Most parents have never heard of silent reflux in babies, and infants might not get the help they need. This mom’s story of discovering silent reflux in her baby and overcoming it will inspire and encourage you!
Sarah from Frugal Fun for Boys is here to share her powerful story about silent reflux in babies. She is a homeschooling mom to five and a violin teacher. Two of her little guys experienced acid reflux as babies. She is sharing their journey in discovering silent reflux, diagnosis, and treatment of the symptoms. Reflux affects many babies and children, which can have a huge impact on how and what they eat. Sarah has more posts about reflux over on her blog.
In the spring of 2009, I was expecting my third son, Owen. As a veteran mom, I figured that I pretty much knew what to expect. My first two boys were terrible at nursing at first, but we worked through those challenges, and they both went on to be chubby babies who were good eaters and grew well. I expected that my third son would follow the same path.
Well, that wasn’t what happened.
Discovering the Big Secret: Acid Reflux in Babies!
I first suspected that something was wrong at about six weeks of age when Owen would begin nursing only to pull off, arch his back, and scream just a few minutes into the feeding. If I stopped the feeding and put him down, he was content and happy. If I tried to get him to finish nursing, he became very upset. I had no idea what could be wrong with Owen, and I assumed it must be a problem with nursing. We put off going to the pediatrician because my husband was out of work and we were uninsured at the time.
When Owen was 3 months old, my husband had a great new job and insurance coverage. We went to the doctor the first week that we had insurance! By this point, I was exclusively pumping and bottle feeding because it was very difficult to manage Owen’s “snacking” approach to eating with two other boys to care for as well. With the bottle, I could see better what was going on. I explained to our pediatrician that Owen would drink 1-2 oz. and then begin arching and crying. The pediatrician suspected silent reflux (meaning that the refluxed material does not come all the way up as spit-up), and sent us home with a prescription for Axid. He said that we should see a difference after a few days on the medicine if reflux was truly the cause of Owen’s feeding troubles.
We tried Axid, and it initially seemed to work, but a couple days later, Owen was back to arching and refusing his bottle. The doctor had us try Prevacid. It was very difficult to give, and Owen came down with a cold as soon as we started it, so that made us wonder if the Axid really had been helping and the poor eating was simply the result of the cold coming on. At four months, Owen began teething, and his eating was really affected. He rarely drank more than 1.5- 2 oz. at a time. At five months, Owen had an upper GI test done (normal results – did not show any reflux) and he spent a month on Axid with inconclusive results. At 6 months, we stopped the Axid, because according to our doctor, Owen was probably close to outgrowing his reflux.
Actually, he wasn’t close to outgrowing it at all!
When will the Silent Reflux in my baby End?
At 7 months, Owen was crying when we approached the chair where we fed him. Teething seemed to make his eating much worse, and he was constantly teething! Much of the time, he would not allow us to hold him while we fed him his bottle – he preferred to be in his bouncy seat. If anything remotely more interesting was going on, he would not eat. He would not eat solid foods, and honestly, getting him started on solids was the least of our concerns! Also, most of his milk intake was in a sleepy state before his naps. If either of his brothers interrupted us, the feeding was over! He stopped nursing completely at 4 months, so I was pumping full time while also teaching part-time at a private school, and homeschooling a 6-year-old and a 3-year-old. When I look back at the stress of that time in our lives, I realize that it was only God’s grace that got us through! Even now, I am amazed at the strong feelings of stress that wash over me when I think about that stage. There’s nothing quite like wondering if your child is starving himself.
One night, I posted my desperation on facebook, and a friend put us in touch with a feeding specialist that she knew. (Read more about how to begin feeding therapy.) She was an incredible source of encouragement and information! First of all, she assured us that this sounded like classic reflux. She gave us some tips for dealing with the reflux, such as elevating the end of his crib mattress and moving him out of his infant car seat and into a convertible seat. Because we could not “see” any of Owen’s symptoms, it was helpful to have someone assure us that reflux was his problem and that simple positioning tricks would help reduce the reflux. Owen was hoarse from the acid by this time, so we started him on Axid again at a higher dose, and Owen seemed more comfortable drinking his bottles within 48 hours! The feeding specialist also recommended that Owen see a dietician, and we eventually saw a GI specialist as well.
