, which is why they are more effective than others--and why Gerber bought the rights to the product.