wind or vomiting - it seems i have to choose!

[olivo]

DD has been on gaviscon for about 10 days now - it has hugely helped the vomiting but given her awful wind which disrupts her (and consequently, my) sleep all night. do i stop thegaviscon and let her suffer the reflux or carry on and she has to put up with the wind? she looks so distressed trying to get it out.
would giving her a reduced dose of gaviscon do any good? my dr wasn't very helpful.

[olivo]

no poo yet! she has just taken 35mls of water though (made it warmer this time!) so hopefully.......
we're going swimmimg this p.m so you can bet if it is going to come, i'll be then! i actually hope not!
glad you had a better night too.

[olivo]

OMG - cooled boiled water is amazing! DD has been farting all afternoon, did a small poo at teatime, took another 40mls, farted some more and has drifted off into a contented sleep after a feed!

[Longtalljosie]

Marvellous!

We've swapped experiences today though - after necking the stuff yesterday, couldn't get DD to take much today so very little on the poo front. She's asleep at the moment though and has been quite settled all day, so here's hoping...

[olivo]

fingers crossed for a quiet night for us all!

[Longtalljosie]

Morning everyone - Polarmummy's having a rough time on another thread have sent her this link.

I've had a shocking night with DD - crying with pain through constipation. We're off the Gaviscon for 24-48 hours now so I can go back to the doctor and discuss the symptoms as they currently are, not as they were 2 weeks ago. The doctor says it's immature digestion, so I want to see whether there's been any improvement to speak of.

I have a feeling this means we'll be having a very rough 48 hours - but at the moment it's all about the constipation pain.

She did do a marvellous burp after her morning feed and no vomiting, but I think it was a bit of a fluke...

How are things going with the rest of you?

[PolarMummy]

LTJ Thank you for your link to this thread, please don't take it the wrong way when I say its comforting to know other people are experiencing the same thing. I feel for you all!

I could have written so many of your posts explaining how your little ones are, its so difficult to know what to do.

My Dr was particularily useless on Friday and basically told me there was nothing which could be done for breastfed babies with reflux!! Luckily I know a bit about reflux and also have a good friend who is a pead nurse and so was able to talk the Dr into giving me gaviscon. Its resolved the vomiting and I don't think acid is bothering DS any more but he is still very uncomfortable and very windy so am looking for ways of helping him to resolve this!

[Longtalljosie]

Hello again Polarmummy - I know what you mean, it's so draining and upsetting, it's nice to know you're not alone...

I don't think this Gaviscon break is going to work - we've had an upsetting day. I'd forgotten how bad it is for her - it's silent reflux and when it strikes she screams loud enough to make your eardrums hurt . She was in full flood and we gave her a sip of cool boiled water - calmed her right down. So we're pretty convinced it was acid in her throat making her so upset.

Polarmummy - how long has DS been on the Gavisocon for now?

[olivo]

hello polarmummy - i know what you mean - it's kind of coforting to know others are experiencing the same, even though it's unpleasant.
LTJ, i tried a break but it didnt work either. for now, we wre going with 8 mls 3 times a day. nights are not so good though and it takes her at least 2 hrs to settle, and the high pitched acid screams are horrible

she did the mother of all poos following the water on friday and again on saturday!

[Longtalljosie]

Excellent. We got some impressive poos out of DD during the Gaviscon break but she was so unhappy - finally gave her 8ml after a feed at 5pm and got our first smile of the day.

But by tomorrow morning she'll be constipated . Argh!

Does anyone have any experience of Domperidone or Ranitidine?

Are you still around stantonjulie? Did the cot-tilting work?

[PolarMummy]

LTJ I started DS on the gaviscon on Friday at about tea time, I have been adding it to bottles of expressed milk, he is getting a full dose 6 times a day atm but so far he isn't constipated.

I want to go back to breastfeeding though instead of expressing and was wondering how you guys are doing it? You can only give gaviscon 6 times a day and DS would breastfeed more times than that so how do I do it? Do I just choose a couple of feeds to skip the gaviscon? Also are you all giving the gaviscon after feeds or before?

Thanks for your help and I am sending your little ones sleepy comfortable vibes and hoping you all get some sleep tonight.

[Longtalljosie]

You can't give it before the feeds, you should give it afterwards... but my doctor says it's fine to give halfway through so that's what I'm doing.

I'm not giving her Gaviscon on her 4-5am feed, or the one after that - hoping that provides a "window" to help with the constipation.

As far as giving it goes - I'm using a syringe. I dissolve the Gaviscon with 15ml of cooled boiled water and squirt it into her mouth. It causes many tears, sadly.

At night, in order not to wind her up before bed, I dissolve it in 1 fl oz of EBM and give it to her in a bottle towards the end of her (breast)feed.

