Reflux in breastfed baby - best meds?

[Bunnymustgo]

Just that really. DS has reflux to the point he was refusing feeds in the day and only feeding when sleepy at night. Have started with Gaviscon but struggle to get the large volume into him (15ml) as he wont take a bottle so am using calpol syringes x3. Is there a better medication that's more of a twice a day thing rather than half way through a feed. It's hard work when he feeds on demand. Thanks in advance

Bunny my ds2 is 12weeks been on gaviscon since 5weeks and we give the 15mls in expressed milk via syringe at start of feed he is demand fed so we give it 3-4hrly at a feed time n at start of feed as he would fall asleep during feed or spits it out if not hungry and we gave last lot around 11pm n never bothered in middle night n now we are cutting it down he has couple doses in day n one at bedtime.

We started ranitidine at 7weeks which is 3 times a day and has certainly helped.

Have you tried cutting dairy out of your diet? That had by far the biggest impact on reflux for DD (I tried a few alternatives before settling on almond milk -DD was massively intolerant of soy). I ditched the medication altogether as cutting out dairy lessened symptoms so much, then I reintroduced dairy to DD from 6 months and she's never had an issue with it. Her reflux seemed to clear up from about 4-5 months though so I don't think she was too bad (unlike DS, who puked steadily to about 11 months).

Yeah we are dairy free too and certainly has helped hence reducing gaviscon

We never got on with gaviscon and ended up on omeprazole for a couple of months. It's quite a hardcore drug though, only to take if you're really at the end of the line I think.

Reflux is no fun.

Ah I was wondering if it was just us syringing in gaviscon! Tbh I've only used it a few times it's such a pain when breastfeeding.

A GP friend recommended Carobel which is basically just a thickener you can add to milk. You use it before a feed, as a paste on spoon if breastfeeding. Tried the spoon and it took ages to get it into dd. Was thinking of trying to make syringe it in.

I've just been syringing gaviscon in 4-5ml cooled boiled water. Dr just said do whatever works best rather than trying to get in massive amounts of liquid. It is still a faff though!

I make up one sachet in 5mls cooled boiled water and give at beginning of feed. Doesn't seen to work if given halfway through or at end. Total faff when breast feeding! I don't bother for overnight feeds/snacks....
Also on ranitidine three times per day.

I've been dairy and soya free for 4 weeks now after I tried DS with a bottle of formula and he had an allergic reaction to tiny amount. His eczema cleared up with my dairy free diet but reflux symptoms still there. Grumpy, back arching, white tongue, sour breath, feed refusal. I've just got back from the consultant who has diagnosed a cow milk allergy via skin prick test and prescribed a hydrolysed formula plus told me to eat dairy again. He has also prescribed ranitidine twice a day. So gaviscon can be used alongside ranitidine? I didn't think to ask...was just happy to be prescribed something that's given in 0.8ml form rather than 15ml each time. Think I'm going to try my reluctant bottle drinker on the formula and bottles.... He's taken to clamping down his gums on my nipples which makes me shout and he just smiles. Fingers crossed the ranitidine works better than gaviscon. Anyone had success with it?

My last two DC both had reflux and DD2 was a reluctant bottle feeder so giving the gaviscon was a knightmare. With DS2 I was more prepared and started expressing to encourage the bottle - I used to express about 4oz to use for the feed before bed with the gaviscon mixed in like you would with formula - it worked and he was a different baby, sleeping longer (after keeping him upright for 30 mins) and much less irritable - I think it was because he was getting the whole dose of gaviscon rigth down rather than spitting up back up from the spoon.

Of course that all depends on whether you can get your DS to drink from a bottle and express enough, or like you say use formula. We tried ranitidine with DS2 but it made him worse.

Meant to say, when I was giving the gaviscon on it's own I made it with less water too, 15ml is way to much and it just runs out of their mouths.

Push for ranitidine, it takes time to work but really helped us. Be careful of gaviscon, it caused my DS constipation which unfortunately has the same symptoms as reflux.

Also, get him allergy tested - the source of my DS's problems ended up as a dairy allergy (also breastfed) and he ended up on neocate formula which sorted it.

We used a combination of ranitidine and gaviscon. Also with the gaviscon we ignored the volumes and just used 2 sachets 3 times a day with a small amount of water into a paste and used a spoon or syringe (only made up 1 syringe worth). This was on doctor friend advise. Otherwise tje baby is filling up on water when it would be better filled up on Breast milk/formula. When we switched to formula we mixed in with formula but it can clump so I recommend a faster flow teat

And yes ranitidine and gaviscon combo worked v well. IF your baby is having night feed/s I would recommend splitting the dose of ranitidine so they get some in the night otherwise symptoms can worsen at night and lead to sleepless nights. We did 3x 1.3ml one first thing, one at 3pm then one at 11ish feed.