BF baby with reflux - how to administer gaviscon

[TicTacsMum]

DD is 11 weeks and has been diagnosed with reflux. I've been given infant gaviscon to try with her which i'm none too pleased with as i love the convenience of bf - no need for sterilising bottles or carting anything around with me. (Of course if it helps her keep her feed down it will be well worth the hassle) If she was gaining weight at a normal rate I might not bother with the gaviscon but weight gain has been slow.

How do others cope with this? For a start, it is a complete hassle to mix up as i'll need to take a sterilised container and spoon as well as cooled boiled water with me to mix it if we're out and about. I've also found that she absolutely hates taking the gaviscon from a spoon. It makes her gag and choke and i'm not sure how much is actually going down. Could giver her it in a bottle of EBM but she gags with that too. As she often brings up her feed half way through (or immediately after the feed), the gp has advised that she gets the gaviscon before she feeds. Have been using it since yesterday and although she hasn't brought up her feed in the HUGE quantities she was before, a fair bit has still come up, only thicker.

Any advice/tips PLEASE!!!

have you tried using a syringe
you can get them from chemists

Doormat - have one of those at home that i've never used (staying at my parents this week). Would I have to sterilise it, do you think? I think I read on the packaging that it can't be done in a steam steriliser.

Just rinse it out with hot boiled water after use and do so again beforehand if it makes you feel better or would she take it off a medicine spoon.

I had a reflux baby, also diagnosed at 11 weeks. We had gaviscon, plus two other drugs to give her. I was administering things about 15 times each day. You have my complete sympathy. With the gaviscon, I ended up leaving it as a very thick paste and just putting little bits into her mouth from my finger. It was very variable how much stayed in. I had to do it with her lying down so that it didn't just immediately come out again. She was breast fed and despite trying a bottle, in order to mix in the gaviscon, she wouldn't take it, so we just had to keep going with the paste. I just boiled water each morning, and divided it into sterilised (using milton tablets in an icecream container overnight) containers for the day. It is a complete hassle but it did help. Like you I didn't find that the gaviscon plus all else that she was on removed the reflux problem but it did reduce it, and she gained (some) weight and was less unhappy. You're in for the long haul, but you'll get there. Hope that this helps.

Oh dear Katsh - doesn't sound like good news!!

She took the gaviscon off the spoon a little easier tonight but again it didn't seem to make too much od a difference - think i'll be back to the gp next week.

Might try the paste thing.

Also tried putting ebm into it instead of water. Think this is ok??

Oh, i hear her crying - got to go.

I think ebm is a good idea - at least no sterilising to do. If she's not improving it's definitely worth pursuing with GP. A referral to a paediatrician who deals with a lot more reflux babies than a GP may also help. There are a number of drugs that they can use to speed up the emptying of the gut so that there's less in there to come back, and to neutralise the acid so that your baby isn't in such discomfort with it. It can take many months for it to stop, so worth getting good treatment early on. Hope all goes well

my dd also had reflux didnt find the gaviscon much use was breastfeeding so had to use a syringe was referred to a really good peaditrician who gave loads of advice keeping her upright for at least 20 ins after a feed put rolled up towels under mattress so she wasnt lying flat and against all the advice she slept on her tummy and was a lot happier for it, she had mainly grown out of it by the time she was 1 so good luck!!

Thanks! Have just looked on the LLL website and articles about overactive let down which i think applies to me. Got some good tips there too.

tictacs mum, ds2 (19m) has reflux so I have been through this all. He wasn't diagnosed until about 4 months and took the Gaviscon from a spoon pretty well so I can't help v much with alternative methods of administering it, except to say that no, i don't think you can give it in ebm because the enzymes in the breast milk will start to break it down (but don't quote me on this). If I was out and about, I used to carry around sterilised spoons in a Tommee Tippee box, and a little Avent bottle of cooled boiled water, and use the lid of the bottle to mix the Gaviscon and water, just washing it out with water and washing up liquid in between times. Once I got used to it, it wasn't too much trouble tbh.

But if you find the Gaviscon isn't really working then please please be really pushy with your GP and get a referral to a specialist paediatrician - this is what we got at about 7 months but i really wish I'd done it earlier as the drugs made a huge difference. Imho Gaviscon only makes a tiny bit of difference. And i'm not convinced by the suggestions to give it before feeds because the way it works is to form a kind of layer above the milk in the stomach, so giving it before feeds kind of negates its effect (again imho).

Oh and also gaviscon is well known for making babies constipated but my GP looked at me strangely when I said that's what seemed to be happening with ds2.

Be prepared to deal with some very misinformed health professionals regarding breastfeeding a reflux baby, we had loads of pressure from them to move onto hypoallergenic formula and if I hadn't already had ds1 with food intolerances I would have believed them. La Leche League will give you support and I also know some good internet sites/discussion groups about breastfeeding babies with reflux - try this mum's site and the pdf booklet from pollywogbaby.com for starters.

hth

hi - we have a reflux baby who was a preemie, so we got lots of advice on administering the Gaviscon to him while he was still in hospital. Here's what worked for us:

1. for the mixing up, if you can get hold of small containers with lids you can add the water and then just shake vigorously to mix it. you can sterilise in Milton if they won't go in the steam steriliser.

2. do not mix with breast milk, mix with water.

3. the proportions we were told by the doctors (neonatal specialists, not GP) to use for mixing are different from what it says on the packet. Basically we added 4 mls. of water (sterilised) to the powder from the packet, shook it up, and then administered 1 ml. of the mixture to our baby AFTER his feed. You would probably need a bigger dose than 1 ml. as your baby is bigger, but you could experiment with the dosage size and see what works.

4. We were told Gaviscon acts like "cement" on top of the feed to hold it down in the stomach. Therefore it is pointless to offer it before the feed. We had a similar problem to you with baby sometimes vomiting up half his feed, but just persist, some of it will still end up staying down and the Gaviscon helps.

5. for administering it, we used a plastic syringe. it's much easier to get it in and also you can use it to measure out the water for mixing, as well as the correct dose of the mixture. you can get these at the pharmacy and/or GP can prescribe them to you, however they are for some reason not available on the NHS so you may have to ask your GP for a private prescription. they can be sterilised in milton, otherwise you can get disposable ones which you unfortunately have to pay for, but it saves a lot of time.

6. it is not a magic potion - it will help, but our guy also got Domperidone and Ranitidine (these are both antacid/anti-nausea) before every other feed, which made a bigger difference. If you don't see the Gaviscon making much difference, you should ask about getting one or both of these prescribed.

7. Gaviscon does cause constipation, so look out for problems with that and if it happens, you may need to administer less often (say after alternate feeds).

hope this helps. good luck!