symptoms of barretts in infants/gerd

[terrybear]

my 6 mo old has just been diagnosed with gerd, pending confirmation.  he has all symptoms of gerd, to an extreme degree, including loss of appetite. he has a spasm or shudder that lasts 2-4 seconds frequently (10-20x day).  I believe our new pediatrician diagnosed gerd from the shudder, as my 4 months of questioning his crying, arching, waking, spitting, etc were responded to as normal...so we switched drs.

Am I correct that barrets is the shudder??  what is the prognosis for infants with gerd on zantac?  at 6mo is this severe or is he able to outgrow it with treatment of acid reduction?  Ie: should we panic and rush for further, invasive tubing etc, or can we afford to be patient with zantac?

[John W.]

GERD is not a terribly uncommon finding in infants and children (it is very common in adults). Barrett's esophagus, however is very,very,very uncommon in a child 6 months old. The reason for this is that the current research indicates that Barrett's develops after years of reflux of gastric acid into the esophagus; it is also unrelated to the finding of esophageal spasm. Diagnosis of Barrett's will require an endoscope being placed in the esophagus to take video and tissue samples.  

Try not to worry...the Zantac liquid is probably the best choice for your baby.

Hope this helps,
JOHN W. (R.Ph)

[terrybear]

john, thanks for the positive feedback...we just read the pharmacology and it sounds reassuring too.  we'll give it a chance...