Omeprazole or Ranitidine, thoughts?

[Newbiemumsy66]

My 7 week old had really awful reflux and we have been prescribed gaviscon. To be honest it has done sweet FA and if anything has given constipation too so he is in excruciating pain at both ends. We have the GP check up tomorrow and he is pretty easy going when prescribing meds so I know if we push for something else he will give it. I just wanted to know what people’s experiences were with both drugs as I don’t know what to go with.

Just to clarify the reflux is horrendous, I can’t put him down for 5 minutes and have tried every trick in the book! I’ve been consistent with all the things too but nothing sticks. The only thing that works temporarily is lightly bouncing in a Swiss ball whilst holding him, but my fitness isn’t up to doing that for hours on end and I can’t sleep at the same time

My friend was recently told they don’t like prescribing either.

Have you considered cows milk allergy? Nearly all the babies I’ve known with severe reflux turn out to not be able to cope with milk- either dairy based formula or dairy the breast feeding mum eats and passes through her milk. The nhs are shockingly bad with reflux and cows allergy and then they try to push a cheaper formula which still has some proteins in from dairy or something!

Hang in there, I know it’s heart breaking and exhausting having a little one in so much pain all the time

My baby is on ranitidine. I have found it to be great, instant change in behaviour and crying. (Still velcro baby though but much better)

DaisyDreaming

I don’t really know much about either drug and to be honest I don’t want to resort to drugs but I am getting about 2 hours of sleep a day and I can’t stand to see him in so much pain, his cry is now quiet in volume but aggressive as his voice is hoarse from the acid and constant crying. I’ll try just about anything. My doctor discussed both drugs when we went last time but said let’s see how we get on with gaviscon.

I have cut out all dairy, caffeine and wheat from my diet for the past 3 weeks and no change unfortunately. Although I will continue to exclude it in case it needs a bit more time. But thank you for the suggestion

Russell19 - any side effects? I heard somewhere they can only take it for 2 weeks, is that right?

My DS also on Ranitidine. As far as I'm aware there isn't a 2 week time limit for taking it.

In Australia, our paed asked us to try Zantac (ranitidine) first, then Losec (Omeprazole) if the Zantac didn't help. Zantac comes in a syrup, so easier to give to very little babies. Doesn't need a compounding pharmacist and is more stable. I think Losec is the one that loses effectiveness once you've opened the bottle?

We found a combo of Zantac and eliminating dairy from my diet, plus a partially hydrolyzed formula for top ups was what helped. Both kids still refluxed, so I had to keep them upright, but the pain was greatly reduced, so they didn't scream as often.

Zantac lasts about 8hrs, so it's important to space the doses evenly across the whole day for max effectiveness. Hang in there, 7wks is really hard. It does get better.

@Newbiemumsy66 I hope you get it sorted soon. My son is also 7 weeks and the first 4 were almost non stop screaming until he was prescribed Ranitidine.

All seems pretty positive stuff with Ranitidine then! I was mainly wondering if either drug came with any Nasty side effects or if it was all positive. There seems to be a lot of anti drug articles on the internet about both, but I’d rather hear it from people who have experienced it first hand. Thanks for the support it is much needed, although I feel like a lightweight for already being at the end of my rope with it when you read some people dealing with this for 6 months+!!

I asked about the negative press at my 6 week check up and was told that it was only relevant to those taking Ranitidine on a long term basis, ie. for years.

www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/statement-alerting-patients-and-health-care-professionals-ndma-found-samples-ranitidine

I've been seeing press articles about ranticide and other heartburn medicines having been found to be carcinogenic.
Get up to date with the latest findings do you can make an informed choice of what to give your babies.

