Baby in pain with reflux and constipation

[TiredParents1]

So, my 5 week old son has reflux, colic and constipation, although they seem to tar every baby with the colic brush these days.

He's on gaviscon infant for reflux which helps him noticeably, but it's made him constipated which has made his pain worse, inconsolably.

We've stopped the gaviscon so he can actually poop and his reflux has returned but not too badly... Yet.

We don't know what to do, he will cry in pain, but the meds make him constipated. It's a vicious circle.

Colic is older than the hills! Is he not pooing? Is it hard or pellet like when it does come? Breast fed or bottle fed?

He has pooped once today and it was a lot and quite watery. But he normally poops in every single nappy - around 8 a day. Today was just one. That is only since the gaviscon and a quick Google shows me I'm not alone in that.

Breast fed exclusively, no formula at all. He did have a tiny bit of more solid poop earlier today, but it was so small

Ok, if I remember correctly, around 5 weeks is when the regular pooping suddenly stops and breast fed babies not pooping for up to 10 days is in the normal range so I honestly don’t think baby is constipated. (If I had a pound for every new mum (inc myself) who was sure their baby is constipated....). I think your baby sounds refluxy. And I’m sorry to say that it’s very very normal for babies to be bloody miserable. That’s what colic is ie. ‘miserable baby syndrome that we can’t quite figure out what it is’. 2 of my 4 were colicky and I remember, despite being experienced thinking ‘there must be something really wrong here. And they are DEFINITELY constipated’ when really it was as normal for a 5 week old baby to be like this as anything.

Maybe someday in the future they’ll properly figure it out. But treating reflux if the signs are there, or allergies if there are actual symptoms us as good as it gets till about 6months usually.

Maybe you're right, but his poops have returned to normal it seems after a day of no gaviscon infant, I'm sure a lot are miserable, his mood is sour this morning for sure, but his poops seem normal again

Gaviscon is very bad for causing constipation. I would suggest you go back to the gp and request to see a paediatrician or for them to prescribe some other reflux medication. E.g ranitidine and/or omeprazole. Also if you are breast feeding, try removing dairy from your diet. It will take a couple of weeks but made a big difference for us.

I hate the word colic. It covers any gastrointestinal issue a baby might have and because they grow out of it usually, doctors do nothing !

Gaviscon constipated my DS who has silent reflux. He eventually went onto omeprazole at 9 weeks and things started to get better once we got the dosage right. He is not 4 months and we are going to ask the paediatrician this week about whether to try him off it, not convinced it has gone completely but don’t want him medicated unnecessarily of course.

We had to fight to get the right medication but my DS result needed it. He was in constant pain/discomfort. He is a much happier baby now.

Other tips- try anti reflux milk if not breastfeeding. Do not use gaviscon with this though as has the same effect. Keep upright for 30 mins after a feed, invest in a sling as baby won’t want to lay down out and about.

Reflux is really hard. Sending hugs xx

Really needed **. Sorry am very tired haha.

Also if you are on Facebook check out the group ‘Babies with reflux and silent reflux’. I found it very helpful.

Gaviscon is horrendous for constipation. Get back to the docs and ask for ranitidine, and if they won’t give you that ask for lactulose or movicol to ease his bottom end.

Our boy had hideous silent reflux and constipation. We couldn’t put him down and he screamed and screamed. Gaviscon made it worse.

Omeprezole (which will solve it for you but needs a referral to a paediatrician) and HIPP anti reflux milk with size 3 teats resolved it completely for us. Ranitidine did help us in the interim while we waited to see the paeds. He’s still on lactulose as the HIPP milk backs him up but without the pain!

It’s horrible. I was at the GP every other day and took him to A&E three times. They won’t do anything unless you harass them as they think babies ‘just go through this’ but it’s not normal for babies to scream in pain.

Thankfully eventually I saw a doctor who just got it and sorted it out for us. He was a different baby. It’s infuriating that they don’t take it particularly seriously and write things like this off as colic and say they’ll ‘grow out of it’.

My boy is 7 months now, we next see his paediatrician in January and hopefully we can lose all the medication.

@BellaNutella88 Here we are with our refluxy babies again lol 😂

@Abouttimemum haha we are pros at reflux now!

My ds was on ranitidine and while it hadn’t worked for dd it was working well for ds

I say was, as they just told us to stop using it due to safety concerns!

If he’s breastfed I would try removing things from your diet to see if it helps.

My DS is 13 weeks and also has reflux. Gaviscon Infant helped to some extent but recently seemed to wear off and he started squirming again.

Went to GP last week and they cannot prescribe ranitidine at the moment as batches are contaminated. My GP prescribed Omeprazole which surprised me as I thought only a paediatrician could prescribe it. Squirming has lessened but possessing has increased. Going for check up later this week.

Colief has been amazing too.

Posseting

My dd had this turned out she was allergic to cows milk protein
Are you eating and drinking milk and dairy ??

We were in the same boat with our daughter so I know how you're feeling.
As PP have said colief is good, it really helped our baby.
We also gave her cooled boiled water for the constipation.
Have you looked into baby massage?

Gaviscon is the worst.

Cut out dairy, get him on omeprazole.