Ranitidine for reflux - any stories?

[almmummy]

Hope this is the right place to post. My eight-week-old is suffering from silent reflux and we've been through the whole Gaviscon trial which did very little. We persuaded the GP to prescribe ranitidine and started it on Friday. Initially things went well and baby settled but on Sunday he was back to screaming after feeds and not settling etc. My question is, have you used it? Did it take a little while to work/take effect? I've read mixed things online.

I found it worked really well initially, but I soon needed the dose adjusted. There is a range of safe doses ( eg a low-dose, mid-dose and high dose). Your dc has probably been prescribed the lowest safe dose to start with. My DD fairly quickly ended up on the highest safe dose and this worked really well so long as we regularly had the dose adjusted in line with her weight. For Dd2 ranitidine didn't work so well and we ended up with omeprazole.

DS is now 6 but was given domperidone at 5 months to move the feed through his system quicker and then ranitidine, which did seem to calm down the acid burn straight away. Weaned him off from 12mths.

Ranitadine will help reduce the amount of acid in the stomach so the reflux won't hurt as much, but it won't stop the actual reflux happening if that makes sense? As someone said the dose can go up and most GPS start on a low dose. It can go up to 3mg per kilo and as your baby grown the dose needs to go up too. You can also keep giving the gaviscon which will help with the reflux as well, and there's another medicine omeprazole which can be prescribed wither as well as or instead of if the ranitadine isn't working. (Domperidone isn't used any more) You prob already know as well, but keeping them upright for a while after a feed, having the cot tilted slightly so they're not lying completely flat and giving smaller more regular feeds can help. Reflux can be hell, but it does get better eventually!

Also, did they tell you to give ranitidine at the same time as the feed? My dim and distant memory is telling me half an hour before?

Thanks everyone, great tips. We did have to wrestle the prescription out the doc so sure it was the lowest dose. The bottle says 1.25ml to 2.5ml twice a day but the pharmacist said to stick to the lower number. Would be interested to hear what doses others are using and whether they are higher or lower ones (appreciate weights vary though)

As mentioned above, I think the dosage is worked out per kilo of body weight. Any chance of being able to see a different GP and asking to try a higher dose? I found a great variance between GPs on their willingness to prescribe for reflux. Also, I found it helped to be insistent and to sound as if you have researched. Explain that there was definitely a positive effect and you would like to see how he responds to a higher dose. You can say that you will reduce it if there is no difference. Also, you definitely do need to give it a certain amount of time before feeds. Difficult to do if you are feeding on demand, but I did try to do it at least 10 or 15 minutes before.

Thanks GraceGrape, really good points. We have the paediatrician appointment next week so we'll be sure to raise upping the dose there as I think they will be well placed to authorise it. Great advice about giving the meds before a dose. He was quite sick after one dose and that triggered 12 hours of unsettled pain so reckon we lost that dose. It is tricky though isn't it - had a very cross boy waiting for his breakfast this morning! Thanks everyone