After becoming a parent, I quickly learnt that there are a lot of things I’ve never known about babies. As a mum it was the first time I had heard of the word ‘colic’. Then I was soon introduced to the concept of ‘silent reflux’ through my nights of Googling and trawling through Mumsnet.
These buzzwords are now a part of my daily conversations with other parents. But sometimes I do wish there was a handbook filled with everything you need to know about babies. Yet – understandably – no such thing exists because most of parenting is about intuition and dealing with things as they come.
Though there is no handbook, we’ve compiled advice from an expert to explain what silent reflux is. From my personal experience I recall going down the blackhole of Google to form an understanding of how I can help my daughter to sleep better. What I did come across was parents talking about their babies having silent reflux which made the nights more difficult.
Sleep consultant, Naomi Hilliard from Catching Little Dreams, says she often comes across parents whose baby won’t sleep due to silent reflux, she said: “Over the past few years I have seen more and more clients with babies with silent reflux as it’s becoming more recognised and due to it causing major sleep problems I have several clients in the last year coming to me for help.”
So, here are some tips for finding out whether your baby suffers from silent reflux, and how to deal with it.
What is silent reflux?
“Reflux occurs when the contents of the stomach come back into the oesophagus. Babies with typical reflux will spit up breast milk or formula, but in babies with silent reflux, the milk or formula stays in the oesophagus. Reflux generally resolves on its own by the end of the first year,” says Naomi.
She says that babies with silent reflux will show symptoms such as excessive crying, poor feeding habits and sleep problems.
When feeding babies with silent reflux they may gag or fuss as the discomfort caused by their oesophagus has not developed enough.
“Having a child with silent reflux can be extremely tough, especially during the night as they may need a lot of support after feeding to fall back to sleep and seeing your child so unsettled can be stressful for parents.
“A baby with silent reflux is going to be uncomfortable and the reflux can be painful as the stomach acid makes its way back up the oesophagus. The pain and discomfort alone can disrupt sleep. On top of this some babies with silent reflux can develop a chronic cough which again disrupts sleep and makes it harder for them to fall back to sleep,” she added.
Health expert from Pharmica, Superintendent Pharmacist Carolina Goncalves says: “It can be difficult to diagnose acid reflux because of the lack of visible symptoms. Babies that may be experiencing silent reflux might be irritable during/after feeding, refuse to eat, and cough or hiccup persistently. However, these symptoms can indicate numerous other issues impacting the baby, so the best thing to do is consult a paediatrician for proper evaluation and diagnosis. ”
How to tackle it
Naomi says: “Parents are often asked to keep babies with silent reflux upright for up to 30 minutes after a feed and so children will often fall asleep in a parent’s arms or with some element of support, rocking or cuddling. Whilst this helps to alleviate the symptoms of the reflux it can stop them from learning how to fall asleep independently.”
Though nobody sleeps through the night, Naomi also explains that we all transition through sleep cycles, but it is our ability to seamlessly move from one sleep cycle to another that gives us the impression that we have slept all night long.
In the situation where a baby is held or rocked to sleep at sleep onset (bedtime) may mean they develop a sleep onset association and believe that they need to be held or rocked to go back to sleep. That means when they wake in the night transitioning from one sleep cycle to the next, they think they need help and cry out to recreate what happened at bedtime.
Naomi says: “Sleep is a learned skill, and some babies learn this very easily whilst others find it much harder. The good news is that sleep can be taught and this can be done gently but effectively with modern sleep training.
“When looking at a family with a baby with silent reflux we would need to look to resolve the symptoms first before looking at sleep training.”
The sleep consultant recommends visiting the doctors but also says there are things you can do to help treat silent reflux.
She said: “If you are breastfeeding, look at how your diet is impacting your baby’s silent reflux symptoms. Keeping a food diary may help to identify foods that have the biggest impact. If formula feeding, switching to a formula more suited to them is key along with the position in which they feed and the nipple of the bottle.
“Burping your baby several times during a feed can help, instead of waiting until the end of the feed. You can also look to change your routine so that rather than feed sleep play you change to feeding upon waking. Removing the need to feed before they are sleeping.”
Pharmacist Carolina adds: “It’s important for parents to note that as a baby grows, their digestive system naturally matures, reducing the probability of experiencing silent reflux. If the baby is experiencing silent reflux episodes beyond their first birthday, parents should speak with a paediatrician and continuously monitor the baby’s growth and development.”