Does infant Gaviscon actually work?

[Moonshine160]

Been prescribed infant Gaviscon for our 3 week old DS today. I think it’s showing symptoms of a CMPA but the GP disagreed with me and said it’s just reflux. I haven’t read great things about Gaviscon and it just seems to make babies constipated. Has anyone had this work for their baby?

Also he is exclusively breastfed so how do I give the medicine to him? I haven’t collected it from the pharmacy yet and forgot to ask the doc how to administer it!

It made my DS constipated after a few days and I found it very hard to administer as I EBF (I mixed it up with some cooled boiled water and spoon fed before a feed - not at all practical when you're feeding on demand).

I stopped giving it to him and will be going back to the doctors for further advice.

I’d avoid it like the plague. Reflux is a symptom, so I think you’re right to disagree with GP here. If I were you, I’d go to your local breastfeeding group and ask them to check your latch (often related). If the latch is fine, go back to doctor and get baby tested for CMPA. Really hope it gets sorted!

Worked really well for us, we used a syringe and saw improvement in literally hours.

Thanks for your replies.

His symptoms are: constantly grunting/straining/crying literally all night when lay on his back, hiccups after every feed, gags on nothing, nose very congested and slight wheeze, sneezes all the time, explosive mucusy poos, dry and patchy red skin.

I am on day 4 of no dairy in case it’s CMPA and the doctor told me to eat what I want because he has no symptoms of CMPA.

I’ll just have to try the Gaviscon and if it doesn’t ease anything I’ll keep going back.

It worked on my daughter who at 4 weeks old was projectile vomiting after every feed.

That said reflux is a symptom, and it sounds like your baby has full body reactions to whatever's bothering them, so fixing the stomach might not fix the skin/nose etc.

It does sound like an allergy though....

My 2 youngest kids had reflux and I found Gaviscon hit and miss. The youngest had it the worst and would projectile vomit after every feed and then immediately need feeding again. He always seemed to keep down the second feed. I think it's worth trying. The main cure for it was growing out of it gradually when he started on solids.

Both mine had reflux and gaviscon did help with the sickness a bit (made it thicker so there was less of it) but did the same at the other end and made them constipated. I mixed with cooled boiled water and gave from a bottle before a feed. I found however it didn't help with the pain of the reflux. So both ended up on omeprazole. My first baby didn't have cmpa and grew out of the reflux at weaning, my second baby did have cmpa and I only picked it up at weaning because she didn't have a skin reaction. I wish id tried no dairy sooner to see if I could have helped her without the meds. She's now 15 months and we're steadily working up the milk ladder. If I were you I'd skip the gaviscon, see what she's like with 2-3 weeks of you being dairy free and then approach Dr after that. Good luck!

it made mine very constipated. We were on a regime of ranitidine, domperidone and gaviscon (the drugs have changed since then). The gaviscon did help but he then had to give colief to reverse the constipation effect. my house was full of syringes for 18 months.

Mine were FF, so could add it to their bottles but it was still a PITA

It's worked very well for my DS, he would be sick after nearly every feed and now he never is. We just gave him 2 a day but have gone down to 1 a day now. We never had a problem with constipation, if anything he's the opposite, he goes about 5 times a day and it's always on the runner side.

Nope. Not even a bit. Just made baby (both of them actually!) badly constipated.

Ranitidine (I don't know if they give this anymore this was 3-6 years ago) helped, as did Omeprazole. Both need to be prescribed by a paediatrician.

Mucousy poo is a classic symptom of CMPA. Likely that, although children with CMPA often have reflux/silent reflux too.

Infant Gaviscon did absolutely nothing, but omeprazole was great

For those who used (and had success with) omeprazole, how is it given when you're EBF?

Omeprazole is given via syringe. We had one by Rosemont which was made into a liquid and kept in the fridge for a month.

Omeprazole syrup is very expensive and doctors are reluctant to give out unless tube fed. So you might need to push for syrup instead of tablets.

@Moonshine160 just wondering how you got on with Gaviscon for silent reflux? Considering for mine but worried about constipation. Thanks!

@justanoldhack hiya. It didn’t make a difference unfortunately and yes it made him a little constipated. To me it seems like gaviscon works best for babies with reflux who actually vomit a lot, DS never did. We were prescribed omeprazole instead but this was giving him awful wind overnight. So we’ve now decided just to ride it out and hope he grows out of it, it does seem to be improving with time. I’ve heard many parents say omeprazole was a godsend though.

@Moonshine160 thanks, sorry to hear it didn't work out. We also have an omeprazole script but waiting until baby is a bit older. Was hoping Gaviscon might help in the meantime and we wouldn't have to use it. Seems like everything comes with its own drawbacks

Gaviscon never worked for ours. Infant omeprazole was the only thing that helped but it'd super expensive so they don't like to give it..my Dr admitted this to me with my 2nd refluxy baby and we went to 4 pharmacies once prescribed and they all refused to order it! Only Asda pharmacy would do it for us.
Keep going back to the dr until they agree to give you some omeprazole

Super old thread but @Moonshine160 wondered how things ended up for you, how long it took for things to settle etc? 11 week old with exact same symptoms as you, on Gaviscon for 2 days and constipated, probably going to stop it. Just want to help him be more comfortable (and sleep on his back!)

@BabyJ2023 with our DS it ended up being reflux caused by a posterior tongue tie. Gaviscon didn’t help and neither did omeprazole. Having the tongue tie snipped helped. We also discovered a few months later that he has a congenital heart condition which was causing the wheezing/coughing so it was a few different factors for us.

Oh gosh so sorry to hear this! Glad it was diagnosed eventually though, and hope things are much better now!

I find those babies with very mild reflux find gaviscon works

And those parents rave about it

If moderate /severe then it doesn't and omeprazole is often needed

Gaviscon often makes constipated

Ranitidine was amazing (I used it often as a maternity nurse when caring for babies with reflux) but got discontinued maybe 6/8yrs ago as had arsenic in it

There are two types of reflux

Normal where they are sick lots but not often bothered

Silent - sounds like your baby symptoms

Never understood why called silent as babies who have it aren't silent and often cry/gulp as the acid hits their throat /and goes back down their food pipe /oesophagus