The use of Gaviscon for silent reflux

Reflux and silent reflux is a common condition that affects about 50% of babies. That said, because it is common, does not make it normal. It can be severe enough to cause pain and distress to the baby, creating feeding difficulties or weight gain challenges. One of the first medications to be trialed by doctors is Gaviscon Infant, an alginate therapy.

Baby acid reflux is a common condition that affects many babies, in the USA and UK, official estimates are that 1 in 2 babies will experience reflux. It can be caused by anything from stress in pregnancy, to swallowing too much air, to birth trauma to diet. And reflux equally affects babies who are breast or bottle-fed.

Whatever the cause, baby reflux can be very uncomfortable for your baby and you, and it’s not just annoying: treated inappropriately, it, and some treatments, can cause complications such as recurrent ear infections, small intestine bacterial overgrowth, pneumonia, erosive oesophagitis and more.

It can be severe enough to keep the baby from feeding or to cause weight loss.

You may notice that your baby’s reflux is worse after a spell of crying, or after what appears to be a “really good feed”. When it happens it can be painful for them to eat, or indeed, they may ask for more milk to soothe the pain in their throat. Reflux can also make it difficult for a baby to sleep and feed properly, which can lead to poor weight gain or weight loss if not supported properly.

How does Gaviscon work?

Some studies suggest that Gaviscon may help treat some cases of acid reflux, but others have not shown any effect.

Gaviscon is an alginate, it forms a raft on top of stomach acid when consumed, with the intention of preventing regurgitation from happening. This short video demonstrates how Gaviscon works.

For many babies, Gaviscon helps their reflux massively, it stops them from vomiting much of the milk they drink. For many, this reduced vomiting means that the milk, and its nutrients, now stay inside the baby’s body where they can be digested and absorbed. For babies who don’t gain sufficient weight, are classed as “failure to thrive” or who are losing weight due to vomiting, Gaviscon can really help them start to gain weight. It can also help minimise the risk of damage to the oesophagus from stomach acid being in there. However, it is not always guaranteed to work.

Does Gaviscon Cause Constipation?

One of the most common side effects of using Gaviscon Infant is that it can cause constipation. On the official information provided with the medication, the number of users who will experience constipation as a result of using the medication is classified as “Very rare”, and this has a statistical frequency of less than 1 in 10,000 or less than 0.01% of users.

However, ask the parent of a baby who has used Gaviscon Infant, and the story is incredibly different. I created a straw poll on my Instagram stories recently, which 63 parents answered, and 65% said that their baby experienced constipation with the use of Gaviscon Infant.

There is a reason that this isn’t reported in the medical literature, and I will go into that in another blog another time, it is an important topic on how you and I have a responsibility to report adverse effects, and we are not informed about this, or asked about it, and our doctors don’t report these adverse effects either. That’s for another time.

Chances are, that you will experience constipation with the use of Gaviscon, so this is something to look out for.

Gaviscon Caused A Hernia

I was recently at a friend’s wedding and a stranger beside asked me what I do… this quickly lead to a conversation about her 2.5-year-old, who was waiting for surgery after developing a hernia from excessive straining after Gaviscon made him so constipated.

Their story was much longer and involved many feelings of being ignored as a first-time mum asking for help for her baby until he was diagnosed as having “failure to thrive” and prescribed Gaviscon Infant by the hospital. And while the medication reduced his reflux and vomiting, it led to such excessive straining that he caused himself a hernia. Which is now waiting for surgery, under a general anaesthetic to repair. And, he still has lingering issues from his reflux.

Listening to this story made me so angry. Again.

The medical community seems hellbent on prescribing medications for baby reflux rather than understanding it.

While they know Gaviscon causes constipation, they feel the appropriate thing to do is to prescribe lactulose, to help the baby’s bowels move again. What is wrong with this picture? Here – have some medication, and then to overcome the side effects of this medication, have some more medication. Is this really setting our children up for life?

Don’t get me wrong, there are many times when it is appropriate to use medications to HELP the body, however, for most of our children, long-term medications are not the best answer. And yet the medical world doesn’t seem to care. In fact, when you take a helicopter view you will see that the rates of medication given to infants are increasing year after year. How can we say that we live within a progressive healthcare system right now? A system that keeps people sick rather than supporting their health?

So, what can you do for your baby?

We must understand that there are over thirty different causes and contributory factors to reflux and silent reflux in babies, and therefore what works for one is unlikely to work for another.

We need to start understanding each baby as an individual. And we can do that by observing their symptoms and behaviours because every child is telling us what we need to know, we just have to read what is in front of us.