Infant Gaviscon

[Toomuchtooyoung01]

DS is 13 weeks and has been on infant gaviscon for the last week due to reflux. He is still vomiting although not as much, but it is definitely doing something to his tummy as he has gone from 3 bascially liquid yellow poohs a day (EBF) to 1 much darker, thicker pooh which although not formed is uncomfortable for him to pass.
Does anyone have experience of infant gaviscon? Should I stick it out or should I be ringing the GP for something else that makes him less uncomfortable? He is also waking MUCH more than he already was at night (currently hourly).
Any advice appreciated! Thanks!

Has anyone got to the bottom of his reflux? Could it be Tongue Tie or possibly [] https://kellymom.com/health/baby-health/food-sensitivity/ dairy]]?

Yep, infant gaviscon causes constipation!!

It didn't work for us at all, we were almost EBF, just 1 bottle of formula to let me sleep for longer than an hour at a time. We first got it at about 4 weeks, but gave up after the constipation, but then tried again at about 12 weeks at a friend's advice, but using half the dose. That worked better, but still made DS constipated, so took back to Doc and they gave him ranitidine. That was a game changer for us. The Doc even said she didn't know why we'd been given gaviscon as its pretty useless because it's a thickener not an antacid. So it's designed to keep the milk in the stomach and stop it going back up. If you mix it with a bottle of formula it's much better dispersed through the liquid rather than being all in one lot in their stomach.

@theLovleyChebbyMcGee
I had a telephone GP appointment earlier and have been prescribed Ranitidine! Hope it works as well for us. The GP seemed really suprised gaviscon wasnt helping!
Thanks for your replies guys!

Wow! The doc we saw actually seemed annoyed that we'd been prescribed the gaviscon and had to come back to see her. But then, I guess it dies work for others, my pals swore by it, but they all formula fed.

I'm glad you are getting it sorted, ranitidine is much easier to give as well, good luck!

Gaviscon definitely changed the consistency of my 9 week olds poop... and didn’t seem to make any difference to his reflux. Both the health visitor and the second GP we saw weren’t convinced that Gaviscon is ever that useful for treating reflux, but I guess it must work for some and there’s a standard pathway that they need to follow before they prescribe anything stronger. We were prescribed renitadine a couple of weeks ago but there seems to be a shortage in our area - all the pharmacies are out and they’re not able to order any from their suppliers. We’ve been using Omeprazole instead, which is an absolute pain to give to a breastfed baby because it ‘dissolves’ into a gritty solution that bubba seems to hate. I think it’s helping the reflux though, but seems to make him gassy and uncomfortable at night so I’ve only been giving it to him every other day. Hopefully you’ll be able to get your hands on some renitadine because the amount they have to take is a lot less than the Omeprazole - best wishes, reflux is horrid

We have just started using gaviscon for my 10 week old. He is also very constipated which the doctor warned. I've been giving him 2.5ml of lactulose morning and night since yesterday morning and so far hes pooed every day but very hard stools and struggles to pass. He is also waking much more in the night which I put down to constipation. On the NHS website it says lactulose can take up to 48 hours to work so we should have a softer poo tomorrow. If not I'll be phoning the doctors. He dosent seem to be in much pain though just strains loads. My sister swore by gavison for her baby. X

WELL, apparently the doctor who prescribed Ranitidine didnt realise there has been an urgent recall of it due to an impurity in the product? So I cant get Ranitidine and the doctor I spoke to earlier was hesitant to prescribe omeprazole. He said basically that reflux should stop when he starts solids???

We found a bit of water in between feeds really helped our little ones stomach! We also didn't lie her down for half hour after a feed to help keep things down. There's anti reflux formula to if she's on formula, talk to a doctor about that though don't just swap!! Good luck

Worrying your GP wasn’t aware of the Ranitidine recall, it was even on the news!

I’m very well versed in reflux. I’m on baby no.2 with it currently. Gaviscon is the first line of meds. It helps keep the milk down by forming a protective layer over the stomach. It is well known to cause constipation as it thickens the poo massively. Gaviscon is most helpful for those babies who are really sick with reflux.

The other options from the GP used to be ranitidine & then omeprazole. Both of these stops the acid production in the stomach but in different ways. At the mo, only omeprazole is available. Omeprazole is helpful if the reflux is causing a lot of pain (some babies are such a lot without much pain but just need to keep the milk down). Or for silent reflux where baby isn’t sick much but the acid is washing back up the throat. Omeprazole is a tablet you dissolve in water and baby gets a certain ml based on weight. It’s taken once a day. It does not stop the sickness (nor did ranitidine). That will still happen on just omeprazole. But it shouldn’t hurt anymore. But probs still unpleasant..

A lot of refluxy babies need both. Mine have. We needed to stop the acid & keep the milk down. With my first, she coped with the Gaviscon. Found it harder to go but still managed once a day!

My 7 week old can not tolerate Gaviscon at all. She just stops pooing. As an alternative, our GP has prescribed a product called Carobel. It’s a milk thickener to help keep the milk down in her tummy. It works just as well as Gaviscon for us. It’s vastly reduced the sickness & along with omeprazole, we have a pretty happy child thank goodness! She spent the first 4 weeks of her life screaming every hour of the day!

Hope some of that info is helpful OP. Def go back to your GP to push for appropriate meds.

Ps. You can buy Carobel on Amazon & chemists. Its not a medicine, it’s just a food extract. My doctor has just been kind & prescribed it so it’s free for us as the Gaviscon would be! So you could try it without needing to see a doctor! We’ve had no constipation with it..

Ps. Omeprazole is a very safe & unproblematic medicine. I took it all pregnancy as it’s safe to do so. It just shouldn’t be taken very long term as then it can cause issues. But long term as in years & years. Not a few months of a child’s life.

Your doc is probably right about the solids. We weaned our elder daughter at 4.5 months on the advice of a consultant as the pain she’d experienced from reflux meant she had an aversion to milk. She really hated feeding Her reflux had pretty much vanished by 7 months. Partly as she dropped the amount of milk she was having very quickly! But also the solid food just stayed down!

Are the breast or bottle fed? We were prescribed gaviscon at the drop of a hat but I wasnt convinced so switched to hipp organic anti reflux formula. It worked a dream

Also I would get a new doctor. Recall on ranitidine is not a recent thing!!

Yup, I'd assumed the recall was over when you said you'd been given ranitidine, that's not very knowledgeable!

Yes our DS's reflux got much better when he started solids, but that is along way off from 13 weeks!