Please give advice on Zantac and babies

[Anonymous]

OP, we had a similar experience, with a newborn who had some reflux symptoms but it wasn't clear cut, and we also felt that our pediatrician was very quick to recommend (or at least be comfortable prescribing) reflux medications. At first we chose not to do anything (though I did try eliminating a couple things from my diet, without effect). The symptoms came and went, and then around 9 weeks his sleeping patterns deteriorated and he was waking up constantly in distress. He didn't really have many other reflux symptoms, at least not consistently, but at 11 weeks we did decide to try Zantac, partly because we were so desperate ourselves for sleep and didn't understand what was going on.

Within 2 days, he was back to his normal sleeping pattern and seemed much more comfortable.

I do think that the reflux diagnosis in babies is ridiculously common and probably only a subset can really benefit from medication. But please don't beat yourself up for trying this. The advantage of Zantac is that if it doesn't work, you know pretty quickly (our ped told us within a week), and if that's the case with you I would probably try Prevacid, or just wait a bit and see how your baby does. What kind of symptoms does your baby have that made you suspect reflux? I think there are some cases (described by some of the pps) that are very clear-cut and others (like ours) that are not.

No medication is harmless, of course, but Zantac has been around awhile and has been quite well-studied, and after some initial hesitation we at least feel comfortable that we're trying it, and are hoping he won't be on it for too long.

[Anonymous]

OP here - thanks for all the responses.

We are in PP's position - don't really know if DS has reflux, just that he is a very fussy baby - after having 2 "easy" babies. He spits up often after meals - not just a little wet burp, but like, his mouth opens, and milk pours out all over the place! He won't nap except for if we hold him - though ironically he sleeps very well at night. And he cries a lot - angry crying, not fussy crying...

Thoughts? Does this sound like reflux or just something I need to wait out?

[Anonymous]

OP, if your baby is projectile vomiting, ask your ped to rule out pyloric stenosis. It sounds super scary because it requires surgery, but it's a simple fix and I think not a huge deal. My friend's baby had it, and I don't think it is all that uncommon. More likely, you've got a reflux situation. Usually frequent, forceful vomiting means reflux.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here - thanks for all the responses.

We are in PP's position - don't really know if DS has reflux, just that he is a very fussy baby - after having 2 "easy" babies. He spits up often after meals - not just a little wet burp, but like, his mouth opens, and milk pours out all over the place! He won't nap except for if we hold him - though ironically he sleeps very well at night. And he cries a lot - angry crying, not fussy crying...

Thoughts? Does this sound like reflux or just something I need to wait out?

Yes, it could be. Ours spit up a lot (maybe not that much) and did have real reflux but didn't do particularly bad at night. (I was the one who posted about the baby spitting up blood). If he spits up after meals, try lots of burping and keeping him upright for 30 minutes after meals. You might try elevating the bed at the head, but our son was all over the bed so that didn't work for us. Lastly, I would give the medicine a chance to work. Even if he does not respond right away, they can adjust the dosage (they have wide latitude vs. the initial dose they likely started him on) or they have other medicines to try.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here - thanks for all the responses.

We are in PP's position - don't really know if DS has reflux, just that he is a very fussy baby - after having 2 "easy" babies. He spits up often after meals - not just a little wet burp, but like, his mouth opens, and milk pours out all over the place! He won't nap except for if we hold him - though ironically he sleeps very well at night. And he cries a lot - angry crying, not fussy crying...

Thoughts? Does this sound like reflux or just something I need to wait out?

This is 14:51--sounds pretty similar to what we went through, down to lots of spit-up and naps on our lap. I do think that lots of spit-up doesn't really mean anything, unless the baby is upset when spitting up. But we also had lots of crying, especially at night, that sounded like "distress" crying, like he was in pain.

I think it can be really hard to tell what's going on in a situation like this, and your baby is still so young. If it were me, if the Zantac doesn't work I'd give Prevacid a go, as I've heard it often works better, and if that still doesn't work then maybe wait a week or two and see what happens.

[Anonymous]

I've just recently stopped giving my son Zantac because he has grown out of his reflux (he's almost 12 months). Our doctor told me that Zantac has been studied so much and it has time and time shown to be very benign - so it's not a medicine to be concerned about - particularly because it brought him so much relief.

[Anonymous]

He spits up often after meals - not just a little wet burp, but like, his mouth opens, and milk pours out all over the place! He won't nap except for if we hold him - though ironically he sleeps very well at night. And he cries a lot - angry crying, not fussy crying...

oh my gosh, this describes my son when he was 7 weeks old to a T, down to the milk pouring out (we used to call him Vesuvius) and the not napping unless being held/although sleeps great at night.

the doctor put him on prevacid and it changed our lives, honestly! now it didn't help the Vesuvius part, but at least he wasn't in pain when he spit up like that. we had the same concerns about putting him on meds at such a young age but we were reassured by our pedi that infant prevacid has been in use for 20+ years with no long-term effects noted.

just remember to hold him upright for at least 15 minutes after a feed.