Owen’s reflux was ugly. And he didn’t outgrow it at 6 months, or a year, or even 18 months. But he DID outgrow it!
Where are we now? Well, Owen is 3.5 years old and enjoys eating and snacking! Because of the feeding aversions that he developed, he did not begin to eat solid foods in any sort of reasonable quantity until he was 18 months old. He drank high calorie formula for most of his nutrition until 18 months, and didn’t give up formula completely until 2 and a half. But we made it! The formula and bottles are finally a thing of the past, and Owen loves to eat fruits, veggies (he loves carrots and broccoli), most meats, peanut butter on crackers or apples, and cheese. He had a dairy sensitivity, which he has outgrown. He has been off his medicine since age 2.
Sanity Saving Tips For Acid Reflux in Babies
- Silent reflux is hard to diagnose because the baby is not spitting up! We did not know for sure that Owen had reflux until he had a pH probe test at 10 months old. Some signs to watch for are crying and arching during feedings, screaming after feedings, frequent sour burps, and hoarseness from the acid.
- Choking during feedings can also be a sign of silent reflux. When our fourth son was born in January 2012, I noticed that he was sure choking a lot during his feedings! I called our feeding specialist, and she said that getting choked up more than once a day is not normal. We had a swallow study done at 6 weeks of age, and Jonathan’s swallowing was just fine. But guess what the test revealed… reflux! He was having a “traffic jam” in his esophagus. Milk was trying to come back up while he was still eating. (However, Jonathan’s reflux journey was much less severe! He is 10 months old, and has always been a good eater.) Find more silent reflux symptoms here.
- Reflux medicine does not stop the reflux. It does, however, make the reflux less acidic so that it will not burn and cause damage. If you’re interested in other holistic alternatives click here for more info.
- Many breastfed babies with reflux also have a food sensitivity to dairy or soy, so it may be worth it to eliminate those from your diet. Owen responded really well to a hypoallergenic formula (Alimentum) at 10 months of age. I wish that I had tried a dairy elimination diet for me when he was still nursing because it obviously would have helped.
- If you feel that something is wrong, don’t be afraid to keep pursuing it, even if your pediatrician thinks there is not a problem! Our pediatrician was not concerned because Owen’s weight was in the 10th percentile at birth, and he hovered between the 3rd and 10th after that. He was growing along on his own growth curve. However, I saw what was happening at home – the refusing bottles, the never crying for a bottle, and the refusing to eat solid food. We saw a GI specialist on our own, and Owen had an EGD test done. The scope of his esophagus and stomach revealed gastritis – an inflammation of the stomach lining. A 6 week course of Nexium helped Owen quite a bit, and we would never have found that if we hadn’t gone to the GI doctor!
- On the other hand, do your best to resolve any pain issues so that they aren’t afraid to eat, but then relax about your child’s growth. We were concerned about Owen’s slow growth, but he now eats relatively well, and is still very small for his age! Our fourth son, Jonathan, grew like a weed despite his reflux. He choked during feedings until he was 5 months old, and yet managed to hold his own at the 50-60th percentile for weight. I think that genetic differences, not reflux, has been the bigger factor in the different growth patterns of my two sons with reflux.
Infant reflux can really affect life for both baby and parents! If you need more help, consider contacting a feeding therapist that specializes is silent reflux in babies. You can find one through early intervention, free if you live in the states, or privately.
Have something that helped your baby with silent reflux? Share it in the comments below!
Sarah Dees is a homeschooling mom to four boys ages 9, 6, 3, and 10 months. She blogs about inexpensive and easy activities to keep boys busy and learning new things at Frugal Fun for Boys.
