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Infant feeding

wind or vomiting - it seems i have to choose!

78 replies

olivo · 05/10/2009 19:03

DD has been on gaviscon for about 10 days now - it has hugely helped the vomiting but given her awful wind which disrupts her (and consequently, my) sleep all night. do i stop thegaviscon and let her suffer the reflux or carry on and she has to put up with the wind? she looks so distressed trying to get it out.
would giving her a reduced dose of gaviscon do any good? my dr wasn't very helpful.

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nightmareonELMstreet · 06/10/2009 12:22

Hi Olivo,
Bumping your post!
Is it definitely wind causing the discomfort? DS1 was on gaviscon for reflux, and was in discomfort from stomach acid still until he was prescribed Ranitidin.

Sorry your Dr isn't being helpful - hope someone has advice that can help.

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olivo · 06/10/2009 13:41

thanks nightmare.
i did wonder whether the acid itself is also making her uncomfortable. maybe i should book to see another dr and ask for ranitidine. its heartbreaking seeing her so uncomfortable and unhappy

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Longtalljosie · 06/10/2009 20:33

Hello again Olivo .

DD has been a bit sicky today but better than she was with no Gaviscon... have given her 5mls (so 1/3 of a sachet) with feeds, and 10mls (so 2/3 of sachet) before bed.

I also found the cooled boiled water got things moving as well...

Is your DD on one sachet or two?

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olivo · 06/10/2009 20:40

Hello LTJ!
she should be on 2 as she is over 10lb now but i have kept her at one. in fact, after reading your posts last night, i have only given half today, and less discomfort and no major vomiting, except after the ebm she had half an hour ago, but that seems to be a reaction to bottles

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Longtalljosie · 06/10/2009 21:07

God it's like feeling your way in the dark, isn't it? I think our daughters have the same thing - I could have written your posts. Watching her straining with the wind (if it is wind) is so upsetting - but then on the other hand pre-Gaviscon she was crying every time she was put down on her back to sleep. So I figure if she can sleep through it, it must be better... but I just hope there's some way I can help her have no discomfort at all...

Incidently - my DD was 12lb 5oz last time she was weighed, so we ought to be on two sachets as well...

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nightmareonELMstreet · 07/10/2009 18:36

Can't think of anymore suggestions to help - but you have my sympathy, having a refluxy baby is HARD especially if the Dr isn't listening to you.

My son did grow out of it, and by the time he was on solids it had dissapeared completely.

Good luck olivo/longtalljosie.

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roslily · 07/10/2009 18:52

I can't even get the gaviscon into my baby- he just spits it out and screams.

No other advice, but sympathies

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Longtalljosie · 08/10/2009 13:22

Thanks nightmare.

Roslily - if you're giving it on its own I assume you're BF - have you tried mixing it with expressed breast milk?

Am having a bit of a miserable day with it - after yesterday / this morning concluding 5ml (1/3 sachet) isn't enough to stop her vomiting - have upped it to 10ml (2/3 sachet) and have had her screaming in pain with constipation. As Olivo says, you have to choose one ailment or another

I gave her some cool boiled water 20 minutes ago. No movement on the pants front yet, but she's fallen asleep so am hopeful it's working its way through...

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olivo · 08/10/2009 14:19

thanks nightmare.
we're the same, LTJ. i have been giving about 10ms 3 times a day - the vomiting is less but the acid still seems to be coming up and causing screams. also on day 4 of no pooing....
it was so much more simple with dd1 - she spat lots out but it didnt give her wind or constipation or anything. she put on weight and grew out of it at 6 mo or so.

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Longtalljosie · 08/10/2009 14:32

Have you tried the cooled boiled water olivo? About an hour after DD had it, massive pants explosion, a lot of ordinary-looking baby poo - and a happy baby. Just in time for her next feed, whereupon doubtless we'll tread our way through the whole cycle again...

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climbeverymountain · 08/10/2009 15:03

Hello fellow refluxers! We're now on day 3 of the gaviscon and my HV has advised me to up the dose from 1/2 a sachet per feed to a whole sachet as DD still seems to be in pain, poor thing. Much less poo so far - I think upping the dose will probably have the same effect as you mentioned olivo, replacing one type of pain/discomfort with another. We will give it a go though!

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olivo · 08/10/2009 15:28

good luck CEM.
LTJ, how do you give the water - syringe? bottle? and how much? i think i'll try it, poor thing has been screaming all afternoon.

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Longtalljosie · 08/10/2009 16:40

By bottle. She had a fair bit - maybe 2 fl oz. I filled up the bottle and let her have as much as she'd take. Adult Gaviscon makes you thirsty, I wonder if the baby sort does the same.

