any gaviscon experts ?

[janmk]

Dr has suggested we give this to lo every other feed as he is 4 weeks and is suffering from some minor possetting and acid pain after feeds. my dd had reflux and we put it in all her feeds.....does missing some out mean that lo will still be bad after these ?? i wont exceed the doasage but am a little doubtful about putting in some feeds and not others....also i use level 2 teats with the gav and level 2 without so it may be confusing for lo....any thoughts / advice ?

Hi Jam,

I would probably seek medical advice about giving Gaviscon at such a young age.

My DS is 5 weeks old and we have attended A&E twice with persistent huge vomits and we were eventually prescribed Infant Gaviscon and advised to give it with every other feed. DS is breast fed and feeds about 8-12 times a day. I did ask the doctor what the point was if I wasn't going to be using it every feed as obviously he'd still be vomiting on the occasions he didn't have it.

How is the weight gain going? The Registrar told me that a lot of babies have reflux and as DS is gaining weight so well it's to our discretion whether we use the Gaviscon or not. If DS was losing weight due. To the vomits then obviously it would be a different matter and we'd definitely give it, but that's not the case with DS. Me and DH chose not to give it as the negatives outweighed the positives. I have since discussed it with my HV who is in agreement that at such a young age we shouldn't give it unless we really have to.

We discussed other methods to try and address his vomiting and distress and are going to review things in a weeks time. Touch wood, things are seeming much better.

I understand some babies need the Gaviscon and it is a life saver for some parents, but as your baby is so young I would ask for professional advice - apologies if you already have and in that case just ignore me

thanks for your reply. it was the dr who prescribed it and i have used before with my dd. i was under the impression gaviscon was a very loe level type medication for reflux...it isnt absorbed into the bloodstream and so there isnt many side effects...apart from constipation which does not effect all babies. i was just surprised at thr every other feed advice as i did not do this with dd1.
i saw your other post and the ranitadine is the next step up from gaviscon if acid pain is an issue....drs arent as keen on this sometimes but i would still use rather than have lo's throat damaged...as with the gaviscon. with dd1 we also had cranial osteopathy and she was loads better after this....coincidence or not so i will be booking ds in for this too. i agree gaviscon must be a pain if bf-ing. max doses of 6 would not be enough for every feed . good luck hope u find a solution too xc

just re read that...meant the acid burning throat not the gaviscon.....hopefully that prevents it !

My dd was prescribed infant Gaviscon at 6 weeks due to reflux we were advised to give it every feed - but she was bottle fed by then. My doctor said it had to be very feed as she would continue to vomit and bring up acid otherwise and the acid would eventually burn and eventually damage her oesophagus which can be very serious. We continued to give it every feed until she was about 6 months and seemed to have grown out the vomiting - she suffered no ill effects. The Gaviscon was a title miracle that saved us and her from hours of screaming, squirming and obvious pain.

Hmm I had to use Gaviscon with both of my babies. I was never told to give every other feed; I wonder if he is trying to tread a fine line between the reflux and constipation?

If it were me, I'd go with every feed to resolve the reflux symptoms and then make a judgement call if constipation arose.

Forgot to say that dd never suffered with constipation when she was taking Gaviscon so it not definitely going to happen.

thanks ladies....think i will go for every feed...tho lo still sometimes does 7 in a day and u can only give 6...hard to choose which one to leave out...x

Oh, I don't remember leaving any out...maybe I was doing it wrong!

If it were me and I had to leave one out, it would be one when your baby would be awake for a while afterwards, so they can be kept upright, not one before a nap or before bedtime.

lo is defo constipated...struggled overnight to pass a pellet poo with a bit of blood in it...he is 4wo...not sutr what to do now ?

I'd give him some cooled boiled water to sip at and phone the HV to see what they say. Good luck xx

yeah hv suggested give it a few more days and water.....booked cranial osteopath as it worked well for dd. xx

good news constipation has eased....lo still doing 7-8 feeds tho so still having to miss some