Gaviscon plus thicker milk - is this ok??

[MrsBumblebee]

I want to start giving my 7 wk old DS infant gaviscon to help with silent reflux (the health visitor and I both think he has it, and the GP said there's no harm in trying IG to see if it helps). I'm already using Aptamil 'Easy Digest' milk, though, which is thicker than normal (this seems to help his symptoms a little bit). My HV said it was ok to stick the IG in with the 'Easy Digest', but on the packet of IG it says you shouldn't mix it with any other thickening agents or thickened milks. Anyone have any experience of this??

my ds (now 16 months) had severe reflux plus allergies. He was on thick milk (various medicated and also cow and gate comfort which is easy digest too) and started on gaviscon (wasnt strong enough) and didnt have a prob with it. The only thing you may need to do is go up on the flow as you'll prob need bigger hole in teat with thicker milk. The other thing i did was put a tiny bit extra water in to dilute it (only 1/4 oz or so) but make the right quantity of scoop of milk to 1 oz water first.

hope this helps. If you want an ear to listen just shout as I remember it all still so well!

Thanks mad4mybaby. I've just tried him with his first feed; had to use a really fast flow teat to allow him to get the milk. He found it a bit tricky to cope with, but I kept pausing the feed and he finished it ok. He doesn't seem much better after the first try with the IG, but I guess I need to perservere. I've had really conflicting advice, though - one HV told me I'd be able to tell after a couple of feeds whether it was working or not; another said the effect builds up, so I needed to stick with it for a fortnight before deciding whether it's working. Do you have any view on that?

Theres usually a phone no on the milk powders for helpline they should be able to tell u if any known probs.

Hi Mrs Bumblebee,

I have just started using IG for my 15 week year old. Like you we don't have a def diagnosis of silent reflux but Dr said to give IG a go. The advice we were given is that we shouldn't expect to see any major improvements for a couple of days, but he didn't mention it taking as long as a few weeks.

mad4mybaby...did the C&G comfort help? Where can you get stuff like that from?

HTH

unless their esophogas(not sure how to spell it as have sleep deprivation) is really inflamed you may not notice a change straight away although my DS slept well after a few days of severe reflux before i worked out what was wrong and gave him some IG.

I just tried easy digest with IG and it blocked the teats tight up. made for a stressful night DS not getting enoung to eat and me wondering why he was not taking much of the bottle. went and got some normal formula early this morning and its flowing ok now. have to get much bigger teats but no one sold them when at the shops early this morning (trying to go back tobf now as it was such a stressful experience). would agree you need bigger teats but worth getting them before having only easy digest in the house.

DS still pukes a lot but is not in any where near as much pain and sleeps ok at night now. IG is worth trying for any baby with problems settling after feeds.

Moocowme, I've been trying the Easy Digest plus IG for a few feeds now. It's a bit of a battle, to be honest: he can't get it fast enough from the 'fast flow' teat (I use Avent bottles), so we're now using an Avent variflow one with a bigger hole. Trouble is, even the slowest setting on that is a bit fast for him, so he's trying not to choke as he feeds. Also, it seems to be giving him constipation (even though I'm only using 1 sachet of IG each feed). I haven't noticed any big improvements yet, but we'll perservere - certainly for a few days, if not two weeks.

JHelenA, I don't know about the comfort milk, but the Aptamil Easy Digest is available in the supermarkets. It certainly seemed to help my LO a bit, so probably worth a try. Because it's a bit thicker, we were using number 2 teats with it (before we started using IG as well).

You don't have to put the gaviscon in the milk if it's a problem, you can make it up with cool boiled water (instructions on packet). I breastfed my refluxy ds and gave the gavsicon separately with a syringe (should be able to get them from chemist if you don't have one). If you do this you can make it up in advance and keep it in the fridge for 24 hours.

so sorry for my last repsonse Mrs BBE. I was told 2 diff things aswell with the gaviscon, i gave it about 5 days.

Comfort was DEFINETLY an improvment. It isnt as available as most but my ASDA> tesco and boots sell it...