exclusively breastfeeding a reflux baby

[becs1973]

Hi everyone

My little boy has just (finally) been diagnosed with reflux at 12 weeks old. We've been prescribed infant gaviscon which I've heard mixed reports of, but I guess it's a start. Anyway, just wondering if anyone else has breastfed a baby and had to give Gaviscon. It says to give it after a feed, but by that point he doesn't want to take any more food down as it hurts him, so I'm wondering if it would work giving it before a feed? If anyone has any experience of this or any other advice I'd be really grateful!

Thanks

I think it sounds as though you're doing a fantastic job breastfeeding your little boy and reading this thread has taken me back to when my DS2 had it as a baby. Like you he was diagnosed at 12 weeks after the first 3months of me feeling like a complete failure and yes it definitely makes depression harder to deal with as you feel as though you can't even comfort your own baby.

My son was also given infant gaviscon which I started using but after a few days it hadn't made a massive difference so I went back to GP and saw different Dr (who was amazing as her son had also suffered) and she told me to give him a larger dose, (From memory I think 2 sachets with every feed) and within a couple of days he was a different baby. I felt so guilty that I hadn't recognised his pain as abnormal and thought perhaps I just had a difficult baby. I still perservered with BF as much as poss but if I'm honest things started to really improve when I began to express and mix the gaviscon in his feed. Don't want to discourage your BFeeding but I know from my baby I found he was much more contented when I could mix it. I think the relief was instant as he didn't get the pains first.

Having said that, I never tried it giving it before a feed so this might prove more successful. Also holding baby more upright throughout feed and afterwards helps the discomfort.

Best of Luck to you

Sorry to see you had a bad night Have you found a local osteopath ?

I can highly recommend ours, we are in Hants

becs you have my absolute sympathies. I am currently having exactly the same thing with DS, who is 9 weeks old. He has all the same symtoms you describe - screaming, pulling off breast, arching back etc. I too look in envy at babies bf calmly. I'm finding the feeding sessions absolutely exhausting - sometimes it's as if we're having a fight rather than a feed. Even when I feed lying down, I'm almost chasing DS round the bed with my nipple!

Anyway, I've just started using Gaviscon and Ranitidine (sp?). Also using Colief, so I'm finding all the preparation a pain in the a**, as well as the difficulty of feeding. I've been mixing Gaviscon in a bottle with water and giving after a feed, but DS is very reluctant to drink it, and this takes up to 30 mins

Q for those of you who mentioned giving Gaviscon by syringe - the instructions say to mix a sachet with 15 ml water, so 2 sachets would be 30n ml water. Did you give all this by syringe? Or did you use less water?? (sorry silly question, but I'm finding bottles v tedious)

allnew- the quantity of liquid used to dissolve the gaviscon doesn't matter as long as all of the powder dissolves. You can also make up several doses in advance to save all of the faffing with each feed.

I used to mix 6 double (both sides) sachets in 30ml of milk (not water because it tastes foul) and then keep it in a little medicine cup in the fridge. Then I could draw up 5ml (equivalent to 1 double sachet) and give it to him prior to each feed. Ds liked it so much that he used to suck it out of the syringe. I also found that the thicker the solution was the better it helped his reflux.

Also ask your pharmacist for a few reusable syringes with caps. Then you can draw up a few doses of gaviscon and ranitidine and put them in your handbag for days out or put them next to the bed for night feeds to save the trip to the fridge while bleary. My bedside table is covered in hard blobs of gaviscon!

lol, i am still finding hard blobs of gaviscon from our wooden floor/bedside tables and ds grew out of it a month ago! (although very satisfying to pick it off with fingernails!)

emma thanks so much for that tip - sounds so much easier that way. I'm off to the chemist tomorrow to get the syringes!

The Gaviscon does seem to be helping, so I'm determined to keep it up

Thanks to everyone for these postings, though not for me, I'm going through exactly the same thing with my 12wk old ds. Husband keen for me to move to bottle feeding as ds takes feed more calmly from bottle (though not this evening), but I'm determined to carry on breastfeeding if I can. Am finding giving Gaviscon a real pain, but will definitely try getting some syringes as it does make such a difference...

Princess sympathies - somehow it helps to know that other people have this problem. I've started pre-mixing a day's worth of Gaviscon with ebm now, and plan to give it with a syringe each time. Hopefully that will make it easier. Good luck with your ds

allnew - that sounds more water than i used to use? i used to use 2 sachets, mix with 5ml of cool boiled water (slightly warm is best, as dissolves better). once this is dissolved, mix in another 10ml.
give all by syringe. squirt in cheek slowly. tbh my ds used to get excited by the syringe and actually suck it in after a couple of months. guess he associated it with feed time, although i hate the fact he enjoyed it.

i used to use bottle lid to mix in.

for all mentions of gaviscon being a faff, yes it is a total faff, but i promise you, it soon becomes part and parcel of day to day and once you are in a routine, you don't think of it.

i never tried pre-mixing a days worth (if it works, i wish i had!), but does it go solid if it is left for a while mixed up (i.e. when making a days worth in advance?)

likessleep I've starting using less liquid now to mix, after reading other posts. So e.g. this morning I expressed 50 ml (stopped because the batteries ran out!) and mixed in 10 sachets. Not sure yet what it'll be like by this evening but I'll let you know!

just to say that they do grow out of it, but not necessarily as soon as being weaned. i kept being told 'when he is on solids' and so i had built it up in my head that as soon as 6mths and on solids, he'd be fine. i felt totally hacked off when the solids actually made him worse.
but at 9 months he grew out of it and is now the happiest and smiliest boy ever (but then every mum says that don't they). i can rough and tumble with him like other mums (something which i never used to be able to do)
reflux is horrible and i wouldn't wish it on anyone. but they grow out of it without any lasting damage.
good luck x

Thanks

It doesn't go hard even if you keep it in the fridge, however give it a little stir with the end of a teaspoon prior to drawing any up as sometimes you can get a few blobs on the surface which can gloop up your syringe.

I hope everyone's babies improve.

Haven't read whole thread. I found it impossible to get my dt1 to take gaviscon before/after a bf and in the end I gave up and switched to formula after she was hospitalised. It was easier to get into her but didn't much improve her condition. She grew out of the reflux a while after her 1st birthday.

DS3 is now 5mths and started having reflux symptoms. I was determined not to give up bfeeding this time so looked a little more into it. I cut out dairy on the advice of one of the mums here (mommalove) and it changed our world. Now on the days I get a little dairy into my diet I can tell as ds3 refluxes. He really is a much more contented baby and I only wish someone had suggested this to me when poor little dt1 was suffering.

Have now started pre-mixing the Gaviscon with water each morning and evening, it seems to be working and is already becoming part of my routine.

DS has put on 12ozs in the last week, so here's to soldiering on with the gaviscon and breastfeeding!