carobel - use immediately! breastfeeding faff

[jbee1979]

DD is 7wks and apparently suffers from reflux. vomiting started at 4 weeks out of the blue, and recently the acid (presumably) causes her severe pain and she's hysterical.

doctor on call gave her gaviscon which I put in 1/2 oz expressed breast milk. she vomited it straight back up, more than her usual pukes.

GP gave me carabel today. I've mixed it with water and I'm administering with a sterilised syringe.

This is such a faff after convenient breastfeeding! I hate sterilising pots, spoons, syringes, etc.

does anyone know how long carabel should be used within? it says use before, during, after feed, but also "use immediately".

also, how much should DD take. I gave her 7.5ml at intervals during last feed. She's dozing now. Should I be aiming to get 2oz into her as per instructions on the box? that's loads!! She'll not want my milk and I'm worried about the supply then.

Also, I made the carabel up about an hour and a half ago, it's in the fridge. If DD wakes for a snack now, rather than a big feed (on demand is great!) do I have to make up a new batch?

how am I ever going to get out of the house ever again! its taking all the ease out of breastfeeding! why do manufacturers and health professionals not think of supporting breastfeeding mothers with something more user friendly! ! The bottle instructions are a dream - mix with formula! I couldn't express for every feed - I'm lucky to get 4oz!

rant over. anyone have any experience to make life easier?

[whinetaster]

No brilliant advice, but I feel your pain. 2bf babies, both with reflux up to 1 year old.
In the end I bought some small cartons of ready made feed (one a day, kept in fridge) and mixed one fl oz of that with the medicine in a bottle- DC drank that first before then being bf. The sterilising was still a pain, but no syringes and powder faff.
On the positive side, when I came to transition them onto bottle/ supply cup there were no issues.
Good luck.

[jbee1979]

Thank you for your sympathy! in a tired frenzy on Saturday afternoon I decided that she was being sick because she's sick of my breastmilk and I bought a carton of cow & gate and a bottle of aptamil - so I'll try mixing the carobel with that in a bottle.

trouble is she's a a bit anti-bottle after the gaviscon issue - which is a shame because I express something everyday for DH to give her a bottle at night to help with transition later, and to give me 5 mins to have a shower.

what formula did you use? my mum thinks I'm drinking too much milk and the lactose is affecting my breast milk and irritating DD. She's not a professional, she's consulted dr. Google!

[TwoLittleBlooms]

No advice sorry - we were OK with gaviscon. Even if you were to cut all milk from your diet, your breast milk naturally has lactose in it.

[coniferssilhouette]

It could be CMPA, if you avoid dairy (often CMPA babies aren't very happy with soya either) it could well improve. I'd maybe have a chat to someone about it if she doesn't improve. Formula won't go down well with a CMPA baby either as it's the cow's milk protein that is the issue.