Baby reflux - gaviscon. Anyone else used?

[Mummytobe333]

My little girl who’s 15 weeks has reflux and brings up her milk a lot. When she was first born it was really bad , projectile vomiting, screaming in pain etc. since around 9 weeks we have been using gavison which has been a miracle for us!!
downside is that it makes her constipated.. so we only use 1 sachet rather than 2 as advised.

Problem is she is now taking more milk (trying to move up to 6oz) but the gavison isn’t taking as good as affect as is diluted down more than when a 5oz bottle so she’s starting to bring up milk again.
when I have tried putting 2 gavison it’s causing her to be so constipated she’s grunting and moaning all day/night. Turning 1 problem into another.

has anyone experienced babies with reflux and any advice?

Hi. Yes was in a similar position with my lo. Gaviscon didn't help at all apart from giving him ready bad constipation. Because his acid reflux was so bad peads prescribed omeprezol and carobel. That was a game changer for us. Mix carobel in the formula 5 mins before giving the bottle. It was all trial and error about Thickness of it. Good luck x

Dts had awful reflux, we had been giving infacol which made them more 'loose' so when they went on the gsviscon we carried on with as it counteracted the constipation. They were also on other meds
For reflux.

Don't think you should mix two in one bottle but I may be wrong ? Could you give her more sachets throughout the day instead ? So maybe 1 in the morning 1 in the evening ?

It’s 2 x sachets in every bottle but just been doing 1 in every bottle as makes her constipated

Oh bless her, maybe you should ask if she could go into omeprozole instead as she's having a fair bit of gaviscon and clearly isn't helping her so probably needs something abit better x

We had the same problem with gaviscon- little pellet poops that were few and far between! He got prescribed omeprezol after that which made things much better. It's such a tough thing but I promise it does get better as they get older x

Yes! DS is 19 weeks has been on gaviscon for most of his life so far as he has silent reflux. It also makes him horribly constipated. GP prescribed lactulose for him (2.5ml twice a day) which has helped. It's not. Miracle cure as hes never gone for no 2 that often but it definately helps. Also if you are formula feeding the Hv recommends giving some feeds as pre made bottles instead of powder as that helps the constipation x

How much milk are you mixing the 2 sachets in? It needs to be 8oz for 2 sachets.

Have GP/HV/you attempted to explain the cause of the reflux and deal with that? Solves both problems simultaneously if you do.

I’m not sure if you have different gaviscon to me? Instructions on my box/ from GP is 2 x satches for a 4oz bottle if she’s above 9lb 9oz. However happy for us to half the dose and do 1 dose per bottle as causing constipation.

Yes a lot of babies are born without there food pipe closed over fully & bring back up their milk. One day it will just close over and reflux won’t be an issue suddenly but until then you just need to wait it out until it closes over naturally.

Yes, my DD also had developmental reflux and like you, i found lowering the dose worked very well for us in managing the reflux without causing constipation. DD's reflux just stopped at around 6months so it was definitely related to the food pipe closing up of its own accord and we never needed to go onto omeprazole.

We just adjusted the doses as she moved up the milk scale, so eg. 1 and a quarter sachet or 1.5 sachets. Took a bit of trial and error but could see pretty quickly when we hit the right balance. Then periodically cut back to see if the reflux returned. The powder we didn't use we just kept in an airtight tub and measured out for the next feed.

@Mummytobe333 We were the same with the Gaviscon OP! Can I ask what type of milk your baby is on? Are you using formula or expressed breast milk in bottles?

@Ohchristmastree311 we are using Kendamil formula. What about you?

@Mummytobe333 An underdeveloped sphincter isn't the cause of reflux, it's the accumulation of air within their stomach. This is the result of babies somehow swallowing air, either via a poor latch/excess air within a bottle/etc, or an allergy. The amount they expel might reduce as they get older and their sphincter matures, but if a baby is suffering from GORD rather than just the odd, unbothered episode of spit up, then it won't go away with age (the age old '4-6 months').

