refux please help

[honey33]

my 9 week old baby has refux she is on sma and doc has pwrscribed her gaviscon to put in her milk he didnt say how many times and on instructions it says no more than 6 times in 24 hours.... yesterday i gave it 4 times of the trot and on the next feed i left it out and she projectiled the whole bottle up with lump bits of milk i presume from prev gaviscon.... she is constipated and passing hard balls..... health visitor is no help docs to a point arnt helping.. ive decided to try her on sma comfort which i think maybe thicker. and gaviscon says not to use with other thickening agents so i guess ive not to give her it... im at my wits end if i dont give gaviscon she throws up if i do she is very constipated.. been told to give her coll boiled water between feeds to help this but prob is she sleeps threw from 1 feed to next so have just ad to wake her to give it her and now she wont settle as shes rooting for a feed... im dahmed if i do and dahmed if i dont im getting stressesd and its not helping her.. really dont know what to do for best... on comfort should i not give gaviscon and see how she goes? or can anyone suggest anything else..... im making an appointment to c doc on monday they only keep giving me 5 days worth of gaviscon at a time which is doing my head in too

[beejaybee]

2 of my grandchildren had the same thing when they were babies & were put on a special milk which d.i.l had on prescription. Is there another doctor you can see at your surgery ?

[Sqad]

First of all, there is no cause for concern.........this is not serious or an uncommon condition.

The Gaviscon is quite safe to take every four hours.

Thickening up the feeds is a good idea and can be combined with the Gaviscon.

This will settle.

[honey33]

trouble is tho she normally feeds every 3hrs so because of this she has 7-8 feeds in 24hrs which eas i go without gaviscon for 2 feeds.... also today tho she has slept all day and has gone every 4hrs which has never happened before and she is only taking 100ml and its a struggle getting her to take that.. she normally has 120ml but was starting to take upto 150ml till gaviscon.... i am starting her on comfort milk on next feed and see how she goes without the gaviscon is this a good plan as she is so constipated on gaviscon... and if comfort dont work then maybe the sma stay down and if that dont work maybe change brand altogether or maybe see if i can get enfamil AR on perscription??... how long would you say is best to try a different milk?

[grange]

I do feel for you as my daughter-in-law has just gone through all this with her first baby. Noboby would believe how bad her reflux was until a nurse at a baby group clinic saw her a got a dr to see her. Even then she was only told that the baby would grow out of it eventually. However D-i- L put her foot down and insisted somethinbe done. The result was Gaviscon added to every feed, also Domperidone, and Ranitidine.Also in case lactose was causing it a prescription milk called Aptomil Pepti. Holding the baby upright for a while after feeds also helped.You could also try adding a little extra water to each feed to give her a little extra fluid to help her constipation. Hope some of this helps.Our little one is 7mths old now and hasn't been sick for several weeks so they do grow out of it eventualy but I know that's not much help now!

[Sqad]

Well, es, I would try her without the Gaviscon when giving her the comfort milk, but if she brings that up, then i agree with grange, give her the Gaviscon with every feed.

[grange]

just seen your last post. As Sqad says its perfectly safe to add gaviscon to every feed. Try feeding her a bit less ,slightly more frequently. Keep us posted! Good luck!

[grange]

meant to add that I wish GP's realised just how stressful this situation can be. With a first baby there are enough worries anyway without all this. My D-i-L was in despair over it. all the vomit, everything always soaking wet--- mother, baby etc. Night times even worse as she was sick then too and there was the added worry that she would choke. Havinh to completely strip a wrigling baby that you could hardly handle anyway and change its clothes every hour only to pick it up again and for it to be sick again! Our little one had a mop of hair too so you can imagine what that got like!! Well, I feel better now having got that lot of my chest! D-i-L now says how easy everything is now that she's not vomitting ay more!

[honey33]

i can hold her upright for an hour and the minute you put her down she is sick... will try the comfort and c what happens and i will let you know... if shes still like it i just doont know what to do after that for the best.... go back on sma gold with gaviscon or try the staydown next.. what would you do?

[grange]

Write everything down----- all your concerns and questions and keep your appointment for monday. The trouble is that nobody really knows why some babies get reflux and others dont so everyone is stumbling about in the dark. I will say though that some babies don't tolerate SMA well so that might be one place to start. My D-i-L fed her baby on Aptomil after she was even more sick on breast milk. There is a version of Atamil that is lactose free on prescription only so that might be something to add to you list for the Dr on monday and might be worth a try. Is your baby gaining weight OK? If she is then you can be reassured that enough food is getting through her gut. If she isn't then your Dr must be made aware of that and he wll need to investigate further. Good Luck with it all. It must feel like a rollercoaster for you at the moment! My D-i-L said at one time'' if anyone else tells me that she'll grow out of it'' I'll scream!!

[honey33]

its so hard knowing what to do... im about to give her 1st bottle of the comfort....if this dosent work i might try cow and gate or do i just perservere with normal sma and gaviscon? my head is in bits dont know what to do for the best... im also thinking about bottles for when im out all day as they dont do cartons in the comfort either... if it wernt for the constipation id stick with sma and gaviscon

[bednobs]

i am currently in the same situation as you except my baby is 15 weeks old. We use gaviscon every feed. I briefly tried the anti-reflux milk which is really thick, but it wasn't very satisfying for her for some reason. Also she had to work so hard to suck it even with a fast flow teat, she used to give up! Dont give gaviscon with the thickened milk - it'll make it too thick. Is your baby putting on weight? Is she a happy chucker, or is she unhappy about it?

[grange]

Try SMA comfort, its all trial and error anyway! You can get a plastic container with 3 compartments and a lid.the lid has a hole covered by a stopper. you can measure out the milk powder for 3 feeds into the individual compartents and add the gaviscon powder as well, then all you need are the bottles with the measured amount of boiled water in each.

[bednobs]

ps when we are out we do what the above poster suggested

[PringlesQueen]

Poor you and poor baby honey33. I feel for you. Can I suggest you have at look at this website - they have a brilliant forum on there for parents of babies and children suffering from reflux. You may find some useful information on there: http://www.littlerefluxers.co.uk/

[honey33]

bedknobs...i would say she is not a contented baby i wish she was its not very oftern where i will feed her and put her on her play mat and she will happily have a kick about and chuckle away.... well i tried th cofort last night god it stinks lol... she spat up a mouth full on one feed but the other 2 feeds she didnt so all being well this one might suit her she is still pooing hard balls i presume it will take a few day to get the gaviscon out the system and this may come right if it dont then im gonna switch to cow and gate

[honey33]

thanks i will take a look at the site x

[daisya]

A family member had her baby girl go through this and severe constipation and the vomit was projectile which was distressing for the baby and the mother. The doctors didn't find out until much later that the baby had a diaphramatic hernia (spelling) and had a small op to cure it. Hope it isn't like that for your baby but I know I wouldn't be happy giving her gaviscon due to the constipation. I'd approach the docs again.

[honey33]

just rang health visitor and she says i need to giver her a table spoon of fresh orange to 10 parts of cooled boiled water to flush her out.... bit reluctant to be giving so much water tho as that surely cant be good for a 9 week baby

[tinkerbell23]

I was just about to suggest a watered down fresh orange to help her bowels move...

Aww best of luck to you its a tough time xx

[tamborine]

Its a long time since I reared babies but we used to give sugar mixed with cooled boiled water to ease constipation.