ranitidine, how long should i give it?

[x6bec]

Hi, ds was prescribed ranitidine last week for reflux and he's had his worst day yet today :( thrown up every bottle! Poor baby. Gaviscon didn't work just made him constipated. He's on sma staydown which clearly isn't working either. Gp doesn't think its pyloric stenosis or intolerance. How long should I give the ranitidine to work? I'm mindful that it smells quite potent and don't want to medicate him if its not doing anything. Seriously considering weaning, he is 17 weeks next week but don't think he's ready have tried him with baby rice and pear puree and he just spits it out. I thought I had it bad with dd having colic but at least she grew out of this at 3 months.

Hi, I think if your DS has reflux issues it could be made even worse for him to switch to solids so maybe get medical advice.

My son also had to have ranitidine, I was never sure if it did any good but we definitely had dairy intolerance. How has your doctor ruled out an intolerance?

I wouldn't stop the meds without speaking to GP but if you are concerned ask for a referral.

Is your DS gaining weight ok etc?

Gp just said baby would be more malnourished if intolerant? He isn't following centile as he should be which is why I went back to gp, he started in between 25th and 50th and is now just above 9th. How can I get intolerance ruled out? Never rated gp, she nearly made me give ds terrible overdose on ranitidine because she couldn't be bothered to work out dosage and assumed pharmacist would do it. All I got was 10mgs 3 times a day on bottle, how would I have worked that out to 0.6ml if I hadn't gone back to different pharmacist? No chance. Am almost at end in tether for my poor boy :(

Hi, it sounds like you are feeling the stress of this, I do understand it is so hard.

I can only suggest you go back to the docs, try to see someone else, say you are very worried and want to discuss it in depth, and want a referral.

Can you switch to another doc in the practice?

Ranitidine is a acid stopper ask for Domperidone which encourages the stomach to pass the contents into the gut quicker so empty tummy = less sick.

Can you go to a different GP? Ranitidine is not going to stop the vomiting. It will reduce acid in the vomit. My DD turned out to be dairy intolerant and she was on the 90th centile.

I would give the ranitidine one week then go back to the GP and insist on a referral to a paediatrician. I only got that my making it clear to my GP I wasn't leaving her office without it.

You can order extensively hydrolysed milk (used for dairy intolerance) from a pharmacist yourself, but it is expensive. I do know some people have bought some first to prove to their GP that it helps.

Hi - I think we noticed a difference after 3-4 days but I was never sure it made a difference. Whenever we stopped it we would a really bad day a bit later but as DT2 often had bad days it was hard to tell what made a difference. I wouldn't start solids yet - I understand that some paediatricians don't advise it now as all that happens is the baby vomits solids as well as milk. I think the suggestion to get a referral is probably your best if you have a GP who isn't really helping. Hope you get some decent help soon - it is horrible to have to cope with (for both of you). It does get better but nobody knows how long that will take.

We used it for 6m. Once DS started sitting up and having solids, I gradually cut down doses and didn't notice any different so stopped altogether. It made a huge difference for us. He went from screaming all the time and not sleeping to screaming half the time and slept a little! He is allergic to cows milk protein though, and a lot of reflux is linked to cmpi. Would definitely recommend going back to GP and getting either soy or ?sp neutogimen formula. We bf so I avoided dairy instead.

Firstly you need to sort your baby out then you need to complain about GP. Reflux is hard enough without an incomptence GP making your journey worse.

Ring and get another GP. Ask for domperidone and gaviscon as well as ranithindine. My GP rang the paediatrician for advise. It's not resolved it completely but it's making it more bearable.

Personally I'm trying to hold off weaning til 6mths. From the problems my DD had its clear that her digestive system is immature and I don't want to risk adding to any problems.

Friends who have had reflux babies have found early weaning didn't improve it just made the sick smell worst!