Ranitidine/reflux

[Boris100]

Baby is 6 weeks old, we've tried gaviscon and now ranitidine but both seem to make him more sick and more miserable.

He's on sma comfort, tried different bottles, he feeds, burps but then usually on his 2nd burp will bring quite a bit back up, up to 2/3 hours after a feed he has clear fluid coming out his nose/mouth and he's generally very uncomfortable. He doesn't seem to have an issue getting wind up and is gaining weight well. His sleep is often disturbed by him vomiting. Have paed appt on Monday but wondering if anyone has had similar?

I'm starting to think it may be an issue inside with his diaphragm or something. He also gets very violent hiccups after most feeds. He did when I was pregnant too, I had extra fluid when pregnant too which I know can indicate issues.

Have you been referred to a specialists? It could be that he needs something stronger or CMPA.

My son was started on ranitidine at 4 weeks of age but it didn't seem to make much difference and at 9 weeks of age it was suggested he was CMPA - and it turned out that he was.

We see someone at the hospital on Monday about it, a paediatrician, off to google now never heard of CMPA.

Ah ok so cows milk allergy? My dd had lactose intolerance but she had runny poo, he is constipated if anything really. Can just vomiting be a symptom without upset tummy?

Lactose intolerance in babies and young children is very rare. Often children are misdiagnosed with it as children with CMPA often show some improvement on a lactose free diet.

Constipation and vomiting are both symptoms of CMPA.

My LO had severe constipation and mainly silent reflux. Diagnosed CMPA and reflux, on nutramigen and now omeprazole. The ranatidine became ineffective. He was constipated even on the comfort milk.

Also had excess fluid, didnt know that meant anything? Hiccups though, he had about 10x a day pre birth, and now about 2x a day at 20 weeks. It's slowly reduced.

Ok so something else has come to light, pre mix cartons he's much better with, just tried him with a powdered milk feed and back to all of above symptoms within 15 mins.

So ready mix is made with uht milk and powder with semi...cows milk allergy? Or lactose intolerant?

The UHT milk has been heat treated so the protein has been 'damaged', which makes it easier to tolerate if a baby has CMPA.

Reflux, hiccups, constipation or runny poo and poor sleep are all classic CMPA symptoms. Lots of doctors will say that if they are gaining weight then it's not an issue, but that's an outdated view.

The first step would usually be to try an extensively hydrolysed formula and if symptoms don't come back, all fine. If they don't go, or gradually reappear then an amino acid formula might be necessary. Often reflux medications like ranitidine or omeprazole are also needed. Gaviscon can cause constipation so it's can be tricky.

Lactose intolerance is really rare in children and it's not something you grow out of, whereas CMPA is often grown out of.

Thanks PragmaticWench, that's really interesting and helpful

We used omeprazole when ranitidine didn't work