Infant gaviscon dose & breastfeeding

[CordeliaJ]

After my post about LO's bad reflux/vomiting problem, we've been to the doctor and she prescribed infant gaviscon. I've heard mixed reviews, that it can be hit or miss as to whether it works, so fingers crossed that it does.

I have a question about the dosage & administering it. The doc says that as LO is over 10lbs that we need to give him 2 sachets when giving him a dose. On the packet it says 6 times a day but I'm not entirely sure if that's 6 sachets or 6 doses of 2 sachets. I've decided to assume 6 sachets meaning I will give him 3 feeds a day where he will have the gaviscon.

The instructions are a bit weird, it says if breastfeeding to mix the sachets with 15ml of water (or breast milk as the doc recommended) make a paste, and give it to him before a feed. Or for bottle fed babies, mix 1 sachet in 115 ml (4oz) of milk.

Neither of those work for me, I have no syringe and do not have the time before a feed to make a paste of 15ml with the gaviscon, plus he hates the taste of anything that is not milk (we had this issue with infacol which he continually spat out). He only drinks about 3oz of milk if I express despite weighing 11.2lbs. So what I ended up doing was mixing 2 sachets in only 3oz of expressed milk and he drank it just fine - I was planning to do this 3 times a day. Is this bad? Going by the instructions if I'm giving him 2 sachets that should be mixed with 8oz, not just 3! What do you think, is this going to cause problems? I just don't know what the best way to do this is.

He didn't spit up or cry after the 2 sachet gaviscon feed so it might be working, although I have heard lots of people say it causes constipation. Can anyone who has tried it tell me what their experiences have been? Thank you.

 

[Peppermint25]

I too have started giving my little girl gaviscon. We are having an awful time giving it to her! She is breast fed and refuses bottled, spoons or cups. So we are trying to use a dropper from the infacol to put her mouth. She refuses to swallow it and it ends up everywhere! We got it on Wednesday and she has gone from doing 3 poos a day to none. Her last one was on Wednesday evebing! She is now uncomfy and straining like mad. Now I dont know how to help her with her bowels! I would be interested to know how others administered it and if their LO suffered constipation too.. hope it works for your LO! xxx

 

[missk1989]

We gave lo this when he was about 10 weeks and I decided to mix it a little thinner than it says and administer with a syringe. I bought two from the chemist 70p each. I tried with a bottle but he wouldn't take it. With the syringe I put it in the side of his mouth and squirted a bit at a time. He got a bit constipated but I just kept feeding on demand and it passed quickly

 

[CupcakeBaby]

We use a dentinox dropper and only about 4ml of water.

 

[CordeliaJ]

What I have ended up doing in putting just one sachet in 3oz if milk and he takes that happily as a feed. It must not taste very strong in 3oz I guess. We only gave it to him 3 times today but there have been no poos, and he has cried and strained a fair bit.

Peppermint how much do you give your LO a day? Let me know when a poop arrives, I'm going to get worried about that if Ollie doesn't go for days :S

 

[CordeliaJ]

What I have ended up doing in putting just one sachet in 3oz if milk and he takes that happily as a feed. It must not taste very strong in 3oz I guess. We only gave it to him 3 times today but there have been no poos, and he has cried and strained a fair bit.

Peppermint how much do you give your LO a day? Let me know when a poop arrives, I'm going to get worried about that if Ollie doesn't go for days :S

 

[Peppermint25]

What I have ended up doing in putting just one sachet in 3oz if milk and he takes that happily as a feed. It must not taste very strong in 3oz I guess. We only gave it to him 3 times today but there have been no poos, and he has cried and strained a fair bit.

Peppermint how much do you give your LO a day? Let me know when a poop arrives, I'm going to get worried about that if Ollie doesn't go for days :S

We were told to give her 2 sachets at a time 3 - 6 times a day. I haven't given that many and started with the 2 sachets 3 times a day. Since its making her constipated I reduced it further to two sachets one in morningsnd one at night. Yesterday I only have her one sachet in the morning and she has finally had a poo at 6am today, so almost 3 days later! She has been up all night unsettled and straining and not wanting to feed because of it. I'm tempted to stop the gaviscon and let her digestive system get back to normal.

 

[CordeliaJ]

The last time Ollie had gaviscon was at 7pm last night, and the next time he had it was just now at 9am this morning. His 6.30am feed was the only one that made him sick, all through the night he wasn't sick even without the gaviscon - I think maybe it was still in his system or something. He also did a huge poop at about 8am, so I reckon I'm just going to keep to to 1 sachet 3 times a day. If you find it works for the reflux, just try altering the quantities to find the right amount to avoid the constipation. It's tough though, I'm finding that it's all trial and error.