Omeprazole for silent reflux - experiences

[ART2022]

My 2 month old has been struggling with symptoms of silent reflux since about 3 weeks. We’ve tried sitting her up after feeds, tilting her crib etc with no success. The GP then prescribed gaviscon, which did nothing but bung her up. Then I was advised to give up dairy and was told if it didn’t make a difference he would prescribe omeprazole.

It’s three weeks since I gave up all dairy and I don’t think she’s made a huge improvement. I think she gags less during feeds but she’s still in pain afterwards, sometimes hysterically so.

The GP (a different one to the person I saw previously) at my 8 week check said to give the dairy free a little longer before giving her omeprazole and my health visitor said the same. When I queried why we would wait, the response was that while there aren’t any negative side effects it might be best not to give her medication if she doesn’t need it and I might still have some dairy in my system as it can take a few weeks to fully work out. I do agree with this but then I worry I’m holding back on something that could make her a lot more comfortable. At the moment she’s not a very happy baby and it’s breaking my heart.

Has anyone used omeprazole and what were your experiences? Any negative side effects? Did it help right away or take a while to kick in?

I will stay dairy free regardless just in case it is helping but want to make sure I’m doing the best thing for her.

DS - now 9 - was prescribed omeprazole at a similar age after a very similar journey.

It was as good as we got to be honest. By no means cured anything but made life bearable until he grew out of it.

No side effects for us, unlike the gaviscon, and DS was on it until about 15 months.

I’ve used it lots as I’m a maternity nurse

Generally omepreozle is good.

ranitidene was fantastic but taken off the shelf maybe 5yrs ago

yes dairy free can make a diff but can take a good 4/6w to get out of system if bf

bur some babies still need it even if mum is df bf or baby on neocate or similar

I would def ask again for it

No side effects for us it made a huge difference which we started noticing within days. It took months to get the omeprazole after the GP and HV repeatedly stalling. The consultant said he should have had it much sooner.

We had an awful time with first child with reflux, kept getting fobbed off by doctors saying - if they are gaining weight then we don’t worry, they’ll grow out of it…
it wasn’t until at 6 months old I called the HV almost in tears as my baby cries ALL the time and sleeps horrendously, you can’t tell me this is normal?? The HV said absolutely not and advised I call the doctor and get her meds.
I had done everything you have tried as well by this point and nothing worked.
We were prescribed omeprezole and it was great, different baby!! I should point out that this coincided with baby starting solids too but the meds definitely helped and no side effects that we are aware of.
After that I promised myself I would not be fobbed off by doctors again and if I had a baby with reflux I’d get them on the proper medication straight away!

good luck I hope your little one feels better soon!

We used omeprazole for our now 6 month old since he was 2 months old. It helped a lot at first but we were actually told by the Infant Feeding Team at Alder Hey that it can cause tummy discomfort/increased wind especially at higher doses which it started doing for us.
also at 5 months when he really started realising things and becoming more aware he would clamp his mouth shut and any that we did manage to get in he’d just push out with his tongue 😩 (it doesn’t taste great). So in the end we started weaning him off it and is now fully off it.
The biggest difference for us was the formula. He has confirmed cmpa and is on neocate. Unfortunately trying to keep the thin formula down is another issue haha but his discomfort and wind is pretty nonexistent now.

Thanks so much for the responses. I think we’ll give it a go

Hi @ART2022 - how did you go with the omeprazole? We are in a similar position.

Baby is not screaming hysterically but is very very unsettled after feeding, writhing around and impossible to settle - even after hours of burping. Have had the latch and tongue tie checked and all seems good. I can hear the milk refluxing back up too. She’s 8 weeks old and I’m unsure about giving this powerful medication to her but I also really want her pain free and for all of us to have some down time!

would be so grateful to hear your experience.

Hi @Sunnydays44

we decided not to use omeprazole. Our daughter really improved with me cutting out dairy in the end. It took about a month. She’d have the odd fussy feed but nothing too significant. She’s 10 months now and we’re introducing dairy back into her diet and she’s not showing any signs of reflux anymore.

Our GP very much felt that medication was the last port of call if other things didn’t work but tbh I don’t know how well versed GPs are with reflux - something our own doctor admitted to. He decided to call a paediatrician and get a second opinion, which was much quicker than waiting for a referral.

I totally understand how conflicted you feel. It will get better, I promise. Sending lots of love.

Thanks so much @ART2022 !

what were the initial symptoms you were addressing? My girl is so unsettled after every feed - it’s impossible to get her to sleep after a feed! She is breastfed. She does have settled periods during the day but the nights and days are very long when she won’t feed to sleep!

I really appreciate your kind words of encouragement - it is hard work!

@Sunnydays44 the main symptoms were gagging/choking during feeds and then crying afterwards. She’d feed for a few seconds, go red and gag then scream and pull off. We’d go round like that for a while. It was always worse as the day went on and I often found the only way to get a decent feed was when she fell asleep straight away on the boob as she’d just sleep through it but it sounds like that might not work for you. She was also hiccuping and swallowing a lot. She was just generally very unsettled.

Neither the GP or our HV think she’s CMPA but cutting out dairy has helped. The HV explained it can just be a bit of a trigger. Have you tried it? I was really reluctant because I love cheese! And tbh I already felt like breastfeeding was hard enough but it’s honestly been fine. There are so many alternatives now and the time has flown by.

At 6 months it’s like a switch went and she was like a different baby. I know they say reflux generally can start to improve around this age and sitting up helps. Who knows but we certainly saw an improvement.