More on Acid Reflux in Babies
What to Do When Baby Won’t Eat Solids: 7 Simple Steps
5 Reasons Kids (and Babies) Refuse to Eat
A Hidden Cause of Picky Eating: Acid Reflux
The Ultimate Guide to Feeding Milestones for Babies and Toddlers
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Alisha Grogan is a licensed occupational therapist and founder of Your Kid’s Table. She has over 15 years experience with expertise in sensory processing and feeding development in babies, toddlers, and children. Alisha also has 3 boys of her own at home. Learn more about her here.
Sarah,
Your post was very informative and makes me feel much better knowing i’m not alone! I now know why they coined the phrase “worried sick”. My almost four month old daughter has a VERY hard time while feeding. I started out breast feeding her but she would either fall asleep after only a few minutes or pull off and not relatch, so I knew she wasn’t getting near the volume she was supposed to. I decided to exclusively pump (talk about exhausting) at 5 weeks in an attempt to gauge how much she was really taking and she started developing an aversion to the bottle. She gets 1.5-2 oz in and spits it out, arches her back and refuses to take the bottle back unless completely distracted. She will take a max of 3 oz so our pedi suggested fortifying the breastmilk with formula to boost the calories since she takes such a low volume. She is now on zantac, prevacid, and Mylanta…sometimes it seems to help and sometimes it doesn’t. She was in the 25th percentile for weight at her 2 weeks appt and has now dropped to the 3rd.
Do you have any suggestions of how to:
relieve her fears of the bottle?
Make her more comfortable during/after feedings besides the old “hold her more upright”?
And I am also afraid I cannot keep up with her by exclusively pumping and may need to switch to formula at some point, would you recommend the Alimentum to start?
Thanks in advance for your help.
Jamie
Hi Jamie, because Sarah isn’t regularly checking this post anymore. You can find her though on facebook through the links in the post and she would be more than happy to help. If you can’t get in touch let me know and I ‘ll give you some suggestions.
Hi Alisha,
The thing is my 7 months daughter is breastfeeding but she will drink for few minutes and pull out…that’s is and she won’t drink more…solid also she will eat few spoons and done…she will arch her back and push when I forcefully feed her…she will cry as if I am giving her poison…it’s so hard…I know she is not getting enough…poor girl is constipated too…we took her to GI specialist today and the doctor think she is not drinking because she is constipated but I feel she has silent reflux…she gags while feeding, she cough, wet burb….what do you think
Hey Jennie, so sorry for the hard time you’re having! It does sound like reflux, sometimes its really helpful to get another opinion. Constipation can cause reflux though, too. Have you tried eliminating dairy from your diet (I know, not desirable) but it could make a big difference… although it could take a couple of weeks to get out of your milk supply.
Sarah, i am Amrutha and i am in the same boat. IF you have any suggestions or any plans that helped you could you please share with me too.. my email id is amrutha.danda@gmail.com
Hi Amrutha- Sarah doesn’t regularly check this page anymore as she guest posted here a while ago. You can find links to her awesome blog in the post and reach out to her there- I’m sure she would be happy to answer any specific questions you have. However, read through all the comments and the post entirely because she has answered a lot here. Let me know if you need more help!
Hi Jamie – this is a follow up to your 2014 post. Can you tell me whether/how your child grew out of it? My baby sounds very similar and has an aversion to the bottle (and breast sometimes, but will take the breast after she wakes up). She only eats from the bottle when distracted and has dropped from 38th percentile at birth to 8th. Thank you!
Thank you so much for this. I’m on my second silent refluxer and feel so alone some times. This helps remind me that I’m not!! 🙂
This is pretty much my same exact story with my daughter. I ess wondering if it was Alimentum rtf or the powder weighed for you?
