Silent Reflux Symptoms

[amyh]

For those of you who have babies that suffer from silent reflux, what are the symptoms that you observed? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[chele]

When my dd had it she burped alot and swallowed, had the hiccups constantly, cried a lot and arched her back while crying. She also seemed to try to eat to sooth her tummy. We had a rough time getting it diagnosed in the beginning, because she was in the 95th percentile in weight and height. I finally got frustrated enough to set up an appointment with a GI and have her looked at, and it took another month before he was willing to prescribe any meds for her. We finally got on to prevacid and things got better after a while. She out grew it by about 9-10 months and has been great ever since. She is now a very independant toddler who smiles and makes everyone around her smile too.

Hope this is helpful.:angel4 The are angels.

[amyh]

Thanks Chele. How did the ped GI finally diagnose her? Any tests? By the way, did she have a lot of congestion as well?

[chele]

Amyh, I think it was the 3rd time we went to the GI that DD has spit up just before going into the office and she smelled really acidy from it, but I got him to prescribe the prevacid the time before that. He was a bit skeptical and other than just observing her he didn't do much. He just kept checking to make sure she was progressing and healthy. There are tests they can do, but I am glad we didn't need too. I feel like I have already put her through so much already. Oh, and yes she was congested from day one. I kept thinking she was getting a cold and then it would never turn into anything. Hope things are getting better, hang in there.

[amyh]

Hi Chele. I was just wondering if your daughter's congestion got better once she started taking the reflux medication? Also, I read that your daughter did not react well to the Zantac- can you tell me what reactions she had to it. I just started my 10 week old son on Zantac and I'm not sure if is making things worse. I know I need to give it two weeks but I am concerned that it is doing more harm than good, especially since I'm not even sure if he has reflux. Thanks for you help.

Amy

[fussybaby]

Amyh & Chele,
I just wanted to add a few from my experience. My son has reflux. He was hard to diagnos as well, 90% in weight, etc. He was always fussy. Here is the key I used to determine to what level he had and if he needed further treatment:

-when they spit up do they cry about it?
-when they have the hic-ups do they cry about it?
-when they feed do they arch and seem in pain?
-do they swallow alot, cough and gag alot? (when not feeding)
-constant congestion

My son did not spit up a lot, he would swallow it back down. But he was always fussy and seemed to be in pain, for no real obvious reason. This to me was the silent type of reflux. I could tell once I had researched some that he had it when I would pay close attention and see him swallow back down his spit ups.

He fisrt tried the Zantac but then we switched to baby Tagamet instead, it is easier to give (taste is better). He also was on Reglan, he had no problems with either. (Because he also had colic I did not thicken his formula, that made him fussier because it was harder to digest). Ask your doc of course for what meds.

If babies spit up and have a smile on their face, that is normal. Its only when they cry in pain that there is something wrong.

hope this helps...


www.fussybaby.org

[chele]

amyh, when DD started zantac she started to sleep all day long at first I was ok with it then it just seemed like she should start being a bit normal and she didn't she slept and then cried really hard. When we cut back the medicine to 1/2 a dosage she went back to crying all the time, only it seemed harder. After 2 weeks I quit giving it to her. that was when I started looking for a good GI dr. The congestion did get somewhat better but we still seem to be fighting it a bit. She never seems to get full on colds but we have had 5 ear infections in 6 months. So now we have done allergy testing (which I would not recommend to anyone's baby) The scratch test was hard and then after all of that they made her have blood taken. I was so tramatized, I was a basket case. Let alone how she felt about the whole thing. The dr. has mentioned tubes but I wanted to find out the cause before putting her through a surgery that may not cure the problem. Well I hope this is helpful. Have a happy day and give that baby lots of kisses.

[Jodi Nielsen]

Just had my baby diagnosed with reflux. Switched to Nutramigen and she started having very loose stools. Has anyone else had this response to Nutramigen? Otherwise she seems better on this formula though it took her awhile to get used to the taste. It tastes terrible!! Started on Zantac .25ml twice a day. She sleeps in a carseat and is much happier about that. I hope we are on the right track. The past 4 weeks have been a real test of my sanity. If anyone has any other suggestions I would love to hear them. It is thanks to this site that I was able to go to my Dr. and suggest to him that my baby may have reflux. After hearing me out, he agreed. Thank heaven I found this site.

[mom2]

Hi Amy,
I've been trying to respond to your post for a couple of days and was having trouble logging on. Anyway, my daughter is 18 months now and originally was given Reglan and Zantac for silent reflux. She had a horrible reaction to the Reglan--stared into space, no expression, and was just out of it. The Zantac didn't seem to be helping either so I requested a different medication after only 4 days. I hated the way she was with these meds and she still seemed very miserable. She was put on Prilosec and within 3 days it was like we had a different baby. She smiled, she was FINALLY able to sleep
during the day (in her swing) and she started to interact with us more. Don't get me wrong we still had some really rough patches but overall it was SO much better. She just stopped taking it at 18 months but she had pretty severe reflux. It is my understanding that most children outgrow it by 1 year if not before.
She did have some tests done to diagnosis her reflux. Originally, our ped. thought she "only" had colic. But it became pretty apparent something else was wrong so she sent her to a ped. GI. She had an ultrasound done and another test where they had her drink a solution while taking an x-ray to see if it showed her refluxing--which it did. Neither were painful or distressing for her.
Hope some of this helps. It was a tough road and I am glad I had such a supportive husband. Make sure you ask for help this can be exhausting!Hang in there and come back here often. I made some great friends who helped me make it through the toughest times and share the joys. We all know what it is like. Take care.

[shawnapooh]

Jodi~my daughter was on Nutrimagen and it gave her exposive diarrea. It was bad enough that she has colic and reflux I just couldnt handle her tummy rumbles and diaper blow outs. When I switched her to Alimentum she didnt have exposive diarrea anymore. It's weird considering they are both hypoallergenic formulas. I have heard more than once that Nutrimagen causes this side effect.