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?!

Disclaimer - this is posted in virtually every topic I can think of!

Don't agree that omeprazole doesn't work. It can't stop them refluxing but does prevent painful acid being made to burn oesophagus.

i give omeprazole disolved in lots of water in a baby nurofen syringe.I give it tiny bits at a time.It changed ours and dd's life but took a dose increase and 2 weeks to work properely.Also try a wedge to put in his cot,you can buy from "crying over spilt milk" Oj can make reflux worse btw.When dd was on dom peridone i mixed that with it to make it taste swweter.

five it won't work if baby refuses it!

there is also no evidence to show it is effective in infants

Does my lo count as evidence splash?Her reflux was so severe she had aspiration pneumonia from inhaling the acid.Nothing els worked for her then she was put on 5mg of Losec which didnt work then dose up to 10 and after a week or two she was a different child,able to relax and sleep and lie under her baby gym,she was around 3 months when we started it,i was mortified but im so glsd we did it.
Tried weaning her off it recently at 8 months and the symptoms were almost immediately back,she cried loads and we could smell the reflux on her breath.We put her back on it ans these symptoms stopped so surely thats proof it works.

Ds also had horrendous pneumonia inducing reflux for years. This is going to sound awful but the only way I could get him to take it was to syringe then close his mouth and stroke his neck to make him swallow. I felt absolutely horrible (13 years on still remember) but it took 30 seconds and made such an enormous difference to his life and health. After a little while of this forcing him to take it he actually just got used to taking it without me needing to do this. I really think if he needs it then you might need to try something like this. For ds not taking this and other medication were really not an option and he thrived on omeprazole after wasting away on the other Meds.

Yes mine too,she wnet from the 5th centile to the 75th,she has acleft plate so feeding was hard as it was
Im shocked that there is no evidence to suport its effectiveness.
I used the nurofen syringe (bigger holes for the grains) and mixed in something sweet with it,in my case dom peridone but you could use some calpol,im sure that would be ok.Its importnt to get them to swallow the grains as all the sctive ingredients are in them.

We had this problem with dd - we went from the dispersible tablets which we mixed in apple juice - that worked for a little while - we had to dribble very very tiny amounts in - took for ever and there was lots of screaming. Then she completely refused it so we switched to granules (by this time she was on solids) and mixed them with yoghurt or fruit puree and that worked for a little bit - we had to keep swapping how we delivered it because she would get used to it so quickly. It became the most traumatic part of my day because I knew that I had to get it down her somehow. Sorry not much help - no-one seemed to know what to suggest. Using Innocent Fruit Tubes with the granules squeezed into the end was the best method but she was 6 months plus when we tried that.

Maybe try and mix the apple juice with water so it's no so strong tasting. Someone did suggest making yoghurt out of BM - not sure if you are BF.

We did mix it with the Domperidone for a while because she never minded taking that.

Well - first bottle of nutramigen an hour ago. To be fair, it was only one scoop and the other four were aptamil! So I'm going to increase it by one every other bottle. I'm hoping that way he won't object too strongly to the taste. And I reckon by bedtime tomorrow night he'll be on pure nutramigen (he still feeds little and often due to the reflux).

I must admit, when I pulled back the metal top I nearly heaved myself. It smells pretty rank!

We're also suffering the effects of no gaviscon - lots of very runny explosive nappies And looking at the tin - that's not likely to get any better!

Ah yes there is a touch of eau de cat sick about nutrimagen isn't there. Hope it works for you quickly!

Hi ladies i hope you don't mind me gatecrashing this thread as Im trying to find ways to get my LO who is 17 weeks to take the Omeprazole that she has been prescribed. She was on gaviscon and then ranitidine and then following some fits and an admission to hospital they have put her on Omeprazole once a day and Domperidone 4 x daily. She will take the domperidone but we have real issues with the Omeprazole. Firstly we had the "dissolveable" tablets that are really not good at dissolving. We have been putting them in boiled water and then cooling but is this ok or does it kill off the goodness? But in a desperate attempt to get more down here the hospital changed it to the suspension but it tastes so awful that just came right back up again (to be fair to LO it tastes awful). I'm at my wits end as she's only been on it a week and i'm now adding in screaming to get meds in on top of the screaming during and after feeding.