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Longtalljosie · 08/10/2009 16:44

DD's been screaming all afternoon too. I walked her round the village for 20 mins and she finally dropped off - manoeuvred pram carefully into hall - tiptoed into lounge - then some bloody junk mail sort clattered his shite through the letter box. She's awake, and crying again

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olivo · 08/10/2009 17:03

the things we do!i drove the long way home from nursery, but DD1 woke her up as soon as we got home

will try the water once DD1 is in bed.

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climbeverymountain · 08/10/2009 17:16

Poor you and your little ones LTJ and olivo.

My DD has been screaming this afternoon too. Finally managed to calm her down in the sling. She just looked up at me, eyes red from crying, until she fell asleep. Felt like crying too

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Longtalljosie · 08/10/2009 17:16

Stick the kettle on soon then - it takes an age to cool down sufficiently...

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Longtalljosie · 08/10/2009 17:17

Oh poor you climbeverymountain

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stantonjulie · 08/10/2009 19:36

I was advised by my doctor on the 2nd time of asking to mix the gaviscon with breastmilk and use a syringe (after trying and failing with with a spoon and a bottle). I tried this for a bit but found the syringes were very hard to get clean (ask your doctors for syringes - mine give me as many as I need).

I had also noticed that she poo'd less so was advised by the HV to give cooled boiled water - unfortunately she hates the bottles so that didn't work. Finally, through trial and error, I now mix 2 sachets of gaviscon with 3 teaspoons of cooled boiled water and syringe as much in as I can in at every feed other than the middle of the night. This way, she is less constipated and the syringes are easier to clean therefore more hygienic. I visited the doctor again this week hoping to get ranitidine but as the gaviscon seems to stop the pain (if not all the sickness) I was fobbed off with the bricks under the cot - have tried this tonight so will see how we go.... my dd is 12 weeks old

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olivo · 08/10/2009 19:42

hi stantonjulie. i use 15mls of cooled boiled water with each achet but she's still bunged up. she had 1/2 oz of water earlier but didn't like it. and i've now just wasted 4 1/2 oz of EBM by putting the gaviscion in it rather than giving with syringe. she swallowed a bit and then flatly refused to continue! so....she's back on the breast....
i'm exhausted from today

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Longtalljosie · 08/10/2009 20:17

Yeah me too olivo. Sorry she didn't like the water. Do persevere though (perhaps warmer? cooler?) because it really does get the poo going.

Coincidently, I got a full sachet into DD just now using the EBM and syringe method recommended by stantonjulie (hello stantonjulie!). This was only because the Gaviscon blocked up the teat of her bottle and the wider ones weren't in the steriliser so I couldn't think of anything else. It worked - sort of - she's afraid of the syringe now so it took her a while to figure out it wasn't as bad as the Gaviscon just with water. I found squirting a bit in her mouth, then offering her the side of my hand to suck (thereby ensuring she swallowed it) and then giving her a bit more, worked.

On cleaning the syringes - I have two sorts - some 5ml ones I got from the chemist which come apart so can be washed separately and sterilised, and some 10ml ones which don't, but which I wash, rinse out with cooled boiled water and then put in the steriliser as they are.

She seems to have gone down OK so far. The last two nights she hasn't settled until midnight. But I can hear her stirring on the baby monitor so we'll see how long it lasts...

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stantonjulie · 08/10/2009 22:45

Hi Olivo and longtalljosie - glad we are all in this together!

I found the constipation eased off over time (my dd has been on gaviscon for about a month now). Essentially gaviscon is a food thickener so it takes the baby a bit of time to get used to having to digest something heavier. However if you are not seeing an improvement you should go back to your doctor and try a different medication as it is so difficult to administer to a breast fed baby. Since taking gaviscon my dd goes to sleep immediately at 7pm and only whimpers occasionally until I feed her again at 11pm. The arching back and distress during feeding also disappeared and she doesn't seem to suffer too much during her night feed (normally c5am). I will let you know if the tilting cot works based on how sick she is tomorrow!

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olivo · 09/10/2009 08:36

I am of these babies that go down at 7pm! my dd has a feeding frenzy still, until about 10pm..but..... she slept from 10 till 3.30 last night I'm trying not to get wexcited that i may finally get some sleep but today i feel great!
SJ, nice to hear a sucess story from you. i am going to ask about ranatidine if i dont see an improvement in the next week. my washing machine cant keep up - sicky clothes, spat out gaviscon muslins, bedding....!

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Longtalljosie · 09/10/2009 08:45

Oh that's good news stantonjulie, I'll hope the constipation eases off. I'm not giving her Gaviscon with her 4am feed either - she's 7 weeks old and feeding at 7, midnight (expressed dream feed) and 4.

We had a very good night last night actually, after an appalling day and two bad nights. Hoping for a better day today - for all of us!

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Longtalljosie · 09/10/2009 08:49

Morning olivo - glad you had a good night as well. Any poo yet?

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