Reflux in BF baby

[Stefka]

My dr thinks DS has reflux and gave me meds for it. He started going on about putting it in the milk at each feed and when I asked him how he said 'Oh - are you breast feeding?'. He had no clue what I should do - asked if I wanted to give my son juice - um no he's only 15 weeks. He was nice about it and said I had given him a good problem to think about and that he would ask the HV to call me.

I can express and give the odd bottle but I do not want to do that for every feed. Maybe for one at night when it's at it's worst or something.

Any tips?

is it gaviscon?

Yes

Oh there is something on the box about using a spoon. It says give after a feed but my DS tends to fall asleep after a feed.

do you not give it in a dropper or am i thinking of something else? can he lap it out of a bottle lid or other small container mixed with EBM?

It's a powder in a sachet.

It's going to be a total PITA!

doesn't matter when you give it - try half way through feed
basically make it up with cooled boiled water in a glass using a spoon (both sterilised before) you don't need to use expressed milk
make sure really smooth - ie use about 5ml water first to make paste then add 10ml - and then give via bottle. if not taking bottle yep spoon or syringe.
its not that bad honest and can really help
although watch out for constipation!

Could I wash and sterilise the dropper from an old infacol bottle and use that?

Hi my ds2 had reflux from about 8 weeks to 2 yrs and I breastfed him the whole time, but had to put up with a lot of misinformation from health professionals who didn't seem very used to dealing with breastfeeding mums n babies. Anyway, when he was on the Gaviscon I used to mix it with some cooled boiled water and give it to him on a spoon. He got used to it pretty quickly. It may not make much difference to the reflux tbh. If you haven't found it already, try looking at this site which has some great advice about reflux and breastfed babies

www.pollywogbaby.com/

click on the link to the e-book underneath the photo of the slightly red-faced baby.

there's also a yahoo group called breastfeedingreflux which is great support

Don't expect the hv to know much more than the doctor unless she is exceptional!

also if you hunt for old messages from me with 'reflux' as a keyword there are probably some other links in there.

Do you think it's reflux? I was given Gaviscon for ds1 as well but to be honest never used it as dp and I worked out it was a cow's milk intolerance instead - once I cut cow's milk out of my diet he was far far better. I didn't think of it until reading this article by Jack Newman but it turned out both dp and I had cow's milk intolerance as children so it wasn't too surprising to have a son with the same condition! In contrast, ds2 definitely had reflux but it was too severe for the Gaviscon to help at all.

stefka - not sure the infacol bottle might not withstand the heat of steriliser??? some warp maybe would let off chemicals - don't know
prob woudn't risk it
spoon/bottle dead easy
reflux like anything else come in differnt degress of severity - for some its a variation of normal, others gaviscon is ok others needs ranitidine.
cows milk in your diet can make reflux worse, and can confuse the issue whether an intolerence to cows milk or reflux thats made worse by it.
if gavsicon doesn't help try cutting it out and see if it helps

If he doesn't take it from a spoon, then you can try a syringe- pester the pharmacy and they will give you a good supply. You can reuse them a few times. Other option is to make up the paste a bit thicker and put in on your (cleaned finger)

I'm sure you've also been told about the feeding little and often to avoid pressure on the tummy, only feeding from one breast to minismise the amount of foremilk, propping up after feeds etc. If not we can direct you to sites that will help

I also found that giving the gaviscon before feeding sometimes worked better than after.

good luck and remmber 9 times out of 10 it gets better round about the time they are sitting up and firmly on solids

I haven't heard of those things witchandchips so any links would be great.

How long should it take to work? The first lot I gave has made bugger all difference.

He won't take it from the bottle. I used a spoon. It was a total faff and he cried.

You can buy syringes for giving medicine. I made it up in advance using cooled boiled water (when they were under 6 months). Try and poitn it in the corner of their mouths a littel at a time. Gaviscon worked some of the time but it was a faff.

One of my kids had it badly with lots of throwing up but luckily no pain. Solids or sitting up made no difference. The former made it worse for me cos it was multi-coloured sick. Luckily it stopped at 10 months but he still throws up very easily if he has a cough.

The link in mummypigs post is brilliant.
personally i would try just the gaviscon and the positioning changes before trying to eliminate different things from your diet
why

1. if you only change one thing at a time then you will know which is actually working
2. if you are feeding very frequently then you will not have time to make yourself proper meals, not being able to have a bowl of cereal or some toast and honey as a quick snack to keep you going is really difficult. you do need to look after yourself as well

good luck + remember in a few months in should all be over!

yes I agree with witchandchips, try one thing at a time and allow it a while to work (say at least 5 days for Gaviscon or positioning, longer for a dietary change). I know it's really frustrating but it really helps to work out what is actually going on.

If you have a chance, do read the pollywogbaby e-book as it has far more advice than anyone can put in one message on mumsnet

hope you find the right solution for you and ds

Gaviscon may not stop the sickness but may help the pain. so look for signs of agony as well as the amount of white puddles on your floor and dried sick in your bra.

agree totally with both below posts!

Hi Stefka, I'm using gaviscon with ds and its been fab. Cos weight gain is an issue I mix it with ebm which is a faff but ds also seems to take it better. I give in a doidy cup which took practice but is fine now. Ds now keeps most feeds down and sleeps! And putting weight on so can't complain. Am a gaviscon fan! It took a couple of days to kick in though and ds now does less frequent but HUGE poos! Hope it works for you.

My bf dd had reflux. We were prescribed Gaviscon but it was such a faff to prepare the bottles of EBM that I ended up stopping using it and just accepted the tide of milky vomit. My dd was never sore with her reflux though and was gaining weight fine (in spite of throwing up in excess of 10 times a day). It was a laundry problem for me rather than a health problem for her
It reached its peak around 4 months and then decreased until she stopped at 7 months. It seems awful (and annoying)at the time but I just kept on telling myself that the benefits to BF were more important than a few stains on the carpet

best way to give gaviscon to a bf baby is small lidded container, mix in a small amount of boiled cooled water shake hard, then syringe. The syringe that come with children's nurofen are the best/safest IME

I got a syringe which helped. It did seem to help him last night combined with holding him upright after feeds. Didn't sleep more unfortunately!

It can take several days for a full improvement to be apparant so give it a chance.