zantac for reflux?

[Anonymous]

My 5 week old has been quite fussy for three weeks now, with a lot of crying and difficulty getting to sleep and staying asleep (particularly during the day). I have to hold her for all of her naps and she just seems very unsettled for lack of a better word.

Her ped had me try a dairy elimination diet (she's breastfed with just a few bottles of formula here and there) which didn't seem to make much difference.

Now our ped has suggested we put her on Zantac for reflux. I'm reluctant to medicate such a small baby with an adult medication (the safety of which I'm sure has never been tested in kids/babies) when she doesn't have a lot of the symptoms of reflux.

She doesn't spit up, doesn't show distress while feeding, isn't pulling up her legs as if in pain

However, she does cry as if pained sometimes, isn't sleeping well and is difficult to settle and seems to want to comfort suck a lot.

Has anyone had experience with "silent reflux" (i.e. no spitting up) or have thoughts on using Zantac?

My first child was somewhat like this as well, but has always been completely healthy so it's not clear to me she's just not a really fussy, high-needs baby.

[Anonymous]

I was in an almost identical position a few months ago, and I think I may have posted a similar question. My baby (starting around two weeks) was also extremely fussy, gassy, and would cry A LOT. She never spit up at all so we never even considered reflux. She did, however, cry immediately after every feeding (I was pumping and feeding her so I knew exactly what she was getting) no matter now much she ate. She would eat furiously and desperately as though she were starving. It was really weird. Immediately afterwards she would start crying and be fussy for what seemed like hours. They eventually determined that she had silent reflux and that she was eating for comfort (I guess the breast milk has some sort of antacid-type properties). I could also hear her swallow back milk at times and she would arch her back. She was put on Zantac. I was worried about medicating such a small baby as well but apparently Zantac is quite commonly used to help babies. I will be quite frank. I am not sure whether the Zantac actually worked or not. She would have good days and bad days and I never saw a drastic difference during the time she was on Zantac. She just miraculously changed when she turned two months old - the fussiness went away and she became the happiest baby ever. I think her digestive system may have just needed some time to mature. To answer your question - Zantac is perfectly safe to give to your baby and do not feel bad about "medicating" your baby if it actually provides her some relief. I know many parents who swear that Zantac greatly helped their baby. On the other hand, if you are not sure that it is reflux and do not want to medicate her, then take comfort in the fact that her discomfort may naturally pass in time.

[Anonymous]

We started our son on Zantac when he was a couple of months old - though he had every sign/symptom of reflux to a tee. It helped tremendously and like PP said, I didn't have any problem medicating him if it relieved his pain, and ours! The Zantac actually only worked for a short while though and then the reflux came back, so we switched Prevacid. I have heard of several others who had to do this, too. The Prevacid was wonderful and he took it regularly until we weaned him around eight months with no problem. (By then the reflux was gone.) I think that a fair number of very young babies go on Zantac these days...

[Anonymous]

OP again:

thanks for your thoughts - to PP who said a fair number of babies are taking Zantac these days, I guess that's part of my concern -- I'm a bit of a cynic and I can't help but think whichever big pharma company manufactures Zantac is quite happy about that. It seems like 1/2 of my friends tell me their baby has reflux - do all of these babies REALLY have reflux?

I'm also wondering if I need to eliminate much more from my diet - soy, wheat, berries, chocolate, etc...but our ped hasn't suggested that yet and, frankly, I'm not too psyched at that prospect.

[Anonymous]

after much thought and consternation, we did decide to put our daughter on zantac. And although the doctor called it zantac, he actually prescribed ranitidine, which is apparently the active ingredient in zantac. It's safer for babies so they are only getting the part that works, and not all the extra alcohol or additives in the regular drug.... or something like that. It made all the difference. She would cry and cry right before and after spitting up (and boy is she a spitter), and she'd cry at times (like you describe) where you could tell she was in pain. I was basically eating only meat and potatoes, and it didn't seem to help that much either. But once we did the medicine, she became a "happy spitter", where it just didn't seem to bother her anymore, and the crying jags were greatly reduced. She is 5 months now, and doing really well. We are very glad we did the medicine...starting at about 5 weeks. HTH

[Anonymous]

the only way for sure to know that it is reflux is to have them scoped. That said-our dd didn't have any of the classic symptoms of reflux but many of the symptoms op described. We finally took her to a ped GI when she was 10 months and he found occult blood in her stool-she was scoped and had a bleeding ulcer from the reflux that hadn't been diagnosed.

