Help anyone heard of gaviscon causing blood in babies stools

[lisaPilky]

Hiya, I'm having a nightmare with my 15 wk old, for the 1st 5 wks of his life he did nothing but scream first he was on cow & gate then i tried C & G soya, nothing seemed to agree with him. After countless visits to the GP & hostipal I was finally prescribed Nutramigen a cow & soya allergy free milk, he wasn't tested, but it did the trick he was like a different baby, no screaming just lots of sleeping. Thats until he hit 11 wks then he started to take large amounts 60 oz a day & be unsatisfied, then he became really uncomfortable & would do a sicky burp & scream in pain. The doctor gave me gaviscon which did the trick but his stools became green with black stripes in it, they were then sent for testing & came back with blood present in it. The gaviscon was stopped & a week later he was retest & came back clear. But his pain & sicky burp returned, the doctor gave me enfamil ar for reflux but within 24 hours he was back to the screaming new born, I then noticed it had lactose in it & return to his nutramigen milk. The doctor says they is nothing else she can give me for his sicky burps but hes gone down from 60 oz to 15 oz I can't win & don't know what to do, anybody got any advise?

I don't know if it's the same thing, but my dd had similar black streaks that tested positive for blood when she was 4mo. She was put on ranitidine (Zantac syrup) which reduces the amount of acid in the stomach, so when she refluxes it doesn't burn her gullet. The thinking was that she had oesophagitis - basically her gullet was raw and bleeding from the reflux. This was never confirmed with any invasive tests, but the Zantac cleared it up and it hasn't been back since. Worth asking your GP about. In fact, DD's streaks warranted a referral to a Paediatrician, so don't be afraid to ask for that.

Thanks for that i rang the doctors today and demanded to be referred, will speak to my health visitor about ranitidine, she got more chance of getting it me than going to directly to my doctor. Thanks again

Ask to be refered to a paediatric detitian.
Of course enfamil ar didn't work for a baby who has problems with cow's milk allergy, it is cows milk based. It works by thickening the milk on contact with the acid in the stomach.
If gaviscon and ranitidine don't help, you could try a feed thickener such as carobel or vita quick which makes it more difficult for the baby to sick up the feed. In my experience gps are more likely to go down the route of prescribing medication rather than trying the simple things first. Have you tried keeping ds upright for 15 mins after a feed to reduce reflux? Good luck.

Yes i've tried keeping him sat up after his fed no difference, i know a fed thickner should work cause i've been naughty and tried a spoon full of baby rice in his milk and that did the trick, but at 15wks i can't do that all the time. I'm waiting for Gp to get back to me to ask about a thickner, fingers cross she'll give it to me. Thanks. I really can't cope with another day with an hour screaming after each bottle.

My Doctor is going to give me SMA lactose free milk, she says its thicker & will stop the reflux any one heard of this?

SMA lactose free is still based on cows milk protein but with the lactose taken out. It depends if the problem is the lactose or the protein of cows milk formula. Blood in stools could possibly be a condition called cows milk collitis which causes bleeding in the large intestine and is an allergic response to cows milk protein, or it may be a concequence of the reflux cauing irritation in the gullet, either way it need checking out properly by a paediatric gastroenterologist . I am not aware that sma lacto free is substantially thicker than standard formula. THink you should try carobel which is a feed thickener suitable for infants from birth made by cow and gate in his nutamigen which is both cows milk protein and lactose free.

Hi - My daughter is two year old - I know how your feeling, as for the last year have been frighting very hard to get my daughter better- You need tobe asked to be refer to Great Ormond Street Hospital asap - Dr. Shah (Gastroenterologist) - to the best place!

My daughter has Coelaic Disease and Multiple food allergy e.g. Diary, egg, soya, tomatoes, potatoes and the list never ends. Great Ormand St. have made up special milk and food for us etc

So keep fighting!!!!!

Mums are always right!

Good luck

Hi there
Cant advise about the blood but my DD reacted to gaviscon (diarrhoea) too. Her stools werent tested so i cant say if there would have been blood or not. However she needed a thickener (severe reflux, dairy intolerance and on Neocate) and the one that worked for her was Nestargel - its the same as carobel (made from carob bean) but no maltodextrin (which i have to assume was causing the problem). You can buy it in boots (but usually have to order it in) and it has to be heated but it still was worth it for us.

alice