Gaviscon - constipation

My 7 week old breast fed baby girl had been struggling with reflux, being repeatedly sick and distressed after every feed. She was prescribed infant gaviscon which instantly calmed her and reduced the vomiting. She previously used to have a bowel movement after every feed. After taking the gaviscon she went 24 hours before a massive blowout. She now hasn’t been for 48 hours and I stopped giving her the gaviscon over 24 hours ago when she hadn’t been.
Since then we’ve tried warm baths, massage, bicycle legs etc and nothing is getting her bowels moving. For a baby that used to poo very regularly this is such a big change. Has anyone else experienced this? Does anyone have any tips to get her bowels moving? How long should we leave it before calling NHS 111 if she doesn’t go?

Read more on Peanut

The views expressed in community are solely the opinions of participants, and do not reflect those of Peanut.

Learn more about our guidelines.
Add a comment
Avatar

Our HV suggested feeding some cool boiled water which did help get things moving again

Avatar

Thanks how much did you give? X

Avatar

Speak to your GP. I had this with my first who was prescribed gaviscon for reflux - it made her really constipated & they then prescribed lactulose alongside the gaviscon… In my experience the gaviscon caused more problems than it cured. The struggle to poo then led to feeding less because her belly was so bloated.
Have you tried reflux milk? x

Avatar

I was making 60ml at a time and just feeding what my babies would take in the morning and at night x

Avatar

My daughter had the same was prescribed gaviscon gave her bad constipation so we took her off it she now only has gripe water works amazing for her you can get it tescos, asda, and home bargains xx

Avatar

from what I’ve been reading online it seems as though that is regularly the case with gaviscon! How did you manage to get your baby to go to the toilet in the end? She is breast fed so I haven’t tried any formulas xx

Avatar

thanks will have to give it a go x

Avatar

how long after you took her off the gaviscon did she start going to the toilet again? We have some gripe water, she choked the first time we gave it to her and it scared us to death so could maybe try giving it to her in a different bottle xx

Avatar

My little boy has reflux and we were prescribed omeprazole rather than gaviscon because of constipation issues, we were also prescribed lactulose to help him go when he was struggling and so far it’s worked a treat! Could be worth asking for omeprazole as constipation isn’t often a side effect and lactulose for when/if she does struggle! 😊

Avatar

Thanks it does sound like the omeprazole is a better alternative to the gaviscon. She is still struggling with reflux and now I feel bad that she’s stopped the gaviscon as it was calming her but I need her to go to the toilet. I will have to try and get some lactulose for her to ease things. X

Avatar

I'm pretty sure cooled boiled water is only okay for formula fed babies, we found that we've just been giving the gaviscon at night so if she is sick it will only really be during the day when we're awake and around her, its still been helping her reflux and she's constipated anymore as its no longer with every feed xx

Avatar

*she's not constipated anymore

Avatar

My first had silent reflux, and we were given gaviscon, and it completely stopped her being sick, but she wasn't able too poo. I ended up giving her gripe water, and it worked within seconds.
We then went back to the doctors, and we were omeprazole and we never had any issues after that x

Avatar

How much gaviscon are you giving her?

Avatar

At first we was out on anti reflux milk but that made my baby very constipated. So then go said try comfort milk and he gave us infant gaviscon. Well the gaviscon caused her to be constipated again after we had it back to normal and it gave her belly cramps. So we stopped the gaviscon and her poop is back to normal. We did warm baths bicycle with the legs and give some cooled boiled water after each feed ( about 1oz)

Avatar

what do you use now? I’ve used reflux and now on comfort but baby is bringing up milk after feeds and seems abit uncomfortable
Not sure what to try next

Avatar

Hi we had the EXACT same experience with it that I could have written this myself. Felt like we took the edge off one problem but created a bigger problem in turn!
She just had 2 blowouts last night and then a normal one and it's been a week to the day, so hoping this is the start of it going back to normal rather than one huge runny blowout every 24 hours 😅 my HV said she was going to see if I could get omeprazole instead as I can't get a GP appointment for her ATM.
Hopefully it all settles soon for you! X

Read more on Peanut

Trending

in our community

circumcision

are we circumcising our boys? or leaving that to dad?

