How to give infant gaviscon and tips on reflux

[Slanketeer]

I'd be really grateful for some advice on giving infant gaviscon to an EBF baby and managing reflux in general please.

I have a 4 week old who is EBF and he's just been prescribed infant gaviscon by the GP as his reflux is causing him lots of distress. I'm reasonably happy with the decision to start the gaviscon but the GP didn't really have any advice on how best to give it. I know you can give up to 6 sachets per day but I'm not sure what dose we should start with and how to space that through the day. I feed on demand and he normally feeds 10-12 times a day. He's gaining weight fine at the moment with plenty of wet and dirty nappies.

Also any tips on how to keep him feeding well as since the reflux has got worse he is feeding for much shorter periods and I'm worried his weight will dip and my supply will drop. Thank you!

We had this with our first and I'm sorry, I really can't remember how we got it into him but I do remember that it wasn't worth the effort.

It turned out that our DS has tongue tie. Have a read of the symptoms and see if they sound familiar.

Congratulations on your new LO too

Hi op! Congratulations on your little one

My ds is 9mo and we had the gaviscon issues too. He was ebf and I couldn't express for him to take in a bottle so it was a massive pain in the arse

The sachets are 1/2 a dose. So one dose is 2 sachets
In a small glass mix two sachets with 10ml water. It'll make a gritty paste. It needs another 20ml to make the whole dose so pour in a little more, stir, rest of the water, stir
Then syringe or pour into baby's mouth

If you give baby expressed milk on a bottle you can just add the sachets straight to that.

@twoandcooplease thanks so much for the tips, we managed to syringe it into him although he looked very unimpressed by the whole experience!

@PritiPatelsMaker thanks for the tongue tie link that's really interesting especially how many of the symptoms we've been putting down to reflux but could well be tongue tie by the sounds of it. Will try to have him assessed to rule that out, did you manage to find someone in the NHS to do it or did you end up having to go private? I know lots of healthcare staff can miss tongue tie which makes it more challenging.

It wasn't until I joined MN when I was PG with DC2 that I realised TT even existed. None of the HCPs we saw ever even mentioned it, even though we were utterly exhausted and he was obviously very unhappy.

If you have the funds I'd just go private. Milk Matter, in the link, are one option and there's a list of TT Practitioners here.

Let us know how you get on

I’m not sure how much you feel you already know about reflux but I use these resources frequently and thought I’d share in case it’s helpful.

Many reflux symptoms are either misunderstood baby behaviour or can be solves with breastfeeding support or tongue tie assessment

I recently read “Why infant reflux matters” By Carol Smyth

You might be familiar with these “Why…matters” pocket guides from Pinter & Martin (SE London based publishers)? They are just 150 pages long so a handy summary.

The book is in 2 halfs, the 1st half is What is reflux? The second half is Resolving Reflux.

Then,
I found this film of a lactation consultant talking about reflux & I swear in this 9 minute film she tells you a complete summary of all the key points in part 1 of the book-she does talk fast! 🤣

https://www.instagram.com/olivia_lactation_consultant/tv/CY6IOJlFg2Y/?utm_medium=copy_link

And also this excellent page;

https://gpifn.org.uk/reflux-and-gord/

https://www.carolsmyth.co.uk/breastfeeding-resources/posts/2020/august/breastfeeding-normal-baby-behaviours-in-an-abnormal-society/

Film about vomit volumes.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CYEEeTOpHno/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=