Was he ever on neocate or elecare? I’m getting ready to maybe do another formula switch and was just wondering what ur experience with formula was since my daughter’s and Owen’s situation sounds very similar. Thank you.
Owen was on Alimentum powder. We ended up using Nutramigen for our youngest son because it seemed to smell slightly better! We didn’t try Neocate or Elecare since he did well on the Alimentum.
This is a wonderful post! My daughter suffers from a milk protein allergy, sever colic and silent reflux. We tried all of the medications and nothing seemed to help. Later we found out that the medications can sometimes take away all the stomach acid and make things worse. At 6 months old she was hospitalized due to dehydration and diagnosed with bottle aversion. People around us, including family, still don’t realize what this is really about. The most common phrase people say to us is ‘she’ll eat when she’s really hungry’. They say this out of ignorance. Now at 8 months she still only eats for my husband, myself and the daycare teacher. Solids are a struggle and she’s still a petite little thing. Kudos to you for writing this. Wish I could help spread the word more.
Oh yes, the “she’ll eat when she’s hungry” comment! That one is so tough to hear when you have a child who won’t eat. It’s generally true that kids will eat when they’re hungry, but not when there is a pain issue involved! I truly hope that you are on the downhill side of this and that your daughter continues to improve!
I suspect my daughter has milk protein allergy and I am breast feeding her. Is this any test which would determine milk protein allergy or its simply elimination of dairy from my diet?
hiii…I live in India…my 2 month old has all the symptoms of silent reflux that you wrote about….She eats maximum (while half sleeping and sleeping) 2 ounce of formula…she chokes during almost every feeding..she spits up a lot also…She cries a lot, arching her back…she is in the below 5 percentile…my doctor is telling it is normal…I am very scared…
Hello Sara- I agree it does sound like reflux. Are you able to see a different doctor and get another opinion or even go to an emergency room when she starts screaming? Or go straight to a GI specialist? I don’t know if these are options in India? If any of them are I would start there. If they aren’t feed her in as much of an upright position as possible and give her small frequent meals. Let me know if I can be of any more help, good luck! Keep me posted.
I’m so glad that you wrote this Sarah and that it was reposted for others to share! Many people are still discovering reflux as the root to so many feeding difficulties and delays, but it is so common in the kids we feeding therapists see for evaluations and treatment! Thanks so much for writing this!!
I wish I had read this back last summer when my son was born and would not eat (though you didn’t even write it last summer!). Pretty much from day one, my son would take very little from the bottle (we had a lot of trouble breastfeeding him) and then scream and cry. He would act like he didn’t know what to do with the bottle. While his pedi was very understanding it took us a good 3 months before we found what worked, but that was the longest 3 months of my life. Granted we didn’t have to wait 10 months. Since he never spit up the doctor suggested it could be silent reflux, and we tried multiple formula switches and medications before finding one that worked. Hearing other peoples stories I know that my son’s case was mild compared to what others go through, but when you have this little baby that won’t eat, when that is one of the 3 things they are supposed to do, it’s frustrating and heart breaking. We were able to switch to a prescription formula (alimentum) which is broken down milk proteins that would help digest quicker, as well as prilosec. Luckily we found our solution relatively quick, and I am so glad that I was persistent with doctors and my family that something was not right and we needed to keep looking (everyone kept saying it could just be fussy baby, and he’ll outgrow it).
Katie thank you so much for sharing your story- you don’t know how many others you could be helping! I can only imagine how difficult it was- don’t minimize it, what you went through was really hard! Yay for listening to those mommy instincts!!!
Hello
Thank you for the information.
I have a now 7 months old that used to always cry, arch his back while feeding and did not have a very good appetite but never had spitting up or vomiting issues. He is now 7 months old and started to have several episodes of projective vomitng and does not really enjoy solid food. I have changed his formula to alimentum because i thought it was food allergy related but he is still having episode of projectile vomiting. We just went to see a GI specialist and he wants to do and EGD in 7/2013 which he will be 9 months old at that time. I am so worried about him having that procedure so young but it is also heartbreaking knowning your child is not getting enought in his stomach. I don’t know what to do.
