Reflux Issue

[Louise035]

Hi,

My 5 week baby displays many symptoms of reflux. She is sickly, very unsettled, hates laying flat, twists and grunts/groans, cries suddenly and seems in pain, is congested etc. The health visitor agrees that it sounds like reflux and has prescribed Infant Gaviscon. I’ve heard gaviscon can make babies really constipated so I feel conflicted. She normally fills her nappy a lot! At the moment, my little girl is on Cow & Gate comfort milk which has been brilliant for her wind. I know that gaviscon shouldn’t be added to comfort milk which I discussed with the HV who suggested we gave it in some cooled, boiled water before feeding (as is instructed with breastfeeding). I know I need to give the gaviscon a good go before chopping and changing things but can’t help but feel a bit confused and overwhelmed with it all over what’s best for her.
Has anyone ever tried using anti-reflux milk and found more success with this? Any advice is appreciated.

Thank you

The reason they don’t recommend giving gaviscon in comfort milk because it is also thicker so can cause constipation. I don’t see how giving it separately will improve that.

How often/much is she sick a day?
How many poo nappies a day?
What does her poo look like?

We had the exact same problem and were prescribed Gaviscon. We were also on Cow and Gate comfort and went back to first milk. In the beginning the Gaviscon worked perfectly but then started to bung baby up so came off it. Would rather deal with reflux than constipation! We then switched to SMA anti reflux milk (you don't have to wait for this one to thicken) and it's the best thing we've ever done.

Hi. I could have written this post with my first daughter! We moved from cow and gate to aptimil and found it a lot easier on her stomach, especially when using infacol before the feed. We also use gaviscon which can be mixed in with aptimil.

That might be too much of a leap for you but it might be easier that the cool boiled water approach which we found drove us to the brink of insanity!

X

Have the HV discussed the possibility of Cow's Milk Protein Allergy (CMPA) too?

Sounds like my now 5 month old. Does she scream a lot ? Diareha? We mixed to nanny care he was a different child after the first bottle

@croberts1208 Oh wow really, we first went on the comfort milk because she struggled with her wind on normal Aptamil but she’s much better at that now! I’m really tempted to try the anti-reflux milk!

@JiltedJohnsJulie It has been very briefly mentioned but they said her weight is good and her skin is fine so that would suggest it’s not an allergy. Hmm..

@Elliesmommy She does scream a lot yes! And before the Gaviscon, she was constantly pooing! It wasn’t exactly runny but it came it with every pump! Was that a prescribed milk?

As an update, she absolutely screamed in pain and went all rigid last night after each bottle. No poo whereas she normally filled every nappy (the odd one would just be wet and I was always surprised if there was no poo haha). She finally managed to have a small poo and it was like
Play-doh ☹️ Poor baby!

It has been very briefly mentioned but they said her weight is good and her skin is fine so that would suggest it’s not an allergy. Hmm. Neither the weight, nor the skin should be used as a diagnostic tool. Have a read of this from Allergy UK. Does any of it sound familiar?

No nanny care is goats milk formula. Buy in Tesco.

We used HIPP anti reflux milk which did help massively but the issue wasn’t truly resolved until we were prescribed omeprezole. He was also given movicol (and most recently lactulose) to help with constipation. We thought for a long time that his pain and screaming issues were wind but they were actually reflux.
Our DS doesn’t have any allergy issues.
He’s almost 10 months and together with his paediatrician we’ve just weaned him off all the medication (he’s on 3x meals a day and 2x bottles) and he’s fine now so hopefully there is light at the end of the tunnel for you!! He’s still on the HIPP because he loves it lol.