@pzyck where are you getting this information from? The GP & health visitor have said multiple times it’s a food pipe not closed over yet.
Have tried stuff for milk allergy to help break it down and didn’t do anything so rules out allergy.
Wind - use infacol, anti colic bottles, don’t shake the bottles, wind every ounce so unsure what more we could do with that.
Any suggestions would help

@Mummytobe333 infacol can make reflux worse as it is acidic. Have you tried cutting that out?

@Mummytobe333 I started off breastfeeding but couldn’t get DS to take the Gaviscon 😔 had to move to expressing bottles to mix the Gaviscon in and he took that. My milk supply then just absolutely tanked and I couldn’t keep up with his demand so eventually moved to Aptamil formula. I didn’t feel like the Gaviscon was really helping at all and was keen to avoid other medications if possible so as a last ditch attempt I trialed DS on Aptamil Anti-Reflux formula for a week and it’s the best thing we ever did!

I don’t know if you’ve already tried similar or if Kendamil does an anti-reflux but it could be worth a shot?

Also worth noting - when I started weaning DS at 6 months, I started with finger foods and purées. The reflux came back 😩 I tried switching purely to finger foods and BLW instead of purées and he was like a different child 👏🏼 It was great!

theyre all completely different so many not work for yours at all but just a few things that helped us 😊

@Mummytobe333 The gaviscon is the same, it’s infant gaviscon. Instructions say ‘For bottle-fed infants mix each sachet into 115ml (4 fluid oz) of milk feed in the bottle. Shake bottle well and feed your baby as normal’ so you need to mix 1 sachet per 4oz of fluid otherwise it will cause constipation. You can try 1.5 sachets per 6oz and see if that helps.

My now 10 month old was on gaviscon for first 4 months of his life until it made him very constipated and in more pain than the reflux.
you are correct. Over a certain weight it’s two sachets per 4 ounces. We tried with one and one and a half but it never stopped the reflux until we started solids and his core strength increased and was able to sit up unaided.
He does have cmpa so needed neocate as well and that got rid of most of his allergy symptoms but the reflux was still there as the formula is incredibly thin.
I would also suggest carobel thickener instead of gaviscon. That can also cause constipation but not to the same level. You could also request lactulose or movicol to help with constipation but bear in mind all of these things can contribute to tummy discomfort and wind.
my baby didn’t agree with carobel either but by 5 months he didn’t seem bothered by the sick and since all the medication was causing other issues we took him off everything except the formula and just accepted the reflux. By 7 months his reflux had completely gone.

@ForeverTired89 I don’t think you read properly I am only giving 1 sachets anyway.

I have attached the a photo of instructions I can see online. Does say 2 like my prescription does but I only give half the dose anyway. Some instructions say 1 x DUAL sachet so maybe getting mixed up with that?
(is your baby on this aswell?) how did you get on?

@Pizzaandsushi thanks for sharing your story! Seems incredibly common, hoping it will pass when she goes on to solids 🤞

@Mummytobe333 You said you tried 2 sachets and it made her constipated which is why I said to make sure you’re mixing it with the correct amount of fluid. Those were the instructions I was given.

My daughter is 2y8m now but was on gaviscon from 5 weeks - 18 months - it never stopped the sick but stopped the pain. Her reflux flared up really bad around growth spurts, teething and illness. She grew out of reflux at around 16 months when she started walking which is when I started weaning her off the gaviscon.

I agree with @pzpzyck about the GORD.
Also if its milk allergy then you'd need prescription formula. As it's more likely be milk protein allergy. You can get things to break the lactose in milk and lactose intolerance is extremely rare in infants. CMPA is quite common in babies. My GP and HV were useless. HV told me my lo couldn't possibly react to milk through breast milk and that I still need to give him yogurt and cheese. Because he's allergic to milk and not those lol.