Baby screaming - Gaviscon? Constipation?

[TinkerTinkerbelle]

3.5 month old baby. EBF. She’s always cried a lot but always fed happily - feeding is her favourite thing. She’s been on infant Gaviscon x4 a day since about a month. No problems with constipation - in fact quite the opposite- always 2-4 poos a day. Until recently when the last 2 weeks it’s gone to one poo explosion every 3 days. Could this be the Gaviscon even though she’s been fine on it for ages?

Took her to the GP a few days ago to discuss her reflux and was given Omeprazole to try for 4 weeks. It was hard to give her as she spat it out. Anyway the next day she was SCREAMING. Inconsolable. Couldn’t feed. Wanted to but kept trying and then screaming. I wasn’t sure if it was the Omeprazole or the lack of Gaviscon. That night I caved and gave her a little Gaviscon because I was desperate and she settled, fed happily, woke up happy and smiley, fed happily again. Then I gave her the Omeprazole again and same thing yesterday - screaming all day, couldn’t feed etc. I was desperate because I can’t stand seeing her this distraught and the fact that she was hardly feeding. So I rang the GP and said I was discontinuing the Omeprazole and she needed to stay in Gaviscon. But today - she’s on the Gaviscon and no Omeprazole and still behaving the same. SCREAMING. Fed well earlier but not now - been screaming the last hour. I’ve managed to settle her by walking around in the carrier after she’s been screaming so hard I thought she might choke and couldn’t feed. It was awful. I don’t know what to do now.

Thoughts or experiences? Could it be the constipation making her so upset and nothing to do with her reflux? Today is day 3 and no poo yet (I’ve done all the cycling of legs etc and given her a little boiled cooled water as suggested by GP). Shouldn’t I give her the Gaviscon?im giving it to her thinking she has reflux but what if im making the situation worse? I wish she could tell me if it’s her reflux upsetting her or the fact that she can’t poo.

Should I have given the Omeprazole more of a chance? It can’t be a coincidence that we swapped to that and had extreme crying ever since? Although why isn’t she happier today?

Also when will this get better? 15 weeks and I have a baby that screams all the time with no end in sight and it’s so hard! HELP!!!

Sorry - I know that was long. I could just really do with hearing some experiences. Thank you in advance x

Omeprazole doesn't work immediately so that might be an issue. I'm horribly allergic to Gaviscon makes my whole gastro system feel it's on fire. Is she feeding at all as you perhaps should call 111.

thank you for your reply. Yes she’s had some good feeds this morning - it’s only been a couple of hours she’s been unable to feed. That sounds like I’m being dramatic but this has never happened before and we’ve had it the last couple of days - screaming and not being able to feed is so out of the ordinary for her.

I was going to say that I think the Gaviscon has always been ok for her - she’s had it for a couple of months. But I guess I don’t really know. It might be why she generally cries a lot. It’s so hard to know what to do because she can’t tell me if the meds help or make it worse x

Omperazole initially can make things worse before it makes them better. It works by reducing the amount of acid the stomach produces but the body tries to override it by producing more acid. It usually takes a week to see an improvement.

Has cmpa been discussed? My daughter has both food allergies and reflux but the allergies made the reflux worse and we only managed to get on top of her reflux by also addressing her food allergies.

thank you that’s interesting that Omeprazole might take a week or so to work. I wasn’t told that by the doctor and thought that these things should work right away? Is that other peoples experiences? Should I give the Omeprazole more of a chance? I’m thinking of trying to get another GP appointment on Monday to discuss.

Sorry, forgot to say I’ve been dairy free for the last couple of months just in case it was that x

It wasn't something I was told either although my GP wasn't the most helpful and just repeated reflux is a washing issue! I learnt about on various reflux and cmpa groups. I can't say if my daughter experienced it or not as she was thoroughly miserable before and after starting omperazole and it took a long time to get to the bottom of everything.

It is probably worth giving it a few days to see if it helps. It can take a while to get up to a dose that will help. My daughter has stubborn reflux and only gets a benefit from the omperazole at the top doses.
Have you also removed soya? Half of babies are allergic to both, my daughter is actually more sensitive to soya than she is dairy!

Thank you. I’ll try and discuss with GP.

I don’t have any soya. What were her dairy allergy symptoms? I stopped dairy at the same time as I started the Gaviscon so I’ve been thinking that these things should Gaviscon helped but it may be going non dairy - it’s so hard to tell.