prevacid changed her and our life.

so I guess the point is noone likes medicating their kid-but if they are in pain and ted isn't working (which will not affect the gerd-just food allergy/intolerances)-leaving it untreated could lead to serious consequences

[Anonymous]

op- what kind of formula are you supplementing with? You may need to change it. My dd is 11 months and when she was about 5 weeks had same things on she slept during day- started around 4ish and she would cry cry cry until about 9. I think it was colic - dr. said reflux but I was reluctant. She was on enmfamil with iron which is hard on their belly's. Switched to soy and helped a lot. try experimenting with the formula before you try meds.

[Anonymous]

We tried zantac and prevacid. I was personally very opposed to meds-- but it was so worth it. Our baby changed from miserable to joyous in a week.

[Anonymous]

Our DD had severe reflux which started to get really bad around 4 months. Our ped put her on Axid twice a day. It's like Zantac but designed for kids & babies. It worked well once we got the dose right. Our Dr told us that the meds work best when given an hour before feeding and at least 2 hours after feeding. So, we had to get into a medicine/feeding routine for the am & pm doses. Once it kicked in, it helped a lot. The other thing that made a big difference was introducing a little rice cereal at 5 mos. our Dr had originally recommended starting cereal at 6 mos, but she said it was ok to start at 5 mos to help the reflux.

[Anonymous]

PP here again, I also eliminated alcohol, caffine, soy, eggs, dairy, nuts, legumes, and as much wheat as possible from my diet on the recommendation of our ped. It was not a particularly exciting way to eat but I was so desperate to have my baby feel better (and start sleeping) that I would have done anything.

[Anonymous]

My ds was on Zantac for a few months because of recurrent pneumonia. The two major causes of that are reflux and asthma, so they treated for both just to eliminate the danger (and since pneumonia in a child that small is very scary, we didn't object to the meds).

If you do decide to do Zantac, I recommend you have it compounded at a pharmacy - it tastes much better. We purchased ours at Preston's Pharmacy in Arlington.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
the only way for sure to know that it is reflux is to have them scoped. That said-our dd didn't have any of the classic symptoms of reflux but many of the symptoms op described. We finally took her to a ped GI when she was 10 months and he found occult blood in her stool-she was scoped and had a bleeding ulcer from the reflux that hadn't been diagnosed.

prevacid changed her and our life.

so I guess the point is noone likes medicating their kid-but if they are in pain and ted isn't working (which will not affect the gerd-just food allergy/intolerances)-leaving it untreated could lead to serious consequences

If she didn't didn't have classic reflux symptoms what made you consult a ped GI? (Trying to decide here whether I am dismissing any signs as just colic/infancy).

[Anonymous]

We went to a pediatric allergist b/c she couldn't tolerate any foods and she suggested we also consult with the GI to make sure there wasn't anything else going on except the food allergies.

DD was put on Neocate by the allergist-I was still nursing up to the point and had removed dairy, soy, eggs, shellfish, all nuts, poultry and all legumes from my diet already and she was still having trouble.

[Anonymous]

My baby suffered from silent GERD from 3 wks old, and till today she relates food with pain. Its an ordeal to feed her. I wish I had put her on medication earlier. I tried Zantac, reluctantly, at first. It did not work at all! Thinking that GERD will pass in time, I kept giving her Zantac. The symptoms persisted and my baby just grew more and more fussier when we fed her. Finally, I caved in (at 4 mos) and put her on pervacid. It helped, and she is better now. BUT due to my delay-my baby is a fussy eater and we have to literally put her to sleep before we can attempt to feed her.
Sometimes early medical intervention is necessary and beneficial to your baby--even though there maybe risks associated with the medication.

[Anonymous]

My babies (plural) suffered from GERD and believe me- i am all organic avoid medicine etc.- but this was obviously not a happy baby and it was stressful since eating is - well, like all the time for any baby! Zantac did not work for us- we moved on to prevacid solutabs- it was wonderful- before a year of age- my dd and ds were happy and not needing medicine. gerd is very common in babies- i cannot tell you how many i have encountered-and to let them suffer to ahve eating issues or help them heal? i say- help them heal (and these are long erm medications that have been observed- like an antibiotic for tha case)