She's combined fed and I'm just after any hints or tips to get the suspension or the dissolveable tablets down here as i'm finding it really upsetting, am paranoid she is going to fit again. Thanks ladies

You poor thing oompa and your dd too.

We're back on the ranitidine. Paed decided as both R & O were having limited but similar efficacy it was easier and more desirable for him to be taking the R.

FWIW the only thing ds would tolerate O in was apple puree. I know it's not ideal (he's 13wks tomorrow) but it was a case of needs must. It wasn't ideal in terms of dosage either.

What is the cause of the fits?

I'm sooo with you on the screaming. It's hard to rationalise that while they don;t like taking the meds and you're making them scream, it's to avoid more of the screaming later

Hi button they aren't sure what is causing the fits but suggested it might be due to the reflux hence the change in meds. Something needed to happen as she was getting worse on the ranitidine. I know she's been on it only a week and from what i have read on this thread it seems to be taking a couple of weeks to take effect so i need to persevere. I have just called the local chemist and they called the supplier who said that they could flavour the suspension raspberry so they are going to order some in for me but it will take a few days. Was your LO on the dissolvable tablets or the suspension?
The other thing the hospital said was they would look at me going dairy-free if the meds dont help and also early weaning. I feel so bad that my baby is having so many drugs so early in her life but it is equally heartbreaking to see her screaming and writhing in pain.
How is your LO doing back now on the R?

Oompa, try cutting all dairy out of your diet, vitalite, ricemilk etc, are all fine in cooking and for toast etc. DD and I have been dairy free for 15m now. Ask them sooner rather than later for dairy free formula. you need to get this sorted asap.
Are the fits like Sandifers syndrome type attacks? Where abouits are you in the country, if anywhere near cambridge I have a tub of Neocate (cmp free formula) that DD no longer needs. I used to use it for breakfasts, but DD is still BF twice a day.

We had the tablets - a flipping nightmare!

He does seem to be better on the R again but it is also in conjunction with nutramigen aa. He's not fully dairy free yet as I'm doing it gradually (it's gross) but the next 2 bottles will be 4 scoops nutramigen and 1 scoop aptamil, so we'll be fully dairy free by his nighttime feeds.

Paed doesn't think he's allergic or intolerant to dairy more that with adults with reflux they'd say remove this and that and one of those would be dairy as it can make it worse. As ds is only on dairy that's what's got to go

He does seem a little better already though so maybe it will work for him. I'm glad it's on prescription though. I nearly fainted when I saw the cost!

Hi fiveisanawfullybignumber and thanks for the offer for Neocate - what is cmp?? (sorry, this is all happening very fast for me, i'm so confused!) and I don't know what Sandifers syndrome is either but I will go and have a look. The hosp said to wait a couple of weeks before going dairy free to see if the meds work first before making another change. Does dairy free mean no soya either? my diet is becoming very limited! We are in Surrey and I am going to change my nickname to stressedinsurrey i think :o)

Bless you, I know what you're going through. Have a very unMN type hug.
For the first 8m of DD's life I didn't even know what day it was, I was so stressed and desparate to make her pain free. I always tried to leave 7 days before trying something new, and it seemed like lot's of little baby steps rather than 1 thing being the answer in our case.
CMP = cow's milk protein, most people who are cmp intollerant will be soya intollerant too. DD3 is, which made getting a chocolate fix nigh on impossible. I've since found 1 type of dark choc that has no dairy and no soya. DD is also wheat and gluten intollerant so I know all about dietary restictions. She reacted even through breastmilk. I have some fab recipes for cookies, cakes and mousse for a choc fix. Cocoa is my best friend!!!
Have you got a sleep wedge for your little one? i found untill i had one DD wouldn't sleep for anylonger than 15-20m unless she was lying on me. I got my first 3hr stretch with her on a reflux wedge.