Has your baby had a bad reaction to Omeprazole?

[spotofcheerfulness]

Will try to be brief - was in hospital with DS2 for 2 weeks after developing reflux at aged 5wks. They did a PH test which showed he has v bad acid reflux but doesn't actually vomit.
He is taking Domperidone, Ranitidine and Omeprazole - but this last drug which is supposed to be the wonder one, appears to be creating more pain rather than reducing it. He screams when he has it and after (but not with the others) and it doesn't just appear to be a taste issue.

Despite the whole medicine cabinet being thrown at him he seems worse than when we went in, barely taking in half his feeds and screaming most of the time he is awake, including during feeds.

We are also switching to Nutramigen formula in case there is an intolerance or allergy aspect too.

Has anyone else experienced this? Any tips?

We are seeing consultant again next week but not sure if should stop Omeprazole beforehand.

[spotofcheerfulness]

he is 9wks now btw

[spotofcheerfulness]

bump

[mintyneb]

is he taking it in suspension form or are you having to grind down tablets/ break up capsules?

My 3yo DD takes omeprazole in the suspension form with a very strong blackcurrant flavour. Once she was given just the original plain version and - bless her - she took it for about 3 days before saying it was nasty and she didn't want to take it again. She has to have 2.5ml twice daily and I tried about 0.2ml to see what it was like. OMG! it was foul - tasted something like very acidic seawater! even after a cup of strong black coffee I could still taste it a couple of hours later.

i don't know if the taste is causing the problem as it is definitely pretty awful. Sorry I can't help any more. I hope you get to the bottom of the problem soon

[narmada]

Your poor DS. Omeprazole could be causing side-effects. I am not rightly sure if my DS has them or not....Check out the patient information leaflet, it should have a list of side-effects but from memory these include sore mouth/ throat, headache, stomach cramps etc.

Might it be the texture? Those little beads are quite gritty.

Lansoprazole (FasTabs) are strawberry flavour, same class of drug, and dissolve easier than Losec MUPS/ Omeprazole.

[narmada]

PS I would check with the paed before stopping the omeprazole, if he has been on them any length of time. I think they aren't meant to be discontinued suddenly.

Oh, constipation is another possible side-effect.

[spotofcheerfulness]

Thanks! I asked about the suspension but the GP said he couldn't prescribe it. I just spoke to him now and he has asked us to go back to the hospital again so will come back with an update. My fear is that they're going to get us to tube feed him at home, which was something they suggested before we were discharged last time, but would really like to avoid that if we can.

[mintyneb]

ah GP probably wouldn't prescribe it because it costs about £140 per bottle and is only usable for about a month after the date it is dispensed!!

sorry you are having to go back to hospital but its probably the best place to be right now as it all sounds very distressing for you and your DS.

please keep us updated on how things go

[spotofcheerfulness]

back out again - luckily! Saw a bunch of docs who recognised us from when he was an in patient. i kept asking about the suspension and they denied all knowledge, despite my protetations. so no joy there. they've upped the ranitidine but everything else is on full whack and have basically said there's nothing to do for the pain and if we can't get enough milk into him he'll have to be tube fed.

i also asked about how long he should be kept upright for, etc - as i have him in the sling most of the time - but was told i shouldn't have him strapped to me too much as it would impede his physical development. but as it's the only way to stop him screaming not sure what else we could do! also not easy to deal with so much crying wit a 2 yo toddler in the house. but have basically been told to lump it as there's nothing more to do.

[Owlingate]

Ok what dose of ranitidine is he on? What dose of omeprazole is he on? IME omeprazole is only given if ranitidine is not working - ranitidine reduces the acidity, omeprazoel switches off the pump that produces the acid - so there shouldn't be any need to give both.

The suspension is basically just the tablets dissolved by chemist in baking soda type stuff - it does go out of date after 2 weeks and has to be kept in fridge - if they don't put flavour in it tastes foul and is apparently not as effective anyway.

So have you got the dispersible tablets? How are you doing it, in fruit juice or water? It may be that the fruit juice is too acidic and he is bringing that back up. We used to dissolve in a bit of soya yoghurt.

Don't worry about keeping him in sling all the time - ROFL at impeding his physical development. Not eating is going to impede his development more quite frankly. Both mine spent first 6 months in sling all time.

Nutrimagen may not be CMP free enough if he does have allergy, ask to try neocate if poss.

You tell me the doses and his age weight I'll tell you whether mine were any higher! You should be at medium dose at least if they're threatening the tube...domperidone bit useless imo especially for silent reflux but there you go

Poor you by the way. I was in your position a year ago and I felt awful for neglecting the toddler looking after El Screamero. He is a lot better now.

[narmada]

Also, did they tell you to give the omeprazole on an empty stomach? Or as empty as you can manage.

