Need advice about Infant Gaviscon please.

[Writerwannabe83]

I have a 4 week old DS who was prescribed infant Gaviscon a few days ago which we have yet to start. He has been prescribed it due to persistent vomiting after his feeds.

Despite all this vomiting he is still gaining weight really well, he has put on 2lb and 4oz since his birth - 36 ounces in 4 weeks - and is climbing up the centile chart.

The Registrar we saw in the hospital said that as DS is gaining weight well we could either give the Gaviscon and see how it works out, or not give it and 'ride it out' as most babies have a touch of reflux. They trialled a sachet in the hospital but DS was still sick following his feed.

DS is breast fed so the solution was given to him via a syringe and the volume was about 3-4mls I reckon. However, on the box they gave us to take home it says the solution must be made up with 15mls of water which seems a huge amount - I think that's quite a substantial amount of space to take up in a young babies stomach and would mean they'd take less milk?? I was told to give one sachet but the box says babies over 10lbs (which DS is) needs two sachets?! If I do choose to go ahead I'm to give him some every other feed which will probably equate to 4-5 sachets in a 24hour period.

So my questions are:

1. as DS is still gaining weight so well would you still give the Gaviscon despite the potential side effects and the unpleasant experience of syringe feeding it into him? Or would you be content to just let him be a "happy vomiter"?

2. has anyone used it and can give advice on how they prepared the solution for their breast fed baby.

Thanks in advance

My DS has infant gaviscon due to silent reflux but he is FF so i just put it in his bottles. He doesn't suffer with any side effects and his feeds are so much easier now. Slightly different to your situation as my DS isn't sick, he would arch back and scream in pain and refuse the bottle but no actual vomit would come out.

Maybe try it on every other feed like you said? See how she gets on with it and if it reduces the vomiting.

Sorry not much help really! As long as your DD isn't in pain and is feeding well that's the main thing but obviously lots of vomiting after every feed isn't ideal for you!

I found gaviscon too difficult to administer to my ebf son so got a prescription for ranitidine instead. Much easier is it's just 1ml 3x a day via syringe and doesn't cause constipation as gaviscon can do.

It's a total PITA if you are bf. Ask the GP to prescribe Ranitidine instead.

We used it for my BF baby until he was six months, it was a lifesaver. We didn't do syringes though, I had a couple of very small, slow-flowing bottles that came with my breast pump. I used to give him one boob, bottle of gaviscon, second boob. It worked for us, meant the difference between one or two costume changes per day and ten!

DS (12 weeks) won't take a bottle and only feeds small amounts every hour so that amount of gaviscon via a bottle was a no go. Ranitidine has been a life saver and turned him into a happy baby! He wasn't dropping weight but was in pain.

This is really interesting about Ranitidine - this forum is brilliant!!

I will ring the GP on Tuesday

Be mindful that they don't like prescribing it as it's much more expensive than gaviscon. You can say gaviscon caused bad constipation and that you heard of ranitidine and wanted to try it. They're more likely to give it then rather than due to convenience of administration! (One dose of gaviscon blocked DS up for days as it acts as a thickener to stop the milk coming back up. Ranitidine deals with the actual acidity of the stomach) If the vomiting isn't upsetting your LO, however, then I'd avoid medicating.

Same for us - DD was EBF and getting 15mls of gaviscon down her was tough. It also wasn't very effective. I went back in in tears and said You have to do something! They prescribed ranitidine and very quickly things improved. Ranitidine isn't actually licensed for children which might be another reason why doctors are loathe to prescribe it but it's worked wonders for us!

Things are getting gradually worse. DS seems in constant pain and it's breaking my heart

The health visitor is coming round later so I'll see what advice she has to offer.

I have a happy vomiter and wouldn't give him medication for my convenience (less clearing up). It would be different if he was in pain though.

Oh OP your poor ds and poor you too. Reflux is so hard.

Is there still a phone number printed on the box? If so this is the advice line and I would really recommend giving them a call - I was advised that I could make the gaviscon up with much less water than the box suggested - this made life much much easier. Then we could easily administer it from a spoon (you could also try a syringe). It was still a little bit of a faff but totally manageable like that.

My other top tips would be

1. it dissolves much better in warm water.
2. we found it much more successful if it was given halfway through a feed rather than at the end.
3. I got hold of a stash of medicine spoons and little medicine cups and a couple of spare baby bottles - every night I sterilised the lot and then used one bottle to store all the spoons/cups and in the other I made up a day's worth of gaviscon with warm water and put it in the fridge. (I would check with the HV that this is OK) At feed time I then poured a dose into one of the medicine cups and gave it to ds with one of the spoons.

I'd also suggest giving it after as many feeds as you can (within the max dosage I mean) to give your baby's throat as much time as possible to recover.

Good luck with it all, hope you get something sorted out very soon.

We never gave it, I put up with the vomiting crying and sleepless nights. Although if I'd known at the time there was an alternative I would have tired that.

I'll tell you why I didn't use it, as I was told its actually not any more effective then keeping them upright for 30 minutes after a feed. plus as DD was gaining weight well I was reluctant to mediate. An alternative that was easier to administer and less likely to cause constipation would have been very attractive. I didn't have much support though from my HV or GP.

We'll the HV has just left and she was brilliant. I cried as soon as I opened the door to her and she gave me a big hug. She stayed for about an hour and let me just pour my heart out.

She also doesn't think we should give the Gaviscon so I'm glad to have the back up. We discussed methods we can try to see if it helps DS settle at night and me and DH have bought some Gripe Water which has been recommended by some of my friends.

I feel better now I've got it all off my chest. She is going to ring me on Friday to see if things are any better and she's also going to come and see me next week.

I just hate feeling so helpless and wish I could take away his pain

Oh bless you. We had the same with our LO. Gaviscon helped up to a point, as it thickened his food so less came up, and we just gave it in 5ml of water via syringe (sometimes less). We also used ranitidine, as this stopped the acid pain, which was heartbreaking to see him suffer with.

We stopped using the gaviscon after a few weeks once the ranitidine had built up in his system. It can be a pain in the bum to administer, and makes the poo thick too, but has its place in reflux treatment. It won't help,with the acidity though, and it really sounds like your LO needs help with that. Give your GP a call and ask for ranitidine to try.

Also, we found upright feeds, keeping him upright after feeds, elevating his cot etc. all to help as well. X

Between nasal drops and gripe water we seem to have turned a corner - he's been like a different baby today. He's feeding really well, sleeping peacefully and we've had no screaming. Fingers crossed things will improve from here on in