Reflux dilemma with baby gaviscon and reflux milk

[Shortbird76]

Hi guys, my LO is 6 weeks and he started getting reflux about 2 weeks ago so I went to my GP and she prescribed baby gaviscon to be added to his feeds he is on aptimil hungry milk. He is 10lbs 4oz so the instructions say 2 sachets per feed, which effectively only covers half the feeds he has during the day, when he doesn't have it it's really noticeable. Went back to GP for 6 week check, told her my dilemma she said to try reflux milk with the gaviscon. Went to boots and the aptimil reflux milk was loads more expensive than normal so I went for the sma reflux milk as it was the cheapest. A day and half in and my son is really constipated and the teats were getting blocked as the milk was so thick. so I read over both the milk and gaviscon instructions again and they both say other thickening agents shouldn't be used when using one or the other product.

Why would the GP and health visitor advise this method if it's clearly wrong???

I am now trying the milk without the gaviscon added to see how this works. Any advice or has anyone experienced this or similar??? Don't like seeing my son in do much pain Xxx

[Armywag]

Yeah it is strange that they told you to mix the gaviscon with a thickened formula. I only use one sachet per feed (she is 13lb+ now and also on ranitidine) but I don't always add it to the formula. I sometimes mix it with the water as it instructs for breast fed babies and put it her bottle. I'd recommend you try it that way. Gaviscon gets thicker the longer it has been mixed so should be given pretty much straight away. Mixing it with the water (rather than formula) appears to lessen the harder stools for my lo.

[Mummy13]

Hey, my baby 3months and 2weeks now and has refulx. Inoticed wen he was about 2 weeks old that he was crying excessivly, like nearly all the time and he was hardly sleeping and kept throwing his milk up (breastfeeding) itook him hospital and they gave me gaviscon it helped to begin with, crying and vomitting less, sleeping more but then it just went back to before so itook him in again at bou 2months and they gave him rentidine to take for a month along with higher doseg of gaviscon and that realy helped. E did suggest a thicker milk and told me not give gaviscon with it so im not sure why your doc advised this. My advise would be just give your LO thick milk without gaviscon, aptimil comfort ifound was good, always hold them up right after feed for bou 10-20minz for the milk to go down and more importantly burp them. By a teat with with bigger hole cus of the thick milk(p.s sorry for the long essey)

[Shortbird76]

Thanks guys I will try both of your recommendations x

[loulouswf]

Hi, my lo has had reflux since day dot and was prescribed meds plus 2 gaviscon sachet with every feed, I was also totally confused as she was on c&g anti reflux milk and it said don't mix with a thickened milk and the instructions said on the packet can only have certain amount of sachet in a day so I did question this with my dr as was concerned that she would be having to much but she looked it up for me in the medical book and there is no set amount a baby can have, I think the instructions on the packet are just a guideline and for those who might just buy it over the counter. We give her 2 sachet every feed but unfortunately mixed with a cows milk allergy we're still trying to work out what's best for her. Hope this helps xxx

[loulouswf]

P.s I had the same probs with the teats and lo was get tired half way through each feed and would fall asleep so hv suggested I moved up to size 2 teat from 8 weeks and it flowed much better but was a bit messy at first but she did take most her bottle before puking it up again lol!!!x

[GsLouise83]

Hi my LO had silent reflux and I found that not only did gaviscon not help but it also caused him to have constipation. I was then referred to a paediatrician who prescribed him ranitidine & domperidone. I think the does is worked out by babies weight so every time the reflux symptoms got worse again I went back to the DR and they would up his does. I did find that this helped but ultimately it was weaning that made the biggest difference. Hope this helps, good luck

[Dante101]

Hi there

I was told by my gp to use either gaviscon or reflux milk not both together! Personally I found changing the milk didn't work and my little girlie was happy on her usual formula, but she hasn't got a cows milk allergy. My little girlie was on two sachets a feed max six in 24 hours as told by my gp. She is also in ranitidine for the pain and this works for her but it was the Paedeatrician that prescribed this . May be worth asking to be referred if you feel necessary as it can take a while to get an appointment . There are milks for cows milk allergy such as nutramigen or neocate speak to your gp about them if they're certain it's an allergy as being on normal milks and gaviscon won't do anything if it is an allergy

Hope this helps I know how hard it is seeing them in pain my little one is 9 months now and gettin better with it finally x

[Cowgirl7]

You have my sympathies, our little lad is 5 weeks and has been struggling likewise for 3 weeks. At present he gets 2 pipettes of Infacol before each feed, ranitidine 3 times a day (a little before his feed whenever possible) and as he too is just over 10lb he gets a fair amount of infant gaviscon, although I am tending to give 1 sachet after each feed rather than 2 after 6 feeds a day. This worked a dream yesterday and this morning and yet again I was fooled into thinking I'd cracked it, but this afternoon and evening I just can't get his wind up so we've gone backover again, so may have to rethink how I'm giving the gaviscon, although I also think he may be getting a bit constipated and that might be painful. My health visitor thinks he's lactose intolerance but the colief she recommended made things worse, but cutting milk products out of my diet seems to help (I've had a couple of cups of tea with milk today so am wondering if this is why he's been upset again today), so back to no milk stuffs. Obviously this is not something I can do for long as he and I need the calcium and nutrients, but for a short while I think it's worth me sticking with. I hope you get sorted soon, it's really hard work.x