Hang in there OP, having a reflux baby is so incredibly difficult
With my LO we tried everything. The GPs in our areas are not allowed to prescribe ranitidine and ompzarole so we had to see a consultant- we weren't willing to wait 4/6 weeks so we went private and got an appointment the next day. The consultant got the GP to prescribe the meds so we weren't having to pay for them on a private prescription which was obviously super helpful and cost effective! Unfortunately, the meds did absolutely nothing for us. LO was exclusively breastfed and cutting out dairy etc also made zero difference. 2 years on, it's definitely not a dairy thing- guzzles cows milk now!

I'm very much a 'clinical' person- trust drs and believe in modern medicine. However, I ended up googling so much that I came across a homeopathic treatment (NatPhos/Natrium Phosphate) for baby reflux that so many people raved about. I was super sceptical about trying it and really hesitated as it wasn't a 'real' medicine. But desperate times and all that, I ended up getting some off the internet (from a reputable homeopathic pharmacy) and gave my LO a little bit before and after each feed- it came as tiny tablets that dissolved immediately on contact with the tongue so I used to break them in half and hold on the tongue and they'd disappear in less than 10secs. And although the actual throwing up didn't stop till close to 12 months, my baby was so much happier- no more screams of pain! The guys who's bLog was most helpful was someone called Joe Deliveria (SP!). Have a google?

We also tried cranial osteopathy which I'm not sure helped. I think it might have helped me more than LO because I felt like I was doing 'something'.

Good luck with it all, you're a great mum and whatever decisions you make for you LO will be the right ones!!

Well where I’m from (NZ) GPs prescribe Gaviscon, then Ranitidine, then Omeprazole. Omeprazole is stronger and generally works better than Ranitidine. Having had a baby with horrendous reflux, oneprazole was the only thing that worked.

I had one DD on omeprazole and one on ranitidine.

Both worked wonders but both had their downsides.

you do need to get baby weighed regularly as both meds rely on weight to get an accurate dose.

Ranitidine has a short shelf life of only 28 days.

Omeprazole needs to be prepped every dose. Tablet needs to be dissolved and then dose needs to be drawn up.

My sympathies OP, I had a very refluxy baby who is still a refluxy toddler!

We were prescribed Gaviscon which did sweet FA as I couldn't get it into him (he was BF). He was sick after every feed for 6 months it actually got worse with solids I'm afraid to say. We have recently cut out dairy and it's making a big difference. Did they tell you when cutting out dairy that you also need to avoid all other animal milk (not just cows) AND soya? Apparently if your baby has a CMPA they will probably also be sensitive to soya and eg goats milk.

I didn't manage to get a GP to prescribe Ranitidine until he was about 18 months and he wouldn't take it. However if it's any consolation a good friend who is a paeds consultant told me that the research on ranitidine doesn't indicate clear cut benefits- not to say it doesn't work for some babies but the science is a bit mixed. I was told that a prescription for Omeprazole for an under 2 wasn't recommended. Have you had a referral to a paediatrician/dietician?

I am a lot older than your baby and I am on ranitidene and have been for almost a year and will be on it for life. knowing the excrutiating pain of reflux and the instant relief I got when starting on ranitidene I would say listen to your doctor and do what you need to to sort this out for your little one. One of my DC's suffers horrendously with reflux which started as a baby. we went through all the usual tests, drugs etc and now as an older teen they control it with diet, gaviscon and occassional 2 week courses of omeprazole. I am allergic to omeprazole and think its more common to have an allergy to this and not the ranitidene.

My DC slept sitting up for almost a year and we used to have blocks on the cot and bed to raise it. it did reduce a bit once weaned. good luck i really feel for you and your little one.

I have also seen recent press on ranitidine being recalled due to carcinogenic effects.

My ds was put on ranitidine as a baby with silent reflux now nearly 6 and still on it, we have never had any problems with it and it works for him, gaviacon was a nightmare. We thought around 2 he didn’t need it anymore so phased it out after about a year he got to point he was is so much pain he wouldn’t eat and was loosing weight so back to doctors and put back on it (he’s never been good eater and we didn’t realise where he was in actually pain as he just kept saying his tummy was sore till took him to doctors and pointed at his upper abdomen). He’s now ok but if we reduce his doses he’s back to being sore and refusing to eat. We had hoped he would grow out of it but looks like he will be on it long term. From an adult point of view I’m currently on high dose ranitidine for stomach ulcers but unable to take omeprazole as makes me sick, have read this can be side effect.

