Silent reflux????

My wee man is four weeks old , and he has a lot of trouble sleeping during the day. But today it is really getting to me! I (selfishly) get NO time to myself because I am either feeding him, burping him, or desperately trying to get him to sleep. Yesterday he was terrible as well, and I just don't know what I am doing wrong. I have tried all the sleepstore techniques to stop napping and promote longer sleeps but he just won't have a bar of it. He slept about 20 minutes in the pram this morning, then is wide awake again. I KNOW he must be tired but won't allow himself to sleep (he always yawns heaps!). And I'm sure the lack of sleep also affects his feeding. It is driving me mad! I don't think he has colic as it isn't a specific time of the day, it is ALL DAY from about 7am and the evening too. The only time he sleeps okay is at night - probably from pure exhuastion! It would be okay if he just happily lay on his mat or in his rocker, but after a few minutes he ALWAYS cries.

Could he have silent reflux? My Dr is going to ring me later on and I am going to ask, but apparently the symptoms aren't that obvious and it is hard to diagnose, so it will just be a matter of trial and error.

Anyone else had a similar experience??? I just want my wee boy to be happy.

Hes probably just overtired.

Have you tried wearing him in a sling or a wrap to try and get him to have some good sleep? At least that way your hands are free!

Daniel had silent reflux and his symptoms were: not wanting to feed, screaming blue murder at the breast, pulling off and latching on. I could see him bringing milk up by looking at his throat and he was swallowing it again. He couldn't sleep on his back, only on his side and with his bed raised at the head end.

My bestie is going thru the same thing ATM. Her girl is 14wks old and she is just like your boy but very fussy at the breast often too. Pulls off and screams once she gets the milk flowing but wants to constantly go back on.

I, and everyone (including her doctor) continues to tell her that its reflux. She has been given gaviscon by her doc but she just refuses to use it consistently. Now she is exhausted and so is her DH but they are still not using the gaviscon properly. She is beginning to make me mad!

DS had silent reflux. I thought I was just being a complaining 1st time mum and babies were supposed to be like that. At 4mths and the end of my tether, my Dr said to give gaviscon a go.
1 day on gaviscon and wow! Oh my changed my life! I so wish I'd tried it earlier!

Couple of things though, they say silent reflux is rare though it is often wrongly blamed for an unsettled baby. Silent reflux is very hard to diagnose, my Dr suggested trying gaviscon because it's harmless (assuming no other issues) and his response would confirm the diagnosis.
There are two other reflux meds, randitadine (sp) and losec, they're supposed to be like the next level up from gaviscon, but they don't all quite work the same. My DS was trialed on randitadine and it didn't go well, gaviscon his his drug of choice.

Your Dr can go over the ins and outs of the different options but IMO if they offers a trial of gaviscon - take it! You'll know pretty quickly if your man responds well to it.

I didn't have a reflux baby so don't know about those symptoms, silent or otherwise but also tend toward thinking it's overtiredness and would try a sling (which, btw also helps reflux babies anyway). But just to say that at 4 weeks there is no way my baby (who has always been a cruisy little boy) would lay happily on his mat or in his rocker for more than a few minutes. The time he would tolerate them slowly increased over many weeks, but at 4 weeks they were still new and more than a few minutes even just laying there became too much stimulation for him.

It's not that your little one won't allow himself to sleep, he is still learning how to get there and you are too. But he will get there.

How do they diagnose reflux? I'm pretty sure my wee girl has it too. Screaming/grizzling before and after chucking are key signs aren't they? She fits most of the symptoms on the list, but they are all so non-specific

It's so hard being a first-time mum - I don't know if what's normal and what's not! I'm only just beginning to realise that maybe my baby is actually sick and in pain, rather than that just being how babies are I've got an ex-lactation consultant (mum ) coming to visit for the weekend to help me decide if there is a problem and see what we can do to fix it. We are starting by raising the cot tonight.