Rantidine - did it work for your LO?

[ButteryJam]

Hi

I think my LO has silent reflux and we are seeing a peadtrician next week. Did your LO have rantidine? Did it work? How soon?

Yes both did. It worked but took a few days from memory. Main issue was that the dosage was sensitive to weight so after growth spurts I'd have to get it recalculated.

I stopped after 9 months with my eldest and kept his diet reflux friendly as one of the side effects is that it can prevent the absorption of some minerals (not unsurprising as it reduces stomach acid production). In fact with both their reflux is best controlled by diet.

DD (now 2.5) had ranitidine for silent reflux from 3mo to about 7mo. She was also prescriber domperidone but we stopped that as it seemed to give her a poorly tummy.

The ranitidine worked brilliantly, but we did have to keep re-calculating the dose every time she gained a pound or two. It takes a few days/up to a week to take effect, and when she was on a dose and doing fine, and then started having 'episodes' again, it took time to get an apt and get it recalculated, and then give new dose and wait for it to take effect. So I started upping the dose myself when we saw big weight gains, and kept it in line with the recommended minimum dose per lb (so was nowhere near over-medicating).

DD stopped suffering at around 6 months, the minute she had solids.

D

Thanks to both of you - I'm pleased rantidine worked for you. May I ask how your LO were before rantidine? How were they diagnosed? Thanks!

With dd2, yes it worked, and quite quickly I noticed an improvement - within a few days or a week. With ds1, he had very severe silent reflux and it didn't work. Neither did omeprazole and changing his milk to Neocate although they made very small differences at the time. He developed a feeding phobia and wouldn't drink due to the pain, which I think might have been avoided had we got onto the omeprazole earlier, but there was a delay with diagnosis. I am firmly of the opinion to get on with treating it early, as ds1 developed nasty inflammation of the oesophagus which made feeding painful. Good luck with the paediatrician next week, all the best.

ye very much so

But when your dc goes up in weight make sure the dose of rantitadine does too

Sorry, didn't answer your last post - ds1 used to fight feeds, he refused to drink and screamed and writhed. He wouldn't drink when awake and would only 'dream-feed', where he would suck if he was practically asleep and not really aware he was doing it. If he heard a noise he woke up and cried and refused to take anymore. He kept being admitted to hospital as he hadn't drunk a drop for 24 hours - this started when he was 8 or 9 weeks old. Up until then he had cried after feeds and been very unsettled but still fed okay. It was all horribly stressful and I was terrified that dd2 would be the same - thankfully she hasn't been. Ds1's consultant, who is a UK specialist in babies with feeding problems, did say that ds1's feeding phobia was extreme. So please don't worry that lots of babies with silent reflux end up that way - they don't. But I'm still of the opinion that it is good to get on with early treatment. x

Yes, 17 months nearly now, still on maximum dose ranitidine,but its working!! Only diagnosed at 11 months by GP, finally saw a paediatrician at 15 months so now on domperidone too . Plus dairy, soya and egg free diet. Different child. Finally no more vomiting.

Ds would arch, never settle, seemed to want winding but nothing came up. He also had incidents where acid would trickle up his throat and he couldn't breathe briefly. He eventually went on feeding strike.

Dd - I pickeditup earlier. She'd not settle after a feed, want constant feeding for comfort. If I ate the wrong food eg soya she'd do a funny gasping thing.

However they also got very overtired which complicates things as can be similar symptoms (so I had to rule that out).

Dd also had tongue tie so had to rule that out too.

How are you feeding?

Hi Buttery. My DS2 had silent reflux linked to underlying milk and soya protein intolerance. He was on ranitidine from 1-4m old then omeprazole. It did help, but it is very weight sensitive and also they tend to become less sensitive over time so you also often need to go up the dose range (1-3mg/kg three times a day) Make sure you get adult stuff 15mg/ml not the paediatric suspension or you'll have to give large volumes and it does not taste nice. Volume of the adult stuff will be less than 1 ml, much easier to get in.
I can't recommend the book "Colic Solved" highly enough as a guide to all this, despite stupid title it is nothing to do with colic but all about reflux and milk protein intolerance, by gastro- paediatrician Dr Bryan Vartebedian.
You don't say how you are feeding but I'd really encourage you to push for CMPI ( cows milk protein intolerance) to be ruled in or out early which means at least a 6 week trial of dairy free BF or hypoallergenic formula.
The support site Little Refluxers is v helpful.

It worked for ds1 and still does when he has a flare up (now aged 5) but it did nothing for ds2 who went on to omeprazole, then lanzoprazole with domperidone. Have a look at www.cryingoverspiltmilk.nz website if you want to know more about the meds and what each does.
As the posters above have said, my dcs' problems were related to intolerances and digestive issues. Reflux was a symptom, not the actual problem. Do bear that in mind, as reflux is very commonly a sign of cows' milk protein allergy/intolerance etc.. Good luck with your appointment.

It did work, but was most effective when combined with Carobel.

Hi all,

Thank you! I went on a 2 week dairy free diet, and didn't see any difference at all, in fact it got worse. When I re-introduced, the only difference I can see is that she brings up a tiny bit more, so maybe 1st of puke per day, instead of none.

What however has made a difference is going citrus free. I think before her worse episodes I either had orange juice or a tomato based curry.

Feeding is a struggle as she sleep feeds, and if awake will only go on for a minute or two, but even then it is constantly coming on and off every couple of seconds. We can't go out for long as she won't feed whilst awake, so it's a struggle! She's also a very very light sleeper and is almost constantly making groany moany constipated sounds! She hiccups ALOT (has done since in womb) and I've noticed alot of gulping and throat clearing sound noises. She is 14 weeks btw.

When you went dairy free, what did you replace it with? 50% of babies that are CMPI also react to soya, and really 2 weeks is the soonest you'd expect to see any difference. It is days to get dairy out of your system/milk, days to clear your baby's system, days-weeks to allow inflammation and damage to heal. When we tried it we did see some improvement within 2 weeks but it took a couple of months to see the full extent of it. Don't totally discount it as a factor on that basis anyway.

Bakingtins, thanks! I didn't replace it with anything. I do remember having a soya chocolate biscuit but that was about it.

I will discuss this with the peadetricuan too. The problem is how can I remove it from my diet if I'm not seeing a difference?

Have you ruled out tongue tie? Very similar symptoms to silent reflux. I would consider it especially as no change on a dairy free diet.

Creature, her tongue tie has been removed but according to the lactation consultant it has either reattached or wasn't fully done properly.

That could well be causing her symptoms as well. Do you wind thoroughly after every feed? I had to spend 20 mins (!) winding dd - sitting her upright (very difficult when she was little) and rubbing her left hand side as back (not patting) to get it all up. If I did that, she'd feed much better.

Tbh you need to discuss with the lactation consultant how to deal with the reattached tie because while ranitidine might help, it's complicated by the TT and you might not see sufficient improvement.

Sorry she'd sleep much better I meant!

The TT thing is really interesting. There was a lot of discussion about it on the Little Refluxers site when my LO was small - many of the babies on there had TT but correcting it didn't always seem to help. The Analytical Armadillo blog has some interesting ideas about it.
My Lo had severe TT corrected at 3d old. There is a theory around that TT and tendency to reflux are part of a pattern of problems called midline defects, so often go together.