It sounds grim -poor you. If it's no better do keep going back. I cannot believe a feeding tube is the only option.

[Owlingate]

Oh yes before first feed of the morning and not at the same time as domperidone. And ask for an urgent referral to a paediatric gastroenterologist.

[spotofcheerfulness]

they didn't give any indication as to when he should have omeprazole, (the dispersible tabs) but i'm afraid juice or yoghurt out as he's only 9 weeks! he's on 15mg omeprazole, 1ml ranitidine and 2ml domperidone. he weighs 5kg.

it does bother me that i'm learning things on this thread (e.g not to have domp at same time as omep) they've not told me about.

the consultant he's seeing on weds is a GI specialist but she's been a bit useless until now. i asked about neocate and they said that would be the next step if no joy with the nutramigen. not sure how long i'm supposed to wait though.

out of interest, how did you manage your dc's reflux in terms of positions? docs said no advice, but how long would you keep upright after feeding?also ds loves being on his back, even though the ph test showed that was when the acid levels were highest. i know there's no magic formula, but how did you balance the need to keep upright with their enjoyment of kicking around?

[Owlingate]

Ok good he's on a very high dose of omeprazole already, almost the highest for his weight, on about a normal dose of ranitidine. I'm really surprised they've told you to carry on giving the ranitidine with omeprazole at that dosage. To be effective the domperidone is meant to be given half an hour before a feed I think four times a day? Is this how you are doing it? It's bloody hard to predict when half an hour before a feed is going to be I know. The domperidone speeds up activity in the gut which is why I was told not to give omeprazole at the same time, it could make it move too fast through his system to get chance to work in his stomach or something.

I did give omeprazole in juice at that age (I was advised to by the hosp chemist!). MW sometimes tell you to give a bit of watered down orange juice to help constipation. The amount I was mixing with tablets was v small anyway.

Re keeping them upright I used to keep them upright for half an hour after a feed. When I put them on the floor I used to put pillow under their head.

Good luck - btw omeprazole can take 2 weeks or so to show results. I would say it helped around 50% improvement with DS2, then you have to keep weighing them and make sure they increase dosage regularly.

[spotofcheerfulness]

Thank you very much - it's really helpful to hear about the ins and outs of things, and that they do get better! THey were trying to get me to give him Gaviscon again too but it just made him badly constipated and didn't seem to make much difference.

The only thing with the Omep is that we never get the full dose into him as he spits it out or coughs it up. But realise I probably have to be a bit more tough in making sure he gets the full dose whatever as it sound like it should really help.

[spotofcheerfulness]

Sorry - one more q. Did you wean onto solids early? Have been advised to start at 4 months, wanted to try BLW this time but seems like that's probably not an option.

[Owlingate]

No I was advised to but didn't, milk made them so ill I was scared to try anything else! With DS2 weaning was a total disaster as he brought the solids back up too. He couldn't cope with any lumps at all on his poor raw throat! BLW / finger foods really helped as they were sort of 'dry' if you see what I mean and he was totally in control. DS1 weaning went fine though (DS1 silent reflux, DS2 'normal' reflux, both severe).

Gaviscon total joke never did anything for both but constipate. Met very few people it has actually worked for tends to be 'happy chuckers' it works for and just makes them throw up a bit less. Useless for silent reflux imo. Agree omeprazole nightmare to give but they get used to it.

[jellybeans]

My DS has silent reflux, he is still on Omeprazole (Losec Mupps) age 2, no side effects. We had a nightmare trying to give it to him as a baby, tried suspension, tablets...from 16 weeks we used apple purree and put the Mupps in that. DS main issue was constant screaming and choking, he stopped breathing once. He also had feeding aversion and didn't do lumps till 15 months. The first year was horrendous. At 20 months things got better but he still has it, we can't get him off the Losec.

[Clairexrx]

Hi i know this a very old post but how did you get on with this problem?
My 9 week old has been on gavisgon for about 5 weeks with no improvement and was then put on omeprazole almost 2 weeks ago. A week into having the omeprazole she screams when trying to have a bottle and is barely taking any milk at all. I’ve even tried cooled down boiled water and she screams at that too. It’s like she’s in pain, tries to move away and goes red in the face.
Was back at the hospital last night but they just seem to fob you off to the next person who can’t do anything and just say come back if she’s dehydrated.

[Leegray80]

Hi clairexrx we are going through something very similar..its driving me crazy trying to get my 6 week old to drink

[Clairexrx]

Hi Leegray80. So we got some drops called co lactase which breakdown the lactose and after the 2nd bottle she finished it all, she must’ve been starving. No crying, pulling away or going red. Since then she’s been great and drinking most of her bottles. It’s so nice to see her happy finally! It’s £10 for a small bottle but if it helps it’s worth every penny!