Giving gaviscon to a bf baby. How?!

[Sparrowlegs248]

Ds is 3.5 weeks and big, over 12 lb. He is suffering badly with reflux. Given gaviscon by Gp today, I was filled with misery as I thought I remembered how awful it was to give when ds1 had it.

Turns out it's far worse than I remember. Instructions advise to give two sachets, due to his size. Mixed with 30ml water in total. That's SIX calpol syringes full. Give midway through a feed.

So he screams, chokes, splutters, spits it out. What's the knack? I syringe it into his cheek. Stroke his cheek/jaw. No go. No way can I get him to take that much.

Help please.

I had the same and really struggled, no advice sorry. I just did my best with the syringes but it was a nightmare. Don't think I got anywhere near the recommended amount in and not sure it worked anyway

This is interesting to read, obviously I'm not saying for one minute your DS doesn't have reflux but it did make me think a bit differently for my second.
www.google.co.uk/amp/s/sarahockwell-smith.com/2014/10/10/the-great-baby-reflux-epidemic-or-not/amp/

Thanks, pretty sure he does have it, we'll silent reflux anyway. Not much h sick but such awful discomfort.

We were told DS didn't need 2 sachets til he was a lot older (at least 6 months) as they are very constipating. You can also mix it in less water than they say. So I think we got it down to less than 2 syringes. It's a right pita but it really did work. He's 2 and still has 2 sachets before bed.

Dd wouldnt swallow gaviscon when i made it up with water. I can't express.enough to give a bottle so googled what else to do. I used one sachet and hand expressed a tiny bit (5 to 10 ml) into a bottle cap (we happened to have one that had a flat bottom and was a convenient size) and then used a syringe to feed it at the start of a feed. I sterilised both cap and syringe. Once it was in BF and squirted into the back of her cheek I had no trouble getting her to swallow it.

We went back to the GP as it was giving dd awful constipation and he was fine with me giving it like this, although you might want to check yourself. We ended up dropping down to use half a sachet at a time on his recommendation to help with constipation, and it still helped DD settle so I wouldnt worry if you can't get the 2 full sachets in.

We gave up with Gaviscon after it severely constipated my DD, plus were couldn't get it into her easily due to the breastfeeding. We persevered and got ranitidine in the end. It was a game changer and we dad a different, happier, less sick baby overnight!

*had not dad 😆

Our paediatrician said it's the most overprescribed medication for infants and fairly useless. We never figured out how to get it into BF DD (prescribed by GP) so gave up relatively quickly.

Ranitidine is much more effective. But have you considered an underlying cause such as cow's milk protein intolerance? That's what DD ended up having and the reflux didn't improve until I went dairy free. It may not be that, but it's worth considering.

I felt the Gp was totally dismissive of me tbh. I told him that ds has a lot of wind for a bf baby but doesn't seem to struggle getting it out either end. He is incredibly unsettled after a feed, he arches his back, pulls knees up, pushes feet straight out, wriggles about, you can hear it gurgling vack.up his throat, he's fine if held upright. I an having a difficult enough time with other areas of my life (marriage down the pan) and coping with him and his 19 month old brother. I told him id really struggled with the gaviscon with ds1, due to being bf, couldn't get it in, when I did it didn't work and constipated him. Etc. I was in a bit of a state tbh but no go.

Tbf it does seem to be helping a bit. But, his poo just now was not normal, it is firming up and he's only had three doses yesterday and two today, single sachet. In fact one today by the time he pooped. I put it info one syringe and feel he's taking in plenty of milk at the same time.

The one walk in centre GP I saw didn't even recognise silent reflux as a condition, I felt totally deflated after seeing him eventually our own GP agreed to give us ranitidine after several visits when dd was clearly in a lot of discomfort.

DD was prescribed gaviscon but I've stopped giving it to her. I was giving her one sachet every other feed and she is so backed up. We've had to give her lactulose to soften her up as she's been in pain.

The docs have now given us Colief but I'm not hopeful of this