Reflux/GERD

[plo608]

BF 5 week old with severe reflux. Infant gaviscon is a nightmare to administer. Managing 2 sachets a day which is causing constipation. It doesn’t feel like it’s neutralising acid if that’s what it’s supposed to do? Just thickens sick.

Inconsolable at times, particularly in evenings and becoming overtired. Doing all the recommendations such as tilted cot/keeping upright after feeds etc. Does anyone have recommendation for medication that works please? FTM - everyone seems to say it’ll pass by 6 months - 1 year but I can’t continue to see in this much pain and crying this often.

Back in the day with my son who had an awful reflux we were given Ranitidine, I think now deemed too dangerous. It worked for him. Next step would have been Omeprazole (I think?).
Hang on in there, I remember how awfully hard it is to deal with inconsolable baby… and keep on pushing with your GP. Eventually they will have to give you more effective medicine.
Also, we found out that my son was CMPI so once he was off cows milk - he felt much much better. Have you looked into that? x

Mine started with reflux at 6 months. I had the same gaviscon and made him constipated. I was prescribed movecol sachets for that and that really helped. Not sure if suitable for someone so young.

I was still told to lie them flat however keep them upright after each feed for about 15/20 mins. Or whenever hes was awake.

I also found putting the gaviscon in a bottle didn't work as it thickened the milk too much my LO found it too much hard work to keep sucking so then I started to make an into a paste and spoon feed before each feed. This worked much better. After a week or so he was better. I was originally giving about 6 per day but now down to 2/3 per day. I was told the same that he will grow out of it by the times he's about 1.

We have just been through this. The Gaviscon for us was so much worse than the reflux itself that just being off it made the whole situation much more manageable. We ended up trialling no meds because I wanted to get him back to his base normal to then see whether the meds were making an improvement. Turns out we managed to deal with it without meds and our boy made rapid improvements week after week.

Our main weapon was a dummy. They can’t regurgitate when swallowing so a dummy solves that problem. Occasionally we got an explosive vomit through the dummy but we moved to shorter and more frequent feeds and used probiotics to promote faster digestion and the frequency reduced.

Now at 10 weeks he still spits and vomits quantities regularly but he’s happy and it’s more a laundry problem - so it won’t necessarily stay for 6 months to a year. And we were hospitalised due to the reflux so it wasn’t a mild case - just an immature digestive system and a poor microbiome balance.

Some people do really require the acid reducing PPI type medicines (Lanzoprozale and Omeprozole) or their babies continue to decline and become more poorly / loose weight. As your baby is so young they will need the liquid suspension special made by a pharmacy (as the medicine isn’t the cloudy liquid it’s the tiny grains bobbing around at the bottom) which some GPs struggle to understand/ prescribe. You may need to fight for it. It’s important because the dosing is so sensitive and needs to increase gradually with weight. The dispersable tablets can only be increased inline with how far you can cut a tablet ie, a quarter to a half to 3/4 etc. Because if want to move from 1/4 dose to a third and you dissolve a whole tablet to draw a third you can’t guarantee how many grains you actually draw IYSWIM.

Goodluck 💕 Gaviscon was the worst!

Omeprazole saved the day for my son. Also carobel milk thickener(get variable flow teats). It helps stop the pain and carobel keeps the milk down.
gaviscon was pointless and just made him constipated.
started omeprazole at 12 weeks and stopped around 14 months.

also held him upright for half an hour after a feed and weaned early( on drs orders)

dummy does help with saliva buildup to neutralise the acid.

it’s hard work!

Thank you so much for your lovely replies. It’s nice to have some hope. These few weeks have been very hard. It seems quite common, but I definitely haven’t felt equipped to manage it. I know people deal with this for a long time before getting anywhere so we are lucky our GP is supportive.

We have been prescribed omeprazole today. I don’t particularly want to give her anything but also feel like we need to try it.

She is very hoarse, almost like she has a sore throat, grunting and squeaking, gagging, vomiting feeds, crying at breast, hiccuping, bouncing off breast, red in the face, arching back after feed or when placed on back, breath seems acidic, crying when waking from nap or when yawning or passing wind. Although gaviscon was helping to thicken vomit, it didn’t seem that helpful and seemed to be causing more problems!

It will take around a week to kick in and see if it’s the right dose but you will see a difference, less crying in pain, which was the hardest thing

The crying is awful to see. I’m also worried what the neighbours must be thinking! And it’s making me nervous about going out.

I found taking my son out helped me. The fresh air can clear your head. Motion of pushchair helps ease baby too
take a change of clothes for baby and a change of top for you.