HOW ON EARTH DO I GIVE MY 6 WEEK OLD OMEPRAZOLE??

[Ellax]

Please help!

Aim for the back of the throat, blow on their face when you do it to stimulate the swallow reflex.

I had to do this with my young baby too (a little older than yours). Try and get the syringe to the back of their cheek if you can as this encourages them to swallow it. Keep going slowly (try to keep it in the mouth if you can) and slowly keep releasing it as baby swallows. Good luck!

I second squirt it at the back if the throat than blow on their face. It stops them spitting and they have to swallow it. If it's a lot of liquid do it in a few goes. This worked twice daily for months for us with an oral medication my baby had to take. It also worked for antibiotics and calpol. The nurses at the children's hospital showed us how to do this.

Do you have the liquid version? My dd had the omeprazole liquid but it's more expensive so I had to have my health visitor send a letter so the gp would prescribe it.

@Blibbler no! I’ve been given oral tablets which I have to half, crush, dissolve and then try and get him to ingest ! It’s a nightmare. I had no idea it existed in liquid form!

The lansoprazole tablets are much easier to dissolve and taste of delicious strawberry. We used to mix with a tiny bit of sterile water and either syringe it in or even put it on a spoon and tip it in. DS was on a quarter tablet from around the same age.

Sympathies, we did this every night for about a year. Fun fun fun. The endless crushing and dissolving... I don't miss it! It gets easier though. Just in a syringe, into the cheek, blow on the face. It's easier now than when they're toddlers, that's for sure!

I'm not in the UK but some info that may be relevant .Liquid omeprazole does not come as a regular medication due to lack of commercial demand. It has to be made up by specialist suppliers and is normally only allowed on drug schemes where the patient is on a feeding tube and there may be a risk of blockage, requiring surgery to replace.
Even then half the children's hospitals won't use it , using the dispersible tablets ,due to cost.
A month of omeprazole tablets costs maybe 3 or 4e. The liquid costs 225E for a months supply and has an expiry date of 28days as it is an individual preparation.
Most people don't realise this, thats why the doctors don't prescribe the liquid.

It's worth asking your GP. Mine was fine prescribing it but I know other mums who have also been given the tablets and have only been given the liquid via the pediatrician. Once I had the script my local chemist was able to process it though and I used to pick it up every few weeks. My dd didn't have a feeding tube she was just very small as she had been prem. Perhaps that was a factor for being given the liquid as she was still quite small

DD has the liquid, we are in the UK. There isn't a hope in hell I can get her to take it on its own though, it makes her gag and then fully vomit. It must taste foul as she quite easily takes anything else. I have had to put it in her milk, which isn't ideal, but otherwise she would have none at all!

The tablets crush up easier in about 0.5 ml of the boiled water. Then add the remaining amount.

Syringe into the side of the cheek near the back of the mouth in 0.5-1ml increments.
Hold in a cradle hold as if breastfeeding but with the head slightly raised.

We tried lots of ways when we were giving 15ml of gaviscon 3+ times a day and is was our most successful .. 3ml of omperazole once a day is a breeze by comparison!

We actually had the most luck with the adult capsules, which come with little white balls inside. We added the white balls to cooked boiled water and DD lapped it from a spoon without problem. Now she’s older than 6 months we add the balls fruit purée.

@Ellax were you given the prescription from a hospital by any chance?!
We were prescribed the liquid version by A&E initially, and GP continued it. Then we had an inpatient stay a few months later and they no longer prescribed the liquid version (costing issues and other nonsense) and prescribed the ‘mups’ dispersible version instead and we found it awful. Could never get to dissolve enough to fit through the syringe etc. so not usable.
GP however can still prescribe the liquid version thank goodness so we are alright. I’d definitely speak to your GP if it was hospital prescribed and ask them to change version. Good luck x

Remove the plunger from your oral syringe , place the tablet inside replace the plunger then add boiled and cooled water.Use a clean finger to cover the end of the syringe and shake the contents of the syringe until the tablet dissolves. It will not fully dissolve, some grainy particles will remain. Do not allow this to settle, give the solution by squirting into the side of the babies cheek, including the grainy bits.

Currently giving it to my 6wo. I place the half tablet on a spoon and allow it to dissolve in a tiny amount of warm water before spooning into the mouth.

Once they’re on purées it gets much easier - just mix in and feed.

I had the liquid for DC1 and much prefer the tablets tbh. DC1 still takes it at almost 2yo but now I can just place the tablet (In halves) on a spoon of cereal or yoghurt and he swallows it down no problem with a drink of water.