Her midnight feed is an expressed dreamfeed given by DH in a bottle, with the Gaviscon in it

[olivo]

i actually do give it before as DD is a very quick feeder -it still works. i did this with DD1 too.
when she was on 6 doses, it was generally the 2 during the night i missed. i am now down to 3 or 4 a day, and still not during the night but i may have to add one as nights are not good.
i dissolve it in 15mls of water and give her 8 -10mls, by syringe. this morning i dripped it very slowly and she took it happily, rather than the usual screaming.

had 2 1/2 hrs of hell last night and was shattered - screaming, tugging on and off the breast, we were both in tears. it was hideous

[olivo]

LTJ, how is DDs pooing? my DD is better with this slightly lower dose. we've had several of those 'up your back' ones!

[roslily]

I stopped the gaviscon as it was so stressful giving it in a syringe, however if I could give it first at least then I could soothe him with a feed!

We are mix feeding at the moment so will put it in his formula feed. I am dropping the BF for a number of reasons. He fights every feed of boob, head arching, screams, fists pounding. The bottle is just less stressful and leads to less vomiting.

Unfortunately I am visiting my parents and have forgotten the gaviscon. Might go to chemist see if I can get emergency prescription.

[Longtalljosie]

Roslily - I'm sure they will. Take your surgery's phone number in case they want to call to double check with them you do have a prescription. So sorry it's affected your breastfeeding

Hi Olivo - well, we went back on the Gaviscon 5pm-ish yesterday. During the break we had some spectacular poos - since then still some - but not as much as usual. Like you - straight up the back as well! Are you finding there's quite a lot of liquid poo in there - by which I mean as liquid as water? I'm seeing the doc again tomorrow and will mention it I think...

[nappyaddict]

Gaviscon and Ranitidine were useless for us. You need to ask the GP for Losec (also known as Omeprazole) or Domperidone.

[climbeverymountain]

I was told to give the gaviscon before feeds. I mix it with a small amount of water and squirt it into her mouth using a syringe. Sometimes it works, sometimes she pulls a face and lets it dribble straight out...

DD seems to be somewhat improved on 1 sachet per feed - seems to have fewer silent reflux attacks - much less screaming in pain, and she's still pooing (albeit not as frequently).

She has started tossing and turning a lot in her sleep though, particularly towards morning, waking up crying and sometimes crying in her sleep.

[Longtalljosie]

I've actually had digestive problems myself and have been on both Domperidone and esomeprazole, which is quite a heavy duty proton pump inhibitor.

I think Ranitidine is weaker than Omeprazole, but then again I imagine the GP might want to give the weaker drug a shot to see if it works first? Good to know what the next stage would be if it didn't work though .

I think I would be happier if DD was on Domperidone than Ranitidine though - because having taken both myself found pp inhibitors made me feel a bit bloated and uncomfortable whereas Domperidone was (in my experience anyway) pretty much side-effect free...

[roslily]

Managed to buy some gaviscon for £4 so we will give that another go. We have had some spectacular vomiting today. Hope the gaviscon works.

As to the breastfeeding, I was gutted and felt like the world's worst mother, but actually now I have reconciled myself. At least this way dh can do some night feeds! I was FF and I turned out just fine!

[PolarMummy]

Roslily glad you got some gaviscon and I know exactly how you feel about the breastfeeding, atm the moment I am expressing but I am desperate to get back to "proper" breastfeeding but like you find giving him the gaviscon in a syringe very stressful.

I am really at a loss as to know what to do atm, I feel like I have lost all prospective and I no longer know what fussing and crying is down to being a newborn and what is due to the reflux! The gaviscon seems to be working in that DS isn't vomiting any more but especially at night he just seems really uncomfortable grunting and writhing and crying in his sleep but at the same time never really getting to sleep in his cot and I don't know if this is being caused by acid reflux, trapped wind, or constipation. If I pick him up and nurse him on my shoulder he will sleep peacefully (which is great for him but not so good for me!)

On a different note, for those of you who have been using gaviscon for a while, I was talking to a paed nurse yesterday who said that the effectiveness of gaviscon can peak and that babies can then develop a tolerance to gaviscon and it stops working, just thought I would share that in case anyone feels like they are going backwards, this could be the reason for it.

[Longtalljosie]

Ah - that will be why the heath visitor warned me I may end up having to up the dose...

Polarmummy - do keep breastfeeding if you're able to. I can fully, totally understand why roslily took the decision she did (hello roslily!) - but if you can steel yourself to get on with the syringing, do. I find it helpful to make up 30ml of cooled boiled water and two sachets in an Avent bottle container, and just have it by the sofa. DD will never like it, but she's tolerating it. And it's awful to say - but if she does cry - it's quicker to get it in!

[Longtalljosie]

Heath visitor! Health visitor, I meant of course...

[roslily]

Oh do carry on with breastfeeding. My reasons for stopping are many and complicated. I am happy with my decision. my son needs a happy mummy more than he needs breastfeeding!

Right hopefully the gaviscon is going to make a difference tonight.

[Longtalljosie]

Fingers crossed for you! (and me, and all of us...)

[roslily]

Right, tried gaviscon and it worked for 3 feeds yesterday. Last night and this morning we had loads of vomiting again.