Help please - baby refusing omeprazole

[buttonmoon78]

Aaaargh!

DS (12wks) is now on omeprazole and gaviscon. I make it up with 10ml apple juice and then give him 5ml. He took it fine from dh on Saturday but has now got wise to it and is simply spitting it out. I put it into a syringe and have tried front of mouth, back of mouth, it makes no difference.

Any ideas? I'm at my wits end. We came off ranitidine as it wasn't working well, and the omeprazole seemed to work well on Sat but if he won't take it anymore then obv it's not going to work, is it?!

Who recommended mixing it with apple juice? When we gave gaviscon etc it was only to be given with cooled boiled water, I'm not sure a 12 wk old should be having anything other than milk and water.

Cannot remember what we had to give, but it was refused at first taste with a screaming tantrum for 2 minutes followed by him passing out for 5 minutes. Since then, we have vowed to never give him medication unless he REALLY needs it. That has meant us living with reflux for 3 months, but there are other ways of soothing him and CC has worked. We also tried the meds ourselves (just a bit to taste) and I'm not surprised at the reaction we got.

If it is reflux you are trying to deal with, try cutting out dairy from your diet if BFing or get a dairy free formula. Keep baby upright for half an hour after every feed to keep the milk in the stomach as much as you can. Prop up the mattress in the cot/basket so baby sleeps with head slightly raised, again to give gravity a chance at keeping the milk down (propping up the cot/basket by its legs also works). We have also found that feeding for no more than 5 minutes without winding works, our routine is 5 min feed, wind, 5 min feed, wind, switch breast and then 5 min feed, wind, 5 min feed if he wants it. He has even settled into a much better feeding pattern doing this (was feeding every 2 hours through the night before, now every 4 to 5), and he is sick only half as much. He still shrieks at bedtime, but CC lasts no more than 10 minutes on a bad day.

Hope it gets better soon

Sorry - I realise that wasn't clear! The gaviscon goes in his bottle. He's not dairy intolerant from what we can see.

The gastro-paed recommended apple juice or yoghurt.

We already do (and have been for weeks) all the non medicinal tricks - this is no 3 with reflux. Although he's a big boy and not losing weight (like dd1 did) he's been the worst in terms of suffering with the pain.

Still not clear

It's the omeprazole that the paed recommended mixing with juice.

When my DD had bad tasting meds I would use the syringe in the side of her mouth, and just dribble a tiny amount in, then remove the syringe, and the repeat that until it was all taken. By just putting a tiny amount into the mouth it meant that there wasnt any spitting.

Yup - done that. The little bugger darling spots any subterfuge and can spit out the tiniest bit of medicine. I've even tried dribbling it in when he has his dummy in. Nope.

Have you seen the special dummies you can get for giving medicine?

Yes - tried that too! Like I said - I'm at my wits end!