Thanks for your posts. My son was crying alot, he would eat only a few ounces. I remember asking myself whats wrong with this baby. I talked with his doctor about the crying, vomiting, and not eating. He advised me this was normal. My son was not gaining weight as he got older he continued vomiting and i thought he was a picky eater. I changed doctors and informed her about his problems. So finally at 2 1/2 he has been diagnosed with gastritis with the help of a scope and biopsy. Im very happy to finally get some answers. He is on medicine and we have another check-up soon
Thanks so much for sharing your story- it will help someone else! I’m so sorry you had to go through all that! Hope some of the other posts here can be a resource for you as you progress forward!
I had the same problem with my now 16 month old daughter she was on Zantac as a baby and still has a dairy intolerance we are seeing a feeding specialist but she is on high calorie formula and purees it’s a fight to get her to eat any finger or table foods.
I just recently found out that my 3 month old son has silent reflux (thats what the doctors THINK anyway). He only has about 16-20 ounces of formula per day and only 1.5-2.5 ounces at a time then refuses to eat anymore!! We took him to the doctor and hes actually going DOWN on the growth scale so we have to keep an eye on him. The thing is, he isnt that fussy. He just wont eat! They havent prescribed any meds, just switched him to Enfamil AR to see if that helps first. Ive seen improvement that last few days bu today hes back to the same old thing. The most stressful part about it is my baby isnt eatting enough to gain weight! 🙁
This is my baby exactly! She doesn’t cry in between feedings but only eats small snacks and isn’t gaining weight properly. It is such a relief to find someone with a similar story! For your baby did it turn out to be reflux? What helped?
Been googling and came across your comment. I’m at wits end. I’ve been fighting so it seems to make my 4 month old eat since birth, she eats 1-3 ounces then after burping refuses the bottle and cries when I try to feed her more. She wont eat more, if at all until an hour later. She isn’t fussy any other time, smiles a lot.Shes choked while eating, coughs,hard to burp,projectile vomited probably 30 times or more since birth.. I just cant get her to eat..does it sound like reflux? I’ve tried taking her to outpatients but all they say is shes gaining weight so shes fine…but I know theres something wrong!
Yes, this sounds like reflux. My baby recently started Zantac to treat her acid reflux. She has also started to eat 1 oz at a time about every hour or so.
I am going through the exact same thing at the moment. This post was 5 years ago, so I’m wondering how did everything turn out. Has your child outgrown the reflux?
I wish this post was around when my son(age 7 today) had silent reflux! No one believed me and my son was misedable. Luckily at 6mo solida were pretty much all he wanted to eat because it didn’t cause acid. He was on reflux meds until he was almost 4. He still has a sensitive stomach he has to watch his acid intake and when he is stressed. We use tums and other ant acids when that happens. If I had this information I would have gotten him treatment sooner. We had more issues than reflux we had severe sleep issues with it. His baby years were miserable with no one sleeping due to reflux. Now at 7 he has caught up on weight actually going over and having high cholesterol despite a healthy diet. We now try to manage all his health issues with diet 🙂 his cholesterol is now normal and he uses tums maybe when he eats red sauce or lemonade.
I am so glad to hear that you guys are on the other end of it now! Thank you, also for sharing your story! Wonderful that you are managing with diet!
Good post. My 3 yr old had reflux and mspi milk protein intolerance. She was exclusively breastfed and would cry for up to 6 hours and arch her back. She all had trouble sleeping and needed help around the clock, so we took shifts. Now I have a 2 mth old and he has it too. Both were prescribed ranitidine/ zantac. I elimated ALL dairy from my diet, and onions, cabbage, and oj. My son was choking a lot too and gasping for air. It is heartbreaking to see them be uncomfortable. Good luck, and elevate the head of the crib. They will grow out of it. Although my daughter still to this day has never drank a glass of milk or soy milk. She finally will eat I cream and yogurt.
