A bit of a moan about health visitors & silent reflux
When you're a new mummy you inevitably end up with tons of questions about your new bundle... "is this normal? are they healthy? what's wrong with her?". Kindly knowledgable doctors and regular visits to clinics to see a nice helpful informative health visitor answer all your questions... right? RIGHT? WRONG! Today I'm going to go off on a bit of a rant about GPs and health visitors!
Since about 8 weeks old my little one has been fussing at feeds. She thrashes around, turns her head away from the bottle, screams and cries. If we manage to get her to start drinking, she only drinks half a bottle then stops and screams if you try to get her to take any more. I wouldn't worry but munchkin was a teeny tiny 6lbs at birth and charted at 9th centile (which means out of 100 babies there would be 9 smaller than her and 91 bigger... an average baby would be 50th centile). I obviously want to make sure she's drinking enough milk for her weight and still gaining. So, I mention it to my health visitor. Her response? "She's gaining. Don't worry".
Ok so maybe she's ok? Maybe it's just a phase. Fast forward a month, and I am dreading feeds. I've spoken to 3 health visitors, all of whom have been unconcerned because she's still gaining weight. The last one even said "I don't have a magic answer. Maybe she's just not hungry. Stop worrying". As each 4 hours approaches, I start checking the clock, just wanting to get it over with so I can relax a little and stop stressing. I'm having to pin her arms down to stop her batting the bottle out of her mouth and follow her head with the bottle as she turns her was left and right, crying. She gags really easily and sometimes throws up a substantial amount of milk, soaking herself and me. This is NOT normal. I start googling the symptoms and post on discussion forums. Other mums all confirm they think its silent reflux. It sounds like it could be. The head thrashing. The crying. The gagging. The constant hiccups. If it is, how can 3 different health visitors not pick it up as a possible problem?! Aren't they baby experts? Aren't they the ones who should be answering your health questions, not mums online?!
So, I've bought some anti reflux milk formula and some size 3 teats (because the milk is so thick it won't flow through a smaller teat) and going to see if it helps. I could go to the doctor but frankly, he's even more useless than the health visitor. He told a mum I know "what do you want me to do?" and to google the symptoms when her baby had hand foot and mouth and a high temperature. He'll listen to the symptoms and probably just agree with me that it's silent reflux and prescribe infant gaviscon, which constipates. I'd rather try the formula first.
Anyway my point is, why do mums have to do all this online research and try to self diagnose THEN approach a health professional? Surely they're paid to be the go to person with these problems? The discussion forums are full of mums complaining they've been fobbed off over and over when they were struggling with feeds, having to go back again and again until their doctor agrees its silent reflux.
Fingers crossed this new milk formula fixes the traumatic feeding times.
Since about 8 weeks old my little one has been fussing at feeds. She thrashes around, turns her head away from the bottle, screams and cries. If we manage to get her to start drinking, she only drinks half a bottle then stops and screams if you try to get her to take any more. I wouldn't worry but munchkin was a teeny tiny 6lbs at birth and charted at 9th centile (which means out of 100 babies there would be 9 smaller than her and 91 bigger... an average baby would be 50th centile). I obviously want to make sure she's drinking enough milk for her weight and still gaining. So, I mention it to my health visitor. Her response? "She's gaining. Don't worry".
Ok so maybe she's ok? Maybe it's just a phase. Fast forward a month, and I am dreading feeds. I've spoken to 3 health visitors, all of whom have been unconcerned because she's still gaining weight. The last one even said "I don't have a magic answer. Maybe she's just not hungry. Stop worrying". As each 4 hours approaches, I start checking the clock, just wanting to get it over with so I can relax a little and stop stressing. I'm having to pin her arms down to stop her batting the bottle out of her mouth and follow her head with the bottle as she turns her was left and right, crying. She gags really easily and sometimes throws up a substantial amount of milk, soaking herself and me. This is NOT normal. I start googling the symptoms and post on discussion forums. Other mums all confirm they think its silent reflux. It sounds like it could be. The head thrashing. The crying. The gagging. The constant hiccups. If it is, how can 3 different health visitors not pick it up as a possible problem?! Aren't they baby experts? Aren't they the ones who should be answering your health questions, not mums online?!
So, I've bought some anti reflux milk formula and some size 3 teats (because the milk is so thick it won't flow through a smaller teat) and going to see if it helps. I could go to the doctor but frankly, he's even more useless than the health visitor. He told a mum I know "what do you want me to do?" and to google the symptoms when her baby had hand foot and mouth and a high temperature. He'll listen to the symptoms and probably just agree with me that it's silent reflux and prescribe infant gaviscon, which constipates. I'd rather try the formula first.
Anyway my point is, why do mums have to do all this online research and try to self diagnose THEN approach a health professional? Surely they're paid to be the go to person with these problems? The discussion forums are full of mums complaining they've been fobbed off over and over when they were struggling with feeds, having to go back again and again until their doctor agrees its silent reflux.
Fingers crossed this new milk formula fixes the traumatic feeding times.
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