Infant gaviscon question?

[Onegoingontwo]

My newborn is 2.5 weeks old and been diagnosed with reflux and received gaviscon from the dr. It was an emergency appointment (acid got into his lungs for baby was wheezing) so I felt a little panicked and didn't stop to ask all the right questions.

The prescription literally says one sachet with every feed and me and the Dr went through all the feeds and amounts and came to the conclusions we had to aim for less milk 8 times a day, and he didn't make a mistake in saying "every feed" as he even called the pharmacy to check the amount of sachets in a box to make sure I'd have enough for a while for all the feeds I'd be doing. Also the pharmacy always check the prescribed amount too...

So why does it on the box say not to be administered any more than 6 times a day? Am I going to hurt my baby if I do it more than this?

He's a newborn so he's having milk every 2-3 hours so will definitely hit the 8+ mark. Part of me want to trust the doctor but as a mother I don't want to cause more harm to my baby.

It’s a long time since my DD was a baby, but IIRC infant Gaviscon should only be given max 6 doses in 24 hrs due to sodium content.

You could check with the health visitor.

I'd go with what it says on the packet everytime. I went though this with my now 2 year old and found it made her very constipated. I reduced it to every other feed then to 3x a day which worked a treat.

I've used it with 3 of my children and yes I'd only give 6x per day max. In fact, I think I only gave it 4x per day, due to ongoing supply issues. That made enough of a difference.

This is literally our situation with our 2 week old currently. So the hospital doctor (a children’s hospital btw so trust her more) said make sure he drinks no more than 2 oz every 2 hours with gaviscon every time so that’s 12 feeds in 24 hours. After seeing the packet say no more than 6 sachets I panicked and phoned my gp who said he should really be drinking 4 oz every 4 hours so 6 feeds and therefore 6 sachets. However because of his reflux I’m not pushing 4 oz a feed and instead having to either waste 2 oz every time or try and add half a sachet to 2 oz. Either way it still works out 6 sachets a day it just depends on how comfortable you feel trying to get your baby to have larger amounts over a longer time. Personally I’m listening to the children’s hospital doctor who say 2oz for every 2 hours and then she said to stretch to 3oz every 3 hours if possible and accept the milk waste.