Could it be reflux?

[LittleBirdy]

DS is 5 months old and I'm wondering if he might have silent reflux.  He has a lot of behaviors that could just be normal infant stuff but I don't want to keep writing it off if it's not.  On the other hand, how do they diagnose reflux?  I also don't want him going through a bunch of tests unecessarily.

Here's what he's doing:

-Always been a frequent nurser.  As a newborn, nursed every hour all day long.  Once he started getting bottles at 3 months (at daycare) he would suck every last drop out of each and every bottle.  They were giving him 4 ounces every 2 hours or so, but sometimes he really wanted it more like every 90 minutes.  Thinking it was a hunger thing, we started trying to do 5-6 ounces every 2.5-3 hours.  He will eat a whole six ounces and still sometimes want a bottle 2.5 hours later.  So is he eating not out of hunger, but because it makes him feel better?

-Always seems to sound... I don't know... gurgly?  Like he has a stuffy nose, or a bunch of snot or something in his throat, but then you put the bulb thing up there and get nothin'.  This started maybe six weeks ago?

-Often sputters and coughs a few minutes into a feeding, particularly if it's been awhile since he's eaten. 

-He's a very average spitter upper.  Spits up very little when EBF, more when bottle fed.  (He gets about 50/50 breast milk and formula at daycare.)

-Until he could hold his head up on his own, he wanted to be carried in an upright position.  He'd cry if you tried to hold him in a cradle hold, unless he was nursing.  But he did seem okay to lay down on his activity mat to play.

-He was a pretty decent sleeper for the first three months.  He slept in a rock n play sleeper, which is on an incline.  He did a great week after transitioning to his crib, then got a cold and starting sleeping in the swing a lot.  Then the 4 month sleep regression where nothing worked.  Then maybe 10 good nights in the crib.  Then he rammed a baby spoon straight down his throat about a week ago and sleep has been horrendous ever since.

Is it worth having this investigated further?  I am trying to balance the tendencies of a first time mom to constantly wonder if there's something wrong with their baby without ignoring the fact that... there could be something wrong with my baby!

[Knitting Mama]

Most of that sounds fairly normal to me. The stuffy nose may be allergies to something not seasonal, like dust or dander.

Cecilia's silent reflux was easy for me to spot because she had very tell-tale signs. She would arch her back and cry if she was laying flat, but if I propped her upper body up at a bit of an angle, she slept fine. When nursing, I had to keep her at an angle or she'd just fuss at the breast. Also, when she wasn't crying or babbling, I could hear her burping up and swallowing repeatedly. Try listening for that.