# if your baby has silent reflux, what do they act like?



## caedmyn (Jan 13, 2006)

I'm trying to figure out if my 2 week old has silent reflux. He sleeps most of the time and has some happy/quiet spells when he's awake, but he seems to cry/scream an awful lot when he's awake. He has a few other reflux symptoms, too, but he doesn't spit up all that much, it's mostly refluxing that I can hear.

I'm just wondering if others would share what their babies with silent reflux act like so I can try to figure out if this LO has it or not.


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## LadyCatherine185 (Aug 12, 2008)

My 3 mo DS has silent reflux, and I think all babes act differently with it. He started around 4 weeks or so, screaming at and refusing the breast. Popping on and off and screaming, arching his back, etc.... 10 weeks, Zantac trial and Prevacid trial later, we are still dealing with it. Here are some of my previous posts regarding his reflux so you can see what DS was doing and what other mamas suggested...

http://www.mothering.com/discussions...430&highlight=

http://www.mothering.com/discussions...580&highlight=

I hope this helps some! Sorry you are going through this, trust me I KNOW how hard this is! We were really hesitant to get him on medication, but he was in so much pain for weeks and weeks and we felt it was best for him.


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## aquamam (Sep 19, 2008)

My now 6 MO has silent reflux - diagnosed at 4 weeks with the following symptoms:
- pulling off breast, screaming (although I think partially due to strong letdown), but still wanting to nurse constantly (I think the milk soothed his throat)
- arching back as if in pain
- bad breath
- frequent hiccups and gurgly noises in throat
- crying when put on back
- slept little, right from birth, and only in 1/2- 1 hour stretches, unless held
- no actual spit up or vomiting

when he was kept upright things were always fine - no crying or fussing - babe slept in bjorn, sling or bouncy chair or on our chests for the first 2 months.

Zantac brought relief after 3 days - he became a much happier baby who actually slept once in a while







. Like the PP i was hesistant to start the meds but it is so terrible to see your wee one in pain


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## hollianna (May 27, 2008)

My baby had/has silent reflux. I don't know if the symptoms are universal, but he cried almost constantly, wouldn't sleep much, and he often choked/gagged/coughed. (Not sure exactly what it was.)

Anyway, zantac really helped him. He cried a lot less, slept a little better, and eventually the choking went away, though not for a while, because zantac doesn't necessarily stop the stuff from coming up, it just removes the acid (and hence the pain) from it.


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## 3pink1blue (Jun 23, 2008)

My DD2 had it and wasn't diagnosed till 8 months. She screamed _constantly_. She would scream for six to eight hours at a time, and I couldn't put her down. Id on't know how people do CIO because hearing my child cry that much was the most horrible thing I have ever dealt with as a parent.

Aside from screaming, she would gag and choke when she was lying down. You know how sometimes they gag in the first day or so after birth, getting the fluid up? That is what she did till nearly a year of age.

In fact, she wasn't gaining weight well, and so the doctor had a swallow study done. (Stupid friggen doctor, wouldn't address the screaming issue but dealt with the slow growth issue.) Anyway the swallow study showed some minor swallow issues, but more importantly, it showed everything refluxing almost immediately after ingestion. It would get almost to the back of her throat, but not quite high enough for her to spit it out.

We tried prevacid and zantac and ended up with tagamet as the most useful medication for her reflux. She still did reflux though, until around 18 months of age. She would drink something from a sippy cup, and walk away and spit some up and onto the floor.

My daughter's symptoms started within the first two weeks of her birth. If I could go back and do it differently, I would. I would have fought for her harder, switched doctors more (she saw 3 different doctors, I should have taken her to more than that.)


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