Gaviscon for breastfed baby

[AuntieJay]

Hello,
I'm wondering if anyone can help.. my 7wo DS has been diagnosed with reflux and prescribed infant gaviscon. He takes a bottle 1/2x per day but is predominantly breastfed. Any tips on how to give it for breastfeeds?

I used to mix it with breastmilk and then syringe it into his mouth while I was feeding (use a calpol syringe and squirt into the corner of their mouth). After a while I swapped breastmilk for cooled boiled water. Good luck - I found it really helped my son.

Hi, very similar situation, my 7 week old breast fed DS has horrendous reflux. He won't take the gaviscon with cooled, boiled water in a syringe as per packet instructions. I imagine because it tastes awful. However, I don't like expressing too much as it's always messed up my supply and led to engorgement. The directions on the pack aren't great as it only give you two options (syringe with water or a full bottle of formula). However you CAN try different measurement mixes with breast milk and formula!!!

At the moment this is what we do: his reflux is worst at night so around 6pm I express 60ml breast milk and mix in two sachets. I know on the packet it says minimum of 115ml per sachet but it doesn't matter (my lactation consultant checked this with the manufacturer and yes it's ok to not use the 1 sachet per 115ml guidance on the pack - that measurement is more about palatability for the baby). In our experience 60ml seems to be enough to cover the awful medicinal taste but not thicken the mix. My partner feeds it to him immediately as he won't take a bottle from me. We usually only give him this one early evening dose as we don't want him to get constipation. However, if he's having a really bad night we might give another dose around 3am which is when the reflux seems to come back with a vengeance, I imagine due to him lying down to sleep for the night.

You could start with just putting it in his formula feeds given he already has 1-2 bottles a day. That's what I'd be doing as it's the easiest option. Maybe time the bottles for the evening if that's also when his reflux is at the worst.

Good luck 🤞

Sorry I should also clarify that we aren't looking for our DS's reflux to be completely gone, just reduced enough that he's more comfortable. We're trying to balance seeing some improvement without him getting constipation which would just make everything worse. That's why we only give a couple of doses per day. This may or may not be what you're after.

Thanks so much for all your replies - I feel similarly about expressing messing up my supply but will give all this a shot. He does take it best with formula but I don't like him to have too much as he is more sicky on that. GP doesn't suspect CMPA though!

I used to mix with cool boiled water and then use a syringe. I think if I remember rightly it best to give mid feed. So I would make it up prior to a feed. Then would do half a bf and then take off breast to give the gavisicon (by which point it had cooled)