Breastfeeding and Carobel - anyone had any success with it?

[PresentFace]

Quick background: I am EBF and my 5wo has horrible reflux, with resulting weight gain issues. Remedies and medicines to date haven't done enough, so we have now been prescribed Carobel to try out.

Carobel is a powdered thickener, made by Cow & Gate, which thickens feeds - the idea being that this makes it more difficult for the feed to come back up. It is suitable for breastfed and bottle-fed babies.

The problem I have with it is that for BF babies, it seems wildly impractical and I can't work out how to use it - or rather, how to get the damned stuff into my baby - with any success!

According to the instructions on the back of the box, you have two options for administering Carobel: mix a scoop of the stuff into a 60ml bottle feed (FF or expressed BM), or make a paste by mixing 3 scoops into 60ml milk or cooled boiled water, to be administered as a spoonfeed before the feed proper.

So either I'm supposed to express at least 60ml for every feed - which I'm never going to manage - or I make up what sounds like an alarming amount of paste for a 5wo stomach. I did so last night, and it had the appearance and texture of wallpaper paste. I spent about 10 mins trying to coax a teaspoon of the stuff down a determinedly disinterested baby before giving up.

Has anyone had any joy using Carobel while breastfeeding? And really, does a 5wo need 60ml of the stuff before every feed? I'm thinking that sounds like a bonkers amount, but am unclear about what a suitable measure would be - assuming that I could get any of it down him, that is.

I've looked online for answers, but although there is plenty about Carobel, this stuff seems to be the preserve of bottle feeders - although it claims to be suitable for breastfeeding, I can't find anything from BF mums who have used it!

If any of you are out there, I'd love some tips. Thank you!

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

No experience sorry Present but this should bump it for you at least.

[TittyBojangles]

What medicinces have you tried already? I am presuming gaviscon? How about ranitidine? omeprazole? I think you should get back to whoever prescribed this and explain how it is not going ot work for you.... totally impractical for a bf baby and likely to cause more problems than it solves - including your anxiety!

[Iggly]

Have you tried adjusting your diet if BF? especially dairy?

[sushidave]

Bumping this as I have the same question. How much carobel paste am I supposed to give before each feed?

[sushidave]

*breastfeed

[sushidave]

Just got some answers from the nurses on our neonatal unit so am posting here for future searches.

Basically, it seems the proportions don;t seem to matter. They advised me to make up a paste (say 1/4 of a scoop of carobel to about 10mls of EBM though it's not an exact science) in a sterilised pot. Then syringe / spoon about 5mls of the solution into baby's mouth before each feed. It will then mix with the warm breastmilk in baby's tummy.

If that doesn't improve the reflux, then try increasing the quantity of the solution.

[Functoriality]

Did it work? My dd is on ranitidine and omeprazole. The ped has also asked me to start carobel. However as I am ebf and have never tried expressing I haven't started it yet.

The omeprazole hasn't started working completely. I give it to her at night and she seems all right till about noon. If she brings up sick after this point she starts screaming again. :-(