My Sweet Boy Has Silent Reflux

Whew.  My little guy is almost 7 weeks old!  It has been quite the whirlwind these 7 weeks.  We are still working on one of our rental homes to try and get it ready to sell.  Our other one is on the market so hopefully it sells soon.  It’s hard being a landlord and managing 5 kids and homeschooling as well.  I’ll be so relieved when we sell one or both houses.

Throughout all of this, we’ve noticed that Simon has been quite fussy the past few weeks.  We get a few smiles in between, but the fussiness has certainly taken over our little guy.  It’s gotten to where I’m scared to go to the grocery store, church, or even have friends over since we don’t know when he’ll have a meltdown.

I have seriously run full speed through stores, commanding my bigger kids to grab this or that so we can get out of the store before he starts fussing.  Restaurants are a no go.  I always end up taking the baby out to cry in the car or nursing him again.  In Sunday School, I stand in the back of the room and pace the floor praying I can keep him from screaming too much and trying to listen as much as I can.

As a side note, he’s been gaining weight like crazy!  He’s up to 12 lbs, 1 oz as of today!  At birth he was 8 lbs 2 oz.  So almost 4 pounds in less than 7 weeks!

After this past weekend, I knew something had to give.  His smiles were getting less and his sleep was getting horrible.  He wanted to nurse every hour or so and would not sleep but maybe 30 minutes at a time.  I could easily pass that off as a growth spurt, but when he wasn’t sleeping or nursing, he was screaming.  After wearing a path in the floors, we knew something had to give.

This morning I took him to our pediatrician.  After asking a few questions and a quick examination, Simon was diagnosed with Laryngopharyngeal Reflux, or silent reflux.  I had never even thought about reflux since he’s not a spitty baby.  He rarely spits.  He does, however, randomly gasp and choke when he’s not nursing and will usually scream afterward.  I had no idea, but this was a sign.  What is happening is that he was having reflux but swallowing it back down instead of it coming out.

My poor baby has been gaining weight quickly due to comfort nursing.  He had been in so much pain!  I thought his pain was gas related since he would arch his back and pull his legs up.  Apparently those are also signs of silent reflux.  I’m so glad that I stuck to my mother’s instinct and took him in today.  Hopefully after starting meds to calm the reflux, he will be a much happier baby.  Our pediatrician said the meds will help immediately with calming his stomach but could be up to a week to see a difference in his behavior due to his esophagus being burned from the reflux.

Just wanted to encourage the rest of you – if you think something is wrong with your baby or your baby is the cranky one out of the bunch, check into it further.  There could be something more to their fussiness.  After we looked at the symptoms and signs of reflux, he’s got almost all of them.  So glad we went for help!

Have you heard of silent reflux?