Avatar

2

59

Should I be concerned or am I overthinking?

My little boy is 15 months old, he’s recently taken his first steps and he says mamma and dadda and baba (he has said these for months) we’ve filled out the paperwork for his 12-14 month review and it looks like he isn’t meeting many of his milestones.

He doesn’t copy actions, point, clap etc. He doesn’t react when being spoken to, or to his name. He actively avoids eye contact.

He was so unresponsive to sound that we just had his hearing tested concerned he was deaf. They found that he could hear so he is just choosing not to react to any noises or sounds.

Has anyone else had similar experiences with their little ones? Should I be raising this with the health visitor and ask to be assessed for neurodivergent issue or a social communication problem like autism?

I don’t want to just slap a label on him, but I do feel that there are real concerns. All opinions welcome!!

Avatar

1

7

Routines?

When did you start to introduce your baby’s routine? Do they just have a night routine or full day routine? Wondering when I should start this e.g naps at the same time everyday.

Any routines you have that work for you, please let me know them with timestamps. my baby is 6 weeks and just wondering when we should start them?

Avatar

3

Does anyone else’s baby spit up breastmilk but not formula?

I’m seriously considering seeing a lactation consultant because I don’t understand why he can’t hold down breastmilk but can formula. I use soy formula since I’ve used it with my daughter and I’m thinking it might be due to not getting milk coming in for a few days so I had no choice but to give him formula, but now even if I take breaks in between feeding him breastmilk to burp or try to mix breastmilk and formula, he spits it up sooo much. I’m ready to just give him just formula because I’m worried about him not eating enough

Avatar

10

I think Motherhood has made me more bitter than I realized…

This is such a ramble but I don’t know where else to put it all.

I’m four months in and I don’t really have hobbies right now. I don’t do anything for myself except maybe doomscrolling or listening to a podcast while I breastfeed my baby. I used to craft and have game nights with friends. Activities that usually are at least 2 hour stretches. Now if I have an hour free my mind immediately goes to baby, or doing something in the house for baby.

And I thought I didn’t mind. Like I knew postpartum could be very mentally consuming. But I think it’s altering how I view people around me and it’s prodding at my relationship with my husband.

He spends most of his time making food for us, looking after our dogs, playing with the baby, ect. But he still has time for his hobby. Spends maybe an hour a night on it. Even adapted to using a bot for shopping for his hobby after a certain incident where we had to have a heart to heart after he left me home alone with the baby for hours during a busy workday (I work from home) to shop for his hobby.

And yet there’s like this little green eyed monster in me that rages every time I know he’s running off to start up the bot. Even though I’m the reason he does it this way.

We took a family trip last weekend to see his best friend and their kids and let them meet the baby. He brought the laptop. He’s always brought a laptop on trips and it’s never been a problem to me before. But one night we both woke up while the baby was still asleep, and he wandered out of the room. I tried to fall back asleep but couldn’t. So I went to the kitchen to try having something warm to drink to settle me. And he was there at the table running the bot from his laptop. I flipped out at him. But there really wasn’t reason to. It’s not like I needed help with the baby and he was ignoring me. He wasn’t avoiding our friends. He was just awake and unable to sleep and found something to do with his time. Yet my snap reaction was “why the hell would you do this on a family trip?”

I don’t know what it is. Maybe it’s the less complete sleep from baby’s middle of the night feed? My brain being just consumed by baby? Maybe I’m not as over that shopping incident as I thought? But I’m just so annoyed at his hobby right now. The green eyed monster thinks “you could be using that time differently” but realistically to do what exactly??? Stare at our baby in the dark???

I spent probably an hour apologizing to him after I snapped. And he’s of course hurt and frustrated because I said some very mean things in the moment.

I don’t want to be this jealous, angry person. But I also don’t know how to find time for myself in this right now outside of basic hygiene. It’s like I’ve forgotten how to be myself, even if just for an hour.

Maybe I need a therapist.

Avatar

3

6

Stroller

Hey,

Baby is getting slightly too heavy for his travel system now.

I was just wondering want strollers people recommended. Thank you

Avatar

5

Read more on Peanut