Omeprazole - How to give it to baby

[Jacobsdad]

Please help!

Our son Jacob who is now nearly 4 months old has been suffering from reflux for the past 3(ish) months. We have tried Infant Gaviscon but with little success.

After seeing our paed recently she has prescribed Omeprezole (Lozec Mupps). Our problem is that no one seems to know how to give it to him! We know that it has to be disolved but it tastes so horrible that he wont even think of taking it. It says that it can be given with a little fruit juice but this doesnt cover the taste and we cant give it in milk as it effects the meds. I have read that you can use the casule form and remove the granules - then mix with a little mashed fruit but we are not keen to give him anything that may be inhailated (ie the granules).

I would be so grateful if there is someone out there who has used the same meds and can tell me how you got your baby to take it.

Any advice would be very much appreciated...

Bump for Jacobsdad

Is he bottle or breast fed? How often do you need to give the losec?
Probably best advice is to go in and speak to your pharmacist, they should be able to phone the manufacturers to see if they have any experience of this.
Maybe someone else will have better advice.

Is he bottle or breast fed? How often do you need to give the losec?
Probably best advice is to go in and speak to your pharmacist, they should be able to phone the manufacturers to see if they have any experience of this.
Maybe someone else will have better advice.

Hi

He is breast fed. We have spoke to 3 different the pharmasists and no one seems to know what to do! We only need to giveit to him once a day - sounds easy!!!!

hi there my ds2 only had his last dose of Losec just before he was 2yo, so we have been through all this. Strange how quickly it fades, though, I've had to prod around in my brain a bit to remember how I gave it to him... He also started having Losec when he was a bit older, so at least he was used to having stuff from a spoon. It's hard giving medicine to such small babies, and so annoying that the tablets are really made for adults with stomach ulcers so really not convenient at all. But I guess you have to do it somehow, otherwise you know how bad he will be

I used to dissolve it in cooled boiled water, or bottled water with low sodium content (Evian is good), but use far less water than suggested - about half the amount it says on the packet. You can't crush it as this removes the enteric coating (the bit that stops it from working until it has reached the stomach). I used the lid of an Avent bottle, or one of the little plastic cups that they give you at pharmacies, which only take about 20 ml total and have the volumes marked on the side so that helps with measuring the liquid. There was often some left in the cup after I'd forced it into his mouth so I would scrape it out with a clean finger and rub it on his gums. It does taste horrible, so we used to give him lots and lots of praise after he'd taken it. Even ds1 used to join in . I think I used to give him a bit of diluted apple juice after he'd had it in his mouth, otherwise it would sometimes just stay on his gums.

I don't know if you are aware, but it's supposed to be given about 1/2 hr before milk. I found it very hard to stick to this (with a bf on demand child) but would try to make it 15 mins at least. There's some really good advice and support on the InfantReflux.org forums, which I would suggest you join if you haven't already. Here's one explaining the "30 minute rule" and here's a general intro from Laura which is a bit disjointed but has loads of info it might otherwise take ages to find.

hope that helps a bit.

p.s. You might find it works better splitting the dose and giving it twice a day. The info the pharmacists (and paeds too) give is based on what they know, and the clinical trials were done on adults, who take far longer to metabolise the drug. So once a day is fine for adults, but not necessarily for children. I used to split my ds2's dose into two and give one in the morning and one as close as poss to 12 hrs later. It definitely helped with his sleeping (which as you know is a big problem with refluxing babies). There's more information on dosing children with PPIs here , from a research group at a US university. They talk a lot about getting the PPI compounded for you. I'm not sure if the UK pharmacies would be happy to do this, and I never tried asking, but it would certainly make life a lot easier for families of babies with reflux! (You can give the compounded medications right before food as well, which helps again.)

The dosing does pose difficulties, but I hope that now your son is on Losec it will get his reflux under control. Do CAT me if you want to talk to someone who's been through this, as I know how difficult it can be.

Hi Mummypig

Thanks so much for your advice. Can I ask how old your child was when you started giving them the Losec? Did you find you had any problems with them taking down the granules when its been diluted? Thats our real concern, that he may inhale them as he has no swollow reflex for anything solid.

Thanks again for your support

my DS2 had no problem with the small granuals. MummyPig has said lots of good things here already (I agree about how quickly you 'forget' it all mummypig!)

I think he was already at least 12 months. Can't remember exactly but can check. But I used to give him the Gaviscon on a weaning spoon when he was 4 months old or so, as it didn't work mixing it with expressed bm. Was difficult at first but he seemed to get used to it fairly quickly.

If you're really worried you could talk to the pharmacy or the paediatrician about compounding it, but as I said, I haven't had any experience requesting this. There must be other parents around who have young babies on PPIs - I used to belong to the Reflux Babies msn group which is UK based, so I wonder if someone there would have the answers?

oh just checked the Reflux Babies site and ds2 was 16 months when he started on Losec and no-one answered my message asking how to get him to take it, so maybe it won't be much help. Sorry. I imagine a message on InfantReflux.Org forums would get more replies.

I think I've said this on tour other thread jacobsdad, but I got my DS2 to take it in yoghurt. (on the advice on his gastro specialists). I know your DS is only 4 months, so you may not have weaned yet... (btw my DS was weaned 'early' on the advice of the hosp, which certainly helped things, and with giving the meds). All things to discuss next time you go. Good luck Nx

my 9 week old girl has just been diagnosed with acid reflux - after struggling with dissolving losec in 10ml of water when I went to my GP for a repeat prescription he told me they do omperezole in a liquid form - pharmacist will need to order it specially but it does exist (the hospital that provided it to us originally did not stock it!)

Dont know if thats useful but addresses the problem of the sediment - the taste however remains unpleasant by her face and reaction to taking it!

i used to dissolve the medication in cooled boiled water then use a syringe this did get harder as she got older as she used to really struggle