Thanks so much for sharing your story Jennifer. Like Sarah’s story I think it so helpful for those just starting this journey to hear that there is an end!
Thank you for posting this! My 2 month old daughter Norah was diagnosed with Silent Reflux a couple days ago. I kept going to the doctor, telling them that she was seemingly choking after eating (she was exclusively breastfed at this time), even an hour later after waking up from her naps. They kept telling me it was reflux and she would grow out of it, but to make sure I did these certain things to keep it under control. About a week ago we rushed her to the ER after several episodes in a row were she stopped breathing for 10-15 seconds at a time. The ER doctor told me “if this is reflux, it’s the worst I’ve ever seen.” She was then put through a slew of testings including a MRI, Spinal Tap, EKG, multiple blood tests, and a whole day in the ICU (they were almost convinced that she was having seizures.) After the Upper GI they made the diagnosis. The thing is, Norah never fussed while eating. It was after, sometimes hours after that she would begin to have “episodes” were she would arch her back, her face would turn red, her eyes would bulge and she would stop breathing as small amounts of spit up came out her nose while her hands flailed in front of her tiny little body. We would suction her and she would start breathing again. Screaming for 10-15 minutes afterwards. I didn’t sleep for days at a time. I am glad your son is doing well and it gives me hope for Norah. Sometimes you just have to know someone else has been there and gotten through it 🙂
Wow, how scary! My second son with reflux had some scary choking episodes, but thankfully none of them were as serious as that. I think that having trouble with reflux after eating is more “normal” than not wanting to eat. You might look into getting a Res-Q wedge to keep her in a good position. We bought one for Jonathan because he hated his bouncy seat – that position seemed to make his reflux worse. Babies can even sleep either on their backs or on their tummies in the Res-Q wedge. They’re pricey, but if you get an order for your doctor, insurance will often cover the cost!
Awesome! Thank You, I will look into it 🙂
This is such a great post. Thank you for sharing. I have a 3 month old with silent reflux. It took 8 weeks of him crying until he was exhausted all day to finally figure out that he has reflux and also has an intolerance to dairy. At the worst, he would cry for 9 hours a day. Melvin rarely spits up and I had registered nurses telling me that it was just “severe colic.” I was lucky enough that my pediatrician explained to me that there is a BIG difference between colic and reflux and after discussing it, Melvin was put on Zantac. He chokes when he eats still, but has now begun to eat many more ounces at each feeding. It was awful watching my baby be in so much pain for so long, but my instincts told me that something was wrong and that there HAD to be a solution. I just had to find it. So thank you for this post and hopefully it helps other Moms. Acid reflux does NOT mean that there is always spit-up.
I’m so glad that the medicine is making him more comfortable! Thanks for your comment!
Sarah thanks for shearing ur story please contact me I have a 2 month old with reflux and soy and Dary intolerance and have lot of qustions
Hi Trina, this is actually a really old post, I don’t think Sarah will see this message you can reach her at her site though which is linked up in this post. Make sure you read through the other comments, there are a lot of helpful tips in them from others!
Please let me know with more information too! My 6 month old baby was eating 4oz a day. And the past 2 days she started only taking in 1 oz every 3 hours. Or longer! I do see the signs. She spits up. Or sometimes throws up. And we told the pediatrician and she said it’s normal just make sure to burp her. We always burp her. I don’t know what to do Dehydrated. Or lose weight. She has been arching her back or get mad after she drinks 1 oz. she also seems gassy but I burp her right away and she doesn’t burp. She ends up spitting up. And I’m awake right now because she seems having trouble wanting to spit up in her sleep. Please help.
Hi Araceli, I know this is so hard, but I’d call the doctor again and if you don’t get the answers you need there, get another opinion. Let me know how it goes!