Hello,
Well, it seems he does have silent reflux as well as milk intolerance. I haven't had it diagnosed yet, but thanks to a chat with a health visitor the other day, who said it in passing (I hadn't read your posts at that stage), I started observing much more closely when he was distressed, etc.
I had suspected when he was first born that he had reflux because he was doing some spectacular vomits and squirmed loads when I was feeding him, in addition to finding it hard to sleep soundly (or at all sometimes), but was told on two separate occasions by health visitors that it wasn't that, either because it was "very rare" or that he was "just eating too much". Because of that, I just dismissed it as a possibility.
He shows all the classic signs - constant crying, really bad sleeping during the day (often as short as 5 mins), back arching, neck craning to the side, coming off the breast and crying, yet obviously wanting more, screaming blue murder when I put him in his cot or lay him down for nappy change... Now that I'm listening out, I can even hear the acid coming up his throat.
It just seems so obvious now and I just wish I'd stuck to my guns earlier on and saved him (and us) an awful lot of pain. I might not have twigged about the milk intolerance early on, but we could at least have made his life a bit easier. At least now I know what's going on i can try and do something about it - I'm so relieved.
I now need to try him on infant Gaviscon and, if needed, Renitidine and try and stabilise his condition, then I might even find that he can tolerate the formulas. Any other suggestions/hints about making him more comfortable, except obvious ones of tipping up the cot and keeping him upright after feeds that you might have would be really appreciated.