I know it won't help with your sleep but have you tried having baby in a sling to keep them upright but allow you some mobility and freedom? My little one sleeps happily in it and I have my hands free to get stuff done

All drugs will have side effects so I really would try everything before taking either. I have taken both and although both work well for reflex they can cause quite a few digestive issues long term that are hard work to manage. My gastric consultant (uk specialist at guys at st Thomas london) has told me to come off of both if i can as it causes changes to gut bacteria over time which can lead to an overgrowth of bacteria in the small intestine (SIBO), IBS, and cause deficiencies in the body where certain nutrients are malabsorbed. He and his colleague attribute my diagnosis of the above to my use of it. As soon as I'd had a test done re: SIBO and blood tests back stating I was very deficient in b12- I was advised to come off of it immediately. The same was picked up by the dietitian who I saw to manage the symptoms- she queried if I still took it as it was on repeat prescription and advised I stop. I had no idea of any of this when I started taking it and now I'm on long term antibiotics and expensive prebiotics.

Obviously as an adult I can make additional dietary changes, or lifestyle changes etc that don't apply where your DC is so young OP and am not trying to scare monger but I don't think it's true to say there are no long term effects of either drug. There are very measured risks. Obviously these may not affect each person but are worth weighing up.

I feel your pain good and proper. Get some ranitidine prescribed save omeprazole for when ranitidine stops working (as happened with my baby) see how you get on then maybe ask for a referral which we had to do however shes now almost 5 months and some days we dont give her anything and we cancelled the referral she is a different baby we have endured 4 months of hell I really do feel your pain. Make sure you ask for dosage to be upped as baby gains weight aswell. Take care take yourself its torture xx

I had all this with mine, he was on ranitidine, gaviscon, thickened formula etc. I had to stop EBF as he couldn't keep it down, had tried breast milk with carobel too but that gave him severe constipation and he got an anal fissure, the GP sent me to A+E twice for query pyloric stenosis. I think the gaviscon helped more than the ranitidine but eventually he did grow out of it, he is 15 weeks now and it seemed to pass around 9-10 weeks

As pp said, Ranitidine as recently been withdrawn from some countries as discovered to contain a carcinogen.

Omeprazole is suspected to change gut bacteria and reduce stomach acid over time as dontgo says. I heard a talk by Dr Mark Pimental (SIBO expert) recently which mentioned that his team at Cedars-Sinai have completed a study which disproves the stomach acid aspect of it, but that’s all very cutting edge stuff.

So my current tack with reflux is raise the head of the bed. Have you tried a wedgehog- wedge shaped cushion that fits in a cot so the baby’s head is raised?

My DS had CMPA, severe GORD and DGE. We tried everything - gaviscon was useless and caused constipation and ranitidine just didn't help because he was too severe. We finally saw a consultant after waiting many months (he was 5 months old but had the issues from birth!) and she prescribed lansoprazole, which she said was better than omeprazole. It did help a little bit (less pain although still had reflux and huge amounts of vomit) but tbh we basically had to wait for him to mature and grow out of it. There were no big improvements until after he was 10 months old.

Really good to hear other people’s experience, even just to know their is light at the end of the tunnel, so thank you all! So we went to the GP today and he talked us out of using anything as DS is putting on weight. Disappointing to say the least but he will review in a week. Fingers crossed for some improvement with the propping up and all the other tricks. On the positive side he slept for a hour today which was a golden opportunity for a nap

Hi my baby has just started with omperazole because of the ranitidine recall. Any advice on how to make it up? We are crushing it down then mixing with water and putting in a syringe. But not working that well she doesn’t get all of it and such a faff 😩🙈