# Gaviscon and Night-time Milk



## welshbird (Aug 5, 2005)

Hi Maz,

I wonder if you could help me with this.

Have been told by the cons that I must reduce the amount of milk LO is having as the underlying cause of his reflux is a sensitivity to cow's milk.  He was having a bottle at bedtime - 12oz - and a dreamfeed - 10oz!!  I have got the two feeds down to 8oz and 6oz but he is starting to wake hungry and I still need to get rid of the dreamfeed.

On his advice I am trying the thicker Night-time feed with cereal, do I need to put Gaviscon in it?  Will it be too thick if I do?

Never thought to ask the cons and now its almost feed time!

Any advice would be really helpful

Thank you, Welshbird x


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## mazv (Jul 31, 2006)

Hi welshbird,

Sorry didn't get on to answer last night was having a battle of wills with a 7 month old   

Sorry to hear about LO's reflux   Are they planning to get him off cow's milk completely then or just reduce intake? I'm assuming they haven't suggested changing to soya based or alternatives? Also assuming he takes Gaviscon in all his bottles? Sorry will stop asking questions  

Although Gaviscon does thicken up fluids I don't think it'll make the milk too thick. So long as you have a bottle teat for thick liquids (the one with the slit in it) then he should still be able to suck enough to get the milk out. I'm assuming he's onto thicker solids these days so he should be used to thicker textures. Have you increased his solid food intake to match the drop in milk? I've found the my LO really isn't interested in milk during the day anymore (we b/f) but my word she'll polish off a full pot of food (150g+) plus a dessert of fruit pot or yoghurt. Try doubling food intake at meals- he'll just resfuse what he doesn't want.

Hope this helps?
Maz x


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## welshbird (Aug 5, 2005)

Maz, thank you so much for your reply, your advice is really appreciated

Yes, I bought a new teat specially but he won't take the night time food! 

He has 3 bottles daily - 7am, 7pm & 11pm - all with gaviscon.  I was hoping to give him the night time milk at 7pm so that I could drop the dreamfeed quickly, but I have noticed that as his milk is decreased his interest in solids increases but with about a 3 day delay    Hopefully I can stop giving him the 11pm bottle soon.


I've been told that 60% of babies who have an allergy/sensitivity to cow's milk are allergic to the same protein in soy milk and that after about 6 months they are not accepting of the change in milk anyway, and also if his milk intake is reduced enough then it should stop his tummy ache - I've also started him on ranitidine which I'm not happy about but will see how it goes.

Perhaps once his diet is more settled I will be able to wean him off?

Its amazing how wilful 7 months olds can be without any language   

Thanks again, Welshbird x


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## mazv (Jul 31, 2006)

welshbird said:


> Its amazing how wilful 7 months olds can be without any language


 know exactly what you mean 

Thanks for the info on the milk allergy; funnily enough it rang bells somewhere in the cobwebbed spaces about soy milk having allergy problems too. Must try and remember this now  Makes sense that they are recommending sticking to cow milk but just reducing quantity. Not sure how easy it'll be to drop 11pm feed if he's only on 3 bottles a day  Could you try moving timings forward in the day instead? Save you having to get up at 11  The ranitidine should help too and hopefully you won't have to use it for too long. Things should settle as his food intake increases and he gets more solids on board 

Hang in there, this will all be a distant memory in a few months 

Maz x


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