[heather40]

I havent been around much since we got home with our son...pretty busy! I have a feeding question. My son is 7 1/2 weeks and was spitting up a good bit. Dr prescribed Zantac. He has been taking it for a day and a half and has slept pretty much round the clock. This is so not like my boy. Ugh. Don't know if it's worth him being drugged. Will this get better? If not, need to reevaluate.

[tobeafamily]

Our son had problems with reflux as an infant, Zantac was one of the prescribed medications and eventually we went to Donatol and Nutramagen formula. Yes, it's worth it. I hated how he was on the medications BUT I also understood that he was exhausted first from all the pain and discomfort of the reflux. As our doctor explained, the energy he was expending coping with the reflux was wearing him out. He came off the medications at about 5 months, moved from Nutramagen at 6 months to lactose free formula, and is now a perfectly healthy almost 10 year old boy.

[becky]

The medication isn't drugging him, he is just probably experiencing what it is like to be able to lay down and sleep without the burning and pain of reflux. Once he 'catches up', he will be back to normal, but probably a happier baby!

My daughter stayed on Zantac for about a year. Once she was off the formula and mainly on solid foods the reflux improved greatly.

Good luck!

[eagleswings216]

Originally Posted by becky

The medication isn't drugging him, he is just probably experiencing what it is like to be able to lay down and sleep without the burning and pain of reflux. Once he 'catches up', he will be back to normal, but probably a happier baby!

My daughter stayed on Zantac for about a year. Once she was off the formula and mainly on solid foods the reflux improved greatly.

Good luck!

This is exactly what I was going to say, too. The Zantac doesn't cause drowsiness - he's probably just enjoying the sleep! Our boys were on Zantac for awhile, but didn't see much relief, so we ended up switching to Prevacid (and also had to use Nutramigen for milk and soy intolerance).

[heather40]

Thanks so much. Already seeing a difference!

[usisarah]

My kids didn't need that kind of medication, but they naturally slept over 18hrs a day at that age. It may be that the Zantac is making him to what he normally would do if he wasn't spitting up all the time.

Don't worry...you're being a good mama

[Linny]

We've had babies on Zantac...and I've been on it myself. It's a great drug; but, I wouldn't dismiss the fact that some babies CAN do well w/o taking a drug to help with reflux. As one pp stated, they went to a different formula...and I would also look into using a probiotic for the baby too...(always talk to your MD or nutritionist, of course.)

I know your MD prescribed Zantac, but any more, I'm leary of giving drugs to such young babies. Just me. It was our nutritionist who suggested the use of a probiotic and while it took some time to find the right formula, we DID realize corn syrup solids do a real number on our youngest. (That corn syrup sensitivity was a complete surprise! It was suggested to *me* here on adoption.com from another momma and that suggestion helped emmensely!!!)

HTH....

Sincerely,

Linny

[eagleswings216]

Originally Posted by Linny

We've had babies on Zantac...and I've been on it myself. It's a great drug; but, I wouldn't dismiss the fact that some babies CAN do well w/o taking a drug to help with reflux. As one pp stated, they went to a different formula...and I would also look into using a probiotic for the baby too...(always talk to your MD or nutritionist, of course.)

I know your MD prescribed Zantac, but any more, I'm leary of giving drugs to such young babies. Just me. It was our nutritionist who suggested the use of a probiotic and while it took some time to find the right formula, we DID realize corn syrup solids do a real number on our youngest. (That corn syrup sensitivity was a complete surprise! It was suggested to *me* here on adoption.com from another momma and that suggestion helped emmensely!!!)

HTH....

Sincerely,

Linny

Linny,
These are GREAT points. In addition to the meds (Zantac and later Prevacid), we also did Nutramigen formula, but it HAD to be the premixed kind and not the powder. The formula companies swear they are the same, but they are not the same for some kids as we discovered.

We also did probiotics (still do, in fact, and our boys are 2). To the OP, if you are interested, the probiotics we use are called Primadophilus Children's. It comes in powder, which can be mixed in the formula, and for older kids, it comes in pill form as well. There are other kinds, of course, but we have always been happy with those.

The good news is, the reflux will go away with time. Our boys had it VERY severely and we were able to wean them off of of the meds at 11 months. (they also outgrew the milk problems by a year old - wish I could say the same for the soy!!).

Good luck!

[ScrapMonkey]

Our AD was on Zantac from about 6 weeks and I attributed the sleep to RELIEF!!!! After all that pain, she cam finally rest!! Give it some time and see if the sleep became a regular amount. It was a GODSEND for us!!

[Linny]

The formula companies swear they are the same, but they are not the same for some kids as we discovered. 0--eagleswings216

AMEN, to that one! I can't stress that enough......the formulas are NOT the same when discussing liquid RTF vs the powdered type. After having five babies....I thought I'd know a lot about formulas.....but this corn syrup thing with formulas seems to affect more and more babies. I have nothing against corn syrup, but in formulas, it can REALLy throw a baby into a twist.

Sincerely,

Linny

[rredhead]

From the get-go, I was pretty sure DS was lactose intolerant. He would spit up all the time. We switched him to lactose-free, ready-made formula. That helped a little bit, but he was still spitting up. More than that, he was crying while eating. You could tell he was in pain. I took a video of him eating and when the dr. saw it, she said, "Let's get this boy on some Zantac." DS was maybe 4 months. Zantac helped a lot. He was off of it by the time he was 1 year old.

Basically, in a lot of babies, the esophageal sphincter isn't fully formed. For some babies, this causes a great deal of acid reflux.

If you haven't already tried different formulas, such as a lactose-free version, I would recommend it. I know Zantac really helped DS, and didn't have any real side effects for him, but all babies are different.