Seeking Advise from Parents of Kids with Reflux

All three of my kids had reflux but my youngest had it the worse. He had problems from the day he was born.

We tried everything, the incline pillow, Pepcid, Zantac, etc... I even slept in a chair with him at night to keep him in an upright position because he was in so much pain. Finally, while waiting for an appointment with the GI, I went into the ped crying. She called the GI and they started him on Prevacid plus the Zantac. He was like a new baby.

When he started foods, he started having problems again. At 12 months he was diagnosed with eosinophilic esophagitis which is a swelling of the esophagus. We took him to an allergist and he was diagnosed with food allergies.

By two years old, he was off all medication. Although he had it the worst of my three, my oldest daughter is still on medication for reflux and she is 8 years old.

If you think she is still having problems, take her back to the ped. You are her only advocate so don't be afraid to press the issue.

Good luck.

We started our daughter on Zantac at 1 month--the doctor wasn't completely sure if it was reflux or just colic, but he wanted to make sure. Her excessive crying didn't stop, she was still miserable. After stopping for a little while, she started spitting up a lot more so we put her back on the medication. It turned out that she was VERY colicky (which ended at 2.5 months). I was never sure if she really needed to be on the medication but we kept her on as per the doctor's advice. At her 4 month checkup he told us to begin lowering her dose slowly over the next 3 months--immediately she seemed miserable (and this was obviously not colic)...So we brought the dose back up and she was much better. It wasn't until she was 7 months that we stopped the meds completely and she has been fine since...So sometimes it's hard to tell if the medication is helping...Are you sure it's not colic? Sorry this is so long:) Hope it helps!

Our son still spit up when he was on zantac but he was no longer in pain. It probably took a week or less for it to get into his system and then we stopped using it when he was around 6 months old.

Thank goodness for Zantac. It truly saved my sanity and finally helped my little one stop screaming after four long months. I wish she had gotten properly diagnosed as early as your daughter.

We saw a rather quick response with the Zantac as far as her discomfort. Like I said, after a few days on Zantac, the constant screaming subsided some. The Zantac continued to help with her pain and discomfort, but the spitting up continued and actually worsened as she got older. I did not notice that she spit up after her dose particularly. She just spit up throughout the day, all the time.

We started her on Zantac at four months, and her pediatrician finally switched her to Prilosec at ten months because she had flattened out on her growth curve for both weight and height (gained only four ounces between six and ten months of age). The more we fed her, the more she spit up. She had an upper GI x-ray study done, and the only thing wrong with her was the reflux. She just couldn't keep enough food down. Prilosec is a stronger drug than Zantac, so many docs will try the Zantac first. Zantac was helpful, but Prilosec was the key for us.

She is now much happier and getting chubby (two pounds in two months) on Prilosec. I would encourage you to talk to your doctor about your concerns. If you don't see any improvement within a week or so, I would call. I wish I had known then what I know now--it has been a long, hard year! Please feel free to contact me if I can help in any way. I am passionate about helping other moms with reflux babies if I can share anything I've learned. Good luck!

Hi J.! My little boy had reflux TERRIBLY as an infant. I'm not sure if you are breast feeding, but my son actually benefited from going to formula because it is heavier. He was on the Zantac, which he hated and we had a horrible time getting him to take it. Finally at 16 weeks, when i just couldn't keep up with his milk needs anymore, we switched completely to formula.... and that was when we really saw an improvement.

My son was on Zantac by the time he was 3 weeks old. Not only did we give him Zantac but we thickened his formula with a tablespoon of rice cereal for every ounce. The combination helped a lot and by 9 months he no longer needed the Zantac.

Hi J.,
My 6 week old (who is now 15 wks) was started on Zantac too. I actually got to see the reflux when the specialist ordered an upper GI and I was in there watching it on the screen. The spitup will be less frequent and your baby will get used to the medication. It takes a little time and I am not sure how long until I saw a difference. I know the zantac helped and now his reflux and spit up is very little if any. I always give him his medication seperate from feeding. Meaning after an hour of having his bottle or an hour before. Also we have him on Nutramigen and that helps too, we tried rice when he was 6 weeks but his little digestive system was already going thru so much that it just made him constipated. Now he gets rice with his formula at night and still is on zantac. Hang in there it does get better!

My son had reflux bad also. We tried 2 different medicines before one worked (unfortunatly I dont remenber which one worked) It took about a week before the meds worked and he still spit up alot for a few months but no more screaming. He stayed on the medicine until his year birthday. We also had to put ceral in his bottles more then normal. His bottles were pretty thick and that helped also.

It a scarry thing I questioned everything my doctor did I couldnt understand an newborn being on medicine, but it does work.

Hope this helps.

zantac doesn't stop the spitting up it just takes away the pain from the reflux. two of my children were on it and i didn't like it at all i felt it didn't do anything what i did find that worked was nutramigan formula and i would thicken with rice cereal one tsp per oz and that has done wonders my yougest now 8 months finally stopped refluxing my other daughter stopped at four months

Three of my four kids have had reflux. We saw a pretty quick response to the meds. We also had Reglan which helped with the spitting up. We had a couple of projectile vomiters and this helped a lot. It moves the food through their system faster so that their body can't get rid of it through spitting up. I also used Dr.Brown's bottles and these made a huge difference!!!

We also had to use the slope and sling at bedtime to keep my son at a 45 degree angle. You can try setting books under the crib or basinette feet to elevate one end also. I did that with my newest baby for awhile just because she liked being elevated like they do it in the hospital.

i hope some of this helps. Write me back if you have more questions!

My daughter had reflux as a baby and the Doctor put her on a combination of Zantac and Regland (sp?) These two drugs worked wonders and there was an improvement within a few days. Ask her pediatrician abotu this. Hope this helped.