Thanks! I have tried the gripe water and although it doesn't seem to have helped with the constipation it did get rid of her bloating and she seems much happier for it. Have also bought some prune juice but will try a few more days with just cooled boiled water and gripe water first. If all else fails I'll go back to the Dr and ask about an alternative medication. I was one of the few people who had a bad reaction to renatadine when I was pregnant so I'm a bit concerned that it may not agree with Keira either, but I think omeprazole can be prescribed as an alternative and I had no problem with that.

Glad to hear Toby's doing well on the renatadine.

xx

Cole has been on omeprazole for the last 6 days and it seems to work a little bit, throwing up has calmed a but e still cries a lot..

It tastes absolutely vile though! It is very bitter and it was a struggle to get it down when we had the fluid version... he is breastfed too and even with a full bottle of expressed milk i could still taste the bitterness through it!
I now have the granule form of omeprazol and got told to give it to him with a bit of yogurt... which seems to do the trick although i have the feeling his tummy doenst really agree with yogurt but hey..

Jasmine suffered from reflux from 2-10 months old. It was the most frustrating thing ever.

I didnt actually use the gaviscon very much because it did constipate her. If she was really upset by the gas I would give her some. And sometimes it helped, sometimes it didnt. However, I stopped nursing after 1 month because of alot of reason. So putting the gavison in her milk was easy for me. I also weaned to rice cereal early which helped, but didnt cure it.

If your comfortable with expressing some milk and giving a bottle that may help get the gavison into him.

Reflux babies should sleep on a slight incline to help with digestion. I found a wedge from jolly jumper that we used until 6 months. I also had the roll wedges to keep her from rolling.

Plus keeping them upright during the day helps!

My little one also has reflux, Im breastfeeding. Have been prescribed gaviscon but don't want to go down that route if I can help it.

I'm getting through the day by holding him upright on my chest for about an hour after feeds, giving him chamomile tea in a syringe before feeds if he is relaxed enough to take it.

he sleeps with his crib elevated, on his LEFT side using a sleep positioner from jojo mamam.

I got a book entitled 'colic solved' from amazon. It's written by a peadiatric gastroentrologist, it's really helpful. He states a number of times that breast milk is the best for relux babies but that a mother may need to alter her diet. i have ommitted dairy and spicy foods from my diet, also garlic, onion and tomato.

It is exhausting but hopefully it will get better soon!

my baby has reflux too, he was premature and came home from hospital on gaviscon. gaviscon has helped so much, i think it's great. i did get different instructions on how to prepare it though - they told me to ignore the directions on the box, and use one double sachet in 20mls of cooled boiled water, so it's really thick. then i give him between 3 - 5mls with each feed or whenever necessary. we just give it to him in a 5ml syringe (which we also use for gripe water and calpol. i just stick it in his mouth and he sucks naturally while i just slowly squeeze it out the syringe.

obv you should follow directions on the pack really, but you might suggest having it thicker to your baby's doctor and see what they say.

edited to add - he hasnt had any problems with constipation though, except while he was having formula milk, but is fine now 100% breast milk.

I have just been shown 5 different ways to massage a baby to help deal with constipation. It worked wonders! It literally all came out while I was massaging her - masses of the stuff! And it was soft like before she was on the gaviscon. I'd thoroughly recommend it!

xx

Hi Ladies,

Reading this thread has been really helpful, but just wondered how old your LO's were when you went to get further advise. My LO, Mia, is just 3 weeks old and never seems to settle after her feeds. She eats LOADS, partly because my flow is so fast and is fine for about 10 mins after feed, then gets really upset. Thrashes herself around, cries and brings up either small mouthful amounts or nearly all her feed. I then have to hold her upright for about half an hour or make sure she is completely asleep before putting her down. If she isn't out cold, as soon as she is flat in her back she SCREAMS.

I am going to try Infacol and raising her cot, but just wondered how long you left it before you got help. My Health Visitor seemed to think she is still quite young and might just be a developing digestive system and to give it a bit more time before I worry.

Any advise, info, support would be great appreciated.
Thanks,
Jo

Toby's troubles didn't really start until he was 3-4 weeks old and even then it felt 'manageable' until he was around 5/6 weeks old when it got very bad.

I didn't take him to the GP until he was 8 weeks old but i wish i had taken him sooner because i was tearing my hair out with worry by that point! It was difficult for us though because like i say, things REALLY got bad when he was about 5 weeks or so, and then my dad died when Toby was 6 weeks old and then of course it was christmas and new year and very difficult to get a dr's appointment

If you feel as though you are doing everything you can, in terms of keeping baby upright after feeds, elevating her cot, winding her frequently etc etc and things still aren't getting any better or are getting worse it might be worth going to see your gp, especially if bringing up the milk actually upsets her. Some babies seem to be "happy spitters" and just bring everything back while sitting there merrily smiling away, but Toby didn't used to be one of those, and would scream and arch his back and get very upset and then want to go straight back on the breast afterwards. The ranitidine he is on reduces the acidity in his stomach and now he is more like a happy spitter and isn't usually too bothered when he is sick. I know it's not a magic solution though, and won't suit every baby, i am just glad we have found something that is working for us, alongside the things we were already doing for him.

Hope you work something out for Mia

Keira was about 2 weeks when she started having problems - thrashing about, grunting and straining through the night, wanting to be held upright all the time during the day, eating loads and finding it difficult to settle. I didn't go to the Dr until the 6 week check up as the midwife & health visitor had both shrugged it off as normal colic. But her night time distress just got worse and worse so I mentioned it to the Dr who prescribed gavison. I have had to take her off the gavison now as the constipation made her even more distressed, so Dr has prescribed zantac instead. I really don't want to give her a stronger medication unless absolutely necessary so at the moment I'm trying massage, gripe water, cutting out just about everything from my diet and holding her upright for as long as possible after night feeds. All of these seem to be helping but not enough, so I'm going to speak to the health visitor about other options like a wedge and sleeping on her side or tummy. But I think I may just end up resorting to the zantac in the end anyway.

If you're worried about Mia it's worth going to the Dr. If nothing else it gives you someone to talk it through with and for me it also stopped me from feeling like I was making a fuss about nothing (you wouldn't how many people have said to me that it's just wind and she'll grow out of it. At least the Dr took me seriously!). I think the Dr was just as concerned about me not getting any sleep as she was about Keira, and that was reassuring too in a way. The only problem is if you don't want to go down the medication route, but I guess that depends on how bad she is and you can always talk it over with the Dr & health visitor.

I wouldn't worry too much about the Zantac (Ranitidine), although I understand not wanting to give your baby something if you don't absolutely have to. If it helps at all (and I don't know if I mentioned this up-thread), we quite routinely give NICU babies with reflux Ranitidine and Domperidone (one neutralises the acid, the other empties the tummy quicker so there's not much to bring up) and even discharge them home on it. Many of them outgrow the reflux at around six months.