Gaviscon and breastfeeding

[Lovage]

My 4 week old may have reflux, so has just been put on Gaviscon. I'm finding it a real pain to give him and thought I'd see if anyone had tips. Various things I'm doing seem a bit dodgy, so I thought I'd see what people thought and did themselves.

It says to give after feeds, but he won't swallow it then, reasonably enough because he's full. I'm doing some before and some about 3/4 of the way through the feed (when I'd normally burp him anyway). Do you think that's okay?

I'm also making it up in advance for overnight because I can't be doing with boiling kettles to cool water in the middle of the night (as bad as bottle feeding).

He's on the double dose, being over 10lb, and I can't work out whether you're supposed to make that up with 15ml of water or 30. 30 seems a huge amount of liquid - as much as he's ever had in a cupfeed of breastmilk, so I'm doing it in 15 which makes it double strength. I'm hoping that's okay because it's dissolved in the main feed anyway.

He hates having it and cries and cries. And spits lots out. And swallows lots of air with it, and he already has problems with windiness. I was hoping it would be the solution to our middle of the night woes, but I'm not sure that it's not going to be just as bad as without (it's not bad reflux, if it is reflux at all)

Also any other tips on reflux? Have already propped the head of his cot and am going to try putting him to sleep in car seat in part of the night that's usually worst. And have ordered Amby hammock thing which is supposed to help.

Thanks!

Sorry I cant help but bumping for the morning crowd for you.

I'd say that most of what you're doing is fine, apart from using the car seat at night. Please, please don't do this - it's really no good for his spine or breathing on a regular basis. There's always the danger that you'll fall asleep too if he's calmer and then he could spend far more time in it than is safe.

We used gaviscon for a while and gave it before as he would chuck up to end the feed, so part way seems fine. Making up with less water - not a problem I reckon, as you say he's having it as part of the feed anyway. Making up in advance overnight - we never had to do this but others have and have had no problems.

Our ds also hated it, but I could see taht he was better on it so we persevered through the screaming. On the upside, if it's not too bad, there's a good chance that he'll grow out of it fairly quickly as the valve muscles mature

I'd say that most of what you're doing is fine, apart from using the car seat at night. Please, please don't do this - it's really no good for his spine or breathing on a regular basis. There's always the danger that you'll fall asleep too if he's calmer and then he could spend far more time in it than is safe.

We used gaviscon for a while and gave it before as he would chuck up to end the feed, so part way seems fine. Making up with less water - not a problem I reckon, as you say he's having it as part of the feed anyway. Making up in advance overnight - we never had to do this but others have and have had no problems.

Our ds also hated it, but I could see taht he was better on it so we persevered through the screaming. On the upside, if it's not too bad, there's a good chance that he'll grow out of it fairly quickly as the valve muscles mature

I started almost the same thread the other day Lovage - here.

I used to make it up in bulk in a sterile bottle, and then give it before feeds with a syringe - clean syringe each time, and then you can just use the same bottle, with one of those caps on instead of a teat. I used 15mls per sachet and it seemed to dissolve fine. I have to say that it didn't seem to help too much - sorry! If he's over 10lb at 4 weeks - like my DS was - he's obviously very well-nourished. Has he been diagnosed on the basis of vomiting or is it crying that's the main symptom? If it's the latter, then you may be right - possibly not reflux at all and faffing with Gaviscon might just distract you from other things. I agree, it's a right pain and if he doesn't like it and you don't think it helps, then maybe give it a couple of weeks and stop? I agree about the car seat, I'm afraid. He is still very little and his sleeping and crying will, will, will get better - promise!

Thanks all, that's really useful.

Something made a huge difference last night. He actually settled and slept between feeds between midnight and 6am, which he has never done in his whole life (but he snored horribly, so I didn't!). Don't know if it was the gaviscon or sleeping in the car seat. Will try just gaviscon tonight (amby hammock has arrived, so hoping that will help too).

I asked my HV about carseat sleeping and she reckoned if it was just for a few weeks and not all night long and I didn't dress him too warmly, and he slept flat at other times, it should be okay. But will try to avoid it.

He does vomit too, but has a cold so it may be that making him vomit rather than reflux

We made up gaviscon as advised by the hospital (ds was in SCBU and this is how they did it):

5ml cool boiled water per sachet. Make up 24hr worth in one go (think this was 6 sachets?) and keep it in the fridge. We had a cool bag upstairs for night time feeds. Give about 4ml per feed - sometimes had to alter this if ds fed more or less than usual but basically tried to spread it out through a 24hr period.

I used to give gaviscon at the beginning of a feed, as the nurses told me it didn't really matter as long as it ended up in his stomach somehow.

Much sympathy for the snoring - ds was terrible for this and I didn't really sleep until he moved out of our room at 6 months. He started breathing normally in his sleep at about 2 years old!

a friend recommended this site to me yesterday, hoping for advice, i have an 8 week old baby who was 6 weeks prem, she has breastfed well since nose tube taken out when she was 2 weeks old, but in the last 2 weeks she has developed reflux. It is so horrible, she doesnt cry but whimpers and moans in obvious discomfort then vomits (sometimes projectile) LOADS of milk, like scrambled eggs everywhere, it goes on for a couple of hours then she gets hubgry again so we are in a cycle of feeding, vomiting, feeding again. I am averaging 3-4 hours sleep (max 1 hour at a time) in a 24 hour period which I cant sustain much longer. GP and health visitor say she will grow out of it, they are not worried because she is gaining weight, though she still only 7lb, after several visits and some badgering the GP prescribed gaviscon but said it probably wont work and told me only to use 3 times a day not 6. Like everyone else ive had problems administering it so i shall follow tips here and mix up one lot for 24 hours, and give before breastfeeds. giving after a feed doesnt work because she is vomiting!
i find it really upsetting to be honest and everyones platitudes of "you are doing really well" (GP, health visitor, dad!)are so patronising they just wind me up. any further advice gratefully received. and yes i prop moses basket up, i hold her upright for AGES, massage her tummy, nothing else helps

Jenzy I'm really sorry you're struggling so much. My ds was also 6 weeks early and had silent reflux (he swallowed the vomit back down) so we didn't have to deal with the sick but he would only sleep upright against our chests, so we got about the same amount of sleep as you!

Gp sounds about as useful as a chocolate teapot. I can only suggest that you give the gaviscon at least a week to see if it's going to work, because it's not always instant - if it doesn't work, there are other medications which might help (ds was on gaviscon, ranitidine and domperidone, think there is also one called losec), although as the gp was reluctant to prescribe gaviscon he might not be great at giving you anything else! Can you see another gp? Other than that, have you got a sling? Ds slept a lot held upright in his sling, and even if I couldn't sleep at least I could get on with other things.

kellymom has some tips on helping reflux - scroll down to get to the bit about GERD. I gave up dairy for a while because I heard it had worked wonders for some bf babies, but didn't really do much good for us.

Good luck!

jenzy - milk intolerance often accompanies reflux, and can cause a lot of vomiting too. I would suggest giving up all dairy in your diet and see how he is after a couple of weeks (takes this long to clear, and likely to be good and bad days during this time if it is the cause).

Just wanted to say to you all - keep going, you're doing really well.

My DS has been on Gaviscon for 10weeks now - having screamed initially, he loves it now. I give it to him in a bottle before a feed and he grabs it out of my hands!