March 2007, Basingstoke, England “It can’t be morning; we’ve only just gone to bed!” Does this sound familiar? Maybe if you are a parent with a new baby. In our case, we were parents for the third time, but this time our 6 week old daughter Willow, was diagnosed with Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease/GORD for short, most parents call it ‘baby reflux’. In a nutshell, think exorcist style vomiting! Willow projectile vomits back her feeds on a regular basis, suffers with a sore throat (due to acid) a little dry cough and nasal congestion. She wriggles at every feed and constantly leaks both ends and is irritable most days. A whole new world of uncertainty and anguish opened up for us. Baby reflux means that Willow can’t lie flat as the milk/acid just trickles back up and out of her mouth – sometimes up to 2 hours after she fed.

She doesn’t sleep well as the regurgitation wakes her and every morning she wakes to find herself covered in a blanket of cold sick. We feed her little and often – 24/7 – I suppose it’s no different to feeding on demand, but in Willow’s case she’s so sick the feeds just run into each other.

Having no previous experience of baby reflux the first place we looked for information was the internet. Amazingly there was a massive worldwide community talking about baby reflux. Many people offering advice and suggesting different methods of coping.

We quickly realised that Willow’s upright position was the key to not only keeping her feeds down (well some of it at least!), but also maintaining her happiness and stability.

Not prepared to sit back and wait for a year to pass (as that’s how long we could wait for her little body to naturally grow stronger and sort itself out) we decided to look at as many products and ideas to improve Willow’s situation.

Everything from sleeping, to changing nappies had to be done upright or on an incline. However, finding products to help with this in the UK was difficult. Some products are listed on medical websites, lost in amongst medical supplies and others are listed as one of many products on a general baby products store – mixed up with baby clothes, toys and sundries. We didn’t really know what we were looking for or what the product was called until we tripped over it. In many cases, products are available in the US or Australia, but not here on our doorstep.

Sourcing products for Willow was essential and over a very short period of time, we had accumulated some quite specialist baby reflux products. I was becoming something of an expert in baby reflux and started joining in on UK web forums and message boards – anything to share my ideas, laughter and tears.

I soon realised we had a real ‘collection’ of products, sourced from all over the world and so babyreflux.co.uk was born! The website is a portal for UK parents to discover more about baby reflux/GORD and an online store providing specialist products for babies with reflux, just like Willow.

We continue to cope with acid reflux as our daughter grows older. To give you a flavour of how we have improved Willow’s situation –

• We use a sling everyday as Willow cries a lot with the acid leaving a bad taste and needs plenty of comfort – also if she gets too upset, she makes her self sick. Slings are also great for special trips like going to Hospital, when she has her check ups and weigh-ins.

• We use big bibs for just about every feed – they are a life saver at approx 30cms long, especially just before going out!

• We use 2 Wedges in the cot and under the changing mat. Both lift to a different degree. She also has a special upright bath.

• We use Dr Browns Natural flow bottles to reduce air intake whilst feeding.

There is no right or wrong product for refluxing babies, it’s all trial and error, but knowing what I now know and having tried the products I’ve tried, the most important thing is to provide options and ideas.

If this website can provide parents with ideas and options for their little ones, then I feel my journey has been all the more worthwhile.

Rachel Phillips

P.S I am collecting stories to share with other parents of little refluxers. Check out some other tales - Our Little Ones